The following is my own personal opinion of the similarities between building a house and writing a story.

(I can already hear people screaming, “That isn’t how you build a house.”) Like I said though, this is my personal opinion.

Just be glad I’m a writer and not a house builder. (Feel free to laugh.)

Each of the things described below will be covered in greater detail in other areas of the book.

Setting/lot - When you build a house, the first thing you need is a lot to build it on -- the setting where everything will take place. The size and location of the lot needs to be appropriate for the size and type of house you plan to build. (You wouldn't buy a quarter-acre lot in the heart of a city if you planned to put up a 14th century English castle. Your house needs to fit the time period and the style of the buildings around it. In fact, most places have bylaws that control the type of house you can build.)

Your story also requires an adequate setting - a location and time period. (A small fishing village in the 1800s wouldn’t be the best setting for a sci-fi/techno thriller, anymore than a desert resort would be a proper setting for a story about a prehistoric sea monster that destroys fishing boats.)

Copyright/Deed - To show that you are the legal owner of your home and property, you need a deed. The legal deed to prove ownership of your written work is called a copyright. Legally, your work is copyrighted the minute you create it. Having your work officially copyrighted before submitting it to a publisher is a sign that you are an amateur and many publishers consider it an insult, because they assume you believe they might try to steal your work. Most writers don't worry about getting their work copyrighted, because it can be costly, time consuming, and isn't necessary. Publishers will have the work copyrighted when they agree to publish it.

Publisher’s Guidelines/Building Permit: Writers need to contact publishers and obtain a copy of their guidelines. These guidelines will tell the writer important information they need to know before submitting their manuscript. They tell things like whether or not to send a query letter first, whether to include a cover letter with your manuscript, whether to send the entire manuscript or just part of it, and how to format your manuscript. Before you can build a house, you need to get a building permit to make sure your house will meet all the building codes. You will have to have many things inspected as the house is being built to make sure there won’t be problems farther along.

Title/Address – The address of your house can indicate the type of neighborhood you live in and enable people to find you. To help people find your house easily, you might paint your house number on the curb, or hang a sign out front with your last name or house number on it.

For example: If your address is 202 Morning Mist Lane, then people would expect to see a normal house in a normal neighborhood, with a well manicured lawn, little shrubs, and several flowerbeds. However, if your address was 1313 Black Cauldron Lane, they would expect to see a rambling old broken down house with a rotted, leaking roof, loose, creaky floorboards, and peeling paint.

The title of your book can indicate the type of story it is and enable readers to find your work. To attract readers, you need a good title that will grab their attention and make them want to open the book and start reading. For example: The Little Book of Limericks would indicate a book filled with funny poems. However, Death In The Dormitory would indicate a murder mystery.

Genre/Style of House – There are hundreds of different genres, just as there are hundreds of different styles of houses. Many stories may seem the same, but a slight difference here and there creates a different genre, just as slight differences in houses make them a little different than a similar style.

Writing Style/Color Choices – The way in which you write and the wording you use is your writing style. It often gives writers a clue as to the type of person you are. Also, the coloring of a house often indicates the type of family that lives there.

Outline/Blueprint - Before you begin to build your house, you need a blueprint. The blueprint shows exactly where everything in your house will be built or installed. Without a blueprint you could end up with the bathtub in the kitchen.

Similarly, before you begin to write a story, you need an outline, or a plan that will help get your story from part A to part Z. Many writers do write without a formal outline, but they usually have at least the basics planned out in advance. They have a rough idea of where the story is going and some of the more important characters that will be included, as well as the most important parts of the story. Blueprints can be adjusted, just as an outline can be rearranged and the story altered.

Many writers say they don't use an outline, but they do. They have parts of their story planned out in their head. It may be just scattered ideas, but it's still a basic outline. They often know where their story will begin, who some of the characters will be, some of the things that will happen, and where the story will end. It's just a basic outline, but it has enough information to get them started and more information can be added at any time. The same thing happens even when you use a written outline. You always end up adding, deleting, or moving things around.

Plot/Foundation - The next step in building your house is the foundation. A house needs a sturdy foundation to keep it from collapsing. Each concrete block must be securely joined to the next, and lined up straight.

The foundation for your story is the plot. A story needs a good solid plotline to support it from the beginning to the end and to join the various parts of the story together in a logical sequence.

