Book Writing

So you want to write a book. But where do you begin?

Doing short writing assignments is one thing, but how do you sit down and write a 100,000 word book manuscript?

Writing a book can seem like such a mammoth task if you’ve never done it before. But like any other large task, you just have to take it one step at a time.

Some authors say that they begin a novel without even knowing where their story is progressing to or how it’s going to end.

Yet others sit down and map out a chapter-by-chapter outline before they even begin to write the first word.

And if you are a beginner then it’s better to start writing your book with a plan.

Start by thinking what you want to write about. If you are writing fiction, think of the characters that will be in your story, their personal flaws, the crisis they will face and how they will overcome it.

If you are writing non-fiction, devise a table of contents and write down a description of your book and what makes it better than any other book written on the same subject.

Then start writing your book. Turn off your spell-checker (if you’re using a computer), don’t answer the door and ignore anything that might try and distract you. Just stay focused on your work and keep writing.

Make sure that you don’t try and edit your work as you write. If you forget a name just leave a note or mark the space in some way so that you can look it up later. If you miss-spell something ignore it and keep going. You can always run the spell-checker over your work once you’ve finished.

Just keep writing, even if you think you’ve gone wrong or that your writing is bad. You’ll probably find later as you read back through your work, that things weren’t as bad as they seemed.

Once you’ve finished your whole manuscript, put it away for a few days (or longer if possible) before you read it again. That way you can look at it with “fresh” eyes and see how wonderful your writing actually is.

And now is the time to edit your work but try not to be too self-critical and know when to stop making changes.

Then your work is done.

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