<\/p>\n
In my book writing classes (and with private clients), I have authors start with several clarifying exercises followed by developing an an outline.<\/p>\n
It can be tempting to just start writing, but you are likely to end up with lots of interesting stuff that doesn\u2019t quite work as a book. I\u2019ve seen many people do this (and then they come to me to see if I can salvage it) and I\u2019ve done it myself. More than once.<\/p>\n
But, okay, let\u2019s say you get clear on your goals and vision, your audience and their needs and desires, your tone and features. Let\u2019s say you have a rough outline. But you don\u2019t feel like writing chapter 1.<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019 say this is a how-to book. I have a very clear system for writing chapter 1 and I think it\u2019s valuable to start here, because in chapter 1, you put yourself in your readers’ shoes and answer the questions they’re asking themselves so they can decide whether to buy (or read) your book.<\/p>\n
If you can\u2019t put yourself in your readers’ shoes, you shouldn\u2019t be writing the book.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s say you feel stuck in the beginning and you feel super excited about chapter 7\u2014the chapter that reveals the most amazing secret for inner peace that no one has ever discovered\u2014except you. Yes, permission granted to start in the middle.<\/p>\n
Go where your passion is. Just remember, write an outline first, even if it\u2019s rough. That way, you can know how the chapter relates to the rest of the book\u2014and know that the chapter will likely have a home in the book, and know that, in fact, there is a book here.<\/p>\n
In fact, sometimes, you can\u2019t write chapter 1 because you just don\u2019t have that opening story. Stacy Corrigan<\/strong> shared in book writing class<\/a> that she just didn\u2019t know how to start, so she started in the middle. Even well into class, she didn\u2019t have a beginning. Then, the story happened. And she said, \u201cThis is how I start the book.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019re just waiting for your opening story to happen\u2014and it hasn\u2019t, yet. Trust that instinct to wait. But maybe you can put a placeholder for \u201cOpening anecdote that illustrates x, y, z\u201d and write the rest of that first chapter, intending to be open to the story\u2019s unfolding.<\/p>\n Can You Start Your Book in the Middle?<\/p>\n The answer: It depends on whether you have a well outlined plan for the book.\u00a0 If you have a solid idea of how to organize the book and just want to start with a different chapter, I\u2019d say, \u201cGo for it.\u201d\u00a0 But don\u2019t start writing without a plan or you could end up with a series of disjointed essays that don\u2019t serve your reader\u2014or make a book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my book writing classes (and with private clients), I have authors start with several clarifying exercises followed by developing an an outline. It can be tempting to just start writing, but you are likely to end up with lots of interesting stuff that doesn\u2019t quite work as a book. I\u2019ve seen many people do… Read more<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,100,1678,1,24],"tags":[1914,109,111,112,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-1835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-book-writing-class","7":"category-book-writing-questions","8":"category-how-to-write-a-book","9":"category-more","10":"category-writing","11":"tag-book-writing-questions","12":"tag-book-writing-tips","13":"tag-how-to-start-writing-a-book","14":"tag-stacy-corrigan","15":"tag-where-to-start-writing-a-book","16":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279360,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions\/279360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodieburdette.net\/lisatener\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}