Every Book Needs a Defined Essence – Here's How to Find Yours
By doing this at the start of the book writing process, you can ensure that every part of your book is aligned with your vision for it – from content to cover!
Can you tell the difference between a beach read and a presidential memoir by just glancing at the cover?
What about a thriller and a self-help book?
Take away the title and synopsis, and I bet you could still identify whether you’re going to love a book simply by glancing at its cover.
Why?
If the artists did their job right, you should be able tell if a book is your “vibe” just by glancing at it.
Which is great, if you know your vibe. But what happens if you don’t?
The easy answer would be to just let the publisher decide, but how will their team know what kind of vibe your book should have? They could read it, sure, but if you don’t know what feeling you want your book to imbue, then neither will your readers.
As I tell the members of our Write Your Friggin’ Book Already® program:
The key to a successful book is honing in on the essence from the start and using it to help you make decisions.
Should your characters have hot spicy sex and then never talk again, or simply kiss gently on the mouth before they live happily ever after?
Should you inspire immediate action in your readers to go out and make change, or should you encourage them to take a deep breath, slow down, and do less?
Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, cookbooks or poetry, to create a cohesive feel for your reader, you need to know the vibe you’re going for.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary says essence is: the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, that determines its character.
So, when you’re trying to find the essence of your book, you’re asking, “what determines the character of my book?”
(Not the characters in your book, but the character of your book itself.)
Questions to ask yourself to find the “essence” or “vibe” of your book:
How do I feel when I write it?
How do I want readers to feel when they read it?
Is there a section that reads like I’d want the rest of the book to read?
If I got the best critique in the world about my book, what would it say?
What is one scene I’m deeply proud of?
What makes this book different than other stories that I could write?
I find these questions help me to make my book uniquely mine more than questions about genre and ideal reader. With these questions in mind, I’m able to create a cohesive feel for my book and make hard decisions when it comes to writing, editing, and publishing it.
What if you can’t define your essence or vibe in words?
You don’t have to strictly define the essence, it’s not always something you can write down. Often times, it’s a feeling.
For me, that feeling is one of joy, of giddy excitement, kind of like the feeling you have after a first date, where you can’t stop replaying this one part and hoping you can have more interactions like that.
It’s the beginning of love. That spark of hope.
Often times, it’s a scene that feels cheesy or something I’m almost afraid of sharing because I love it so much. Or, I want to share it with everyone I’ve ever met because I love it so much.
If you don’t have a scene like that yet, don’t worry. That’s fine. Just pick something that comes close. Maybe dialogue you’re really proud of or an example you used that really hit the mark.
Or, if you still can’t choose, just eeny-meeny-miney-moe it.
But I’d pick one scene that really nails what you’re trying to do, and then make some visuals around it to further solidify that feeling in your heart and soul as you write.
Create a mood board for your book!
This is one of my FAVORITE book practices – and not just because it’s a great way to productively procrastinate from actually writing.
A mood board is a set of visuals that help you to set up the look and feel you want for something.
Your book’s mood board will help you to determine who the characters are, what they’re like, what locations will be featured, who will be reading this book, and where will they read it.
It’s a powerful way to hone into your essence and give your book a cohesive emotional feel and polished branding in and of itself.
Plus they’re just really fun to make!
I have a free workshop to help you create a mood board and find your essence!
I’ve put together a workshop to help you create a mood board for your book – and it’s free! Click the link below to grab it.
Plus, get a behind-the-scenes look at the mood board for my book Because Fat Girl – and see how it influenced the cover!
I created this workshop while I was getting ready to edit my book, so you’ll be able to see how the decisions I made then affected everything from the color scheme to the graphics we used for the cover.
We’ve got the cover reveal coming on Thursday, March 14, so keep an eye out for it! Or, if you want to get a sneak peek early, go to BecauseFatGirl.com and sign-up to be a part of the BFG Insider Squad.
Whether you answer questions to get a defined essence of your book or use a mood board to help you set the vibe, knowing how your book will feel to the reader is the key to getting them to connect with your work.
So, what’s your book’s essence? What’s the vibe you’re going for with your book? Leave a comment below and let me know.
Excited to hear all about your essence.
Lauren
P.S. Don’t miss the big reveal of the cover of my book on Thursday, March 14, where you can see if it stayed true to my essence! Subscribe to get notices sent to you when it’s public!