Well here we go. This is going to be the twentieth and final excerpt in my series on how to write a novel. Go ahead and copy these lessons or save them however you want. I will leave them on line until I am finished with my eBook and then pretty much exactly what you are reading right now will cost. I wanted to offer my advice for free at first because I want people to feel the same passion for writing that I do and feel the tingling inside your body after you finish your first novel.
96. Do This Properly
You have to go out and get a Fed Ex package and get ready to send your book out. Make sure you’re not sloppy about doing this. Take the time to make sure everything is sealed up properly. Make sure it is all squared up. This package is going to be the first impression that a would be agent is going to see and if done sloppily things could go wrong for you right off the bat.
97. Give Your Novel Away
Okay whether you believe it or not the next step was the hardest one for me. I had to give my book away to someone I didn’t know. Remember this was my first book. It almost felt like I was giving one of my kids away. But you have to trust Fed Ex. After all this is what they do. Make sure you keep your receipt. Now you may as well forget about your novel because it is very, very rare that you ever hear anything sooner than 2 months.
98. Kind Of Fun
You have worked hard to get your novel written and submitted so now you can have some fun with it. It’s time to relax and let your hair down. Go ahead and have a drink or something and think about the future of your book. Imagine that it gets picked up for a movie. Start thinking about which famous actor is going to play the lead. Think about who is going to play the other parts. Just remember this is all in fun but in life you have to allow yourself to dream.
99. Just Forget About It
Remember you have to wait at least two months and in several cases you will wait longer for a response if one even comes. Do not even think about doing anything before two months. If after a couple of months you haven’t heard anything then by all means you can send a short letter to the agent. I do mean short. Make sure it is just an inquiry letter and not something that is going to look like your pleading your case.
100. This Sucks But Its Normal
Rejection does suck but you have to turn it into positives. At least you know your work is getting looked at. Follow through on the suggestions that most agents will send with rejection slips. Don’t forget that most of the famous authors out there were rejected numerous times before their works were published. If you take it personally then I can guarantee that your writing career is over so instead of pouting while you are waiting go ahead and start your next novel. You will be surprised how much easier the next one will be to write.
Well now it is time for this series to come to an end. I hope everyone has enjoyed it and even more I hope you have started using it. Please keep watching for more writing tips from me. I will be doing a couple of more long series but I will also be doing a lot of shorter How To Write lessons on several different topics. So now I will sign off and let you get you novel going. Remember you write for yourself first and everybody else second.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 15)
This is going to be the fifteenth excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
71. Read And Cut Some More
Clichés are terrible. First of all there not original. Secondly they sound tacky and there really is no room in your story for them. They may sound all cutesy at first but trust me your readers won’t get to read them because the story will never get past the publisher. So make it easy on yourself and get rid of them. Once in a while there is a time to use them but not too often.
72. ( /?)&! Too Many Is No Good
Now you are going to go through your story and get rid of all the unnecessary, annoying exclamation marks and such. Because in truth if you write well then your readers will know that your characters are yelling without having 6 exclamation marks at the end of a sentence. That may be alright if you are writing in your diary or a letter to a friend but believe me when I say it just doesn’t work in your book.
73. Use Proper Language
There may be a few people who enjoy reading vulgar, or sexual language but most people detest it in their readings. This kind of language has a place in certain books and magazines but not in most. Fancy words that no one understands are not great things to use either. Your reader wants to understand what’s being said. Remember the story has to flow. It has to be real life and not many people use these words unless in specialty stories that most of the general public are not going to read any ways.
74. While You’re Cutting
You may as well get rid of the useless phrases that you put in your story just to fill pages. If a book is 20 pages shorter when you are done that’s okay because we all know the old saying that quality is better than quantity. Just keep reading your story and you will for sure pick out the things that just don’t belong.
75. Read It Again
This time you are going to read your entire book into a tape recorder. Read it the way its suppose to sound. Make sure the emphasis is where it is suppose to be. Then you are going to listen to your tape and see what it sounds like. If the words don’t flow naturally then this is the time to fix them.
I know a lot of this seems like it’s going nowhere but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 15. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
71. Read And Cut Some More
Clichés are terrible. First of all there not original. Secondly they sound tacky and there really is no room in your story for them. They may sound all cutesy at first but trust me your readers won’t get to read them because the story will never get past the publisher. So make it easy on yourself and get rid of them. Once in a while there is a time to use them but not too often.
72. ( /?)&! Too Many Is No Good
Now you are going to go through your story and get rid of all the unnecessary, annoying exclamation marks and such. Because in truth if you write well then your readers will know that your characters are yelling without having 6 exclamation marks at the end of a sentence. That may be alright if you are writing in your diary or a letter to a friend but believe me when I say it just doesn’t work in your book.
73. Use Proper Language
There may be a few people who enjoy reading vulgar, or sexual language but most people detest it in their readings. This kind of language has a place in certain books and magazines but not in most. Fancy words that no one understands are not great things to use either. Your reader wants to understand what’s being said. Remember the story has to flow. It has to be real life and not many people use these words unless in specialty stories that most of the general public are not going to read any ways.
74. While You’re Cutting
You may as well get rid of the useless phrases that you put in your story just to fill pages. If a book is 20 pages shorter when you are done that’s okay because we all know the old saying that quality is better than quantity. Just keep reading your story and you will for sure pick out the things that just don’t belong.
75. Read It Again
This time you are going to read your entire book into a tape recorder. Read it the way its suppose to sound. Make sure the emphasis is where it is suppose to be. Then you are going to listen to your tape and see what it sounds like. If the words don’t flow naturally then this is the time to fix them.
I know a lot of this seems like it’s going nowhere but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 15. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 14)
This is going to be the fourteenth excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
66. Reading Your Work
Now everybody is going to go back and read their entire book from cover to cover. Don’t get your eraser and pencil out yet because it’s not quite time for that yet. I want you to start reading your book out loud. You’re going to find stuff in there that you don’t like but that’s okay. Don’t fret it. Just make a mental note and keep reading. Very important. Don’t start crossing stuff out yet or adding stuff because the most important part you are trying to determine is how the book is going to flow.
67. Cutting Your Story
Ok now the time has come. You are going to go through your story paragraph by paragraph. I will guarantee there is going to be stuff you want to cut and stuff you want to add so now is the time. Go ahead and start editing. Get rid of the good for nothing phrases that you put in there as fillers and add the content that you forgot or came up with later.
68. Read Again
You already read your book out loud once and now you’re going to do it again but this time you’re going to do it one page at a time. You will stop at the end of each page. You will read that one page as many times as you need to so that you can get rid of poor sentence structure or maybe you are going to add something. Don’t go on to the next page until you are happy with the last one. I am warning you that this can get redundant and even boring but you have to keep excited because this is all parts in writing a book.
69. Excessive Stuff
Now you want to have a look at your work and cut all the unnecessary stuff. Too many metaphors or similes. The similes will kill you. However it is important that you don’t cut stuff you’re going to regret. So once again I stress that you take your time and make sure everything sounds good.
