It seems that only someone very special can write a book. How do people do this? Of course, in order to write your first work, you need a lot of knowledge, outstanding imagination, willpower, diligence, and, undoubtedly, the ability to express your thoughts on paper. If you have all these, it is time to release a bestseller. Therefore, we will give you some tips to help in the writing of your first book.
What to Write About
Think over why and for what you want to write a book. What would you like to share with readers, what to tell about, what to encourage to? However, such answer as, “I want to write a book to become famous" is also appropriate.
If you are an author of specialized or business literature, find a topic that captures you, about which you know, or can engage in the experts for help.
You can collect in the book the wisdom of many people or the pieces of advice that your parents gave you and that helped you to succeed in life. You can also write about your life experience.
Or, perhaps, you wanted already for a long time to tell people about fictional worlds and their heroes, to discover a fantasy world of the past, the present, or the future? These are also great topics for the book, which will certainly find its reader.
It does not matter whether it is prose, poetry, or non-fiction, just start!
Make a Plan or Sketch a Story
The plan of the book or its plot, if you decided to write a bells lettres, will help you to move more easily during the writing and create a complete text in the end.
The plan may look different: successive items resembling the usual contents of a book, a map of thoughts, or simply a sequence of events. If you are not yet ready to make a plan, write down on the separate cards all the ideas crowding on your head and then try to collect them into a single picture.
Also, it can be helpful to use the short references describing the key features of the characters of the work. Such a card file will help make the characters more alive and visually show their characters.
How to Start Writing a Book
Start in spite of everything. Little time? Is there no suitable place to retire? Thoughts are confused, and you do not understand what will be the first chapter? Leave these excuses and sit at any table, call it a working one, and start writing.
Many authors write nonlinearly: they start from the middle, from the end, and jump from thought to thought. This technique allows you to maintain a degree of interest and efficiency. Write what you can, and only then arrange the chapters in the right order, make an introduction and a conclusion.
First Write, Then Edit
"Write drunk, edit sober," – advised Ernest Hemingway. Is it worth to involve alcohol in the writing process – well, it is a personal decision of each person, but the truth is that you must first write, giving yourself up completely to an uprush and absorbing into the work, and after a while back to the written material and edit it. Trying to polish the text in the process of writing, you get out of the working state, lose your train of thought and non-standard turns. After all, it is much more effective to write 10,000 characters of the "unpolished" text, rather than 3-4 thousand verified and weighed.
How Not to Be Distracted
As much as possible, create yourself the ideal conditions for writing a book. What does help you write? Silence, white noise, classical music? Do everything in your power to provide yourself with perfect conditions. Moreover, think over a ritual that will set you up for work: begin at the same time or listen to your favorite piece of music before work.
How Not to Threw Writing a Book
Make a public statement. To friends, relatives or subscribers in social networks, tell them that you started writing a book and you plan to finish it by a certain date. Public commitments will not let you relax.
Write every day. Whatever happens, whatever mood you have, write at least 20-30 minutes daily. Try not to break the chain. If at first the muse wanders somewhere during your work, be persistent. Continue to write, design a story, or collect materials. Over time, the muse will start coming on time.
The volume of many books is not more than 30 thousand words. If for half an hour you will manage to write 150 words, then 30 thousand words will be written just over 12 standard working days.
Where to Look for Inspiration
Well, you do not need it. True. Perceive the book writing as a job. It can be easy and pleasant, and sometimes hard and tedious, but it is a job and you have to do it if you want (substitute it with a desired) to communicate your ideas, images and stories to the audience, create a real bestseller, make money, become a famous author, and create further.
If you write only when you have inspiration, this process can drag on for years, or it may not end at all.
However, you can slightly spur your brain to creativity. Try to walk more outside. They say that the legs are the wheels of thoughts. Different ideas came to many writers during walks in the open air. Communicate with people, listen to music, have breakfast at your favorite cafe. And maybe inspiration comes when you do some work around the house or in the garden?
Also, observe the world around you as far as it often throws stories and ideas and you just have to catch them. Keep a small notebook or smartphone ready to record thoughts, observations, ideas that have visited you. If you record everything that happens around you, very soon you will gather the material for several books.
We are sure that we inspired you finally to proceed to writing the book. Good luck and look forward to your masterpiece!