If you’re a fan of reading, you’ve probably wondered how to write a book. You may have pondered different ideas for several years to write a story, like your favorite writers. You may even have several notebooks and journals full of interesting stories that you dare not publish.
Although writing a book isn’t easy, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Also, if you have the determination and drive to rise to the level of J.K. Rowling, we are sure that learning to write a book will be a more tolerable process for you.
Of course, quite apart from the will that you must have for writing, there are a few tips for writing a book that every aspiring writer should know. There are a total of 10 unmistakable tips you can’t miss if you want to create a bestseller, and we’ll present each of them here.
As if that weren’t enough, in the last section of this post, you’ll also find a list of the most common mistakes writers make when writing their first book. So once you’re familiar with them, you’ll be ready to write a successful book.
So stop putting your talent on hold, it’s time to get started!
Why write a book?
There are countless reasons to learn how to write a book. In fact, they vary from writer to writer, as each artist’s mind is different. However, one of the main reasons to start writing a book is to share some idea, story, or philosophy with others, just as a singer does with music.
Now, if you’re here to figure out how to write your first book, it’s okay to have fears and insecurities before you start. Nerves are part of the journey because even the most famous writers have had to struggle with them in the beginning.
Learn without limitations and achieve your best version
To deal with these limitations, it’s important to drop the excuses and take the risk of writing a book with the following reasons in mind:
- Writing a book is your legacy to the world.
- People love discovering new writers with amazing stories.
- Raise your personal brand and position yourself for better opportunities
- You’ll learn new things along the way.
- You’ll discover what you love most: writing.
As you can see, on the creative journey that means writing a book, you can discover your passions, connect with yourself, and with the people who share your passions.
With all that said, we hope you’re encouraged and ready to make a bestseller by knowing how to write a book with the tips you’ll see later.
Tips for writing your first book
Now that you know why writing a book is a very good idea for any book lover, it’s time to explore some tips to learn how to write a book step by step.
To that end, we’re going to share with you 10 tips for writing a book that you should learn well before you grab your notebook and start writing. Rest assured that if you follow these steps to write a book, this creative experience will be much more enjoyable.
1. Find the right place to be creative
Let’s start with one of the tips that many writers don’t talk about, but it’s important to understand how to write a book from scratch.
Especially in the beginning, placing yourself in a place free of distractions will not only stimulate your creativity, but also keep you from losing the thread of ideas as you develop the plot of the story. Remember, when writing a book, you have to make sure that all the pieces fit together.
Once you have more experience or clearly define each part of your story, we’re sure you’ll be able to write a book from anywhere.
2. Choose a genre that you know well
The second tip on how to learn how to write a book is important for two reasons.
First, you will have an easier time moving forward in the writing process if you know the genre you want to pursue, because you will have an idea of the structure and its constituent elements.
It also helps a lot to know a particular genre, because by reading other books, you know where you can get inspiration and references. Without a doubt, with this book writing advice, you can save time and feel more comfortable with what you write in your drafts.
The second reason is that the more you know about a particular genre of book, the more you will know about the reading public. But does it really help? Of course it does! In fact, understanding the audience is the key to starting to write a book.
Remember that copies of your books will go to the big fans of the genre. So knowing what the public likes will really help you in the process of writing a successful book.
3. Brainstorm to find the perfect topic
Formulating an idea for writing a book is very difficult. Therefore, the third tip on how to write a book.
According to American writer Jerry Jenkins , the idea you decide to write a book should be something you are passionate about. That way, you will have no shortage of motivation to push your literary project forward on a daily basis.
Exactly, one of the main reasons why people don’t finish a book is because the idea they chose was not suitable to build a few pages.
Now, how can you know if the ideas for writing a book that come to your mind are the best ones? First and foremost, we recommend brainstorming ideas to assess the value of each topic so that when you choose the right one to write your book, you will be confident that the story will turn out well.
It is also advisable to ask the people closest to you if they find the idea unbelievable. In the same way, you can do the following exercise: imagine which characters are born from this idea and how each of them develops. If you notice that you have the material to develop this story, you have found the perfect topic to start writing your book!
4. Make an outline of your book.
The fourth tip in our guide will help you through the process of writing your book. So pay attention to the following lines.
Before you write your book, it is important that you determine what your story will be about, meaning you not only need to decide what genre the book will be in, you also need to keep in mind the central points of the story. plot and the story of the characters.
The following questions will help you determine the basis for writing your book:
- Who are the main characters?
- What are the characteristics of the characters and what are their personalities?
- What is the purpose of each character in the story?
- What do you want to say?
- How will you tell the story?
- What will be the conflict in the story?
- What will be the ending of your characters?
- What lesson do you want to teach your readers?
In short, making a plan with the most important information in the story will help you systematize your ideas so that you don’t lose the plot and understand more easily how to write a book.
5. Break down the process of writing a book into small tasks.
When one realizes that the path to achieving one’s goals is long and requires a lot of patience, one is likely to give up if one fails to organize oneself. This scenario also applies to writing a book, as the process is not simple or happens all at once.
So if you want to finish your book and not give up along the way, you must understand that people love small accomplishments, as this dynamic is crucial to avoid demotivation.
But how do you write a book without getting bogged down by the passage of time? Very simple: organize yourself so that you can create small tasks each day to move the writing process forward.
To do this, determine how many pages should be in the book, set small daily, weekly, or bi-weekly goals. For example, the most popular method of writing a book among some writers is to set an approximate number of words to write per day.
