THE CONCEPT
So, you have an idea for a book project. Great! This is where you start. Now that you have this idea, the next step is to set some guidelines for your idea. These include the following.
Synopsis:
This is usually a succinct, no-more-than-one-paragraph outline of what your book project will be about.
My novel series, The Soulless Ones is centered around a multidimensional, supervillain entity called The Scribe, set on undoing Creation, and the obstacles he faces along his plan to see his purpose come to fruition.
Title:
You may not have a title initially. This is not uncommon and it is quite okay. Even if you do have one, you can still change it later (prior to publishing the final product).
The first title for Book 1 of The Soulless Ones was Soulless, Teardrops to Redemption. I later changed it to The Bright Eyes. I never had a series title until I started writing Book 4, Celestial Crisis. The first series title was Of Cycles of Purposes. Later, I changed it to The Cosmic Clock. When I was about halfway through The Cosmic Spark, Book 5, I changed the series title from The Cosmic Clock to The Soulless Ones. I did not publish The Bright Eyes until I finished the first draft of the entire series. I will explain why I did this in a later blog post.
Genre:
Basically, there are two book genres: fiction and non-fiction. These two are split further into sub-genres. Fiction includes fantasy, comic, drama, crime, science fiction and many more. Non-fiction includes biography, cookbook, history, diary, science and so on. Research more on these before you decide the most appropriate genre for your book project.
I knew already that The Soulless Ones was going to be a paranormal, supernatural, fantasy, fiction series, with copious doses of esoteric and graphic action, all gearing towards a possible apocalyptic finale.
Target Audience:
This is the group of readers who you feel your book will mostly appeal to. The keyword here is ‘appeal’ because who you may be writing to may not necessarily be who your book ends appealing to. Target audiences include children, teens, young adult and so on.
The Soulless Ones is for adults. It is definitely not a children’s book because the theme of the series is much too mature for children.
Estimated Word Count:
If you do not have an idea of the estimated word count of your book project, that’s alright. While having an idea for an estimated word count may not be very important, it contributes to the overall sense of direction of your book project. Having an estimated word count before you start writing may take practice and some seasoning. Even that intended estimate could also change.
When I started The Soulless Ones I had no idea what the estimated word count for The Bright Eyes was going to be. But after I finished the first draft of The Bright Eyes, I had an idea of a word count estimate for the rest of the novels in my series, which ranges between 109-117K words for each book.
Single Novel versus Novel Series:
Do you know offhand if your book project will be a single novel or part of a series? Maybe and maybe not. You can always make changes as you see fit. You may start off with the intention for a single-novel project and end up writing a series and vice-versa.
I initially intended to make The Soulless Ones a trilogy. But by the time I was done with An Archangel’s Ache, Book 2, I knew I was going to need two more books to complete the series, based on the new ideas that flooded my mind.
We will discuss each of these points in further detail in future blog posts.
Well, you have a concept for a book project all set. The next phase is moving your concept from mind to matter.
“How do I do that?” you may ask.
“Stay tuned for the follow-up blog post,” I reply.
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