1. Senior Project By: Thomas Yates

2. Overview For my senior project, I decided to write my novel, which I’ve been working on for a few years. I have named my novel The Brother, and it is the first book in a trilogy. It is about the character Merlin the Wizard, who travels through the different realms with his siblings and the Gods and Goddess of Ancient Greece and Egypt, as they try to defeat Merlin’s evil brother, Karforamor.

3. Process Plan Figure out the basic ideas and plotline for the book. Research I need to make sure what I write is accurate. Outline Get the basic timeline out on paper, review and revise original plan. Write Read I read over to make sure it all sounds and looks okay Edit/Revise Always happens. I want to make sure it is all perfect.

4. Planning This step is ongoing. Everyday, I figure out something I want to add, such as a new character coming in, or a big fight/battle. I have to try to work that into the plot, so I will sit down and create that part of the story. Sometimes I will want to add something new to a part I’ve already written, so I have to plan how that may affect the rest of the book.

5. Research My book has a lot of characters that I have made up, but also characters from ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology. While I can visualize them and describe their appearance and certain powers any way I want, I still have to be accurate. If I am using a character from Greek Mythology, I have to know as much as possible about that character first. For example, Poseidon. I knew he was the Greek God of the Sea, but I also learned he was the Greek God that created earthquakes and the Pegasus.

6. Outline Similar to planning, but a little more vague. I create a series of events, characters, battles, etc., and I plan when they happen, and what they cause. I don’t go into as much detail with each event in the outline. It is basically a timeline/storyboard.

7. Writing This is the longest part of the process, but often times the easiest. I already planned and created an outline, so all I have to do is put it together, with nice transitions, dialogue, and vivid descriptions. The hardest part about this step is probably the dialogue. Another big roadblock during this step---writer’s block.

8. Reading I have to read my book when I am done writing it. I have to make sure it all flows nicely, the dialogue is nice, and the descriptions are vivid. While I am writing, I don’t always stop to read it from the beginning, so sometimes, there are a few contradictions or missing details that I hadn’t realized or remembered.

9. Editing and Revising The most detrimental step of all. Every time I start to read over my book, I think of a new idea that I want to add, a character I don’t want anymore, or maybe even a whole new storyline for a certain character. That is what has kept me back for so long. I get very self-conscious about my work and always believe it could be better, so I start over to try and make it better.

10. What is next? When I finish this version, if I am satisfied with how it turned out, I will contact some literary agents and ask them to read my book, and hopefully represent me. If they like my book, and agree to represent me, they will contact the big publishers and try to get my book published. They will be paid on commission and are my only window into the big publishing companies. If I don’t get a literary agent, I will use an online publishing source

11. The End