Story/Home - The home itself represents the story. This is where the action happens. You go through the home hallway by hallway and room by room, encountering various residents and situations as you go. The residents of the house are the characters in your story. You also travel to different areas in your story and encounter various situations and characters along the way. The style of the house, its location, décor, and its surroundings indicate certain things about the people that live there, just as characterization provides details about the characters in your story.

Introduction/Front Sidewalk – Some houses have a sidewalk that leads up to the front steps, but others don't, just as some stories have an introduction and others don't. If your front door is close to the street, or your driveway, you may not need a sidewalk. In writing, the introduction is used to give your reader information you think they may need to fill in the background and let them know what has already happened, so they will understand what it is you're writing about. However, introductions are often considered a sign of an amateur writer. Many publishers prefer that you get right into the main part of the story and fill in the background information within the story itself, by using dialogue between characters, flashbacks, or even dreams.

Lead In/Front Steps - The front steps lead people to the front door, while the first few paragraphs of your story lead your readers into the world where your characters dwell. The front door opens and lets people see the hallway with many doors on each side of it, but it doesn't allow them to see what's in the rooms on the other side of the doors. They're curious. They want to enter to find out what's inside. The hook in your story is much like the front door. It makes your readers curious to find out what's going to happen.

Conflict/Greeting - The people at the front door are there because you're having a house warming party, but no one comes out to greet them, so they don't know if they should enter, wait at the door, or leave. This is a conflict. Every story needs conflict to make it interesting. Suddenly, a car backs out of the driveway and heads down the street. Now what? Is there anyone else in the house to invite them in? This is the crisis point of their conflict. Every conflict reaches a crisis. Note: Conflicts can also happen after you get inside the door/story and not just at the beginning.

Resolution/Welcome - As they turn to leave, someone comes out to welcome them and take them on a tour of the house. This is the resolution to their conflict. However, your story may have many conflicts and they must all be resolved before the story is complete.

Storyline/Hallways- Hallways lead your visitors from one room to the next, just as the storyline in your book leads your readers from one scene to the next. When your guests first enter the house, they may hear a television in a room down the hall and even though they can't see it yet, they know they will eventually. In writing, this is called foreshadowing. It's a way of letting your readers know in advance that something will happen without actually telling them. The hallways may take various turns to lead your guests into different areas of your home, just as your story may take twists and turns to lead your readers into different areas of your story. Eventually, your guests may get a glimpse of another hallway and they immediately recognize it as the hallway they entered when they first arrived. In writing, this is called a flashback. It lets your readers find out things that happened in the past.

Transitions/Doorways – People need to pass through doorways to go from the hallway into a room, or from one room into another. If a door sticks, it makes it hard for them to go from room to room. A bad transition from one scene to another in your story is like a sticking door. It makes the move from one place to another awkward. A locked door makes your guests stop and wonder what’s on the other side and what’s going to happen when it’s unlocked. In your story, a cliffhanger is like a locked door. The action comes to a stop, and then resumes farther along.

Flashbacks/Photographs – As you tour the house, you may notice photos on some of the walls or furnishings. These photos show people, places, or things that were part of the past of the residents of the house. In writing, flashbacks are anything that refers to people, places, or things that are connected to the past life of any of the characters.

Foreshadowing/Sounds and Odors – During your tour of the house, you may hear the sound of a baby crying. You know the owners of the house don't have a baby, so they must have other guests. You know you will meet them somewhere in the house. You also smell the odor of homemade bread. You know you will have some later since you were invited for dinner.

In your story, you can use hints similar to those above to let your readers know that something might happen further along in the story. For example: a few flakes of snow falling might lead them to suspect a blizzard further along, or mentioning a gun case in a den might lead them to think there will be a shooting somewhere in the story. These are subtle hints and often readers don’t even realize they are hints about future happenings.

Chapters/Rooms - Taking a tour of the different rooms in the house is like following the various twists and turns in a story. The walls of the house are like the chapters in a book. The walls contain rooms, while chapters contain scenes. When you pass through a doorway, you enter a room, but it may have one or more rooms that branch off from it, just as a chapter in a book may contain one or more scenes. The people touring the house can't be sure what will be behind each door, and your readers can't be sure what's going to happen next.

Transitions/Steps - You want your guests to move smoothly and safely through your house, so you warn them about things like steps and loose carpets, but you don’t give them every detail about how the carpet layers measured the one step wrong, or forgot to tack down one corner.

