10 Musts for Writing a Book - WritersLife.org

10 Musts for Writing a Book - WritersLife.org   Grab your free writer's toolkit by going to http://www.writerslife.org/toolkit  Where to follow and listen to WritersLife.org:    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writerslifeorg/    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writerslife.org/     Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/writerslifeorg    Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/writerslifeorg/    Google +: http://www.WritersLife.org/googleplus     Website: http://www.WritersLife.org   Products: http://www.WritersLife.org/shop    Podcast: http://writerslife.org/podcast    Join Our Team: http://writerslife.org/contribute/    Advertise your book and.or writing  https://www.facebook.com/WritersLifeAdvertisingPlatform/?ref=br_rs   Thank you for listening Please Share it. We LOVE to read comments so please leave a comment and subscribe to Our channel:  https://www.youtube.com/writerslifeorg Grab your free writer's toolkit by going to  http://www.writerslife.org/finish-your-book ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi I'm Jody from WritersLife.org and today we'll be talking about ten musts for writing a book number one take one fabulous idea it's impossible to overstate the importance of your concept in terms of how successful your book becomes Stephenie Meyer writes perfectly good competent prose but her story idea ordinary girl falls for hot vampire turns her book into a cultural phenomenon dan Brown Stieg Larsson Stephen King are all similar decent writers blessed with stunning ideas agents know this and no matter what your genre a strong premise is essential to selling a book giving any to broadly similar manuscripts agents will almost always pick the one with the strongest central concepts build yourself a blistering plot the next huge essential for any novelist is a story that simply forces the reader to keep turning pages unfortunately there are definite rules about how to achieve this the two crucial rules are a give the protagonist a major life challenge early in the book and don't resolve things until the very ends be if a particular chapter doesn't advance the story in a specific way you have to delete that chapter it sounds simple well actually the principles aren't that hard to understand although executing the advice can be a bit tricky number three next ingredient an unforgettable character or two long after a reader has forgotten the details of a plot the chances are they'll remember the character who impelled it the two things you absolutely have to bear in mind when constructing your characters are a make sure the character and the story bounce off of each other in interesting ways so if to take a stupid example your character has a big fear of spiders the chances are that your story will have to force your character to confront those fears you have to bring your character into their zone of greatest discomfort be make sure that you really really know your character after all it's Alton the big things that make a character sizzle with life it's the little things that make her seem human amy has a passion for Manhattan winter she fell off a horse when she was 12 she collects a shell from every beach she's ever visited one more thing that matters is where you place your camera do you write in the first person the third person do you have one point view - or 10 number four don't forget to give your character some inner life one of the most common problems we see when a character does and says all the right stuff but the reader never really knows what he or she thinks or feels one of the most common problems we see is when a character does and says all the right stuff but the reader never really knows what the character thinks or feels and this is one of the very simplest things for a novelist to do you just need to remember that your protagonist has a rich inner world and you need to tell us about it not just the bland everyday things either Mike felt hungry so he sat down to eat but the things that make him different and unique dramatized dramatized dramatized your job as a novelist is to show the action unfolding on the page readers don't just want a third-hand report of what just happened that means you need to tell them moment by moments as though you were witnessing the events number 6 right well okay we know this sounds obvious but it's no good having a fabulous idea and a brilliant plot if you can't write good clear English your book is made up of sentences and as those sentences don't convey your meaning successfully and clearly your book just won't work fortunately almost everyone has the capacity to write well enough you just have to focus on the challenge in particular do you think about the three building blocks of good writing a clarity you need to express your meaning clearly be economy never use ten words when eight would do si precision be as precise as possible and that normally means you have to see the scene clearly in your head before you can describe it clearly to a reader D that your novel boasts a lovely sense of place e that your dialogue sparkles quite easy to achieve actually and it really strengthens the book and that your manuscript is well presented no row apostrophes please number seven what if I'm writing for children most of the same rules apply no matter what age group you're writing for you write clearly if your style isn't clear kids won't have the patience to stay with you if in doubt keep it simple you write economically same thing here if you waste words if a chapter doesn't immediately drive the story forward you'll lose readers keep it Tops you write warmly children flops to Harry Potter for JK Rowling's ideas and inventiveness but they stayed with her because of her warmth you write with humor and a bit of mischief kids want humor and they want books to break rules that they wouldn't dream of breaking in real life think of your favorite children's book and you'll almost certainly smile number eight reached the final full stop congratulations you're almost halfway there Hemingway once said the first draft if anything is crap and he's right nearly all first drafts will have problems some of them quite profound and that's okay the first draft is really just your opportunity to get stuck in on the real business which is refining and perfecting the story you've just told yourself the chances are that you have not properly succeeded in the following rules above so now it's a pretty good time to go back over these and check that you've made full use of their wisdom you'll find that a lot of these things are circular you'll use the same advice over and over again but make more profound use of it each time around number nine get help writing a book is hard work it's lonely those around you are seldom equipped to offer expert feedback and advice and of course this is a difficult road most first novels do not get published so please don't try to go it alone if you finished your novel however then the most direct route to improving it is to get detailed editorial advice on what's working what's not yet working and what to do to fix it this kind of feedback is the gold standard way to improve your writing and number ten get a literary agent and a book deal literary agents only take about one book in a thousand so before you take this final step we do suggest that you've completed one through number nine properly that said if you're not was good enough you will find it easy enough to secure representation just follow these steps a select your target agents be choose about eight to twelve names you're looking for agents who are keen to take on new writers who are active in your area if they happen to represent authors you love then so much the better see write a fabulous cover letter d write a good clear synopsis a process that terrifies most writers but which is easier than you might think e get your stuff out there and good luck don't forget if you're having a hard time writing or finishing your book check out our free writers toolkit it can help you overcome procrastination get organized stay focused and get your book published just head to http://www.writerslife.org/toolkit  to get your free   copy if you enjoyed this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up turn on our notifications and subscribe down below and be sure to visit writers live org for more writing tips and tricks and I'll see you next time