How to Turn an Idea Into a Book

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Күн бұрын

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Ever had an idea that you've always dreamed of turning into a book? Look no further, because in this video, I’m diving into the process of taking your idea and getting it on paper. Join me as I guide you through brainstorming, outlining, and developing your book from concept to completion. You’ll learn useful insights for fleshing out your characters, crafting captivating plots, and creating immersive settings that hook your readers. Whether you're brand new to this author thing or an experienced writer looking to start fresh with a new project, this video is packed with valuable and practical advice. Get ready to bring your idea to life and fulfill your dreams of becoming an author! We’re jumping in.
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Пікірлер: 71

@JennaMoreci 4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much to Scrintal for sponsoring today's video! Don't forget, you can get 10% off Scrintal for a limited time using code JENNA10: bit.ly/jennascrintal

@joanbar3079 4 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for this video, this is my main problem when it comes to a whole novel, I get ideas that at best become short stories and at worst just stay ideas 😔

@JennaMoreci 4 ай бұрын

hope I was able to help!

@katielarsen2630 4 ай бұрын

Same here, I actually wrote a short story that way 😅 It's helped me to follow a standard "hero's journey" plot that breaks it down chapter by chapter. I know it's an overused plot type, but it's very helpful for me as a beginner

@robertagu5533 4 ай бұрын

My biggest issues with writing... the actual "idea into tangible content" part.

@jocelyncordeiro4870 4 ай бұрын

I'm definitely a mix of a planner and a pantser. I usually plan the major points of the story such as the setting, the inciting incident, battles, climax, ending, etc. I also plan character arcs and when and how the character gets introduced. But with the rest, I just start writing and think about how one scene leads to another as I'm writing. Yeah, it comes around to bite me in the butt once in a while. But that's the good news about Microsoft Word; you can erase a whole mess in a couple of seconds. LOL!

@trinaq 4 ай бұрын

I love your advice, Jenna. I have a lot of ideas, it's getting them down on paper that I struggle with! 😅

@JennaMoreci 4 ай бұрын

sometimes that's the hardest part!

@zenmite 4 ай бұрын

I outlined my first novel, but found that as I started writing I veered so far from the outline, it morphed into a different story. When I later wrote a historical fiction, I did have lots of notes on the time period...clothing, foods, religion, etc. I'm not sure if it counts, but I do the plotting / outline in my head starting weeks before beginning to actually write. Even then, I leave plenty of room for the story to unfold the way it and the characters prefer. I know, I know...the characters don't 'really' have minds of their own, but I think of them as little whirlpools of selfness within my mind, so I try to give them some limited autonomy. Always love your videos and glad you're back.

@Alex-hu2xm 3 ай бұрын

Over the past few years, I’ve written scenes or ideas down onto on giant Google doc, effectively turning it into one giant dump of semi-polished scenes. It’s entirely ‘pantsy’ by nature and is almost turning the world I’ve constructed in my mind into a slideshow of 200-1000 word blurbs. Like I’m some fading god viewing the world in snapshots before I blink and it’s all whisked away. I hope Jenna understands what her channel does for new writers, often enough people on yt make videos on what not to do, but the new guys (myself included) need a little bit of structure. I can’t say enough how concise this video was, I will be checking out the book! Thank you Jenna!

@andeeharry 4 ай бұрын

I am a full on Pantser. I don't plan anything. I just go with it, the only time I write something down iis if I find something during research that could be used later

@ricky7111 4 ай бұрын

Thanks. I have so many short stories that are like 80-90% written out, and I told myself that I have to get at least 1 story fully finished. I added your book on my library waitlist. I've love writing but hate outlining. However I recently started a sci-fi story that involves timw travel and alternate dimensions, and it's absolutely mandatory to outline that and create a map and timeline in order to keep track of it.

