80% of people want to write a book – less than 2% do

Writing a book can be 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. I’m here to help you break this statistic and show you it can be done. By simply reading this post, you are taking action to begin your book writing journey. So, let’s get started with your guide to writing a book.

The Idea!

It all starts with that killer idea; the reason why you want to write a book. It could be ‘a girl who falls into a rabbit hole, transporting her to a magical fantasy land’ or ‘a heist orchestrated by misunderstood clowns.’ Whatever it is, let your imagination flow. No idea is too crazy, especially as one of those ideas is a real book. Ideas personal to you are great for originality and will encourage your passion to thrive.

Plan ahead

You may want to get writing as soon as possible, but patience is a virtue. The better you plan, the easier you will find it when writing. Trust me! Character journeys, narrative beats, theme and more are all important aspects to planning. This helps lessen mental blocks, heightening creativity when writing. Research is also key as writing a book on physiology would be awfully difficult if you hadn’t studied it. This doesn’t mean you need to become the next Einstein, but researching enough for the purposes of your story will help with credibility.

On your marks, get set, 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. All that planning comes to fruition as you have a clear direction to take your work in. However, direction is nothing without goals. To keep progress ticking on, it’s important to set yourself achievable goals. For example, you could aim to write one page a day, two pages a day… Again, whatever works for YOU. As long as it encourages you to...

... Keep writing

In my opinion, this is the most challenging stage to writing a book. You need persistence and drive 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. But guess what, you’re not alone. Everyone goes through this because everyone has a sub-par first draft. It’s more important to just get your story out there and leave the perfectionism for later when you can…

… Fix it in the Edit

When shooting a film, the phrase ‘fix it in the edit’ can leave you in a continuity nightmare with reshoots and touch ups when editing. However, for writing, this phrase rings true. Books go through multiple drafts and are never going to be perfect first-time round. Editing gives you the chance to streamline your book with the necessary and cut out the unnecessary. And guess what… You can edit anytime you want.

Print

This is where we come in to help complete your journey. You have 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 finished writing a book’. You’ve done it!

If you would like to find out more about book printing, then please contact 01733 898 102 or head to www.bookprintinguk.com

Author: Jamie Webb