You have an idea and can’t wait to start writing your book, but you have no idea where to begin. The good news is you can already check off the first step—you have an idea. Now what? Let’s start at the beginning and get the basics out of the way.
- Find a quiet place to write where you can work uninterrupted for chunks of time. Ideally, we would all love to have a space where we can write for hours without anything other than our writing demanding our attention. For most of us, that just isn’t going to happen. The kids are crying, someone has a question, or a text needs to be answered. That’s life, and few of us have the luxury of a secluded getaway spot. That’s okay. We work with what we have. The goal is to find a location —your bedroom, the kitchen table, the patio, a coffee shop—where you can write uninterrupted as much as humanly possible given your life circumstances. We’re writers. We’re creative. We can make even the most random spot work.
2. Get to know your story. Regardless of how much you love your idea, take the time to look past your initial concept and discover its many layers. Ask yourself:
- What is my story about?
- What is my genre? Mystery? Romance? Historical? Sci-Fi? Thriller?
- What makes my story different from what has already been written?
Tip: read books in your genre and understand how your story differs from what is already on the market.
3. What is your purpose for writing the book? Are you writing a book to sell to the public? Only family and friends? 7
7. Who is my audience? Middle school? YA? New Adult? Women? Men? Young? Old? Children? Pre-School?
Tip: after defining your audience, go one step further and describe someone who represents your audience. What are their hobbies? What kind of books do they read? Where do they shop? Which social media platform do they use? Don’t worry if you can’t answer all the questions, but keep them in mind. Knowing your audience will be vital in marketing your finished product.
8. What images come to mind when you think about your story?
Tip: jot down your thoughts to use later in character descriptions, marketing, and cover design.
9. Outline your story. In a later post, we’ll get into the great debate over outlining vs. discovery, but for now, create a loose outline for moving your story from A to B to C. Think about how you will develop conflict and solve it.
10. Start your research. Conducting research for your book can range from next to nothing to hours and hours of searching online for information. A book set in a contemporary setting might require little research, whereas a story set in the past will require more.
As I write the books in my Michelle Kilpatrick Mystery series, which are set in the mid-1970s, I research TV shows, movies, and songs that were not only popular at that time but were playing on the exact day mentioned.
Consider researching the cuisine of a particular area, the weather, the clothes—anything that will make your story more authentic.
11. Begin Writing. Don’t wait until you have the perfect opening paragraph. Your rough draft is exactly that—rough. There is a good chance your final product will look very different from what you first wrote, and that’s good. Editing is part of the writing process, but the main thing is you must begin. Write your story from beginning to end. Don’t worry about the one hundred ways you could say the same sentence. None of that is important at this stage. What is important is getting your thoughts’ no paper. There will be plenty of time for editing later. Remember, A blank page will never become a story—it needs you to bring it to life with your words.
12. Edit. Edit. Edit. This is another point we will get into later, but for now, know that writing a good story can require a lot of editing. One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing someone say they sat down and wrote a book, and their first draft is ready to be published. I have yet to read a first draft that doesn’t need some rewriting—some more than others. Editing is not the sign of a bad writer; instead, it is the sign of a writer who understands that making adjustments will improve the story.
