How to start a new book
Here are some questions I ask myself when I have an idea for a new book:
Questions I ask myself about plot
Questions I ask myself about character
Questions I ask myself about plot
- What are some things my character would do in search of their goal?
- What are some bad things that could happen? How could I make them worse? How could I make some of them naturally arise from something the character does?
- Can I have a ticking clock/deadline?
- How can I raise the stakes (for example, if the killer’s not caught, more people will die, or it’s the character’s girlfriend who will die)?
- Could I make things worse by adding a force of nature, an illness, an injury?
- Is there a character I could hurt or kill off early on so the reader is more fearful for the rest?
- Is there a talismanic object that can be mentioned along the way and then play an important part in the climatic scene?
Questions I ask myself about character
- What is the character’s strength and how does it get them into trouble (because a strength can also be a weakness, esp. If taken to extremes)?
- What special skills does the character have that could be useful later?
- What is the character’s external goal(find the killer, get the lead in the play) and internal goal (find love, health from the past) goals? Otherwise known as wants and needs I usually give a character what they need. I might give what they want.
- What are they afraid of (heights, dogs, love)? How can I use that?
- Do they have a secret?
- What are 10 thing that would arouse the most emotion in the character? How could each of those be turned into a scene?
- How will my main character grow by the end of the book?