Help starting a book?

Question

Okay, so I want to start writing a book but I'm not sure what the process is and how to start it. I know the simple five sentence plot but not a full summary yet. I have all the characters down and even went into Word notebook layout and filled in their appearance, age, Ect. Please help.

Answer 1

I am a writer. i love it. Here's how I started writing my first serious book.



1. I selected a genre (mystery, love, comedy, etc.)

2. i created my characters

3. I created a plot

4. Wrote down a shortened version of the main story line.

5. wrote the book



( writing takes a lot of effort and just when you feel like you hate it and want to snap your pencil in half, that's when you have to keep going. Don't get discouraged either, it takes a long time to write a good book so just keep going. But if you write too much, you might get tired of it and won't want to keep going so maybe limit yourself to a certain number of chapters a day.)

Answer 2

There are heaps of different ways of strong a book. A lot f the time I do what you've already done and write out characters and a starting plot. It's good to know exactly where you want your book to start and end.



Generally people know what's going to happen but don't know how to put it into words. Really, just start writing. If you can't do that record your voice on a phone or something and describe a chapter. Then play to back and write it down.



Sometimes you can have a chapter written out in your head but don't know how to get there. If you do have this problem write down the chapter or part and save it so you don't forget it.

Answer 3

I like what Bryn had to say, but I can't believe he published his email address. Anyway, sounds like all you really have are the characters. Great characters are essential, but the story trumps all. You can try this 2 ways:



1. Start writing, and if you really have a strong idea of who your characters are, they will actually take over the story, and you'll just have to type it in. This worked for me, until I had so many ideas in my head I had to stop and outline them all.



2. Work like Bryn suggested; create the plot, secondary plot, and subplot. You'll need to work through a very long outline to help you develop the content of each chapter. Very critical: the main character must have a realistic motivation. Falling in love with some girl during the story is not a motivation. Why does he want what he wants. What is he willing to sacrifice to get it? If you really want to make his character work, make his motivation evolve as he evolves. Maybe he's very selfish in the beginning, but as he develops in the story he realizes there's more to life than this stupid thing he was going for in the first place.

Answer 4

Use your 5 sentences and expand on them to write a rough outline. Use bullet points if that's helpful and list the key events that must happen in your story to resolve the conflict.

Then take each point and write a summary of what each scene with that point will be.

Finally write the scenes. Then you have a first draft.

And if you are going to write, do not ever start a sentence with "Okay, so" again. Learn to not use unneeded words.

Answer 5

Im having the same problem with one of my books. I usually just dive in and start writing the first chapter/prologue right away but this one is harder.



But anyway, maybe doing a chapter by chapter plot. Like what's going to be in each chapter. Sorry, its difficult to explain. Here's an example of a plot with a girl who's parents died and learns to stop blaming herself and finds love (Cliche, i know):



Prologue: The car crash, describes what happened during the car crash and how it happened

Chapter 1: Flash forward a few years or so. Its her first day at a new school and it describes how shes depressed and how bad her life is

Chapter 2: She sees a hot boy and is automatically intruiged



Etc.



Sometimes this helps me write my stories easier. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

Look, I'm a published journalist and novelist, and I have see a fair few ways on how to set it out. Best idea is the plot and then two sub plots.

For instance;

Main Plot: John must find the amethyst that is in the cave for the king.

Secondary Plot: John meets Jane, Jane hates John. John woos Jane.

Sub Plot: John's whimsical guide, Geoff, is dying and he must get the dragon's heart to save him.



You get the drift, then plot out what happens in each chapter.

Need more help? Just email me; [e-mail]

Answer 7

"Chapter One"



And then you go from there. You will stare at the hateful white screen. You will spend very long spans of time doing nothing. Eventually, you'll write something. And thus it starts.