I want to write a book but i dont know the first thing about getting started can anyone help?

Question

im want to write a book but i dont know the first thing about getting started does it cost alot of money to get started?

Answer 1

I seriously believe writing is a gift one is born with. However, once you recognize your gift, you have to train it and hone it into a skill and talent. That takes education and hopefully a great mentor to work with. I was lucky enough to have had two such mentors in my life. As I am a believer in the 12 steps, the 12th steps states that one should pass on the things they have learned, and I now mentor others, including an absolutely brilliant 15 year old (you know who you are kiddo! whom I met here.)

The first step is brainstorming. Get yourself a black and white marble notebook. Fill it with thoughts and ideas. They don't have to make any sense to you and they don't have to be related. Just fill it. Fill more than one if you want to. Just learn to let thoughts flow and get them recorded. I carry a small tape recorder with me - in my car and beside my bed because great thoughts come to me at those times and I got tired of pulling into Mc Donald's parking lot to write.

From there, read through your thoughts and highlight things that sound interesting. Choose different color highlights for different stories so you can organize thoughts into stories later on.

Try writing a lot of short pieces. Fragments, very short stories, paragraphs, anything - based on the thoughts you pull out of your notebooks.

From there, sooner or later something will lend itself to a longer work. There is the start of your novel.

Then start organizing your thoughts into an outline. You can also add a story curve - which is like a rainbow with the climax at the top and the stuff that builds up to it on one side and the conclusions on the other. Those help too.

After that start working on your characters. Good solid character studies are needed. I do not mean "Her name is Brandi and she cute blonde hair and blue eyes and she is rich. " That's B/S. What I mean is good solid details - past, present, future. Flesh out your characters and give them lives. Make a stack of file cards for each character and really make them real people. You can even search magazines and stuff for pictures of people who look like how you envision your characters. One hint - stay away from movie star pics. You do not want to infuse the star's personality or the personality of a character he or she played into your character. Keep it REAL.

Now comes the really hard part and the longest part. RESEARCH. Here is where the phrase "write about what you know" comes into play. That is not to say you can only write about your life and the people you know. That means that if you choose to write about a subject, you MUST become an expert on it. Don't cheat your readers by faking it. Whatever subject you choose to write about, learn everything you can about it.

I write mystery novels. I also ghostwrite children's books for a very famous sports personality. I estimate it takes me five times as long to do the research as it does to write the books. I don't have the luxury of having TWO research assistants like James Patterson does. I do it all myself. I am currently researching a new children's book and it is very very time consuming. You cheat your readers if you fake it. Believe me - they will know and you will get letters.

After that, take your character cards and spread them out on a blank table. Start figuring out whose life rubs against whose life and how. Nobody has just one thing going on in their lives. Everybody's life rubs up against different people's lives in different ways. Those connections become your backstories and subplots. They tie your story together. Add them to your outline - a different color ink for each backstory or subplot so you can pick them out easily and move them around if you want later on.

This may take you weeks - even months to get to this point and you don't have a word on paper yet. NOW you are ready to start writing. You need a kick tail first sentence that really draws your reader into your story - and off you go.

In about 6 months or so, you should have a first draft. Then you go back to square one and do a second draft.

After two or three drafts, you are ready to hire an editor. From there you are ready to start seeking publishers or agents and sending out queries. Start developing a really thick hide. Expect rejection and plenty of it. Gone with the Wind was rejected 50 times. Only one author in history has ever been able to just write without an editor - O Henry. Believe me - all of us wish we could turn out stories like The Gift of the Magi on the first try, but it just doesn't happen. That's why we need drafts and editors.

Once you get an agent or publisher interested, have a polished manuscript and a great book proposal ready to send out. The book proposal is your most important tool. That is what the agent shows the editor at the publisher to convince them to publish you. Then the editor shows it to the acquisition committee and they make a final decision about your book.

It is now about 2 -3 years since you wrote in those black and white notebooks.

As for costs, the only thing you pay for is the editor. An agent is permitted to charge you for printing of copies, mailing expenses and long distance calls - nothing else. They make their money by taking 15% of your royalties and advance. If a publisher is asking you for money, they are a vanity or self publisher or a POD Print on Demand publisher and you should avoid them. They just print books for you. They cannot get them onto shelves in stores. That is your job.

After that, once you have received an advance, do not be surprised if you have to use a good deal of it - it not all of it - to promote the book. Publishers very rarely offer marketing budgets to first time authors. You have to promote yourself. Learn to advocate for yourself. It can mean the difference between selling that entire first run of books and getting a second printing or having your first run end up on the bargain tables at Borders and Barnes and Noble - where you make ZERO for sales.

I hope that helps. It is a long and tedious process. You have a lot to learn. Good luck.
Pax - C

Answer 2

It doesn't cost anything except a lot of time! It takes a tremendous amount of effort to find an agent, a publisher, and you will need an editor. The idea doesn't cost anything so just start typing. The Writer's Market is a good book to point you in the right direction to find somewhere to market your book. What you could do initially is while you are writing the book, submit a chapter or two with a query letter to prospective agents. Good luck and happy writing.

Answer 3

First, get yourself to a library and find a book on writing. Grab a pen and paper and plot a story. Find something that grabs you, pulls you in, and something that you want to explore for a month or two. Then start writing. Make yourself a plan of how much you're going to write daily, weekly, and monthly. Chart your success and give yourself a present when you're done.

It's not the writing that's hard, it's the finding the things that haven't already been written. Different plots, people, and things. You don't want to tell the same story over and over, because that's boring.

Good luck!

Trilli

Answer 4

To start a book all you have to do is have a good idea with a plot line and characters. Know where you want the story to go and how you want to end it and you should be set to begin. Make sure you know you're characters really well, at least the main characters. That's always important and I would say before you start writing outline the entire story from start to finish so that you know what your going to write throughout the entire thing. Then also make sure you know the backgroud information. Where it takes place, the time in which it takes place, the life styles of the people in that period and so on.

Answer 5

I would suggest you start by improving your grammar. If you're question is any indication of your writing skills, I don't think you have what it takes to get published.

But, no, it doesn't cost anything to write a book...at least not beyond the cost of a computer or pen and paper. The hard pard is finding somebody to publish it...and that doesn't cost anything either, though you generally have to find an agent who thinks he/she can make money for both of you.

You can self-publish a book, but that does cost a lot of money for printing, distribution, etc...though pretty much anybody can put something online for next to nothing...but you won't get paid for it either.

Answer 6

Well, obviously as far as money goes, I don't suppose it costs too much. Just look at J.K. Rowling. All it cost her was a lot of time, imagination, and a whole lot of napkins. Actually, the napkins were payed for by the coffee shop where she did most of her writing in the beginning before she was discovered.

Answer 7

"Getting Started" can mean a lot of different things!
1. Writing the book...software, computer....etc.
2. Printing your book...styles, graphics...etc.
3. Publishing you book...mass, limited, stores...etc.
Need more info on what you mean by "Getting Started"
Thanks

Answer 8

once apon atime ... in a dark jungle . there was a alone boy . he was 16 years old . when he was 5 years old his mother and father leave him there . beacuse he was 16th child of that family . he lived with a big bear 11 year . but one day ......................................................................................................................... ( ok ... you shoud continue this story )