writing a book. tips?

Question

I have always wondered this. How do people write books? how can a person go on for 400 or so pages and write many books. Isn't it hard???

I have always wanted to write a book... how would i start out?

Answer 1

You need some sort of inspiration...a good knowledge of English...and lots of patience....good luck!

Answer 2

A god way to start is to think about a theme. Once you have that you must define your characters, that's the most difficult part. Then decide what he's going to do. Once you start writting, a common mistake is to get a little dispersed. What's this??
When you forget about your character and start witting complicated stories about the and leave the main character hanging by a thread on the bottom line. Always focus on the main character and try not to forget him.
Another thing is you have to focus on the audience. If you write for three year old audience, don't write a lot of complicated stuff.
If you write for a older audience, try to write complicated without loosing your point.

Finally try to practice a lot, since many people don't start with 500 page books, try to start step by step. Start with small stories and then move to longer ones.

Answer 3

For me, I think through the story in my head, picture it like people see a movie. Get ideas for tons of cool things I want to do and think through the plot and characters, so they seem like real people that I can emphasize with and care about.

Then when I actually start writing, it feels almost like I'm watching it play out again. I start to feel like I 'have' to get the story told. Sometimes ideas hit me during the writing and it causes things in the story to change but it's almost always for the better.

I think the best place to start is to sit down and write out some general ideas of what you would enjoy writing. Then start with characters. Names and descriptions come first and then write a little backstory for them, let the personalities kind of work their way out of all that. Once you know your characters, writing them into a story is pretty easy.

And not all people have to write epic novels, some people do much better writing shorter stories or turning their stories into a series rather than one long book. If you're just starting out, I would recommend writing a short story, to get a bit of a foothold.

Another option for beginners is fanfiction. You write a story based on an already existing books/TV shows/movies...etc. (Things like Harry Potter are very popular subjects) You get a basic knowledge of writing but you don't have to develope everything yourself. It's a good stepping stone, in my opinion. Here is a site you could look at if fanfiction interests you at all.

www.fanfiction.net

Answer 4

Yes, writing a book is definitely hard work. I am working on my first novel, and it's a struggle. You must have discipline and a great desire to finish.

If it's your first book, what I have found that really helps me: Have your characters planned out before you begin writing. Maybe write a character sketch for each main character. Also, have an outline of your plot written out. You don't necessarily have to stick with it, but it gives you something to spur you on.

Decide that you will either write for a certain amount of time each day or that you will write a certain number of words each day.

When you hit the 30 page blahs - where you've written 30 pages and begin to doubt your abilities and wonder if it's worth it - seek out good books that help you with writing. I have two books thus far that have really spurred me on: "Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook" by Donald Maass and "45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters" by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. There are MANY great resources out there to help the first time novellist. Those are just two that have inspired me.

Set a deadline for when you want to FINISH your book, and try to stick to it as much as you can. Otherwise, it will just remain a dream inside your head.

You may want to join a writer's group either online or in person. I'm a member of http://www.newbie-writers.com, but there are many others if that one doesn't meet your needs. http://www.fmwriters.com always has free workshops and challenges, and its geared towards writers who sincerely want to get published.
There is also http://www.fictionfactor.com and http://www.absolutewrite.com .

I've also been told by a few other writers that any Writer's Digest book on writing is very helpful.

Good luck!!

Answer 5

I recommend writing a one or two page short story of the book you have in mind. This would give you a road map for the book, including a opening and an ending.

Answer 6

Hi you must prepare yourself so that when you sit down to write you do so without constraints and doubts.

A WHITE PAGE AND NO PLANNING OR ORGANIZATION IS A VERY BAD IDEA IT WILL FRUSTRATE YOU AND IS NO GOOD WHEN THERE ARE DEADLINES.

So organize yourself.
first you need to find a "formal" book on how to write where it tells you about the industries cannons for different types of stories lengths, how to punctuate.

Then need info on how to org anise the material, plan and org anise yourself so you do not have to look at white page. recommend you Sid Field´s books on scriptwriting since the techniques Also work for all kind of material. this books comes with concrete writing exercises to complete a good story

GAL

SF

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Answer 7

First, don't let anyone read anything you've written until you're on, at least, your second complete draft. The story will change over the course of writing the first draft, and it will take at least one revision to get it comprehensible. Nothing will kill a flow like negative feedback.

Second, do your research. Your story has to hang on a believable structure. If you're writing about a secretary in New York, she is not going to hop in her convertible and buzz over to the theater district for lunch. She's going to order in from the local deli and take the subway home. Readers will believe that she can see ghosts and fly, but not that she can get through Manhattan traffic. The more familiar your topic is for your reader, the more accurately you have to handle the material.

Answer 8

It's not hard if you are a good writer and have a good idea for a story, or lots of stories for that matter. The advice I can give you is that if you want to write a story, first you have to get an idea for one, and decide what it's going to be about, who your characters are going to be, etc. Once you do get an idea, the words will just flow out onto the page. At least they do for me. Good luck! :)

Answer 9

OK, the way to do it is to write two books. First, you write your life story. Think about everything that ever happened to you that had an emotional impact; think of everything that shaped who you are now, and write it all down like somebody actually cared. Write your memoirs. That's your practice book, and I bet you'll be surprised how long it gets once you start digging around in your memory.

Next step--the preceding was probably written in a series of diary-entry essay-type things. Go through the hundreds of pages of crap you managed to churn out and figure out a way to assemble it that will tell a story. You can use chronological order, but, really now, we're all bored with that. Figure out a way to skip around that won't totally confuse the reader. Find common themes among the hundred of individual scenes at your disposal. You might want to print them all out and shuffle them around at this point. Then, you'll probably have to write some bridges to tie together scenes that shouldn't really be side-by-side.

OK, now you have your practice book finished. Throw it away--it's crap. But take what you learned about yourself and what you learned about the narrative structure and apply it to a story about people you make up. The best way to make up believable people...well, the most common way, is to take one aspect of your personality and magnify it to absurdity. If your story has a villian, have the villian posess the traits you hate about yourself. If your story has a hero, give the hero the traits you wish you had. That sort of thing. Use your own mind as your template for your characters. Remember now--you have to be big enough to hold in your mind every character in your book. You have to be able to see everything from each of their points of view anyway, pulling them out of your own personality will make things easier on ya for a first novel.

And as for many books--the only author of which I know who ever figured out how to write more than one book is Stephen King. He can write horror and heartwarming. But everybody else just recycles their first book over and over again. Trust me--figure out how to write the first one and the rest will slide like grease through a goose. Good luck!

Answer 10

It's simple. The beginning is the hardest part, but once you start typing or hand writing, you'll be amassed. So take a blank word document and start writing. Free your imagination.You'll be surprised!

Answer 11

blank page blank paper brain storm ive been working on one for awhile sometimes you get like 5 pages then take them out once you get into it its easy to keep going try to be the charectors in your story