Don’t forget that you must be responsible for the commitment you make to write the book. Download this personal study schedule to accomplish your book writing project in the most flexible and efficient way possible.
6. Set a deadline to finish writing the book
Another tip to help you answer the question of how to write a book is to set a start and finish date for your project. Sometimes, by striving for perfectionism when writing a book, you can make the mistake of extending the time to finish it.
So when it comes to writing a book, it’s important to organize yourself with a calendar and set a realistic date by which you plan to finish. In doing so, you will demand that you stick to the agreed-upon date for the delivery and realization of your masterpiece.
Also, if you later want to publish your book with a publisher, you should know that deadlines can be very tight if you don’t discipline your time. So, this will be the previous exercise to get used to the demands of the marketplace.
7. Ask the opinion of your friends, family, or acquaintances
To learn how to write a successful book, it is important to get feedback from people before you finish your work. Following this recommendation to write a book, it is important to know the strengths and weaknesses of the story.
According to Jeff Goins , an American writer, if you want to write a book that tells an interesting and logical story, it is important that you seek out opinions that help you distinguish between what is worth keeping in the story and what does not create value.
This is the trick to writing a book in which you can get help from everyone you know, whether it’s friends, family, or a specialized publisher. Of course, you have to be sure that each of them will give you honest feedback. Otherwise, the process will not be effective.
8. Create a terrific start.
Well, as part of the sixth tip for learning how to write a book, you must answer the following question: do you want your readers to read your book and finish it to the end? The path to that may be a little harder than it sounds, but it really depends on your first steps.
In other words, if you want to succeed when you start writing your book, make an impressive start so that your audience is hooked right away. It’s important that you be straightforward and clear about what you want to convey. For example, you might begin your story with a startling event, such as a murder, a major robbery, or a sudden death.
Another method of writing a book that may interest your audience is to tell the end of the story from the beginning. Then throughout the book you can help the reader figure out what happened to get to that ending. Many books and movies have had great success with this strategy.
But no matter what interaction strategy you use to write your book, remember that the goal is for readers to get into your wonderful work. To that end, I recommend reading the best books for aspiring writers that you can refer to during the literary process.
9. Create a writing habit.
As humans, we have a hard time creating good habits in our lives. But, as we mentioned earlier, if you aspire to become a successful writer, one very important quality is discipline.
So, one of the answers to the question of how to write a book is a lot of discipline and persistence.
Now, how do you develop the habit of writing? To that end, I leave you with a few ideas that you can put into practice every day to start writing a book.
- Write at the same time every day
- Keep your writing space defined
- Put aside email and social media
- Do exercises against writing stupor
We know that creating a habit can be difficult, but if one of your main goals right now is to start writing a successful book, rest assured that the few hours spent on this process are worth it.
10. Use a book writing program
Finally, you should know that you will find it easier to write a book with a writing program. While Word is very helpful for writing or editing books, this program does not offer as many tools as other software.
Faced with this, there are programs that offer you interesting features that will come in handy when writing a book.
Therefore, if you want to be more organized and publish a successful book in the future, you need to work with specialized book writing software. In addition, you will look like a great writer in front of many publishers.
Writing a book is a real challenge. There is no greater proof than a blank slate to fill with that great work that has not yet been written. It may be clear in your head, you may even visualize it, but transferring it to an office program (or to a pen or stylus if you prefer more traditional ways) is not easy.
There’s also no specific time how long it takes to write a book. Although we can tell you that it will take longer if you don’t really understand how to do it, or if you apply certain rules when writing a manuscript .
Of course, it also takes large doses of talent to write a book. But while power without control is useless, the gift of writing without good management. Also, it never hurts to have a few guidelines to help you find the right path to get through the blank pages that will eventually make up your work.
How to choose the topic of your book
The first step in writing a book is the idea. But to know how to write it, you need a clear idea of the topic and the literary genre. To do this, you need to ask yourself a series of questions, starting with “What do I want to tell?” Let’s go back to the image you have in your head, on which your work will revolve.
Do you want to convey your feelings? In this case, it’s best to bet on poetry. Although, of course, you can share your emotions related to a specific period of your life, perhaps you should bet on autobiography . And if you want to convey a compelling story? A novel is undoubtedly your best choice, unless it has the characteristics appropriate to a short story.
To find yourself in this map of literary genres and topics, it’s best to follow a series of guidelines (yes, we’ve already started with a step-by-step guide on how to write a book ).
These tips are.
- Think about what you want to say . We’ve already said what idea you have in your head is a good starting point to start writing a book. It’s kind of a truism, but romance verse is far from scary.
- Think about how you want to say it. It gets more complicated because it’s not just what you want to say that matters, but how you’re going to do it. Verse, prose, theater, popular text… When you find the answer, you’ll get closer to learning how to write a book.
- Do an outline. We’re not asking you to write a book, but rather to at least create a sample of what it could be. That way, you can check for yourself to see if the idea you wanted to tell is on paper and if you did it in the best way possible.
- Compare it with other writers. Once you have this outline, compare it to other authors that you think are similar. Is the comparison realistic? In this case, you will be closer to defining the theme of your book.
- Ask for advice. Don’t throw that sketch away just yet! Without reaching the level of zero readers, you can show this snippet to your acquaintances, literature lovers, so they can tell you if they understand what you wanted to tell and the method you chose, which means you succeeded with your chosen theme and genre…