How to Write a Book About Your Senior Year of High School

Writing your story can be difficult, but fun.

Senior year of high school may have been great for some and not so great for others. Every story is worth telling, and you should tell yours. Remember that the effective points of a good story are drama, choice and change. The reader of your story wants to root for you to get through your obstacles and wants to celebrate your victories with you at the end of the story. Big or small, every story is interesting -- especially when you tell it properly.

Instructions

Writing Your Story

1. Graduate. If you have not graduated yet, then don't write your memoir yet. Make notes or keep a journal on everything that happens. A good memoir requires the ability to look back on a situation with some sense of objectivity. For example, something may have happened that made you very emotional during your senior year of high school. Writing a book about it when you are still very emotional will not allow you to see every side of the event. By waiting until after you graduate, you will have given yourself more time to assess the situation.

2. Think about who you were when you started your senior year and who you are now that you're done with it. Your story should have a definite dramatic art where you recognize your change -- and where, when and how that change happened. Whether you choose to write your book as a memoir or a fiction, this story arc is important -- not only for your readers' enjoyment, but also for your own satisfaction. What were the most important obstacles you faced? How did they interact with the changes you faced during your senior year?

3. Think about all the people that came into and out of your life during your senior year. In your book, they will be classified as "characters." Writing a character well is just as important as writing a plot well. Since your characters will be based on real people, it may seem easier to write each character and make them seem more real. Do an objective analysis of each character -- including yourself -- who will be making an appearance in your book. By finding strong and weak qualities in each character, you will be able to write them more realistically.

4. Consider your high school itself. It probably played a large role in the story of your senior year. It housed you and your friends for a significant amount of time each day. What do you remember about your high school that makes it so significant in your story? The memories that it housed? A certain classroom where you were taught by your favorite teacher? Some writers say that the setting is just as important as any character because you interact with it so often.

5. Take notes before you dive into writing the book. These notes will help jog your memory about what happened and how everything fit together into the whole picture. When you're done with your notes, write a summary or abstract about what your book will be about and how the main plot will unveil from beginning to end. Limit yourself to about 400 words or less for this abstract. Otherwise, you might find yourself going off on tangents. When you're done with your abstract, write down the structure of the plot -- for instance, what will happen in Chapter 1, then in the following chapters. This structure will set you up for writing the actual book and keep your writing going in a forward motion.

Tips & Warnings

• Write every day. It may seem scary at first to face a blank page, but if you write a little bit each day, it won't be scary anymore.

• An objective lens is important when writing about real-life events. Think about who might read this when you're done. You don't want to offend anyone unnecessarily, and you don't want to hurt yourself, either.

References

• How to Write a Book