How to write your first novel

How do you write a book? A question I have been asked many times lately, the question should be how do you write your first book? After the first one the rest will come. This is my advice.

1. Before you start get yourself a notebook, whether you are writing in electronic form or in long hand. In this note book place the names of the characters as you develop them and their relationship to each other. 2. They say you need to have a beginning, a middle and an end, FORGET IT. Better with a loose idea or outline of a novel. Sooner or later things will begin to develop and the novel may well want to jump out of that box. If you try and constrict it to that box then you will become stuck. REMEMBER THIS, the moment the book takes a jump is the moment you are beginning to develop your style, it is a defining moment in the carrier of an author. 3. When you begin to write your first novel you will have no style. By the time you finish it you will have developed your own unique style of writing. 4. DO NOT REITERATE, do not go back over what you have written. DO NOT STOP until you are finished. If you need to go back a few chapters and add something then put it in you note book and put it in once you have finished the first draught. So many have said to me I wrote a dozen chapters but when I re read then it was crap so I STOPPED. Yup believe me, the first time you write a book it is going to be crap. Of course it’s going to be crap, DO NOT WORRY about it. To endlessly go back and edit chapters to make sure they are perfect is a sure way of never finishing a novel. Because you will either realise its crap and stop working on it or you will have to go back to each chapter in turn to PERFECT it, and then change them all again as you come forward. You won’t end up with a novel you will end up with a dog’s dinner and twenty years from now you will still be trying to write the perfect novel. 5. Once you have finished the novel set it aside until the excitement wanes a little. When you pick it up again read it from beginning to end as you would any other novel. DO NOT BE PUT OFF. As I have said the chances are that it will be the biggest load of crap you have ever read in your life but DO NOT be disheartened. That novel will have defined your style, who you are. 6. Rewrite it from beginning to end in the style you finished it. THIS IS SOMETHING YOU WILL ONLY HAVE TO DO ONCE. EXTRACT the story from the mire and hold it up for all to see. This is another defining moment in the journey of an author. To have your novel in a readable form for the first time. 7. Once you have it in readable form the hard work begins, give it to a few friends who will tell you the truth. Take a note of any criticisms no matter how much they hurt. Before you rewrite the whole thing again make sure the criticisms are valid. Discuss all the point each reader came up with, with the other readers. If a half dozen say that you descriptions are to long then they are to long. Take it on board. 8. Set the novel down for a while or better still write a second one. If you write a second one you will quickly realise how far you have came in such a short time. IT WILL Boost your confidence. 9. When you return to the first novel go over it carefully. Is it easy to read? Does it flow? Do you enjoy reading it? If you do enjoy reading it then so will other people. 10. Write for yourself. 11. Do not prove how smart you are by giving people half chapter descriptions on quantum mechanics, no one gives a shit. You will lose your reader unless they are fellow enthusiasts. Save those descriptions for blogs and forums when your work becomes popular. 12. If you are finally satisfied and believe you have something try and send it to professional editor if you can afford one. 13. Once you have done that give it a friends test again with different friends. If you get their final approval you have two choices. Send it to a publisher or become an indie author. 14. If you are accepted by a publishing house then you will be on your road. 15. If rejected and you still want to publish I suggest you give createspace https://www.createspace.com/ a once over. They are a part of the Amazon group. Through them you can either publish your book free of charge or they will help you through the process for a fee. With them you can have your book on Amazon along with a kindle edition in a matter of days. Either way you swill still hold all the rights to your own work. Hope this helps some people find their way in the darkness. Jim Murison