70. Cutting Tips
Here’s a little trick when you are cutting stuff from your story. It is almost a guarantee that you have put too much meat into your paragraphs so this is what you are going to do. You are going to go ahead and cut either one adjective or adverb out of each paragraph in your story. Remember this isn’t a hard fast rule. You might have a paragraph that you can’t afford to cut but I am willing to bet that most paragraphs will be able to be cut.
I know a lot of this seems like it’s going nowhere but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 14. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
66. Reading Your Work
Now everybody is going to go back and read their entire book from cover to cover. Don’t get your eraser and pencil out yet because it’s not quite time for that yet. I want you to start reading your book out loud. You’re going to find stuff in there that you don’t like but that’s okay. Don’t fret it. Just make a mental note and keep reading. Very important. Don’t start crossing stuff out yet or adding stuff because the most important part you are trying to determine is how the book is going to flow.
67. Cutting Your Story
Ok now the time has come. You are going to go through your story paragraph by paragraph. I will guarantee there is going to be stuff you want to cut and stuff you want to add so now is the time. Go ahead and start editing. Get rid of the good for nothing phrases that you put in there as fillers and add the content that you forgot or came up with later.
68. Read Again
You already read your book out loud once and now you’re going to do it again but this time you’re going to do it one page at a time. You will stop at the end of each page. You will read that one page as many times as you need to so that you can get rid of poor sentence structure or maybe you are going to add something. Don’t go on to the next page until you are happy with the last one. I am warning you that this can get redundant and even boring but you have to keep excited because this is all parts in writing a book.
69. Excessive Stuff
Now you want to have a look at your work and cut all the unnecessary stuff. Too many metaphors or similes. The similes will kill you. However it is important that you don’t cut stuff you’re going to regret. So once again I stress that you take your time and make sure everything sounds good.
70. Cutting Tips
Here’s a little trick when you are cutting stuff from your story. It is almost a guarantee that you have put too much meat into your paragraphs so this is what you are going to do. You are going to go ahead and cut either one adjective or adverb out of each paragraph in your story. Remember this isn’t a hard fast rule. You might have a paragraph that you can’t afford to cut but I am willing to bet that most paragraphs will be able to be cut.
I know a lot of this seems like it’s going nowhere but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 14. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Hello To Everyone
Hey everybody. I am just writing to say thank you to everyone who has come on and read my series on writing a novel and my short stories. I am sorry I havent posted mre personally but I am making that commitment to all of you right now. I hope everyone is enjoying what they are reading. The novel series is about three quarters done and the short stories will go on forever. I am working on a whole lot more of writing tips that I will start posting once the novel series is done. Remember you have to love writing to continue writing. presently I work full time in the oil patch but all my off time is spent enhancing my income on the internet. I have to say that things are looking pretty nice right now. I am supplementing my income nicely. If anyone is interested in some of the other things I do on line then email me at stcajo2009@yahoo.ca Personally I hate autoresponders so you wont be getting one when you email me so please be patient and I will definately get back to you.
Thanks Dale Mazurek
Thanks Dale Mazurek
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 13)
This is going to be the thirteenth excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
61. Time To Read
Okay is this thing you have written a novel. You may have about 300 pages done but does it look like something somebody would want to read. Are all the pieces there and by that I mean three main pieces. The beginning, the middle and the end. So now that you have read it does it look like you have asked the question and then answered it? If you think you have done this then it’s time to move on to the next step.
62. Vital Importance
There is no better way to turn off a reader, publisher or editor then having to read a book that is full of spelling errors. Many a book has been lost for this exact reason. First of all it makes you look very sloppy as an author, it makes you look like you don’t care and it puts you on the lowest class of a writer. Long time ago when there were no computers this was a daunting task but now with spell checker this process has become very easy so you even look lazier if your submission comes in full of spelling errors.
63. Ink And Paper
Now you have to make sure you have a bundle of paper and a couple cartridges of ink. The time has finally come to print out your first nook. Of course this is the first printing. The unedited version but when those papers are rattling off your printer tray it still gives you a huge sense of accomplishment. Let me tell you the first time I printed my book I was like a kid in a candy store waiting for each page to come through so I could pile them nice and neat.
64. Did I Write A Book
What you want to do is find a nice safe place for your newly printed book. You want to put it there and forget you ever wrote it. That’s right I want you to leave it alone for a few weeks. I don’t want you to look at it, feel it, read it or even think about it. It is of the greatest importance that you try and clear your mind and forget that you even wrote the darn thing.
65. This Is Tough
You have now been away for a while and now it’s time to come back and start editing. Let me tell you this is probably the most frequent time that would be authors give up on their books. Editing your book is as tough as it gets. This really distinguishes the fact of do you really like writing or is it your utmost passion. I read my book 15 times cover to cover before I finally said to myself that this can’t get any better.
I know a lot of this seems like it’s going nowhere but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 13. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
61. Time To Read
Okay is this thing you have written a novel. You may have about 300 pages done but does it look like something somebody would want to read. Are all the pieces there and by that I mean three main pieces. The beginning, the middle and the end. So now that you have read it does it look like you have asked the question and then answered it? If you think you have done this then it’s time to move on to the next step.
62. Vital Importance
There is no better way to turn off a reader, publisher or editor then having to read a book that is full of spelling errors. Many a book has been lost for this exact reason. First of all it makes you look very sloppy as an author, it makes you look like you don’t care and it puts you on the lowest class of a writer. Long time ago when there were no computers this was a daunting task but now with spell checker this process has become very easy so you even look lazier if your submission comes in full of spelling errors.
63. Ink And Paper
Now you have to make sure you have a bundle of paper and a couple cartridges of ink. The time has finally come to print out your first nook. Of course this is the first printing. The unedited version but when those papers are rattling off your printer tray it still gives you a huge sense of accomplishment. Let me tell you the first time I printed my book I was like a kid in a candy store waiting for each page to come through so I could pile them nice and neat.
64. Did I Write A Book
What you want to do is find a nice safe place for your newly printed book. You want to put it there and forget you ever wrote it. That’s right I want you to leave it alone for a few weeks. I don’t want you to look at it, feel it, read it or even think about it. It is of the greatest importance that you try and clear your mind and forget that you even wrote the darn thing.
65. This Is Tough
You have now been away for a while and now it’s time to come back and start editing. Let me tell you this is probably the most frequent time that would be authors give up on their books. Editing your book is as tough as it gets. This really distinguishes the fact of do you really like writing or is it your utmost passion. I read my book 15 times cover to cover before I finally said to myself that this can’t get any better.
I know a lot of this seems like it’s going nowhere but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 13. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 12)
Okay fellow writers. I am about to enter the 12th excerpt into my step by step novel writing process. We have just passed the halfway point of this series and I hope it is beneficial to each and every one of you who read it. I am presently trying to get my first novel published and am working on my second one. I use each and every one of these topics to help me get through. Remember though you have to maintain passion for the art of writing or you’re just wasting your time. I can give you all the pointers you want but if you don’t have the drive and desire then they are no good to you. Okay time to move on.