@5Gburn 3 ай бұрын

Short story easy-peasy "formula": *Beginning-middle-end (duh) *One to two themes MAX *One to two zoomed-in characters MAX *The fewer the settings the better (2-3 ABSOLUTE MAX--at 3-5 you're going to end up with a novella [or most likely a novel] ) If you find yourself breaking these rules (esp more than two, and 3 or more themes is a pretty big BINGO!), then you might consider it worthy of fleshing out into a novel. Hope this helps. I know how hard it is to finish that first story!

@ricky7111 3 ай бұрын

@@5Gburn thanks. I know how to write a story, it's just a motivation thing. I start writing and then life takes over. But then I do have a full time job, a part time job, a niece I help take care of, I have two classes I take, both of which require work outside of class, and a vegetable garden, all while battling serious health issues, so finishing stories is not top priority. It's a hobby that I do for fun. I would just like to have something finished at some point.

@5Gburn 3 ай бұрын

@@ricky7111WOW we have a lot in common! "Level of difficulty" is a thing, for sure. I have to say, as someone who does a physical job 50-60 hours a week with back issues (super fun!), sitting in a chair for hours to write...it's a choice. A difficult choice, but I really can't live without writing. It may be that something has to give in your case. That's up to you. I hope you find the perfect balance! [Sorry for over-advising, btw. The viewers here run the gamut. Maybe my reply will help someone.]

@johnraymond1211 4 ай бұрын

I love the way you flow through ideas and keep the energy flowing forward. You are truly exceptional at this.

@matthewchapman6309 4 ай бұрын

Glad that you are making videos again!

@melodieferrin3196 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I’m currently in the “thought dump” stage, and I’m finding it very useful. I’m just writing whatever ideas come to mind, which helps me develop my characters’s personalities more. It’s also helped me start writing an outline. Eventually, I’ll be able to put everything more in order.

@echoingvoids 4 ай бұрын

Thank you Jenna! This was really helpful!!! I'm glad you're back!

@iona.wayland 4 ай бұрын

YEEEEES! Loving the process 😍

@Alexandretta 3 ай бұрын

I love thought dumps. The novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo a few years ago began as just a list of about 45 things I loved. Tropes, settings, character archetypes, song lyrics... Then looking at it all together, I pulled out a plot and characters. Lots of fun.

@lezzardbkd 4 ай бұрын

I love these style of advice tips.

@MrsBDatCreole 12 күн бұрын

Thank you for this. Awesome! You answered a question I’ve been having in mind forever that was causing me to procrastinate beginning lol. You’re amazing!

@aliarochelle6121 2 ай бұрын

I just found your page and I absolutely love it. Thank you so much girl, seriously. Like I feel like we’re brunch buddies!

@RandomPersonLol366 3 ай бұрын

I like the positive change in your videos

@funkycowie 4 ай бұрын

I haven't listened yet but am in desperate need of a video like this, I have an idea, been working on it for the past two years planning and writing short stories, trying to flesh it out and world build. But I feel I need structure. I am hoping this video will serve as a refresher and grounder.

@viktoriaschweizer8724 3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for these tips Jenna 😊

@sabastianspencer 3 ай бұрын

oh wow this was great timing, I just got an idea and was struggling with making it a reality! thank you for the great video

@scrintal 2 ай бұрын

Excited to sponsor this empowering journey to unleash creativity!

@racheltoler3895 18 күн бұрын

So, start with shit posting everything on to paper or a Word page. I love it!

