5 Ways You Can Begin Writing Your Manuscript

You’ve discovered an idea for a Christian book, and you are passionate about it. You can envision the characters, plot, and setting. All the details are in your mind, but the next critical step is avoiding you—the writing.

That first stroke of the pen or click of the keyboard will not come no matter how hard you try. Every sentence you begin your story with is not good enough for the idea you had worked so hard to cultivate. Nothing seems to work. Maybe your passion for the idea has started to grow dim. Maybe you wonder if that idea will only stay an idea. This feeling is what some would call writer’s block.

There are options for beginning the creative process on your manuscript.

Many Christian writers forget, including myself, that the way the story is read is not the way it is written. If starting the story in your usual way won’t work, then maybe it’s time to write the story in a different order.

Here are 5 ways you can begin writing your manuscript.

1. Chronological

Chronological order is the typical way one writes a book. After all, you read a book chronologically.

As you write, the scenes slowly build onto each other. This style is organizationally focused and works for someone who cannot create a scene for the middle of the story if the groundwork at the beginning has not been produced.

This way does not work for everyone who is having a hard time starting to write. Chronological does work for some.

2. Working Backwards

Sometimes Christian writers find working backwards in their manuscript as a good option. I know this sounds like a unique idea, but try beginning with the ending that you have pictured for your characters. Once you know where you want your characters to end the story, you can write the scenes that lead up to that ending.

For instance, you are writing a Christian fiction romance where your characters started out as enemies. You would write the story starting with the end result of love and work your way backwards from love to tolerance to dislike.

With that feeling, closing line, or scene as your end goal, the rest of the story may fit together easily.

3. From Climax to Plot Arc

Instead of writing the ending, you could also start your manuscript’s story with the climax. The climax is the main scene that the reader has been waiting for ever since they met your characters. At the climax, your characters are at their highest point, and once you have that down on paper, building your characters up to that point becomes your goal.

With the climax written, you can shape your plot arc so your characters will reach that climax in a timely manner and so you can satisfyingly conclude the story afterwards. This way of writing allows you to keep that climax in mind because you can see where your characters are and where they need to end up.

4. Bookending

Bookending is when a Christian author writes out the beginning scene, or chapter, they would like their work to start with and then jump to the story’s conclusion. Now that the beginning and the ending have been written, you can fill in the scenes, highs and lows, and conflict that your characters face throughout the journey.

This writing style may seem unique to you, but you probably have already done it when you thought about the idea for your story. You had your main characters chosen, and you knew exactly where the characters would start out and where they were going to end up. Bookending is simply placing this practice you used to form an idea into creating the actual story.

5. Out of Sequence

No matter what you think, writing does not have to be in an organized methodology. For some, this style would never work because there is no rhyme or reason to it, but there are those few who find this method helps the best to get the juices flowing and get the words on the page.

I have used this writing method many times for my own projects, and it gets me excited to write more. Simply start anywhere in the story you had a great idea and begin to write. Feel free to jump around and write scenes out of order.

If you know the plot and have a plan in front of you, the out of sequence method can be a good one to get you going.

Conclusion

Whether you are writing your first story or your twenty-third, everyone gets stuck staring at the blank page in front of them hoping for that great first sentence—at least once in their writing career. This dilemma is nothing new, but you must decide if it will hold your story captive in jotted-down notes and outlines or if you will overcome writing those first words.

These five styles of writing a manuscript are not the law. You may start out writing chronologically and realize you would rather work at the climax of your story first. You may write the scenes out of sequence before recognizing that you work better writing the beginning and ending first and filling in the middle. You may find that mixing two of the methods together is what you need to do to get that story started. Whatever works for you as you turn your idea into a well-told story is the best option.

About the Author

Mikayla Klavohn is a student studying professional writing. In her free time, she enjoys riding horses, cuddling with her cat Surprise while reading a good book, and spending time with her family and friends.