If you’re a beginner writer who is considering writing your first book, then congratulations to you! The journey will be an exciting, interesting and rewarding one. The following tips will help you along. Read on to learn how to write a book.
1. Kick-start your writing
“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
So, erase self-doubt from your mind and start penning your thoughts. Start with fewer words. Prepare a rough outline for your writing. Your writing could be a story or an article. Introduce a beginning, middle and a conclusion to your writing. This way your writing will flush out. It is also a good idea to set a fixed time slot for writing. Choose a time slot when you are relatively free; it could be early morning or late night. Some prefer to write when there is silence around. You should also choose your favorite spot to write. This could be a reading nook in your room or somewhere else where you can gather your thoughts and just jot them down.
2. Motivate yourself
You may have splendid thoughts but if you do not pen down, then your talent goes waste. Therefore, motivate yourself. How do you motivate yourself to write? There are many ways to do so. Try keeping your favorite book near your writing desk. Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief or Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing can be great motivators. Another thing that you can try is reading your favorite quotes. You will find good inspirational websites that offer some solid articles and good quotations. Goodreads has a good collection of quotes. Sometimes, anything you find visually appealing may trigger your writing thoughts. This could be your favorite photograph, poster, letter or a card shared by someone close to you. For example, imagine yourself looking at your favorite photograph of your daughter standing on a beach. Stare a few minutes at the photograph and let your thoughts flow. You can create a character in your story or even title your short story or poem as By the Beach. Select a song or music that appeals to your genre of writing. There may be something in the song that appeals to your creative side.
3. Know your audience
If you are planning to sell your book, then you should know who your readers are. Are your readers young adults or pre-teens? So, you need to tweak your writing according to your readers.
4. Flesh details later
Some of you may or may not find this idea useful. It is a good idea to jot down points when you get the “spark” and then later flesh them out to develop your plot or character. Your subsequent drafts should help you to expand your writing.
5. Find an editor
It is a good idea to find an editor who can proofread your manuscript. You may be good at proofreading but if someone else is reading your writing, it should make sense to him or her. Give your manuscript to an experienced editor who will be able to provide you honest feedback.
Image credit: Walt Stoneburner on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0
I’m Smitha Abraham. I love traveling in my flights of imagination and use these flights to craft short stories and poetry. I am a budding writer from India. My passions are reading, creative writing, listening to music, learning new languages, meeting new people, getting acquainted with different cultures and traveling. Authors like Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, genres like magic realism, historical romance, and writing styles that are imaginative and flow effortlessly fascinate me. I love to unwind with a book curled up on a sofa or by gazing at the stars by the sea shore. I am a nature lover and spending time admiring the sunset and sunrise is relaxing for me.