“Whether we write or practice any kind of skill or craft, we are always learning. There’s always something to sharpen, to cultivate, to discover, to understand on a deeper, almost cellular level,” said Margarita Tartakovsky, MS.
So, did you decide to try your hand at writing your first book?
Congratulations are in order because it is an experience that you will never regret. Your focus can be on fantasy, autobiography, or a nonfictional guide as well. Though you may consume months to complete one, depending on how long your story will be, you may not feel the exhaustion much as the book takes form.
Nevertheless, before you embark on this journey, check out the following tips to remember for your first book writing stint.
Tip #1: Set Your Goals In Stone
The first thing to consider is the objectives you wish to fulfill throughout the entire activity. From the beginning, plan how many words your book will have. Mark your ending date on the calendar as well based on your writing speed so that you can keep track of time. “Always consider the final result when beginning a task. Have a clear target to hit,” said James Davidson, Ph.D.
Tip #2: Organize Your Ideas
“Use your curiosity to get your work flowing,” says psychologist Susan K Perry Ph.D. In case you typically have random thoughts cruising in your head, you need to learn how to arrange and perhaps compact them into bite-sized pieces. It may be helpful to have a small notepad with you often where you can immediately jot down new ideas. Organizing your research files is also important, primarily if you’re aiming to write a thick book for the first time.
Tip #3: Keep Fickle-Mindedness Away
Being particular about the stuff you’ll talk about in your title can prevent you from deleting a few pages after some time and delaying your debut as an author. There may be a lot of subject matters you wish to cover, but it’s impossible to compile them all into one written work. Thus, pick a single topic and stick to it to the end.
Tip #4: Never Assume It’s Easy
Novice book writers who have zero experience at penning even a short article tend to underestimate the difficulty of writing. Since it’s the brain’s masterpiece, they fail to count in the equation the so-called “writer’s block” and the physical strains that come with the activity. Making the same assumption won’t be beneficial for your first book, so don’t ever do that.
Tip #5: Create A Plot – Or Not
A storyline serves as your guide so that you won’t forget what topics should go in which chapters. You can generate one if and only if you have no qualms about going out of plot at times, which usually happens when the author comes up with a better scenario. Considering you’re OC, then you may forego the summary until you finish the book.
Tip #6: Know Your Characters
The sixth advice is for folks who want to write fiction. This genre is so different from the ones that speak of global warming or fighting depression, for instance, because the latter mostly has the writer as the main character. On the contrary, the former requires you to build up so many personas to make things extra believable for the readers.
What you can always do is conduct an “interview” with all the characters in your book beforehand. Think about how they may act or look like in real life, to be specific. This way, you can have a reference to go back to anytime.
Tip #7: Write Daily
Lastly, never allow a day to pass without scribbling down a part of the literary piece. Some instances can make it challenging, such as busyness, relationship issues, lack of creative thoughts, and whatnot. The more you slack off, though, the more you’ll have difficulty in completing your work.
With the suggestions above to boot, I hope you succeed in writing your first book. Good luck!