What is a Manuscript?

A manuscript is either ‘a book, document, or piece of music written by hand rather than typed or printed or an author's handwritten or typed text that has not yet been published.’ (online dictionary).

There are three points to consider when preparing your manuscript:

1. The Vision

2. Your Aim

3. Who is your Audience and why are they your Audience?

These three points will set the foundation for the creation of your work.

As a Christian, I had just finished watching the God channel. A well-known preacher had just produced her new book, when I asked the Lord “what next? (what did He want me to do). ”It was the school summer holidays and I did not know what to do with my time. I had been in Christ about a year and with six small children, I could not do much. Whilst sitting on my sofa a vision of a book appeared to me. On the cover was the title ‘From Darkness to Light’ with my name on! I could see the image of the cover as clear as day and I knew there and then that the Lord wanted me to write a book. This book was to be a true story, my story... “But I don’t have a computer.” I spoke to myself. “Never mind,” I thought. “God knows.”

Going to my Christian neighbour’s house, to collect my twin daughters who were playing at her house, I could hardly contain my excitement. ‘You can borrow my computer,’ she said as I explained what the Lord had shown me. I could not believe it, everything seemed to be falling into place. Now that I had the computer, I had to write the vision. The vision being what the book's aim was and its purpose was. It was how I, as a black female had overcome my battles with domestic violence, drugs, prejudice and spiritual forces in Christ and to testify that Jesus is the Christ and He is the God of all nations. My target audience was everyone ranging from age 15 years upwards. In writing my story, I would fulfil the vision of the book from what I could see. The cover I had seen spoke volumes to me (see cover of ‘From Darkness to Light’ by Fiona Lynch).

Questions:

1. What is your vision for your story?

2. What are you hoping to achieve?

3. Who is your target audience and why are they your target?

Take some time to think this through and write your answers down. You may already have the draft of your manuscript but thinking this through will help you filter out where you may have gone off track in respect of the vision and aim of what you are trying to achieve.

Your Title

Your title should be according to who your audience is and what you are writing about. For example, my book 'Created to be a Woman - Rediscover who you Are’ is aimed at women who are seeking direction and/or have got to a place where they are stuck and need that push forward, whereas my book 'From Darkness to Light' - a true story is directed at all ages over the age of fifteen and is for anyone who enjoys a true story. The subheadings give an idea of what the main title is about. When writing and editing your manuscript keep your title in mind as it will remind you also of what you are trying to achieve and the journey that you are taking your reader on.

Questions:

1. What is the title of your manuscript?

2. Does your title speak about what you are producing?

Time Frames

I use this quote, ‘time waits for no one.’ The Clock is always ticking. Setting a time frame to prepare your document will give you something to aim for, a goal/target. Without time frames your idea or draft manuscript can end up gathering dust for years. Tell someone what you are doing and tell them when it will be done, you will then hold yourself accountable to achieve your goal. But I must stress nothing happens before the appointed time but getting prepared is important for that time.

It took seven years for my first book ‘From Darkness to Light’ to come into publication. Each year from the year I began to write my book, I kept telling everyone it would be out the following year. This was contrary to what the Lord was telling me. The lord kept saying, ‘It will be launched at the same time as your ministry.’ I had been called to set up and Pastor a Church and the vision of the Church was far away. So, at times I felt like ripping my book up and forgetting all about it. I even tried to find a publisher to publish it, but with no joy. Until, although frustrated, I surrendered ‘From Darkness Light,’ to the lord, trusting the word He had given me. He knows when we are ready and the timing for all that He has given to us. However, this does not mean that we should sit on what we have. It is important to step out.Finally, in October 2008, ‘From Darkness to Light’ was launched not long after the ministry the Lord had given me, which was launched in July 2008. The book with the same cover which I had seen in the vision in 2001, was now a reality. I did not pay for the book to be published. God showed me how to self-publish and the publishing company that I was to publish with, had the book cover on offer for free, which was also in the vision. The appointed time had now come, and my manuscript was ready for that time.

Questions:

1. When would you like your manuscript to be ready for publication? Put in a time frame. i.e. A time frame for drafting, editing and completion even if you are not sure of the date for publication.I have many other drafts which I am getting ready.

(a) Drafted by …………………

(b) Edited by …………………..

(c) Completed by or Published by …………………

Do not worry if you go slightly over your time frames, just give yourself an extension and keep on going.

Your Story Line

Your story line is what will keep your audience engaged. For example, in song writing it is the chorus that keeps the singer engaged in the song. The chorus is repetitive and is usually more melodious than the verses and takes the singer to a climax whereas the verses speak of what the song is about. Therefore, in every story, course etc there is a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is like the roadway to the middle of the story where there should be a form of climax, like the chorus and should keep the reader engaged to the end of the story/course.

Question:

1. What is your story line? Do a timeline of events for your fiction or non-fiction book. If it is a course, write out your course outline. i.e. if it is a nonfiction book – childhood – young adult – adult.Within these stages note down key events that are relevant to your story.