In your story, you tell your readers that your characters moved from one place or time to another, but you don’t tell them every single step they took to go from one place to the next. You just tell them what’s important for them to know.

Atmosphere/Décor - The decor of the house creates a certain atmosphere, which is designed to create a specific mood in the people who enter it, just as the atmosphere in your story will create a certain mood in your readers. If the paint, wallpaper, carpeting, and so on all appeal to your guests, they are more likely to stay longer and visit more often. The atmosphere you create in your story will put your readers in various moods depending on the type of atmosphere you create. Use the five senses to create various moods in your story and in your readers. Don’t just tell them everything. Let them experience it by describing how things look, smell, taste, sound, and feel. Creating the right atmosphere will often determine whether or not your reader will continue reading, or go look for a better book.

Characterization/Furnishings - The furnishings in a home are usually chosen to fit a particular mode of living and reveal a great deal about the residents of the home. Sparse furnishings, bibles, religious statues and plaques, would indicate that the inhabitants of the home are religious people who do not believe in ostentation. In writing, we use characterization to show what our characters are like. Readers want to know more than what color a characters eyes and hair are. They want to know how a character thinks, speaks, acts, feels, and why all of these things are the way they are. If a character acts angry and yells a lot, then you have to show the reader why they are behaving that way.

Conclusion/Roof - While you're building your house, don't forget the most important part, the roof. If you do, you'll find yourself with another conflict, rain, which could lead to another crisis, flooding. The roof is the conclusion to your house building. It wraps everything up nicely. Now, you just need to find a conclusion for your story that will tie up any loose ends and wrap it all up nicely.

Theme/Entire Lot and Contents – When someone builds and furnishes a home, they usually have a chosen theme that indicates their preference of lifestyle, and beliefs. Most stories also contain a theme, or moral, that is intended to shed light on a particular aspect of life.

Local Color/Landscaping – Landscaping adds to the beauty and value of the house, just as describing local people, places, and things add interest to your story. Trees, shrubs, and flowerbeds all make your home beautiful and interesting to visitors and passersby. Describing local people, their customs, and surroundings all add greater dimension to your story and make it more interesting and informative to your reader.

Critique/Inspector – Before you and your family move into your new house, you need to make sure it’s safe and sound and in the best condition possible, so you need to have it inspected, usually by more than one inspector. You need to make sure your story is in the best condition possible before you send it to a publisher, so you should have several people do a critique for you. They can help you with things like spelling and grammar as well as many other aspects of writing.

Selling/Advertising - If you intend to sell the house you built, there are additional things you need to do, just as there are additional things you need to do to sell your story.

To sell a house, you need an interesting advertisement that will give a good description of the house. To sell your story, you need a strong query letter that will give the publisher a good idea of what the story is about and who the potential audience will be.

A good realtor knows that advertising is important. It is also important to advertise your story. Realtors send ads to more than one newspaper, and writers know they must send their story to more than one publisher, although many publishers prefer that you only submit it to them and then wait until you hear from them before sending it to anyone else. Make sure you get a copy of the publisher's guidelines from each publisher to make certain they allow simultaneous submissions.

Realtors often include pictures of the house along with the ad. Most publishers don't want artwork included with your manuscript, but they do want your manuscript to be formatted to their specifications. That is also part of your advertising campaign and it's another reason to get a copy of the publisher's guidelines.

If a realtor shows the house to a potential buyer and the buyer turns it down, the realtor moves on to another potential buyer. If the first publisher turns down your story, you must send it to another publisher. The first thing you should do is research publishers, to make certain you are submitting your story to the right ones. Some publishers will publish mysteries, but some will not. Also, some publishers will publish fiction, while others only publish non-fiction. No matter how good your story is, you will not convince a publisher to publish it if it isn't the type of story they handle.

Selling a house or a story can take years. Sometimes it seems that a deal is set, but then circumstances change and the deal falls through. Don't give up. Just keep trying.

Occasionally, a potential buyer will ask you to make changes to the house before they will close the deal. Things like: different colored paint, different carpeting, or different wallpaper. Even after your story is accepted there may be several rewrites required before you actually see it in print. Don't waste time waiting. Get busy working on your next story. It will keep your mind off of worrying about the first one.

As you can see, there are many similarities between building a house and building a good story.