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By Adilah Barnes
Many writers contemplate writing a book but are unsure of how to attempt such a seemingly monumental feat. It can feel a bit overwhelming as to where to start. The same was true with me.
But, we can find our way.
Mine was a three-year process with my now completed Essence Magazine bestseller nonfiction book released in December 2008. Perhaps a glimpse of my sojourn may serve as a way of supporting others who are at a crossroad in terms of how to approach the actual journey of sitting down to start that book.
It seems to me that the first step is to decide what the writer REALLY wants to write about. What is it that is burning inside that needs to be expressed and that must have value to a reader?
For me, my former acting students at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco had planted the seed in the mid-1980s. They gave me a white, dried flower-covered hardback book with a slip of paper inside that everyone had signed giving me the charge to use that book when I decided I was ready to “write my acting book.”
At that time, I did not intend to write a book. I did not envision putting all my teaching knowledge together systematically in the format of a “how to” acting book. At that time, I taught in the classroom. I had no thought of expanding my classroom to teach through the written word.
Fast forward.
In 2005, I felt the time had finally come to tackle writing this thing called an acting book. What I learned as I sat down to begin writing was that a traditional acting book was not coming easy. Though I had taught acting for twenty-seven years, I did not know where to start. The truth was, I could not think of what I might say that the acting teacher masters such as Stanislavski, Hagen, Strasberg, Meisner, Spolin, and others had not already given breath and pen to.
What new insights did I have that would make an actor also pick MY book up?
I spoke with a fellow actor, Brandilyn Amie, and shared with her that I also wanted to include my experiences from my internationally toured, one-woman show. At that embryonic stage of development, I felt there was no place to include that part of my journey. That chapter of my creative life did not seem to fit writing an acting book.
However, Brandilyn gave me the advice I needed. She said, “You can do that, too.” In that eureka moment, I realized my book would use my life’s journey as the backdrop for the lessons and inspirations that might give insight and motivation to another. I decided to use each chapter to focus on a different time along my path.
I would also learn later from my many readers that my book also had crossover value beyond the actor who might be reading it. Some found it motivational, inspirational, informative, and even of archival value.
Once I was clear on my approach to content, I decided on the title. I am a writer navigated by titles. For example, my one-woman show, I Am That I Am: Woman, Black spoke to my vision of creating a solo show portraying African American women through time. The title for me held a sense of pride, and at the same time, the title gave a sense of statistical value of who the women were ethnically.
The same became true with my “acting book.” Once I found the title ON MY OWN TERMS One Actor’s Journey, I became clear that this book would connect my creative dots along the way as an acting teacher, producer, talk show host, and retreat proprietor. What the reader learns about my personal life is incidental to the purpose of my book.
For me, finding my titles defines my themes, parameters, and core of my work. For other writers, a title becomes the last step of the work. Choosing a title for your book becomes the icing on the cake for many. For me, the title is the compass that guides me along my way.
Which approach works best for you?
For me, because my book was about my life’s story as an artist, I wrote each chapter chronologically. I began with childhood memories and recounted my evolutionary steps along the way. This approach served me well because I was able to use real time from my past as a structural device to move my story forward.
For some who are writing from the bones, they are fueled by a particular time in their lives that is rich in sensory and emotional recall. It could actually be a moment from adulthood. These writers begin wherever “there” is, and go from one memory to the next without any regard for chronology of experiences at all.
Whatever approach works, works. What is most important is getting the work down on paper without editing.. I suggest just getting the story out, no matter how raw and unvarnished the recollections and the wording. There will be plenty of time for the rewrites before that moment of opening the mail to find the completed galley copy.
Stay on the journey!
Adilah Barnes can be reached by e-mail at abpro1@sbcglobal.net at the retreat in Sharpsburg, Georgia.
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