56. Hold Your Reader
There are three major points that combined work together to hold your reader. The first one is be specific. Anything you do in your novel it’s important not to be vague. This isn’t a short story where you can get away with that. When decisions are made throughout your story be definite about them. There are no maybes. Maybes only get you in trouble because it gets the readers confused. And finally any information you give has to be concrete. You want the foundation and everything above it to be solid. Any weak points and that’s where your book comes tumbling down.
57. Your Book Doesn’t Get All Your Time
I don’t care how you want to do it but once in a while you need to take time away from your writing. What I personally do is take 2 full days away every week and once a month I make one of those two dayers into a three dayers. What you are going to find when you come back to continue your novel is that your mind is story fresh. That’s going to go a long way in the success of your novel.
58. Can You Make Your Reader Cry
Sympathy sells. All over the world everyday in every language possible stories are being written and sold with sympathy as the main angle. If you can get your readers to buy into the emotions of your characters then you have them reading to the end of the book and looking for your next one. I say sympathy but it can be any emotion provided it is done right. Sympathy is an easier one but fear and anger are also two big ones.
59. Feelings
Hers another great tip. You can not and I stress can not tell your readers how to feel. You have to make them feel how you want them to feel. If you want them to be scared then write something scary enough. Even though it may seem just like words on paper. When I read “Needful Things” by Stephen King he had me turning lights on and looking up every time I heard even the smallest noise. So are those just words? I don’t think so that is a brilliant author bringing a story to life and scaring the pants off of me.
60. The Meat
So by now you should have anywhere from 80000 to 120000 words written. There tat wasn’t so bad now was it? Now comes the hardest part of writing. At least it is in my opinion. Now you get to start rewriting and editing your novel. One things for sure you better not be tired and you better have a clear head going into this stage of writing your book.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 11. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
56. Hold Your Reader
There are three major points that combined work together to hold your reader. The first one is be specific. Anything you do in your novel it’s important not to be vague. This isn’t a short story where you can get away with that. When decisions are made throughout your story be definite about them. There are no maybes. Maybes only get you in trouble because it gets the readers confused. And finally any information you give has to be concrete. You want the foundation and everything above it to be solid. Any weak points and that’s where your book comes tumbling down.
57. Your Book Doesn’t Get All Your Time
I don’t care how you want to do it but once in a while you need to take time away from your writing. What I personally do is take 2 full days away every week and once a month I make one of those two dayers into a three dayers. What you are going to find when you come back to continue your novel is that your mind is story fresh. That’s going to go a long way in the success of your novel.
58. Can You Make Your Reader Cry
Sympathy sells. All over the world everyday in every language possible stories are being written and sold with sympathy as the main angle. If you can get your readers to buy into the emotions of your characters then you have them reading to the end of the book and looking for your next one. I say sympathy but it can be any emotion provided it is done right. Sympathy is an easier one but fear and anger are also two big ones.
59. Feelings
Hers another great tip. You can not and I stress can not tell your readers how to feel. You have to make them feel how you want them to feel. If you want them to be scared then write something scary enough. Even though it may seem just like words on paper. When I read “Needful Things” by Stephen King he had me turning lights on and looking up every time I heard even the smallest noise. So are those just words? I don’t think so that is a brilliant author bringing a story to life and scaring the pants off of me.
60. The Meat
So by now you should have anywhere from 80000 to 120000 words written. There tat wasn’t so bad now was it? Now comes the hardest part of writing. At least it is in my opinion. Now you get to start rewriting and editing your novel. One things for sure you better not be tired and you better have a clear head going into this stage of writing your book.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 11. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 11)
This is going to be the eleventh excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
51. Think The Ridiculous
Now this is going to seem like one of the stupidest things I say. But believe me it helps to write books and it helps to make them believable. How was your childhood? If it was bad I truly hope you turned out alright but guess what that bad childhood will help you write great books. Books are a great form of escape from reality. Now if your child hood haunts you then you can use your writing to escape from the bad memories and establish tons of new ones. Now this is going to be a lot tougher for those of you who had a great childhood but the same can still be accomplished. You’re just going to have to be more imaginative. Imagine what it would be like to live with an alcoholic mother, really live the part and then try writing and see what happens. I bet you will be surprised.
52. Working Together
You have heard about bringing your characters to life but now you have to make them interact with the other characters and it has to be real. You’re not going to have any scenes if you just have a bunch of characters walking around and not doing anything. You have to make them communicate. How you do this is by thinking about how you communicate. How you communicate with family, friends, co workers, pets and even enemies. Of course there’s always going to be different twists added but trust me this will work.
53. What A Reader Wants
You have to always be thinking of ways to create tension. The reader always wants more. You ask how do I do this? By asking questions. Why did? Who did? Was it?
The reader will keep reading to find the answers. Don’t worry if you put too many in at first. We will edit later and get rid of the ones that sound tacky.
54. You Have To Learn To Describe
Practice describing. How do you do that? With research. When you want to describe what a rose smells like you have to make sure the reader will smell it. This is how you research. Go to the library or use the internet and read true life books like gardening or flowering. These authors have truly mastered the skills of making their reader make their senses work just from the words on the page. Without description you may as well have stick men for characters.
55. Wording
I can’t even begin to explain how important the uses of words are. Making sure you use the right words at the right time but yet making sure you don’t use too many. Using verbs are the heart to your story. Without the proper amount of verbs you are going to flop. If a sentence looks weird read it out loud and see what it sounds like. You will know immediately if you have the wording all wrong.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 11. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
51. Think The Ridiculous
Now this is going to seem like one of the stupidest things I say. But believe me it helps to write books and it helps to make them believable. How was your childhood? If it was bad I truly hope you turned out alright but guess what that bad childhood will help you write great books. Books are a great form of escape from reality. Now if your child hood haunts you then you can use your writing to escape from the bad memories and establish tons of new ones. Now this is going to be a lot tougher for those of you who had a great childhood but the same can still be accomplished. You’re just going to have to be more imaginative. Imagine what it would be like to live with an alcoholic mother, really live the part and then try writing and see what happens. I bet you will be surprised.
52. Working Together
You have heard about bringing your characters to life but now you have to make them interact with the other characters and it has to be real. You’re not going to have any scenes if you just have a bunch of characters walking around and not doing anything. You have to make them communicate. How you do this is by thinking about how you communicate. How you communicate with family, friends, co workers, pets and even enemies. Of course there’s always going to be different twists added but trust me this will work.
53. What A Reader Wants
You have to always be thinking of ways to create tension. The reader always wants more. You ask how do I do this? By asking questions. Why did? Who did? Was it?
The reader will keep reading to find the answers. Don’t worry if you put too many in at first. We will edit later and get rid of the ones that sound tacky.
54. You Have To Learn To Describe
Practice describing. How do you do that? With research. When you want to describe what a rose smells like you have to make sure the reader will smell it. This is how you research. Go to the library or use the internet and read true life books like gardening or flowering. These authors have truly mastered the skills of making their reader make their senses work just from the words on the page. Without description you may as well have stick men for characters.
