Prewriting is one of the most important stages of the writing process, aside from proofreading. Unfortunately, many beginning (and some advanced) writers don’t spend enough time on these activities, making writing more difficult than it should be.
Prewriting involves all the activities necessary to prepare for the first draft, starting with the first flash of an idea for a book, all the way up to a complete outline. The prewriting process (at least as I’ve experienced it) has several steps, each with a few techniques that make the step easier to perform.
So why not start writing after that first flash of an idea?
Only in movies does a writer do that. Remember Chevy Chase in funny farm (1988)? She had what she thought was a great idea for a novel. She sat down at the typewriter, typed “Chapter 1” and stared at the typewriter, not knowing what the first sentence of his was. She hadn’t done her prewriting. He eventually figured it out and produced (in my opinion, based on the thickness of the manuscript and his wife’s reaction) a half-hearted attempt at a novel, more of a novella than anything else.
Chase’s character eventually gives up on the novel and becomes a sportswriter. I wonder, as a writer and a teacher, if he gave up because he didn’t understand the writing process, or if he just wasn’t cut out to be a novelist. He seems happy as a sportswriter, so the movie has a happy ending.
Prewriting is a vital part of the writing process. In approximate sequence within the prewriting process, some of the benefits of prewriting are as follows:
* Prewriting can be a lot of fun. Everything is possible at this point. You have your wonderful book idea, still hazy and vague but with great potential. Your ideas can be spontaneous, even silly. It doesn’t matter. Just keep brainstorming, playing with ideas, collecting resources and notes, doing whatever activities are necessary to finish this stage of the writing process.
The only constraint at this point (unless you’re more self-imposed) is your need or requirement to stick to the original vision of the book, but even that constraint is false. Your original idea will rarely match the finished product. I know it’s hard to read, but that’s been my experience. Of course, my books are usually better, more complicated than the original idea. The vagueness of the vision allows you to start working on the idea, so you can create the book you want to write.
Detours and weird ideas can often become gemstones for your book, be it with content, organization, or whatever. At this point, your book can go in many directions. Explore them all until you find the one that feels right to you. “Ah ha! That’s what I’m going to write.”
2. You can figure out the true purpose of the book by playing with alternatives until you find the right one for you and the reader. What benefits are you looking for as a writer? What benefits do you hope to give the reader? Make sure your book addresses these purposes.
3. You can learn more about your readers (aka target market, audience). This scan is part of your research on your competition. You probably know a lot about them because you were one of them, having been a beginner once. Or you could be targeting a different audience, in which case, you’ve got work to do.
In your exploration of your readers, you can play with additional audiences that you might want to target. Target different age groups, or education levels, or proficiency levels with the topic. Do you want to write for adults who are new to your field or practitioners? Brainstorm all the possibilities for all these variables. You may find that the alternatives present other book projects that you can tackle once this first book is finished. Heck, build an entire industry or franchise out of your book idea, targeting each book at a different audience.
4. You can plan the book to best meet the needs of your readers. You get to play around with different organizational strategies for the whole book and for each chapter. You can think of different functions for the chapters. You can even play around with the cover design.
5. You have the opportunity to do as much preliminary research as you need to finish the first draft, or at least as much as you think you need at this point.
If you’re passionate about your topic (that’s the most important thing), then reading more about it should be a treat. Remember that you will eventually have to write your own book, so don’t get lost in the research.
Give yourself a time limit for the research, after which you will add research questions to your Research Questions List, which will be asked during the review.
6. You can easily evaluate new ideas that come to mind (and will). Does the idea fit your current vision of the book? If you use the idea, will this new idea drastically change the book? Is that change good or bad? If it’s a good one, where does the idea fit into your current outline or vision of the book?
7. At the end of the process, you will have a complete outline of the book (if you use my process). With that schematic, you will be able to see the entire project at a glance. Lay out the outline on your desktop and examine your creation. With this scheme, you will be able to detect:
– inadequate organization of ideas,
– gaps in ideas and content,
– if you have a book or two
– if a chapter will become a monster, which should be reduced to size right now, before you start drafting. (This result also occurs with redaction, but more on that later.)
8. Prewriting makes it easier for you to write your first draft because you know what you want to write at each writing session.
9. Prewriting builds confidence in yourself as a writer and in your book idea. You will be able to determine if the project has merit and if you will be able to finish the project and write that book.
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The only caveat about prewriting is that you can get so enthralled with this stage (it really is fun), that you don’t really get past it to create the first draft and then (oh no) revision. The writers tend to spend too much time here and never leave.
Allow about 25% of your project schedule to be dedicated to prewriting. This is the time that works for me. If you have to do extensive research (which you shouldn’t, at least not for a book early in your career), spend more time, say 30-35% of the time. But then go ahead and write the first draft.
Prewriting is the first stage of writing for any nonfiction work, an important stage because it makes your time with the rest of the project easier than if you were stumbling around in the dark.
Good luck with your book.