@BenMoon_ 3 ай бұрын

Let's go Jenna! Love that you are having a comeback😃

@roguedogx 4 ай бұрын

I've had two ideas for novels, but I know I will never actually do anything with them, so I will just leave them here. The first is kind of a messed up twist on the idea of soul mates. You know how people in their teens and early 20s change so drastically during that time? Imagine being introduced to your future spouse in your teens by an entity that knows all in front of everyone you know. the rough idea is that the book would follow several couples as they go from skeptical to believers. An easy example would be pair who thought they were straight, and were in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex, learning their soulmate is not even of what they believe is their gender of choice. Bonus points if they can't stand each other. Another would be a couple who starts off looking ideal, but as the book goes on everyone realizes how awful they are and that they are a match made in........ not heaven. the other would revolve around an artifact that makes people see something that changes them on a spiritual level. The idea is what this effect the presence of this item would do to larger society as a whole. there would be two factions, those who worship the artifact and those who want it destroyed. with different people being on different sides for different reasons. for example, yes, there would be someone converted by the artifact that believes everyone should experience the change, and someone who hasn't been and feels no one should be converted. however there would also be some who have been converted and would give anything to change back because it ruined their lives, but can't. As a result they don't want anyone else to go through what they did. It's not hard to imagine this would lead to broken families, lost love ones, and lots of other heartbreaking scenarios. so there they are. I will never write them, but one of those are the novel I would write if I were to write one.

@amehak1922 3 ай бұрын

You don't have to write a novel. You can write short stories. Just write.

@roguedogx 3 ай бұрын

@@amehak1922 it's a good idea, but neither of those would work as a short story. Too many characters with too much detail. Maybe a series of them, but at that point it might as well be a novel.

@amehak1922 3 ай бұрын

@@roguedogx there's a book that I read years ago, it started as a series of short stories then published as an anthology after completion. You can do that. There's no rule saying that the story has to be written all at once.

@mariageary5550 4 ай бұрын

Awesome I’m not the only new writer that did that to Jenna M.

@iona.wayland 4 ай бұрын

It was also cool to see you record bts on the livestream

@SusiesOnTheScene 3 ай бұрын

I'm currently reading your book, and I find it very easy to follow. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

@stealthington 3 ай бұрын

The in-between for Plotter and Pantser (I'm sure you know) is a Plantser.

@scottpeoples5996 3 ай бұрын

At this point I think Jenna can read minds. the minute I'm struggling with something, she makes a video on it or it comes up in a livestream. truly amazing woman. ❤❤

@winterglow000 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the reminder for the preorder!! I already have the audio book but I loved it so much it would be awesome to have a signed copy 😎

@chancebymidnight2737 4 ай бұрын

I'm order it tonight ❤ I'm bursting with ideas 😅

@MasticinaAkicta 4 ай бұрын

Pantsing, to start with as for instance a National Novel Writing Month thing, is great. Test out ideas, does the character work? IS there a potential story in here? THROW ideas in that pot and see where it goes. The problem, oh yes Revision 2.0 aka, a total rewrite. It will be BAD. So all you can do is take the working ideas from your PANTS and PLAN ahead this time. At least you now got insight in what is possible.

@BEEDRILL303 4 ай бұрын

I can't plan my own life let alone some fictional ppls lives. lol

@JennaMoreci 4 ай бұрын

hahahaha, this is valid XD

@iridiumSerpent 3 ай бұрын

Mood

@Heothbremel 3 ай бұрын

Welcome new writers!!! and I wish a happy 'following the plot bunnies' to all!

@Mongoly8 3 ай бұрын

Would love a video about the different types of outlines you mentioned in this video

@ActiveAdvocate1 3 ай бұрын

YEP. This is my in-my-head-only-at-the-moment idea for a short novel called "Roof Gardens". There was, in ancient Rome, this SEMI-legal, SEMI-secret practice of richer women, who had NO rights at all, literally none, getting together to educate one another inside of their gardens, which, in that part of the world at that time period, were on the rooves of houses. So, flat roof, large-ish expanse, where these women could get together and actually READ, and discuss politics and their husbands and their kids, so forth. My idea is about a very-in-the-closet lesbian named Nicole, who is in here last year of college and is already married to this super unsupportive dude, though I haven't decided on a name for him yet. One night, she gets them both tickets to go to a local dance production thing, and Nicole falls in love-at-first-sight with the lead, a woman named Maxime Harris. Maxime is VERY openly gay, but this is literally the first time ever that Nicole has even recognized it in herself, so SOMEHOW she befriends Maxime, and ditches her husband. Maxime and Nicole grow a garden on the roof of Maxime's apartment building together, and think Thelma and Louise here when the last shot in my head is the two of them stealing the guy's pick-up truck and loading the bed with all of their favourite flowers from their garden, and driving off into the sunset, quite literally. And now for the, you know, ACTUAL STORY. I haven't gotten there yet. I also fully recognize that this would be a total diversion from "On Eagle's Wings", my mammoth in-progress novel, if I were to actually start writing it, and I can't really AFFORD more diversions. Damn.