55. Wording
I can’t even begin to explain how important the uses of words are. Making sure you use the right words at the right time but yet making sure you don’t use too many. Using verbs are the heart to your story. Without the proper amount of verbs you are going to flop. If a sentence looks weird read it out loud and see what it sounds like. You will know immediately if you have the wording all wrong.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 11. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 9)
This is going to be the ninth excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
41. Thought Writing
Of course you can’t sit at your desk 14 hours of the day to write your book. Especially since this is your first novel and you probably have a day job or you have to take care of kids or something like that. This is what I do when I can’t sit down and write. I think write. I think about my book all the time. Some may think this is boring but it’s actually quite exciting when you come up with some good lines and ideas. What think writing does is make fewer drafts possible. You mark my words the more think writing you do when you can’t sit down the less editing you will have to do.
42. Grow Your Character
You need your character to become real life. You ask how do I do that? First of all you have to give action to your character. Even though a book is words in order to make it successful you have to make your readers see things through your words. And secondly the more you make them see the more you’re going to make them believe. If you can your readers believing in your characters then you’re going to have them believe they are right in the middle of the story.
43. Story Kidnapping
What does this mean? It means you want to get your readers attention in the very first ten seconds of your story and you never want to let him go. You want to keep him for the entirety of your book. You don’t want them to go back to their family or friends and the only way you will allow them to leave is by finishing your book. You better make your novel interesting or your kidnapping career will be very short.
44. Rejection Is Cool
Don’t sweat a rejection because if you do any amount of writing you damn well better get used to rejection. Rejection doesn’t necessarily mean your work is bad. It could get rejected for any number of reasons. Maybe it doesn’t meet guidelines; maybe the publisher isn’t accepting anything new right now. The best thing is getting a rejection with comments. Firstly that means someone pretty important and high up read your book and you can use the comments to fix anything that may need to be fixed.
45. Garbage
If you’re going to add things to your story then make sure they belong. Everything should have a place. I can’t stand it when I read gibberish that was only put in for one reason and that reason was to make the story longer. Trust me your reader would rather read a shorter book then have to read garbage and there only going to put up with so much garbage.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 9. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
41. Thought Writing
Of course you can’t sit at your desk 14 hours of the day to write your book. Especially since this is your first novel and you probably have a day job or you have to take care of kids or something like that. This is what I do when I can’t sit down and write. I think write. I think about my book all the time. Some may think this is boring but it’s actually quite exciting when you come up with some good lines and ideas. What think writing does is make fewer drafts possible. You mark my words the more think writing you do when you can’t sit down the less editing you will have to do.
42. Grow Your Character
You need your character to become real life. You ask how do I do that? First of all you have to give action to your character. Even though a book is words in order to make it successful you have to make your readers see things through your words. And secondly the more you make them see the more you’re going to make them believe. If you can your readers believing in your characters then you’re going to have them believe they are right in the middle of the story.
43. Story Kidnapping
What does this mean? It means you want to get your readers attention in the very first ten seconds of your story and you never want to let him go. You want to keep him for the entirety of your book. You don’t want them to go back to their family or friends and the only way you will allow them to leave is by finishing your book. You better make your novel interesting or your kidnapping career will be very short.
44. Rejection Is Cool
Don’t sweat a rejection because if you do any amount of writing you damn well better get used to rejection. Rejection doesn’t necessarily mean your work is bad. It could get rejected for any number of reasons. Maybe it doesn’t meet guidelines; maybe the publisher isn’t accepting anything new right now. The best thing is getting a rejection with comments. Firstly that means someone pretty important and high up read your book and you can use the comments to fix anything that may need to be fixed.
45. Garbage
If you’re going to add things to your story then make sure they belong. Everything should have a place. I can’t stand it when I read gibberish that was only put in for one reason and that reason was to make the story longer. Trust me your reader would rather read a shorter book then have to read garbage and there only going to put up with so much garbage.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 9. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 8)
This is going to be the eighth excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
36. A Hint For Interest
What you want to do to get your readers to turn to the next page is do something exciting on every page. When I say do something that can also be a description of an exciting place, character or event. It doesn’t have to be a fight scene or murder scene every page because that will get redundant and work against you. It’s not always going to be possible to make it happen every page but trust me you don’t want to go more than three pages. This can be something as brilliant as describing how beautiful the moon looks on a dark starry night.
37. Don’t Be Long Winded
Just because you have a computer now which authors of past didn’t doesn’t mean you have to write a 600 page book. Keep things simple. Rather than having a whole pile of elements in your story have less, better described ones. All the means you have is going to tease you into writing more and more pages. Personally I think about 200 pages is plenty. That keeps your reader interested. Plus if you absolutely have more to write then save it for your next book. Maybe you can even write a sequel.
38. Don’t Over Describe
You want to make sure that your characters are true to real life. You can very easily put them over the edge by putting too much description into them. Your reader wants to think of your character as someone they know. Maybe it’s their next door neighbor or some one like that. They won’t relate well if this character is some kind of mole that lives in the middle of the earth. That’s okay if your story is about a mole from the middle of the earth but you will have more success with more realism.
39. Start Your Own Trend
You might have an author that you just adore. You might want to write like him and that’s okay. What’s not okay is copying him. I don’t mean plagiarism but rather writing about all the same things he writes about. Your audience doesn’t want to see Joe Shmo writing about the same things as Dean Koontz. So go ahead and have your favorites but remember to be successful you have to develop your own style.
40. Build A Pyramid
You have to start at the bottom and work your way up one rock at a time. Don’t jump all over the place. Take your time and make those rocks fit nicely into place. Don’t leave any hanging out because not only are you wrecking the look of your structure but you’re also stressing the integrity of the pyramid. By doing things like that you take the chance of the entire structure coming tumbling down. Are you willing to take that chance?
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 8. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
36. A Hint For Interest
What you want to do to get your readers to turn to the next page is do something exciting on every page. When I say do something that can also be a description of an exciting place, character or event. It doesn’t have to be a fight scene or murder scene every page because that will get redundant and work against you. It’s not always going to be possible to make it happen every page but trust me you don’t want to go more than three pages. This can be something as brilliant as describing how beautiful the moon looks on a dark starry night.
37. Don’t Be Long Winded
Just because you have a computer now which authors of past didn’t doesn’t mean you have to write a 600 page book. Keep things simple. Rather than having a whole pile of elements in your story have less, better described ones. All the means you have is going to tease you into writing more and more pages. Personally I think about 200 pages is plenty. That keeps your reader interested. Plus if you absolutely have more to write then save it for your next book. Maybe you can even write a sequel.
38. Don’t Over Describe
You want to make sure that your characters are true to real life. You can very easily put them over the edge by putting too much description into them. Your reader wants to think of your character as someone they know. Maybe it’s their next door neighbor or some one like that. They won’t relate well if this character is some kind of mole that lives in the middle of the earth. That’s okay if your story is about a mole from the middle of the earth but you will have more success with more realism.
