Choose a topic you already know well. You won't have time to do much research and should already have the majority of the book in your head or at least at your fingertips. Writing is hard work and it's unlikely you'll be able to produce more than 4 type-written pages day after day, especially if you spend hours on research.
Writing has a beginning, middle, and an end. Some writers start at the end and then try to figure out how the story got there. Others like to start at the very beginning and work their way through to the end. And still others start with an idea that could be anywhere in the story. They just simply start.Start writing is the best advice any new writer can learn from an old pro. But, when they start talking to several old pros, they come to realize that there is no one way to begin. Each strategy works for each writer, so new writers may want to try several strategies until they find what works. But if you really want to hold a writer's imagination to the fire to get a definitive answer to how to write a book, then please read on.
If you're looking to write fiction, get the general storyline in your head and just start. No doubt the story will take twists and turns along the way, so don't worry too much at the beginning if you don't know where you're headed - just get at it. Don't worry about perfection. Just keep writing. You will need to do some re-writing no matter how perfect you think your writing is. It doesn't matter if you're a member of Mensa, you and every other writer should count on the need for at least minor revisions. You may not believe this at first, but when you finally complete your manuscript and put it aside for a few weeks, you'll find you've written things that require clarification, or abridging, or re-structuring. Passages of conversation that once seemed natural to you may later feel stilted. But don't worry about this while you're writing. Just keep going.
Everyone has a book inside them, or so the saying goes. But few people get that book out. Often it's because of lack of time. So, how can you get your book written inside a week or two?I was talking to a friend yesterday who complained they couldn't find time to write their book. They had an idea, but could never find the time. They wanted to know how did I manage to get books written so quickly - was there a magic formula I used. So I told him my story and thought I'd share it here.
If you're inspired by Harry Potter, you know you're writing a children's novel. Imagine your book on the shelves, right beside the rows of Harry Potters.This isn't an idle exercise, or a fantasy. You must know what you're writing, so please visit that bookstore. "What is it?" is the first thing an agent will want to know when you contact her to represent your book. It's also the first thing an editor at a publishing house will want to know.So, what are you writing? If you don't know, or aren't sure, think about it and visit a bookstore if you need to. You can write a book and get published if you know what you're writing, and who will want to read it.
Once I've got a reasonable collection of material, which might take days, weeks, or months to accumulate, I'll then go through it and start to put it in order. I'll use the list of questions I've written to help guide me in this and then I'll use the sorted piles of information to help me come up with chapter headings. This might take me a day, but by the end of that day I'll have a complete, detailed outline of my book - plus all the associated background information which will help me write it.Then I can start writing. To do this I often go away from home. In the past I used to hire a holiday cottage somewhere idyllic. Nowadays I go to my own holiday home down near Bognor Regis. But it means I can write without the distractions of the office. If you have a book of, say 30,000 words to write, that's only 5,000 words a day for six days. That's one chapter in the morning and one in the afternoon. Or, put it another way, you need to write around 750 words an hour - or one word every five seconds. Now that's not many is it?
Writing has a beginning, middle, and an end. Some writers start at the end and then try to figure out how the story got there. Others like to start at the very beginning and work their way through to the end. And still others start with an idea that could be anywhere in the story. They just simply start.Start writing is the best advice any new writer can learn from an old pro. But, when they start talking to several old pros, they come to realize that there is no one way to begin. Each strategy works for each writer, so new writers may want to try several strategies until they find what works. But if you really want to hold a writer's imagination to the fire to get a definitive answer to how to write a book, then please read on.
If you're looking to write fiction, get the general storyline in your head and just start. No doubt the story will take twists and turns along the way, so don't worry too much at the beginning if you don't know where you're headed - just get at it. Don't worry about perfection. Just keep writing. You will need to do some re-writing no matter how perfect you think your writing is. It doesn't matter if you're a member of Mensa, you and every other writer should count on the need for at least minor revisions. You may not believe this at first, but when you finally complete your manuscript and put it aside for a few weeks, you'll find you've written things that require clarification, or abridging, or re-structuring. Passages of conversation that once seemed natural to you may later feel stilted. But don't worry about this while you're writing. Just keep going.
Everyone has a book inside them, or so the saying goes. But few people get that book out. Often it's because of lack of time. So, how can you get your book written inside a week or two?I was talking to a friend yesterday who complained they couldn't find time to write their book. They had an idea, but could never find the time. They wanted to know how did I manage to get books written so quickly - was there a magic formula I used. So I told him my story and thought I'd share it here.
If you're inspired by Harry Potter, you know you're writing a children's novel. Imagine your book on the shelves, right beside the rows of Harry Potters.This isn't an idle exercise, or a fantasy. You must know what you're writing, so please visit that bookstore. "What is it?" is the first thing an agent will want to know when you contact her to represent your book. It's also the first thing an editor at a publishing house will want to know.So, what are you writing? If you don't know, or aren't sure, think about it and visit a bookstore if you need to. You can write a book and get published if you know what you're writing, and who will want to read it.
Once I've got a reasonable collection of material, which might take days, weeks, or months to accumulate, I'll then go through it and start to put it in order. I'll use the list of questions I've written to help guide me in this and then I'll use the sorted piles of information to help me come up with chapter headings. This might take me a day, but by the end of that day I'll have a complete, detailed outline of my book - plus all the associated background information which will help me write it.Then I can start writing. To do this I often go away from home. In the past I used to hire a holiday cottage somewhere idyllic. Nowadays I go to my own holiday home down near Bognor Regis. But it means I can write without the distractions of the office. If you have a book of, say 30,000 words to write, that's only 5,000 words a day for six days. That's one chapter in the morning and one in the afternoon. Or, put it another way, you need to write around 750 words an hour - or one word every five seconds. Now that's not many is it?
No comments:
Post a Comment