Happy Monday, Everyone,

As I told you in my last note--we're getting ready to write a novel.  Your novel. And I'm going to be there to prompt you through it, to the end. You're not going to get a lot of fluff from me, just the facts, mam/sir.

I'm not to prove that you can write a bestseller. That no one should be allowed to define what your bestseller is.  It is a book that you've written well, edited well, and promoted well.  It makes more money than you expected.  It sells wherever you introduce it.  Some of you will never be on the New York Times Bestseller's list, or The Los Angeles Times. But still, you have written a good book, it's well edited, and it makes more money than you expected.  It sells better than most at conferences, bookclubs, and bookstores.  It sells well at colleges, schools and the Y. Then if you choose, you can go for the traditional places where "bestsellers" are crowned. You can get and agent who can go to a mainstream publisher and nogotiate a book deal for you.  You have a name that any publisher will respect.  That's what we're working toward.

Oh, yes, you're going to write a bestseller. I'm going to use three different books as your examples. And you're going to learn about writing a bestseller--strong, clear writing, editing, and then promoting. So stay with me for a year and see what happens.  Being finished with a great book by then is going to depends on how diligent you are about doing the assignments I give you. You'll hear from me once a week--if you don't, let me know. 

All you have to do is finish your assignments and keep them  in one folder.  That's it.  If you need special attention, you need to join the Bestseller Workshop.  It's $100 a year. That's where you get special attention and personalized feedback on your specific book. Just think, I charge about 20 times that much to edit a book--often more. But this is a group setting, and I wanted to share my knowledge of fixing books for free.  If you need the workshop go to www.urbanclassicbooks. and sign up.

OK. Here we go with my bestseller book writing, where I take you by the hand and break down the elements so many teachers throw out to you.  But you don't understand how to make them your own yet.  You've had no one to simplify the terms until they're as easy as saying "hello."  I'm here to break it down for you, then you'll practice by writing your book :

1) First--write down your theme.  That the heart of your story. It's your map. Your guide. Don't pay any attention to that strange, distant, often confusing word--theme.  What it really means is "What do you want to say to the world.

I just received a fine book from a young man, I helped to shape into one of the most innovative black books on the market. today.  "The End Justifies The Means" by Tyrik Moore.  When we started rewriting his novel, I had him to write down his theme:  "Having a bad beginning in life doesn't mean you can't triumph."  We set out to prove that with a young boy who stabbed his father to death because he thought the father was killing his mother. As that character was becoming a man, we had to prove that he was an intelligent, well balance person, respectful to his mother, gainfully employed, an entrepreneur.  He also helped to bring the whole family out of a life of crime and poverty. 

In my novel, The Mayor's Wife Wore Sapphires, I sat down and wrote, "division in the black race leads to corruption and decay."  That's what I felt after having been a mayor's wife for 12 years and a councilman's wife for four.  I had to prove that division led to decay in many different ways. That is the heart of my story. I wrestled with what I wanted to say before I wrote that sentence. Now strangers say The Mayor's Wife Wore Sapphires is one of the best black novels of the last decade. It's been a  bestseller wherever I've gone. This is a murder mystery, a fast-paced political drama. You're going to get examples from this novel to help you clarify the heart of your novel.

I'll give you another female-driven main character. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory.  This historical fiction novel is a New York Times Bestseller about Queen Elizabeth and her lover. So what did Philipps want to say to the world:  "To marry a commoner for love would destroy England."And every intriguing line proves her sentence (theme).

Whether you've written your story, or you haven't started, you need to DECIDE what you want to say to the world. It makes no difference if your story is a teen romance, or a sci-fi, it needs a theme.  Think Lord of the Rings.  Romance in the Forest, Cinderella--cream always rises to the top.  Down doesn't mean out, etc. 

My job this year is to make the elements of a bestseller easy and real to you.  It will become a part of your writing and guide you from one book to the next, never to miss writing a bestseller, a book of clarity and substance, good motivation and bigger-than-life characters,. I want to make you understand what you're doing when you're writing, so that we stop getting all of these woodenly plotted characters, all of these crazy things happening without any motivation.  I want AA stories to be rich and flowing naturally out of our tapestry of experiences as smoothly as the great Mississippi River.

Now every journey begins with a first step: Your first step is to decide how you want to impact the world.  So you have one week to consider your theme, then write it. E-mail it to me. And let's take the next step together.

Blessings to you and your household.

Marti Tucker--author-The Mayor's Wife Wore Sapphires, story editor, public speaker--"The Mindset that heals our city, our country."                              www.urbanclassicbooks.com,                                                           writelink3@yahoo.com

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