39. Start Your Own Trend
You might have an author that you just adore. You might want to write like him and that’s okay. What’s not okay is copying him. I don’t mean plagiarism but rather writing about all the same things he writes about. Your audience doesn’t want to see Joe Shmo writing about the same things as Dean Koontz. So go ahead and have your favorites but remember to be successful you have to develop your own style.
40. Build A Pyramid
You have to start at the bottom and work your way up one rock at a time. Don’t jump all over the place. Take your time and make those rocks fit nicely into place. Don’t leave any hanging out because not only are you wrecking the look of your structure but you’re also stressing the integrity of the pyramid. By doing things like that you take the chance of the entire structure coming tumbling down. Are you willing to take that chance?
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 8. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 7)
This is going to be the seventh excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
31. Don’t Confuse Your Reader
Make your decisions early and stick with them. If you don’t your firstly going to confuse your reader and secondly your going to lose your reader. Changing point of views half way through the story could and probably would be a disaster. This way to the reader gets early clarification of how the story is going to run and gets no surprises later on.
32. Don’t Be Scared To Write
This is huge. You have to learn to write all the time. For most of you writing your novel isn’t your full time career so you have to take advantage of any spare time you get. Make sure you always have your notepad with you. During lunch you can write. If you’re waiting for a meeting to start go ahead and write. Just anytime you have a spare moment go ahead and write. 15 minutes here and there might not seem like much but you would be surprised at how many pages it results in.
33. What’s Next
You have to keep the readers wanting more. So one of the biggest parts of your fiction novel is suspense. The readers always want more so keep your book suspenseful and keep the suspense exciting. Always be leading up to something. You have to get rid of the boring parts because I don’t know about you but as soon as a book gets boring I lose interest and probably never pick it up again. Maybe it gets good again later but once I'm gone I'm gone.
34. Silent Communication
Don’t forget to use body language in your novel. This can be a great way to describe characters. Let’s say you have a love scene. Well there really is no better way to describe a love scene other than body language. Oh sure you have to decide where the best place to use it is. How you do that is take your time to think out the scenes and decide if they could be made better with the use of body language.
35. Two Forms Of Writing
When I wrote my novel everything was done with pen and paper first. This is what I would suggest for you as well. Ya sure it may seem like it takes longer but I promise you when you are writing everything flows a whole lot smoother with pen and paper. You just write. You don’t worry about neatness or spell checking. Once your finished writing then by all means go ahead and start putting your work on the computer. Once again you can have a look at the small stuff like obvious spelling mistakes but just go ahead and type. This way you have already been through your story twice before you even start editing.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 7. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
31. Don’t Confuse Your Reader
Make your decisions early and stick with them. If you don’t your firstly going to confuse your reader and secondly your going to lose your reader. Changing point of views half way through the story could and probably would be a disaster. This way to the reader gets early clarification of how the story is going to run and gets no surprises later on.
32. Don’t Be Scared To Write
This is huge. You have to learn to write all the time. For most of you writing your novel isn’t your full time career so you have to take advantage of any spare time you get. Make sure you always have your notepad with you. During lunch you can write. If you’re waiting for a meeting to start go ahead and write. Just anytime you have a spare moment go ahead and write. 15 minutes here and there might not seem like much but you would be surprised at how many pages it results in.
33. What’s Next
You have to keep the readers wanting more. So one of the biggest parts of your fiction novel is suspense. The readers always want more so keep your book suspenseful and keep the suspense exciting. Always be leading up to something. You have to get rid of the boring parts because I don’t know about you but as soon as a book gets boring I lose interest and probably never pick it up again. Maybe it gets good again later but once I'm gone I'm gone.
34. Silent Communication
Don’t forget to use body language in your novel. This can be a great way to describe characters. Let’s say you have a love scene. Well there really is no better way to describe a love scene other than body language. Oh sure you have to decide where the best place to use it is. How you do that is take your time to think out the scenes and decide if they could be made better with the use of body language.
35. Two Forms Of Writing
When I wrote my novel everything was done with pen and paper first. This is what I would suggest for you as well. Ya sure it may seem like it takes longer but I promise you when you are writing everything flows a whole lot smoother with pen and paper. You just write. You don’t worry about neatness or spell checking. Once your finished writing then by all means go ahead and start putting your work on the computer. Once again you can have a look at the small stuff like obvious spelling mistakes but just go ahead and type. This way you have already been through your story twice before you even start editing.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 7. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 6)
This is going to be the sixth excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
26. Writing Goals
This is a very important decision in writing your novel. You have to set a goal for your self. How much are you going to write everyday? I don’t care if your goal is one page or fifteen but let’s make sure we make it realistic. Some days you may only write half a page and other days you may write ten or fifteen. When I am working on my novel my goal is about 5 pages a day. Again this isn’t set in stone. It’s not like you are going to go to writer’s hell if you don’t write enough but it is nice to get on a schedule and try and stay there the best you can.
27. Get Things Straight
Okay even though your novel is fiction you’re going to quickly turn readers off if your facts are wrong. Like don’t say a little town called Great Falls in New York when we all know clearly that Great Falls is in Montana. It’s so easy these days to keep your facts straight with a little bit of research. There are so many options available to you and for the most part they are free. Firstly you have the internet where you can find just about anything you need but for the more conservative person you can probably find anything you need at the public library. I can’t stress how important it is for you to keep your reader reading by getting things straight.
28. Make Sure Your Reader Is In The Story
So so important that your reader knows who is talking in the story. Dialogue will help keep your story moving forward and strong. If the reader feels like he is in the middle of the action he is going to want to be there the entire time. Don’t talk too much about what is going to happen in the future but instead let it happen and your reader will fall right into it.
29. Use Yourself
Here's a little character trick. Who do you know better than anyone else in the world? Of course the answer to that question is you. So why not make yourself the main character in your book. Use one of the pages in your scribbler to describe yourself. Get very detailed. Write down your hair color, eye color, your weight, favorite television shows and everything you can think of. Make sure you write down all your good and bad habits as well.
30. You Can Do It
I just want you to know that there is no doubt in my mind that you can write your novel. I also want you to stop thinking that you can’t write it either. The only person that is going to stop you is yourself. Oh sure some people may write quicker or slower and some people may write a little better or worse but we will get into editing later. All you have to do to make sure you complete this project is to make a commitment to yourself. So go look in a mirror and promise yourself that no matter how long it takes you are going to finish your book.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 6. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
26. Writing Goals
This is a very important decision in writing your novel. You have to set a goal for your self. How much are you going to write everyday? I don’t care if your goal is one page or fifteen but let’s make sure we make it realistic. Some days you may only write half a page and other days you may write ten or fifteen. When I am working on my novel my goal is about 5 pages a day. Again this isn’t set in stone. It’s not like you are going to go to writer’s hell if you don’t write enough but it is nice to get on a schedule and try and stay there the best you can.
