In my last blog I discussed my introduction to writing and my first published book: “The Universe of The Lamppost”. Today I am going to discuss my approach to my second book (the title of which I will confirm, once it is completed). I have planned this second book in a lot more depth than I did my first. I decided to get to know the characters and the world I would be writing about this time.
As discussed in July’s blog, there are different approaches for different writers and you must find which one works best for you. I find there needs to be a balance of planning, understanding the characters and their world, alongside allowing the imagination to flow when writing the story.
When deciding what to write about in this second book, I already knew that I wanted it to be some sort of adventure, as in the first book, but felt that a storyline, which involved a school, would be an interesting new direction. As I have targeted young readers for my books, I wanted to present an environment that they face every day, alongside an adventure. After a few months of developing ideas from this basis, I have been able to create characters, settings and key points in the storyline.
My approach to writing is to plan a chapter and then write a chapter, one by one throughout the story. When I finish writing a chapter, I then plan the next one. If I plan all the chapters at the beginning, I find there is less room for flexibility and my imagination cannot flow or create as many new idea .
As I write, I particularly enjoy (as I hope you do) learning about Matty: the main character in the book. When planning this book, I decided that Matty was a young individual- lazy, not interested in school, rebellious but did care about his friends. In this book, there are many scenarios and dangers that Matty faces with his friends and how he responds to these, shows a lot about his positive traits.
For me planning the book has been the hardest part, although of course, it has been fun. What is even more enjoyable is creating and developing storylines and adventures for the main characters on a chapter by chapter basis. Then, if an idea does occur to me, the storyline may take a twist that I had not foreseen in my initial planning for the book. Unpredictability is vital when attracting readers to an exciting book.
In my next blog I look forward to discussing my progress with the story, as well as the progress of Matty, Dodds and Lou, the three brave youngsters, in trying to escape the world of Taze.
Jonny Pardoe
Jonny Pardoe © August 2016
Photo by Taneli Lahtinen on Unsplash
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Jonny Pardoe
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Jonny Pardoe
