so, what’s your book about?

Ah, the blank page! Writers want to fill it with words, words, and more words, but my hot take on this (and this is what I teach in the Path of the Storyteller program) is that our #1 job as writers is to tell a great story.

It's not that words don't matter. The skillful deployment of language is how we extract that story from our own imaginations and place it in the minds of our readers. The art of storytelling and the art of writing craft are the twin disciplines we all must master if we want to satisfy our readers and write books that are built to last. 

To that end: In this week’s talk we unravel the question that all writers dread:

What’s your book about?

Can you answer that question?

Can you answer it in one sentence?

In other words, do you know what story you're telling?

We can spend a long time scribbling without knowing the answer. In this talk I explain why that is too often the case, and I offer a framework for distilling a specific, useful answer to the question what’s your book about? that you can use to keep your book on track, while you’re writing it, and after.

My weekly livestream happens on Wednesdays at 1 PM Pacific. Come live and participate! Or catch the replays here on the blog. You can leave your questions and comments below.

To watch live and ask questions, subscribe to the YouTube channel here.  

And you can join the Path of the Storyteller Facebook group right here.

SAVE THE DATE! Enrollment for Path of the Storyteller’s in-depth training in story structure and writing craft opens on August 25th. This transformational online course runs for fifteen weeks, from September 2nd through December 16th, with weekly lessons, targeted exercises, a private community space for sharing work and weekly live coaching with Maryrose. Join the mailing list below and watch your inbox for details.