@iridiumSerpent 3 ай бұрын

I never get past the thought dump phase lmao. Anytime I try to move past this I end up staring at a blank google doc for seven hours.

@DonovanPresents 3 ай бұрын

That's funny because I'm in the stage of research right now with one of my main ideas.

@ThePersephoneDiggen 4 ай бұрын

1:28 I do, it's perfectly ok, Jenna, I think you're saying no to this because you think that pantsers aren't organized at all, but it's untrue, I'm a pantser and it's a great writing method

@The_Leftysaurus 3 ай бұрын

lolz, me snorting at the research part and thinking, Flynn's journey could have been VERY different if Orion hadn't Googled for Leila XD

@lindalaufer2949 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the vid! I would also reccomend writing down your inspiration so you can revisit it later, helps with writer's block

@Noora.Tabajah 4 ай бұрын

I love you Jenna but we needed this video three years ago😭

@ludovico6890 4 ай бұрын

Personally, the first thing I try to do is I start writing, preferably the first scene.

@NotExistent 4 ай бұрын

Me who makes the character first then the world then the plot: 👀

@twilight_lupinesilva4691 4 ай бұрын

How does she keep reading our minds?

@ActiveAdvocate1 3 ай бұрын

PS: HOLY MOTHER GOD, do not talk to me about research. This is for book two of my in-progress series, but I'm going to have to know SO very much about the history of the Seminole Nation going into this one. My protag is Seminole Indigenous, but not living traditionally, but in book two, he starts to learn his own history, which means that I'm going to have to learn it all and...wow. THOUSANDS of years of history. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm jointly terrified. I'm white: it's imperative I treat this with respect.

@tendyboiz1046 4 ай бұрын

7 minutes hurts but ig we take what we get

@lethalprincess2087 3 ай бұрын

Just ordered Shut Up and Write the Book bc I need help 💀

@G.K.Mantell 4 ай бұрын

Man, I love writing characters and world but plot had always been hard for me, this vid called me tf out 😅

@em-635 4 ай бұрын

lol i love that i recognize people in the comment section 😂

@G.K.Mantell 4 ай бұрын

@@em-635 Lmao cyborg squad represent

@aspiring.creative.person6092 3 ай бұрын

Woops I built a world and characters and don’t know what the fuck I’m doing with the story

@writethepath8354 3 ай бұрын

3:02 your characters and your setting need to match your story, not the other way around Because stories are not real life, where the characters and settings DO determine the story! Because we make up stories where we control the people and places to cope xP

@jasminv8653 3 ай бұрын

Yes, absolutely! Characters and setting are storytelling TOOLS for the author to use, not real people for whom things happen in the world.

@Lovescomedy87 Ай бұрын

The music in the background seems out of character. And it's distracting too. Great channel though.

@SharpAsRavenClaws 4 ай бұрын

5:10 outlining isn't the only writing method, pantsing is valid as plotting and plantsing.

@girlypopgay 2 ай бұрын

Me, being a pantser type. I have one long continuous brain dump (I already have the story thought up in my head, it’s more just materializing it). Up to 6k words of me just writing out the plot. Beginning to end. Then, make a new doc and start at chapter one and write from the story I have internalized in my head. Point A to Z. I figure out the intricacies (refining vague internal conflicts/character conflicts/setting/magic/world building stuff) as I go, really build it there. Everything turns out fine so 🤷🏽