Starting a story opens up a lot of opportunities. For one, you get the chance to explore something that you love while making a profit. However, spinning a story isn’t an instant road. It takes dedication and hard work. In this guide, we’ll take a look at a few insider tips that can get you going.
Don’t Dedicate Yourself Solely to the Story
While it’s easy to see famous writers in the light of always working on their novels, it doesn’t always work the same in reality. Many writers have some sort of primary job to supplement their income.
One way to keep everything in the same realm is to work as a freelance writer. There are a variety of ways to practice your craft while working. This could be in the form of ghostwriting other books or even smaller-scale tasks. A popular choice is to work as an academic writer. It’s also helpful to others. If students know they can come to this essay writer service in a pinch, they won’t feel as overwhelmed by school. The best part is that while these services help students write and edit their essays, they’re also making a profit.
Have a Space to Work
It’s important to have a way to separate work and relaxation. When the book is on worked on in bed, it’s going to be on your mind at bedtime. It’s best to have an office or desk set away from areas for relaxing. This has a dual benefit. It helps you to take a break when you get away and creates a Pavlovian focus when returning.
Consider Plot
The initial step of any story is to consider what it’s going to be about. Is it a thrilling horror novel? A gritty dive into the first World War? A biography of someone interesting? It isn’t necessary to know everything – just a broad idea will do. After all, it’s pretty difficult to come up with anything when you’re completely in the dark about the topic. A good way to begin is with a concept of how it’ll start, what might happen along the way, and where it’ll end up. The details can be explored later.
Determining the style can also set a goal to work for. A novella should be around 40,000 to 60,000 words and takes a reader about 3 or 4 hours to get through. More than 100,000 words is a lengthy novel. Comparitavely, Stephen King’s The Shining is about 200,000 words.
Write Every Day
This seems like an blatant point. After all, no book writes itself. But it’s one of the most critical points to discuss.
Plenty of writers set out to create a book only for it to wither away in their laptop. Just like anything else, it’s easy to procrastinate. Putting it off until tomorrow, the day after that, and so on until it just never gets done. It’s a good idea to set aside time to write or a word count goal to write each day to help you stay the course.
Chronology Isn’t Everyone’s Path
A common misconception is thinking that a book is initially written in perfect order. The end result has a chronology, of course, but this isn’t how it’s constructed. You may come up with the end before the climax. Maybe there’s a struggle between characters that don’t have an introductory scene yet. Ideas are going to come to you as you go along and they probably aren’t going to go in an orderly fashion. Write about what you feel like writing and worry about the chronology after.
Create a Constant Loop of Feedback
It’s pretty devastating to write a full book just to hear it isn’t up to par. Rewriting by then can seem overwhelming. It’s much better to hear feedback along the way. For those just starting out, don’t be afraid if there isn’t a professional editor around. Getting the opinion of a trusted friend or family member is a great idea. Just make sure they’ll be brutally honest. A publisher isn’t going to draw from personal opinions, and it won’t help for them to either.
Plan Beyond Writing
So, your book is written. What comes next? Self-publishing is a popular option, but that comes with a flooded market. Launch teams are key to this. These are the people – professional and otherwise – that support the book. At the basic level, they can promote the book on their private social media and leave a review on the outlets its available on.
It’s also important to pay attention to cover art. While the cliche says not to, almost everyone will choose to read a book based on its cover.
Conclusion
Writing a book is a journey that takes time. There are going to be ups and downs throughout that path. With tips like these, you’ll be able to bring your story to life.
