I would like to write my first book

I am writing my first book. I like writing on my computer so I tried a few specific apps aimed at writers and have been using Scrivener for 6 months now. It is brilliant at helping me structure things and set targets etc.

endacl wrote: »

No offence OP, but if I were you I'd take a look at basic sentence structure, use of capitals and punctuation before attempting a book.

That's a forum post not a novel.

endacl wrote: »

True. So?

So I am guessing he finds you rather petty response a bit unhelpful as it seems to be suggesting that his forum post is an indication oh his ability to write a book.

I'm a bit of a seat of my pants writer, so my advice will be more to that style than Elle's advice. It's a little more garnered towards planning at the micro scale than at the macro level.

1) Every character has a story. There must be a reason, no matter how one dimensional, for any character that is mentioned in the book. To continue this, every character has a plan and, usually, that does not go with the main characters. Where's theres characters, there is micro or macro conflicts. This goes by scene as well as broad narrative.

2) Everything in the world must have a why. You don't have to explain it, and sometimes it adds depth if you don't explain it, but there should be a reason why something is there. If you add a doll to the side of the road, then you should have a story in your head, but not on the page, about how that doll ended there. This goes for character descriptions as well. Why does that gothic girl have a cross on her cleavage? There should be a reason why.

3) Avoid alliteration. IMO, use it as spice rather than meat. Our minds seem to be set to write in alliteration, but it does jar people out of the story. Experiment with setting the tone of a scene with the rhythm of a line. Read some Poe as an example.

4) Have fun! But remember to write even when it is not fun. Also, schedule.

If I could sum up one advice, it would be 'Ask why, all the time'.

Imho I would suggest somewhere between those two approaches. Yes the story does need to have structure. But not necessarily all the way to the end
So you sit down and make a little plan for how the start will unfold ... and maybe just a thought or two on how the middle 'might' unfold, with a few possibilities.
You might have some idea in your mind about the later stages but you don't need imho to structure them or plan them or even write down what you might do.

Then .... you have to sit and write Find a place you can relax and be comfortable. And then just let it flow. It doesn't have to be all perfect first time. Not nearly. You can come back later and fill in character colour, atmosphere, if that's your style ... or come back and add technical and other content if that is your style.

I tend to write during the late evenings. So during the day I think about the next scene or two I want to write and often go for coffee with a notebook and write down possible ideas. Later I often get interrupted because I have to go and check something technical, like a location on Google .. for names or photos or a street view. Yesterday I got waylaid when I googled a restaurant in London, did a street view, looked at their web site, internal photos and menus. Saved the info and then later in the evening I sat down to write the scenes. I'm half way through mine and I have discovered this pattern works for me, but everyone has their style.

tonyheaney wrote: »

I feel stuck. I feel like my story is on the tip and I need something to push it over, and then it will flow continuously. Does that make sense? I'm guessing its geed to read books related to what i want to write too??? would that also make since? endacl hows my syntax???

I found that last year when I started to read a lot, my urge to write increased a lot and I found it easier to write too. I was lucky and found two great book series of a similar style that I wanted to write, which resulted in 43 books read in 2013 on my kindle. I think it really helped me.

EileenG wrote: »

Then think about looking for a publisher.

Forget about publishers. They will sit on it for 6 months and then if you are astonishingly and amazingly lucky they will sign you to an appalling contract locking you in to them and give you 15% or something.

Self publish on Amazon and Smashwords etc. in eBook format and get 70%. It just means investing some extra time in good editing and a cover etc.

I wonder is there any graphic, map, whatever, to keep track of characters?

One of my favourite things to do is have other characters storylines touch on other characters.

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

I wonder is there any graphic, map, whatever, to keep track of characters?

One of my favourite things to do is have other characters storylines touch on other characters.

Index cards ?

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

A bit more interactive.

I'd love if there was connections between this big cosmo of secondary and major characters.

I don't want people to think I'm pushing anything. But see my post above where I mention Scrivener.
I also use a little app called Scrapple for cross linking boxes with characters and plots.

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

Scrivener looks pretty cool. Actually perfect for what I was looking for.

But, money I'll use my hand until I can buy something better.

Well ... €33. You'd spend that on a weekend. It is an investment. Get the trial anyway.

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

It' definitely worth the money.

I'll try to make this my last comment on Scrivener because it is looking like I am connected with it or something.

But just to say that Scrivener is designed not just for novel/book writers. It is also for screen writers, playwriting, thesis writing and business documents.

Anywhere where somewhat longer documents are made up of segments and where research notes, web links, images etc are used to support the writing process. By writing in segments (Which can be a few paragraphs) those segments can be moved around in order, by dragging and dropping, incredibly easily.

Great tutorials here.

No, Scrivener does sound perfect. Could be more interactive, but that'll probably happen sooner or later.

I'll download the trial. But, you know, 33 euros is a lot of money when you have nothing :P