Making Your Manuscript Clear

Initially writing my story was easy. The Holy Spirit would wake me up even in the night to give me snippets of it. Everything would be brought back to remembrance bit by bit that I had gone through in the chapters of my life. I felt I had the permission to write what I wanted even if it was in anger for all the things that had been done to me. As I re-lived my life, I became more whole again. It took around six weeks for me to write out my first draft. I typed constantly, morning, noon and night. I just could not stop typing. Then the crunch came. After giving it to a couple of people to read, who said it was fine, I gave my book to a pastor friend of mine to read who had previously published a book. He took great care of my draft manuscript to the point of binding it for me. When he gave me his feedback, he told me the truth! I had to make my vision clear. I needed to stick to the aim and the purpose of the book. He told me I had too many characters. I needed to have main characters and have conversations between them in my story. I needed to decide what was relevant and what was not, and I needed to make it flow by keeping to the point. I am most grateful to him as later when I read back what I had written did not flow.

Action:

Decide what is necessary and what is not in your manuscript. Your audience is who you must think about when you are writing. Read back to yourself as though you are the reader and you will see what needs to be added and what needs to be taken out.

Characters

When writing non-fiction and fiction books, choose your characters carefully. Think about a favourite film or TV programme. They have the main characters and they also have some extras, but your main characters are the ones who will carry the story line to the end. For example, in a non-fiction and fiction book you will have a main character and the key people surrounding their lives that make the story. Too many characters can make the story boring and the reader will have to try and remember who everyone is if different characters pop up all the time. In my book ‘From Darkness to Light’ I am the main character and the people who have had the most impact in my life whether good or bad are the main characters that make my story; however, the story is about me and my journey.

Question:

Who are your main characters? Describe them and their part in the story line. This will help you when putting your story together.

Description

For any genre, description is important. Describing characters and scenery for stories will enable the reader to visualise and feel what they are reading. It will give them insight into your story and will speak to them. In respect of teaching books/courses and magazines there should be a correlation between each session that relates to the name of the course or magazine. For example, my teaching course, ‘The basics of Discipleship’ – laying the foundation, is about teaching a new Christian about pre-salvation, salvation and post salvation in the hope that they will have foundational knowledge in Christ to build on for their next stage of their Christian walk. Therefore, it was important for me to describe the meaning of some of the scriptures so that they can study for themselves.

Teaching Books/Courses & Magazines

In respect of the above, the content is usually factual, therefore whatever you teach would require evidence for what you are teaching. They can be based on life experiences, scriptures, statistics or even research. So, it is important to know your subject. If someone asks you what your course or magazine is about, you should be able to answer them by giving a short summary about it. This is also the case for any work that you produce.

Question:

1. What is your course/magazine about? Write a summary of what you would say if you were asked about it.

Editing

Now that you have drafted your project, it will need editing. I had edited my first book ‘From Darkness to Light’ ten times before I made the decision to take the plunge and publish it and I would say it will always be a work in progress. Many authors have several editions for their books, because as time goes on, they have more to add or even take away from their work. Therefore, we can have for example a first edition, a second edition and a third edition.

In editing my book, I first took out all the irrelevant details and characters and added a bit more creativity to make my story interesting as advised. I wanted the reader to hear my voice as I took them through my journey of how I went into darkness and how I entered the light.

After the ninth attempt of going through my book, an ex-Sunday school teacher went through my manuscript for the last time. I was fortunate enough to have met him one day whilst out shopping and he was more than happy to help me.Although it was not as polished as I wanted it to be, I made the decision, on the advice of friends, to publish it.

There are four elements to consider when editing your project:

1. Correcting - Mistakes and grammar.

2. Condensing - Taking out irrelevant information and shortening paragraphs.

3. Modifying - Making slight changes and/or rearranging paragraphs and chapters to ensure consistency.

4. Flowing between paragraphs - Ensuring that the paragraphs are continuing from one to another.

Readers Reviews

It is good to get reader’s reviews once your manuscript is prepared. This could be given by someone you know such as a family member or a very good friend. Although I did have a couple of good friends who read my first book, they did not see the flaws and could only see all good in it. I had known that my manuscript needed brushing up just one more time, but they loved the story which was what I wanted reviewing.But be careful who you give your work to as they may lose it or even copy it although your work is copyrighted once you have penned it on paper. We will look at copyrighting in the next session.

Question:

Do you have someone that could read your book and give you an honest review?Write down the things that you know need to be analysed before handing it over for someone to read.They may not even agree with all your work however, you will need to be definite about what you want.

Conclusion

Now that your manuscript is prepared, it is now time to take it through the publishing process.

To summarise, there are three key points in writing your book. 1. Your vision, 2. Your aim and 3. Your audience and why are they your audience. These points can be applied to any writing project. In everything there is a beginning, middle and end.Put a time limit on your project so that you will complete it. In writing my first book, I went through a lot of frustrations trying to make my story plain for the reader. I had to make it readable to all cultures so that anyone could pick it up and read it. In doing so when editing my manuscript, the reader was on my mind. There were times that I wanted to just rip it up and throw it away and times when I really did not believe I would see it published. If you follow the tips in this session you will have the foundation to take your work to the next step.