27. Get Things Straight
Okay even though your novel is fiction you’re going to quickly turn readers off if your facts are wrong. Like don’t say a little town called Great Falls in New York when we all know clearly that Great Falls is in Montana. It’s so easy these days to keep your facts straight with a little bit of research. There are so many options available to you and for the most part they are free. Firstly you have the internet where you can find just about anything you need but for the more conservative person you can probably find anything you need at the public library. I can’t stress how important it is for you to keep your reader reading by getting things straight.
28. Make Sure Your Reader Is In The Story
So so important that your reader knows who is talking in the story. Dialogue will help keep your story moving forward and strong. If the reader feels like he is in the middle of the action he is going to want to be there the entire time. Don’t talk too much about what is going to happen in the future but instead let it happen and your reader will fall right into it.
29. Use Yourself
Here's a little character trick. Who do you know better than anyone else in the world? Of course the answer to that question is you. So why not make yourself the main character in your book. Use one of the pages in your scribbler to describe yourself. Get very detailed. Write down your hair color, eye color, your weight, favorite television shows and everything you can think of. Make sure you write down all your good and bad habits as well.
30. You Can Do It
I just want you to know that there is no doubt in my mind that you can write your novel. I also want you to stop thinking that you can’t write it either. The only person that is going to stop you is yourself. Oh sure some people may write quicker or slower and some people may write a little better or worse but we will get into editing later. All you have to do to make sure you complete this project is to make a commitment to yourself. So go look in a mirror and promise yourself that no matter how long it takes you are going to finish your book.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 6. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ and lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 5)
This is going to be the fifth excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
21. Rough, Rough Draft
Get one blank page out of your character scribbler and write your entire story on it. I want you to write the first paragraph, the last one and then the entire body of your story in between. Obviously as an author this may sound dumb but it gives you a very brief outline of what you’re writing about and it’s kind of cool to look back at it later and see how the two actually compare.
22. Know Where Your Going
Do not and I mean Do Not start writing yet. First you have to make sure you are absolutely clear about your characters. You need to know their roles and know who they are and you absolutely have to make sure it is written down in your scribbler. Trust me when I say you can’t just start a story and let the characters write it for you. Only a select few writers can get away with this. I know, I tried and failed miserably.
23. Decorate Your Writing Room
Okay now all those pages in the scribbler that you filled. I want you to take them all out and hang them on the walls. I don’t care where you’re writing this is an absolute must. You can’t just put them in a drawer. You need to be able to refer to them at a glance.
24. Get Serious
Now I want you to sit down, rack your brain and write your first paragraph. I want you to take your time with this. I want the paragraph written just as it is going to stay in the story. Eventually you are going to edit a lot of parts in your story but I never want this first paragraph edited. Your entire novel is going to hang on this. So I don’t care if it takes you all day and night to write that first paragraph.
25. Your Map
Now you have a map of where you want to be. Your characters are built. The commitment is made. You have a strong starting paragraph. You have outlined the story. You have built direction for yourself. All of your tools are ready for quick use. Now all you have to do is write your novel.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 5. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/ or http://stcajo.netsalaries.com
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
21. Rough, Rough Draft
Get one blank page out of your character scribbler and write your entire story on it. I want you to write the first paragraph, the last one and then the entire body of your story in between. Obviously as an author this may sound dumb but it gives you a very brief outline of what you’re writing about and it’s kind of cool to look back at it later and see how the two actually compare.
22. Know Where Your Going
Do not and I mean Do Not start writing yet. First you have to make sure you are absolutely clear about your characters. You need to know their roles and know who they are and you absolutely have to make sure it is written down in your scribbler. Trust me when I say you can’t just start a story and let the characters write it for you. Only a select few writers can get away with this. I know, I tried and failed miserably.
23. Decorate Your Writing Room
Okay now all those pages in the scribbler that you filled. I want you to take them all out and hang them on the walls. I don’t care where you’re writing this is an absolute must. You can’t just put them in a drawer. You need to be able to refer to them at a glance.
24. Get Serious
Now I want you to sit down, rack your brain and write your first paragraph. I want you to take your time with this. I want the paragraph written just as it is going to stay in the story. Eventually you are going to edit a lot of parts in your story but I never want this first paragraph edited. Your entire novel is going to hang on this. So I don’t care if it takes you all day and night to write that first paragraph.
25. Your Map
Now you have a map of where you want to be. Your characters are built. The commitment is made. You have a strong starting paragraph. You have outlined the story. You have built direction for yourself. All of your tools are ready for quick use. Now all you have to do is write your novel.
I know a lot of this seems like its going no where but trust me I write this from experience. Writing a book is no easy task. I wish someone would have helped me out like this when I first started writing. I will tell you one thing. Now this relates to me and it could to you but you have to want it to. No matter how hard the writing got I never disliked it. I still love writing and maybe this is a pipe dream but I hope to be able to retire and live totally off the money I earn from writing. Okay this is the end of lesson 5. I hope you are enjoying it so far. I also hope you are taking advantage of the opportunity to print this out because if all goes well I will make this into an e book so take advantage of it free.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/ or http://stcajo.netsalaries.com
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 4)
This is going to be the third excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
16. Believability
It doesn’t matter if your character is evil or good. What does matter is that your reader believes he is real. When I write I make believe I am the character, I talk out loud and I take my time to imagine what he is doing next. Your characters actions will define his purpose. Your story is going to be a lot harder to believe if you have way too many characters. Some authors can pull it off but not a lot. So you are better off having a few characters of which you can make your audience focus on.
17. Your Best Friend.
A writer’s biggest challenge is developing a protagonist that is consistent through out the entire story. You have to remember this is your main character. Basically your story lives or dies off the actions of your protagonist. If your reader doesn’t care about the protagonist then he isn’t even going to make it from cover to cover.
18. Character Development
You have to figure out who you need for characters. You have to figure out what these characters are going to mean to one another. In some stories the characters love one another and in others they hate each other. You have to ask yourself what your readers want. Sometimes you have difficult choices to make. For example a character that you and your readers are in love with might have to be killed off to make the story take that next leap. Don’t get stuck on your decisions because if you do then that is where your story will end. Sometimes you have to be hard but that’s part of the business. I would recommend trying a few different things with your character. However don’t go with your heart. In this case you have to go with what you know is going to work. It’s your chance to play devils advocate so take the chance and run with it.
19. “Why”
As you get further into your novel you’re going to have quite a character built. You’re going to have the pages on your scribbler just filled with different points to your character. By now you should even know your characters shoe size and what color underwear they like to wear. Always ask the question why of your character. Secondly what’s even more important than that is answering it in your scribbler.
20. Be You
So many new writers like to try and make themselves sound like some one else. My favorite writer is Stephen King and I enjoy writing the same genre as he does but I can guarantee the two of us don’t sound anything alike. When I write I talk it out. What I am trying to say is I write out loud. Some of your work is going to get very ugly and awkward but you can deal with that later. So make sure you develop your own style and your own voice.
