How My Strategic Communications Background Helped Me Finish my debut, AFTER PERFECT By Maan Gabriel

How My Strategic Communications Background Helped Me Finish my debut, AFTER PERFECT. 

By Maan Gabriel

Story telling is in my blood. 

My mom swears she successfully taught me to read and tell my fairytales in front of an audience at three years old and that it was my favorite thing in the world. I didn’t have many toys, but I had a lot of books. At age five, I remember watching my dad, a news videographer in the Philippines, behind the camera in the field on live television running after a story. So, yes, storytelling is in my blood. I inherited it from two very encouraging individuals. 

I took those learnings and experiences to heart and knew, from the moment I had to make a decision about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, that I wanted to be a writer. Growing up in the Philippines, I was expected to go to nursing school, or engineering, or information technology. But my parents, bless their hearts, were happy to support me in my quest to tell stories – so I jumped into a bachelor’s degree in communications. 

And writer, I became.  I wrote for television and later, I even tried my luck in films. Realizing that I love sleep, I left the entertainment industry to start a career in public relations and strategic communications. It was where I truly found my mojo. I continued doing it when I moved to the United States and earned a master’s degree in communications from Georgetown University.  

In strategic communications, I am able to craft creative approaches on how stories are told. It’s about reaching the right audiences, tailoring messages with them in mind, and delivering those messages through robust tactics for a dynamic impact. It’s like sprinkling pixie dust in your already amazing tale. In strategic communications, you’re not just telling your story, you’re emboldening your audience to want to shout your messages out to the world with you.  

But this seems more straightforward compared to putting 95,000 words together to form a coherent idea. 

No, I didn’t jump into fiction writing on a whim. It had been a process, a push and pull of desire and fear, insecurities vs confidence, and though my professional language has always been in English, I was still a little wary to create a voice that was not in my first language.

But when I was diagnosed with early menopause in my mid thirties and I had to take control over my anxiety, I ran with it anyway. That was when I began to tell a story of a woman similar to me but was not entirely me. I wrote with my heart, my fears, and found my voice through my heroine, Gabby, in my debut novel AFTER PERFECT. 

In the beginning, I was writing simply to unload unprocessed feelings. There was no goal. Then a friend read my early drafts, and then another friend asked to see it, and then a few others joined my small reading team. Their constructive criticisms gave me the boost I needed to take my writing to the next level. The strategic storyteller in me jumped right to it. 

I started with a personal narrative: 

“I dream of a world full of hope, where believing is as important as life itself, and where love can move mountains. This is in the very core of my stories, and I wish in more ways than one that I can inspire you to see the world as I see it… a fairy tale.”

In the context of fiction writing, this has become some sort of a personal goal as I try to explain my message and at the same time create a brand on the stories I plan to write. The goal is to inspire. 

Our writing style matters and our voice is what truly makes the story unique, but it’s also critical that we present our messages as clear and as concise as possible. In strategic coms, short and sweet is key. Ideas should be conveyed vividly with easily digestible prose. Keeping this mind, I was able to structure my thoughts in line with my personal narrative, and it also provided me the freedom to openly explore my emotions. I didn’t get distracted because I didn’t try to outsmart my goal. 

As I write this, I just concluded a successful communications roll-out. And just like all my projects, it started with a plan. 

Now, let’s translate this in fiction writing.

A plan could be an outline, a roadmap that we can refer to throughout our writing process. It should consist of the following: 

Goal: Just like mine, this could be a personal branding narrative.  It could also be a call to action, or to create awareness, or simply to inform – a summary of our why. 

Target Audience: Who are we writing for? Whose hearts are we hoping to touch, whose lives we are dreaming to change.  

Key Message:  What is it about our story that we want to stay with our readers?

Strategies and tactics: Let’s think about this as our toolbox. What is our writing style? In AFTER PERFECT I used the first person present because I was writing from my present state of being while tapping on my many personal emotions. In this section we can also include research and all the other information we may have to build our story. We can develop our characters within this section as well. As an example, some authors use mood setting strategies by showcasing poems, or songs, even recipes to highlight a chapter. This is actually my favorite part. Here, we can be the most creative. 

I’m not saying that this is a perfect way to get your writing done, but it sure worked for me. By planning through this set-up, I was able to pull my thoughts and feelings together. This is also a great formula to plan for your publicity and marketing.

Every writer has its own process, and I encourage you to find whatever works for you.  At the end of the day, your voice is the star of your craft – and yes, every story in our hearts deserve to be told. I can’t wait for all of you to meet Gabby in AFTER PERFECT because although she is not me, she embodies everything I aim to be – an inspiration. 

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Maan Gabriel is a mom, wife, dreamer, writer, and advocate for women’s stories in literature. She earned her BA in communications from St. Scholastica’s College in Manila and MPS in public relations and corporate communications from Georgetown University. She has lived in Manila, Brussels, Dakar, and Mexico City. During the day, she works in strategic communications. Gabriel, along with her husband and son, currently calls suburban Washington DC home. After Perfect is her first novel. Learn more at www.maangabriel.com

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AFTER PERFECT

Thirty-six-year-old Gabriella Stevens is living a quiet and content fairy tale as a devoted housewife to Simon–just as her traditional Filipino mother has always told her to do–when, after sixteen years of marriage and twenty years together, he tells he wants a divorce.Simon has been Gabby’s everything since they were kids; without him, her world implodes.

But as she navigates her way through the wreckage of the marriage she thought would last forever, she becomes determined to make a life on her own. With New York City as her backdrop, Gabby–single for the first time since she was a teenager–goes back to school, gets her first real job, and faces unfamiliar reality with determination.

Gabby’s life takes another turn when she falls in love with her mysterious but utterly beautiful creative writing professor, Colt. Being with Colt is exhilarating for her–something new, something exciting and beyond understanding. He is almost seven years her junior, and a literary genius. But he is also battling demons of his own: a tragic past that may have made him incapable of love.Is Gabby destined for another heartbreak–or will her connection with Colt be what unbreaks her?

 

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Category: On Writing