HOW TO WRITE A BOOK
Writing a book can be a daunting proposition. Where do you start, and for that matter, where do you end? How long should it be? What do you include, and more puzzling, what do you leave out?
There are so many differing opinions on writing a book. Take beginnings, for example–one expert says you must have an outline, while another says just start and let inspiration guide you.
The fact is, you can do it any darned way you choose. It’s your book—do what feels right to you. You can wing it, and then part way along decide you need an outline. Or you can write chunks of the middle before you ever get around to the beginning. Many writers write the ending before they do anything else.
Length is sometimes determined by the type of book you’re writing. Romances have a definite word count, and generally, it’s more difficult to market a very long manuscript than one with a moderate length of 300 pages.
Deciding what to include when writing a book can be decided in the editing phase. The most important thing you can do is get the whole thing down. Finishing a book in draft form is a huge accomplishment. You can work on making it perfect once you have the raw material to work with.
As Rudyard Kipling so wisely declared, there are four and twenty ways of composing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right.
Learning how to write a book is like everything else in life. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Just begin somewhere, and go on any way you can.
Let me know if I can help in any way.