Okay this is the end of my fourth lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
16. Believability
It doesn’t matter if your character is evil or good. What does matter is that your reader believes he is real. When I write I make believe I am the character, I talk out loud and I take my time to imagine what he is doing next. Your characters actions will define his purpose. Your story is going to be a lot harder to believe if you have way too many characters. Some authors can pull it off but not a lot. So you are better off having a few characters of which you can make your audience focus on.
17. Your Best Friend.
A writer’s biggest challenge is developing a protagonist that is consistent through out the entire story. You have to remember this is your main character. Basically your story lives or dies off the actions of your protagonist. If your reader doesn’t care about the protagonist then he isn’t even going to make it from cover to cover.
18. Character Development
You have to figure out who you need for characters. You have to figure out what these characters are going to mean to one another. In some stories the characters love one another and in others they hate each other. You have to ask yourself what your readers want. Sometimes you have difficult choices to make. For example a character that you and your readers are in love with might have to be killed off to make the story take that next leap. Don’t get stuck on your decisions because if you do then that is where your story will end. Sometimes you have to be hard but that’s part of the business. I would recommend trying a few different things with your character. However don’t go with your heart. In this case you have to go with what you know is going to work. It’s your chance to play devils advocate so take the chance and run with it.
19. “Why”
As you get further into your novel you’re going to have quite a character built. You’re going to have the pages on your scribbler just filled with different points to your character. By now you should even know your characters shoe size and what color underwear they like to wear. Always ask the question why of your character. Secondly what’s even more important than that is answering it in your scribbler.
20. Be You
So many new writers like to try and make themselves sound like some one else. My favorite writer is Stephen King and I enjoy writing the same genre as he does but I can guarantee the two of us don’t sound anything alike. When I write I talk it out. What I am trying to say is I write out loud. Some of your work is going to get very ugly and awkward but you can deal with that later. So make sure you develop your own style and your own voice.
Okay this is the end of my fourth lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 3)
This is going to be the third excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
11. What You Know To Start
When you first start your book it’s important to write about things that you are familiar with. Places that you have lived at, worked at or just visited. Things that you know a little bit about. Maybe you work in the oil path so you want your story to be on a rig. Lastly maybe you know some interesting people that you could use some of their traits to build an exciting character.
12. Characters First
Since your characters are harder to develop you should work on them first. Remember your readers are going to want characters that come to life. Another thing is that your character can’t really change half way through the story. Look at your character kind of like a snowball. He starts off small and eventually becomes big. The plot could change in your story half way through but not your character.
13. Know Your Characters
When you’re done with this exercise you will know your characters intimately. Choose a couple of females, a couple of males and some kids and start building your characters. I use a loose leaf book and use one page per character. You want to build your characters traits. What do they look like? Are they fat, skinny, tall, short, what color are their hair and eyes? Maybe they are bald. Do they have hobbies? What do they like to eat? Are they normal or do they have a sick or sadistic side to them? It doesn’t matter if these are main characters or small part characters. By giving them a life of their own it will help your readers relate to them.
14. Formula
You are going to want to build yourself some sort of formula for a story. Let’s say your writing about a fictional serial killer. You’re going to want to decide how many people he will kill. Will these people be female or male? Will he kill during the day or night? What happens if you run into problems with your story? For me when I was writing my serial killer novel and I ran into a road block I just killed someone else. By that time I was usually past my road block.
15. Plot And Characters
Now that you have your characters built you can start building your plot around them. You already know what you want to write about but you have to make sure that your characters and plot don’t go in the opposite direction. The characters and plot have to move to the ultimate finish together.
Okay this is the end of my second lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
11. What You Know To Start
When you first start your book it’s important to write about things that you are familiar with. Places that you have lived at, worked at or just visited. Things that you know a little bit about. Maybe you work in the oil path so you want your story to be on a rig. Lastly maybe you know some interesting people that you could use some of their traits to build an exciting character.
12. Characters First
Since your characters are harder to develop you should work on them first. Remember your readers are going to want characters that come to life. Another thing is that your character can’t really change half way through the story. Look at your character kind of like a snowball. He starts off small and eventually becomes big. The plot could change in your story half way through but not your character.
13. Know Your Characters
When you’re done with this exercise you will know your characters intimately. Choose a couple of females, a couple of males and some kids and start building your characters. I use a loose leaf book and use one page per character. You want to build your characters traits. What do they look like? Are they fat, skinny, tall, short, what color are their hair and eyes? Maybe they are bald. Do they have hobbies? What do they like to eat? Are they normal or do they have a sick or sadistic side to them? It doesn’t matter if these are main characters or small part characters. By giving them a life of their own it will help your readers relate to them.
14. Formula
You are going to want to build yourself some sort of formula for a story. Let’s say your writing about a fictional serial killer. You’re going to want to decide how many people he will kill. Will these people be female or male? Will he kill during the day or night? What happens if you run into problems with your story? For me when I was writing my serial killer novel and I ran into a road block I just killed someone else. By that time I was usually past my road block.
15. Plot And Characters
Now that you have your characters built you can start building your plot around them. You already know what you want to write about but you have to make sure that your characters and plot don’t go in the opposite direction. The characters and plot have to move to the ultimate finish together.
Okay this is the end of my second lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 2)
This is going to be the second excerpt on writing your novel. I am going to try and put these editions out as quickly as I can but that is only when time allows. I love writing and that is what I am doing all the time. Am I a good writer? I don’t know. What I do know is that I am getting to be a better writer with every word I put on paper and you too can become a good writer. To write your novel just follow these steps that I am laying out and at the end you will have something that at least you are proud of.
6. Map Your Story
Take one of your favorite novels and analyze it. Tear it apart piece by piece. See what the author did to achieve his success. Make notes and make blue prints. If you have an office then pin them up in there if you don’t then pin them up where ever you’re going to be writing your novel. You can then go back and use this author’s ways as a stepping stone.
7. Think Small
Way too many first time writers think they are going to write the end of the world novel. Your story can be small and focused and it will be just as successful. Make sure what ever you are writing about has meaning to you. If you relate that on paper then the people that are reading it will get the same meaning out of it.
8. Be Original
Even though your blue print might be from another author try some things your self. Remember this blue print is just a guide. It can be easily swayed from or changed. Keep trying different things until you find the thing that works for you. You might be surprised at what you come up with.
9. It Doesn’t Matter If It Belongs, Write It
Just write. If it doesn’t look like it belongs there then so what. Pin that up in your office to. You obviously had a reason for writing it and it may fit somewhere else in your book. And on the off chance it never makes it in to your story than so what maybe it will make it in to the next one. What I am saying is don’t throw stuff away.
10. You Don’t Have To Know To Love
While we are still on the subject of picking a topic for your book I want you to be able to differentiate over something. To write a book you don’t have to be an expert. You have to love what you are writing about. The expertise comes in the form of research. Remember passion will get your words out better than knowing. You’re writing a novel not a technical book. You may be in enthralled with WW1 but know nothing about it. That’s great because you will do some research, learn and write a pasionate novel.
Okay this is the end of my second lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
6. Map Your Story
Take one of your favorite novels and analyze it. Tear it apart piece by piece. See what the author did to achieve his success. Make notes and make blue prints. If you have an office then pin them up in there if you don’t then pin them up where ever you’re going to be writing your novel. You can then go back and use this author’s ways as a stepping stone.
