“It’s about a guy who…”
Want to know how the writer came up with the idea? Writers love to tell their stories about what PROMPTED the idea. But here’s how it ALWAYS happens…
describe the book to a friend. “It’s about a guy who is in a family on a planet that’s the only source for this spice everyone needs to live a long time. If they stop taking the spice, they don’t live as long. And the people on this planet look at the son of the family, and he’s the coming one they’ve spoken of for centuries. When someone tries to kill his family, he and his mother escape into the desert, and hide with the people on this planet. And he finds out he really is the coming one they’ve been waiting for. Together, they take on an empire.”
There you go. That’s how Frank Herbert wrote Dune. That’s called a synopsis. If Frank Herbert had yWriter or Scrivener, he’d have written all of the Dune novels before he died.
Write a syopsis of your favorite book. Better yet, just tell a friend what the book’s about. That’s a synopsis. That’s how the author wrote the book. “It’s about a guy who…”
condition. “lives on a planet that makes this spice…” or, “inherits the one ring that the evil lord needs to conquer the world.” or, “has a rapidly emptying cup of coffee…”
Environment… “the people on the world look at the son and think….” or “they’re sent on a quest where they have to travel south to the evil lord’s land” or, “Has to get up and walk downstairs quietly and turn on the coffeemaker…”
Goal. “Together with the desert dwellers, he begins a rebellion that takes on the empire” or “teaches Darth Vader to tap-dance” or whatever.
This is by no means all that goes into it. But this shows the process. tomorrow, I’ll talk about HOW to get the idea.
