Expert: Susan Rand - 10/2/2009

Question
I want to write book or e-book about sex offenders. 11 yrs ago I was convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor. I was 21 and she lied and said she was 17, but really was 15. People believe that I should have know she was 15, but that isn't true.  There were so many events that didn't even make me think she was 15.  The parents are the ones that turned me in and they are ones that saved me at the end. I wanna to let people know that all sex offenders are sex offenders. That you shouldn't judge a sex offender just because they have sex offender name tattooed on them. The some SO shouldn't be under the same umbrella as rapist, or acts involving children. When I told my story to some people they was just amazed on what I told them.  They couldn't believe it.  So where would I start?  Should start around the year when it happen or should I start from the beginning when I moved to the city where it happen.  I am not trying to justified in the book that its OK for men to mess around with young girls, but to give society knowledge that not all sex offenders commit sex offenses knowing that the female is under age.  Because when you hear the word sex offender society automatically think you touched a child in someway

Answer
Hello pj:

It sounds like you have an interesting project going here, and it seems you have high expectations for it.

In order to complete a book - any book - many questions must be answered; "Where to start" is just one of them. However, it is not the first question that should be answered. The questions you should ask yourself (and you have already answered them) are:

1. What is this book about?  Answer: sex offenders.

2. What do you want to say with this book? Answer: That people shouldn't judge a sex offender just because he has the label stuck to him (or, as I would state it: people shouldn't make assumptions about a person's character just because he has the label stuck to him - it may all be a mistake). This is known as your "premise."

Once you have your premise isolated, there are a series of other questions to be answered, IN ORDER. This is known as the planning stage, and if you plan properly, your book will all but write itself, plus, it will be convincing, and have scope and breadth. It may even become a bestseller, and a classic. Perhaps you will win the Nobel Prize for Literature - who knows?

It seems to me that you could use a mentor: someone to guide you through the planning stage, at the very least. Otherwise, you may wallow around in your material for years, with no idea what to do next. If you are interested, please visit my website at http://pygmypress.com and contact me at pygmypress@gmail.com.

I hope this helps. If it does, a nice rating would be greatly appreciated. I am proud of my high scores over 1900 questions.

And thank you for writing!