7. Think Small
Way too many first time writers think they are going to write the end of the world novel. Your story can be small and focused and it will be just as successful. Make sure what ever you are writing about has meaning to you. If you relate that on paper then the people that are reading it will get the same meaning out of it.
8. Be Original
Even though your blue print might be from another author try some things your self. Remember this blue print is just a guide. It can be easily swayed from or changed. Keep trying different things until you find the thing that works for you. You might be surprised at what you come up with.
9. It Doesn’t Matter If It Belongs, Write It
Just write. If it doesn’t look like it belongs there then so what. Pin that up in your office to. You obviously had a reason for writing it and it may fit somewhere else in your book. And on the off chance it never makes it in to your story than so what maybe it will make it in to the next one. What I am saying is don’t throw stuff away.
10. You Don’t Have To Know To Love
While we are still on the subject of picking a topic for your book I want you to be able to differentiate over something. To write a book you don’t have to be an expert. You have to love what you are writing about. The expertise comes in the form of research. Remember passion will get your words out better than knowing. You’re writing a novel not a technical book. You may be in enthralled with WW1 but know nothing about it. That’s great because you will do some research, learn and write a pasionate novel.
Okay this is the end of my second lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Write Your Novel Step By Step (Part 1)
In the following weeks I will be giving each and everyone of you a step by step series on how to write your novel. I am going to break it up into a number of series with each series having about 5 steps in each one. This is entirely free to you. I could easily make it into an e-book but I won’t for a couple of reasons. Firstly my passion is writing. There is nothing more I like to do than write. Secondly in return I just ask that you have a look at my websites that will be listed at the bottom. Feel free to direct your friends and family to have a look at this as well. I am not promising you are going to write the all American novel but you have to love writing before you can make money at it. It took me a long time to make any money at my writing and I still don’t make enough to pay the bills but there is nothing I would rather be doing. Well enough with that and let’s get down to business.
1. Commitment
Firstly and most importantly in your endeavor to write your first novel it is all so important to make a commitment. This isn’t to your friends or family but rather to you. So what I want you to do is look in the mirror and tell yourself that no matter how rough this gets you are going to carry on and get this finished. Without this commitment you may as well stop reading and forget you ever found this. So the commitment I want you to make is that you are going to write. You’re writing your first novel and that makes you a writer and writers write so that gets you through step one.
2. Set A Schedule
This is probably where most writers fail. They procrastinate, get a good start, get bored and forget they even started. All writers have different schedules, but the one thing they do have in common is that they have a schedule. I personally don’t have a schedule written in stone because of the work I do on my other job. You can never plan your day. However this is what I do. I commit to getting up an hour early every morning and that is for writing. Before bed I commit to an hour of writing. So all I can commit to in a day is 2 hours. That time is only dedicated to my writing and you would be surprised at how much I get done if I can only utilize those two hours. But a lot of times my other job allows me time for writing and without a word of a lie some days I get 14 hours of writing time in. So be realistic in setting your schedule and understand that sometimes you may have to sway from it but also remember a lot of writers fail because they set their schedule and then they don’t follow through with it.
3. Decisions Decisions
Ok now the time has come for you to decide what you are going to write about. Now is the time to stop procrastinating and get to work. Of course you’re not going to know every detail and concept that you want to put into your book but at least you’re going to get the wheels rolling. The time has come to quit talking about writing a book. Now the time has come to plan it and write it.
4. What Are You Going To Write About?
Now you have to decide what you are going to write about. I suggest a topic that really gets you going. My utmost favorite author in the world is Stephen King. When I pick up one of his books I just can’t put the thing down. So of course you have probably figured out what my books are based on. Maybe you like science fiction or a good murder mystery. It doesn’t matter what you write about but it makes it easier if you can put passion into the story.
5. Don’t Be A Bore
I don’t care what you write about. Hell it could even be needle point but you have to make sure you are not boring to your reader. The only real hard fast rule is that your stories have to be interesting. You can have all the drama and excitement that you want but if you don’t make it interesting it’s going to flop.
Okay this is the end of my first lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
1. Commitment
Firstly and most importantly in your endeavor to write your first novel it is all so important to make a commitment. This isn’t to your friends or family but rather to you. So what I want you to do is look in the mirror and tell yourself that no matter how rough this gets you are going to carry on and get this finished. Without this commitment you may as well stop reading and forget you ever found this. So the commitment I want you to make is that you are going to write. You’re writing your first novel and that makes you a writer and writers write so that gets you through step one.
2. Set A Schedule
This is probably where most writers fail. They procrastinate, get a good start, get bored and forget they even started. All writers have different schedules, but the one thing they do have in common is that they have a schedule. I personally don’t have a schedule written in stone because of the work I do on my other job. You can never plan your day. However this is what I do. I commit to getting up an hour early every morning and that is for writing. Before bed I commit to an hour of writing. So all I can commit to in a day is 2 hours. That time is only dedicated to my writing and you would be surprised at how much I get done if I can only utilize those two hours. But a lot of times my other job allows me time for writing and without a word of a lie some days I get 14 hours of writing time in. So be realistic in setting your schedule and understand that sometimes you may have to sway from it but also remember a lot of writers fail because they set their schedule and then they don’t follow through with it.
3. Decisions Decisions
Ok now the time has come for you to decide what you are going to write about. Now is the time to stop procrastinating and get to work. Of course you’re not going to know every detail and concept that you want to put into your book but at least you’re going to get the wheels rolling. The time has come to quit talking about writing a book. Now the time has come to plan it and write it.
4. What Are You Going To Write About?
Now you have to decide what you are going to write about. I suggest a topic that really gets you going. My utmost favorite author in the world is Stephen King. When I pick up one of his books I just can’t put the thing down. So of course you have probably figured out what my books are based on. Maybe you like science fiction or a good murder mystery. It doesn’t matter what you write about but it makes it easier if you can put passion into the story.
5. Don’t Be A Bore
I don’t care what you write about. Hell it could even be needle point but you have to make sure you are not boring to your reader. The only real hard fast rule is that your stories have to be interesting. You can have all the drama and excitement that you want but if you don’t make it interesting it’s going to flop.
Okay this is the end of my first lesson on my step by step series on how to write a novel. Remember not everyone is going to write the perfect novel but at the end of the day if you keep following these steps I guarantee no matter what you will have something that you are proud of.
Dale Mazurek
Dale is presently in the process of getting his first novel published. He has also started dabbling in short stories. You can find some of these on his blog at http://stcajo-readshortstories.blogspot.com/ And lastly he deals a little in the affiliate marketing gig which can be checked out at http://www.7dayebook.com/?hop=stcajo orhttp://stcajo.profitlan.hop.clickbank.net You can also contact him at stcajo2011@yahoo for any info on his writing or products.
In writing my novel I learnt a lot of things the hard way so I just wanted to put this series out there for would be writers to help them on their path to writing their own book.
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