How to Write a Book to Plump Up College Admissions — Sarah O’Neill Chester County

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Wonder how you can plump up your resume for college admissions in an authentic way and show off your abilities? Write a novella or get involved in an on-going writing of a book. Here is an outline and commandments for students for a year of book writing.

How to Write a Book Outline

The Nine Checkpoints for Students

1. Hook: A compelling event that opens the story.
2. Backstory: A bridge that introduces us to the main characters, establishes the setting, and preps for the next parts of the story.
3. Trigger: An event that propels your protagonist into the crisis.
4. Crisis: A decision point involving your protagonist’s key emotional dilemma that may include physical perils, as well.
5. Struggle: A series of escalating try/fail cycles as your character works to resolve the dilemma.
6. Epiphany: Your character’s aha! moment, the emotional realization of what’s preventing them from reaching their goal.
7. Plan: Armed with newfound insight, your character formulates a plan of action.
8. Climax: The ultimate confrontation between your protagonist and antagonist.
9. Resolution: The dilemma is resolved, and we feel the catharsis and tie up loose ends.

The Five Commandments

This applies to the story as a whole, as well as each component of the story, such as scene, sequence, and beat. Use it to plan my overall story and each scene within the story.

1. Inciting Incident: The big event that kicks off the story, upsetting the life balance of your protagonist. On the scene level, it is the event that opens your scene and presents something that needs to be resolved within that scene.
2. Complications: The escalating degrees of conflict the protagonist faces. On a scene level, it’s what stands in the way of the scene’s main character reaching the goal of the scene.
3. Crisis: A dilemma that offers a choice between two options — the best bad choice or irreconcilable goods. In other words, the character is forced to make a difficult decision.
4. Climax: This is when the character acts on the choice they’ve made. Choices and actions define the character. They may be unable to follow through, change their mind, try to dodge, or stand up and fight. This is the moment of truth.
5. Resolution: The crucial opportunity for the reader to metabolize what’s just happened. On the story level, you wrap up any loose ends and sign off. On the scene level, you take score and ride the impetus into the next scene.

Book Ideas- Brainstorming

Make 3 Lists

10 True Events: They don’t have to be big or important, just things that happened to you or someone you know or items you’ve read about in the news.

10 Characters: These could be characters you’ve already worked with, people you’ve never spoken to, family, high school teachers, or figures that fascinate you.

10 Story Shells: Simple stories can serve as a building block for your idea. Examples include fairy tales, myths, or family stories that were passed down. No need to write them in detail; simply list a few words that sum up the story.

Explore Your Interests

Make a list of all the subjects or activities you’re drawn to right now. What’s exciting or intriguing to you about this subject? Is it something you’ve always wanted or something you’re afraid of? Why?

Write (or rewrite) Your Opening Line

Your opening line is often one of the most important lines in your novel. A great first line can grab the reader’s attention: it distills the writer’s theme, the main character, or the premise. To jumpstart your creativity, try writing seven opening lines that serve as “doors” for future stories or novels. Take a few notes about why each would make a good entryway for the reader.

4. Setting Ideas

• Setting from Imagination
• Visiting a new place
• Creating a setting memory

5. Flesh out Characters

Heroes

Make a list of your real-life heroes and list the qualities they possess. What challenges did they face that made them heroic? Which qualities did they exhibit to face those challenges? Look at the list, do you see any common themes emerging? Which character tugs at your heart the most? Write one page describing one of your heroes.

Difficult characters

The best characters make difficult, and often controversial choices. Pick a difficult character and write a short narrative from their point of view, justifying their actions to s someone they care about. Just free write and let the character speak.

Real people for character inspiration

Go to a public place where you can freely observe other people. Choose a stranger and imagine a few character details for them. What’s their name? What mood are they in? Why are they there? Write a one-page monolugue from their point of view that reveals what they’re thinking about. Show their thoughts, but also show the world around them and how they interact with it. Try to develop and inner monolgue that is at odds with the world around them or with the way they appear to be.

6. Create Suspense

Choose a mundane moment from any of the writing you’ve done so far. Write a paragraph turning your mundane scene into a suspenseful moment.

7. Play With Time

Take a narrative tie leap. Select an event and fast forward one of the characters 30 years into the future, and have them recount that event in retrospect. How did the past 30 years alter the event in their mind? How did the even alter their life? What factors changed their perspective over time? Did the fast-forward change your perspective and give you any new ideas?

• Write a letter to the future or past. This could be a person you haven’t met, your ideal reader, your future child, or your great-great grandfather. What do you say to someone who isn’t here.

THANK YOU FOR READING!

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