Victoria Lynn Schmidt - Book in a Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days

BOOK in
a MONTH

the foolproof system for writing a novel in 30day

Victoria Lynn Schmidt, Ph.D.

WRITER'S DIGEST BOOKS

Cincinnati, Ohio

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BOOK IN A MONTH 2008 by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writers Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schmidt, Victoria Lynn
Book in a month : the fool-proof system for writing a novel in 30 days /
Victoria Lynn Schmidt.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13 978-1-58297-486-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Fiction--Authorship. I. Title.

PN3365.S36 2008 808.3--dc22

2007037998

Edited by Kelly Nickell
Designed by Grace Ring
Production coordinated by Mark Griffin

DEDICATION

To Dixie, Dusty, Oliver

And the four-legged angels I have yet to meet.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you Jack Heffron for taking a chance on a new writer all those years ago, and to all my editors at Writers Digest: Kelly Nickell (Bookin a Month, 2008), Michelle Ehrhard (Story Structure Architect, 2005), and Meg Leder (45 Master Characters, 2001). Thank you for your help and guidance.

And, as always, thank you to my family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Victoria Lynn Schmidt (www.victorialynnschmidt.com) is the author of Story Structure Architect, 45 Master Characters, Book in a Month, and The Writer's Guide to Characterization (all from WD Books). She graduated from the prestigious film program at UCLA, holds a masters degree in writing from Loyola Marymount University, and holds a doctorate in psychology. She also attended film school at NYU and studied independent filmmaking with some of the top artists in the field. When her writing schedule allows it, she teaches English and screenwriting at several universities around the country.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Its always too early to quit.

NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

In The Book of Secrets, Osho, the great teacher/philosopher, said something regarding creativity and spirituality that I have always felt could help writers, if I could just find the right forum to make it accessible. Though the exact quotation is about meditation, I have paraphrased the wisdom to make it applicable to writers. You see, we have this view in life that everything can be learned, that everything is about finding knowledge and then we will be happy. While this may be true for some things such as science and medicine, it is not true for art and creativity. These things you must experience for yourself. You must have a direct connection to the development of a thing, the creation of it. You cannot sit at the feet of Shakespeare or Maya Angelou and walk away an author.

Likewise, you cannot read a book on writing and thenpoof!become an author (though books are great guides). No. You must experience the act of writing to be an author. You must experience things for yourself. The only way you can do this is to write, from beginning to end, a story. And then do it again and again and again. Then you will have the experience; then you will be an author.

This BIAM 30-day system is designed to help give you that experience. It will show you how to face your blocks, develop a worthy goal, and stick to it with checklists to keep you on track. But you have to be willing to participate in the experience. You have to understand that, above all else, you are giving yourself an experience here: the experience of what it is like to write, to create.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

This book is set up to be the one and only resource you will ever need to write (and then rewrite) your manuscript. Everything about this particular story and characters will be contained within these pages.

You will probably use a fresh copy of this book for each project you work on, because the book is meant not only to be helpful, easy to use, and motivational, but also to be a constant companion along the way. Pick up a new blank copy of this book, fill out the worksheets, place the name of your project on the spine (via the enclosed stickers), and you have your mobile writing office with you wherever you go. No more lost ideas or disorganized notes. Finally! Writers Digest worked very hard to design the book this way, so thank them for it!

You will also want to re-read the introductory chapters before beginning this and all subsequent BIAMs after all, studies have shown that it sometimes takes seeing something three or four times before it sinks in!

If you absolutely must set your project aside for a few weeks, this book is set up so that you will be able to come back to it without wasting time figuring out what you were doing, what your new ideas for the story were, or where all of those important notes and reminders areWhat was that characters nickname?

I cant tell you enough how valuable this aspect of this book has been for me. Try as I might, I could not find a good system for organizing my fiction projects in any store. (Of course, Ive had to put my fictional work on hold from time to time to write these creative writing books, but I have truly created the very books Id needed and looked for, books that will assist and further myand now yourcareer as a writer.)

A quick and easy reference guide with checklists, worksheets, and a free companion e-group are all part of the program. You can use this program to:

write a manuscript in 30 days;

write a detailed outline in 30 days;

rewrite a manuscript in 30 days;

work on all the blocks and issues that come up as you attempt to reach your goal (more on this shortly).

Since I have received numerous letters from readers asking how they can merge the techniques from all my creative writing books, I will occasionally refer to my previous books, 45 Master Characters and StoryStructure Architect. These two books work very well with Book in aMonth, but you do not need them to use this one. As a writer, I wrote the books I wish Id had as references on my private writing bookshelf. For example, the female heros journey and new male heros journey in 45 Master Characters and the different story structures in Story StructureArchitect can be easily used with this book. Acts I through III of the traditional structure are outlined at the start of each week, as it is in those books, so you only have to correlate each act between books.