Published 12:00am, 28/05/2021 by | Advice
Writing a book is an inspiring achievement. An achievement which 80% of us want to accomplish, but only 2% of us manage to follow it through. This could be due to a lack of time, inspiration, and persistence.
At Book Printing UK we want to break that statistic and show you it can be done. By simply reading this post, you’re taking action to begin your book writing journey. So, let’s get started with your guide to write and finish a book.
The Idea!
It all starts with that killer idea; the reason why you want to write a book in the first place. It could be a girl who falls down a rabbit hole, transporting her to a magical fantasy land or a bank heist orchestrated by misunderstood clowns. No idea is too crazy, so let your imagination flow, especially as one of those ideas is a real book. Personal and original ideas will help to increase author and audience engagement.
Struggling for an idea? Try applying a technique I personally use. Reverse the story of books/films. For example, The Lord of the rings is about the dark lord Sauron who wants to take over Middle Earth using his evil magic ring. Now let’s reverse this. Instead, Sauron could be a grieving widower trying to retrieve his wife’s stolen ring from those who shunned him as an outcast. With this reversal we would sympathise with the villain, creating a completely new dynamic to a pre-existing story. When you’ve got that idea, you’ll need to think logistics. Try using the mind map template below with a focus on the 5 W’s (what, who, why, when, where).
https://www.biggerplate.com/mindmaps/IGTVHdgP/story-mind-map-using-the-5-w-39-s
Plan, plan, plan
You may want to get writing as soon as possible, but patience is a virtue. Start by expanding upon your mind map with detailed planning. The more you plan, the easier you will find it when writing. Trust me! This includes planning both story context and story content.
In terms of context, I’m referring to understanding the particulars. For example, if you write about 1850's England then you will need to research how people talked, dressed and acted during that time period. If your character is a physicist though, this doesn’t mean you need to become the next Einstein. Instead, researching enough for the purpose of your story will help considerably with credibility.
In terms of content, I’m referring to character arcs, narrative beats, theme and more. For example, without planned character arcs you could reach a mental block in deciding what direction to take the character. Completing adequate planning helps lessen those mental blocks, subsequently heightening creativity.
Ready, steady, write!
Now is time to put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, or even quill to parchment if that floats your boat. Whatever works for YOU. There are many ways to write and many locations to write in. That’s the beauty of writing as there’s no one way to do it. All that planning now comes to fruition as a clear direction is laid out in front of you. However, in order to write and finish a book you will need a writing schedule. It could be to write five hours a day, one hour a day or even once a week. Again, whatever works for YOU. It just needs to be an achievable goal.
A schedule is especially important to prevent both loss of focus and passion. The schedule will act as a reminder of your progress, providing a sense of accomplishment each day. You need persistence to carry on with your work, even when you confront what I like to call the doubt period.
As the word suggests, this is where you begin to doubt both your work and yourself, thus losing inspiration to continue your book. But guess what? You’re not alone. Everyone experiences this because everyone has a sub-par first draft. However, it’s more important to just get your story out there and leave the perfectionism for later...
Fix it in post
Post production refers to the editing needed to correct and finish a project. When shooting a film, the phrase ‘fix it in post’ can leave you in a continuity nightmare, leading to various reshoots. However, for writing, this phrase rings true. Books go through multiple drafts and are never going to be perfect first-time round.
Editing provides the chance to streamline your book with the necessary and cut out the unnecessary. And guess what? Unless you’re meeting a competition deadline, you can edit anytime. Editing is particularly important if you’re looking to publish as books left unedited can appear unprofessional.
Editing is not just for grammar and spelling errors. It’s also used to refine your narrative and characters, or as we’ve discussed, the story content. Making these final adjustments is critical to a concise and engaging story. Character arcs can alter from your original planning which is fine. However, it is now your job to ensure these changes have not affected other story elements in a negative way. For example, narrative pacing could be impacted if a character now has a lot more page time. All these elements can be ironed out in the edit; a service which we can offer to help get your books finished and printed.
Time to print
This is where we come in to help complete your journey. You've followed all the steps and are now looking to brandish a physical copy of your work for friends and family. A book which you can place on your shelf and say, ‘I’m one of the 2% who can finish and write a book’. You’ve done it! No matter if the order is big or small; we are always here to meet your requirements. To ensure that your work is formatted to the correct book size, you can use one of our handy book templates.
If you do not have a book cover to use, then we can offer to design one for you.
For more information about book printing, please contact 01733 898 102 or head to https://www.bookprintinguk.com/contact-us