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Everything You Need To Know To Write Your First Book

You can write a 60k word book in 30 days

By J.B. MillerPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
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Photo by Rashtravardhan Kataria on Unsplash

There are several steps to writing a novel. It might seem overwhelming at first, but once you dig in, it’s a lot easier than you think. This article is based on writing a book in thirty days. That is easily doable. However, from plot to publish, I would add on another month. But don’t worry, I’m going to take you through all the steps.

  • Idea
  • Plotting/outlining
  • Characters
  • Worldbuilding
  • POV
  • Timelines
  • Plot holes
  • Continuity
  • First draft
  • Proofreading
  • Editing
  • Book covers
  • Marketing
  • Publishing
  • Taxes

Okay, that list may seem scary, but it’s doable. I will touch on all the points in this article, but the principal topic will be to get those 60,000 words down in 30 days.

The Trick:

To reach your goal of 60k words, you need to write 2000 words a day.

Idea:

The first step to any story is the idea. As long as you have a vague idea of what you want to write, you are ready to begin. Remember, a story needs three things: a beginning, middle and end. There is a lot of meat that you can add to the bones of those three things, but you don't have a story without them.

Plotting/Outlining:

There are two types of writers, plotters and pantsers. A plotter is someone who plots the storyline. That can range from roughing out the chapters to detailed steps of every scene.

A pantster is a “fly by the seat of your pants” writer. First, they have an idea and run with it. Then, they write scenes organically as it comes to them. I do both. I began as a complete pantser, writing down my stories as if watching a film in my head. Eventually, I began to plot them out more. Below is an article I wrote on helping you decide which one fits you best.

Character Development:

Character development is something that every writer needs to work on. Keep character sheets, and write everything about your characters down, from their physical descriptions to their likes and dislikes. As you are trying to hammer out those 60,000 words, being able to flip back to character information is paramount in making your character a well-rounded individual. Flat characters kill a reader's interest. Below is a link to The Nation Centre for Writing, where you can download free worksheets on character building.

Worldbuilding:

Worldbuilding is where you create the world that lives in your head. Is your story based in a real place or a fantasy world? All worlds have rules and laws. It's essential that you at least know what they are. You will need to make a list of them for reference. What is the culture of your world? Does it have its own language? If there is magic involved, what are the rules that govern it?

You will also need to create an atlas of your world; towns, cities, countries, continents. These do not have to be in-depth descriptions. You can use the zoom in-zoom out method, where you concentrate on one area or zoom out to look at the bigger whole. What you need is a basic grasp of your world, and keeping a file on it is great if you are a plotter. If you are a pantser, let your imagination run free. The only drawback is you have to remember a lot more.

POV:

What is the POV of your story? Is it the first, second or third person? Also, are you talking in the past or present tense? You can choose any one that you want. The main thing to remember is to pick one and stick with it.

You can also change POV. For instance, the perspective can jump from one character to another. Of course, this only works in the first person, though as second and third-person perspective is removed from the scene.

image by @brandy28655

Timelines:

This one could go with the plotline or outline, but I gave it its own heading. A timeline happens in the chronological order of your story. That doesn't mean it has to be linear. You can flashback to past times or future times if you want; however, you will need to make it work within your character's storyline. A few key elements to remember when working out your timeline are:

How long does the story last; days, weeks, or years?

How old is your character?

What stages do things happen in your story?

There are loads of programs to help you. The program I use is Plottr. I love it.

Plot holes:

Ahh, those deep dark abyss’s that so many writers fall into. A plot hole is a glaringly obvious place in your story that goes against the story plot. For example, Back to The Future; This one has always annoyed me. Marty went back in time, met his parents, spent a lot of time with them, and even made out with his mom! Yet, when he goes back to the future, they have no recollection of him at all. Even if there was a scene where his mom and dad said, ‘Yeah, we had a friend back in the day that you look a lot like- if I didn't know better….’ But then that would have opened a whole other can of worms!

Continuity:

Every story needs this! It's all about the flow, baby. If you are a writer who likes to jump about and write scenes when they come to you, you need to keep your eye on your flow. You can do this by keeping notes, pictures, storyboards, etc. I often use Pinterest to keep a storyboard of my characters and their lives. You can keep them private or public, and your readers will love them if you decide to make them public! A program that I use when writing is Scrivner. It's incredible if you are the type of writer to jump about as you can write individual scenes and keep track of everything.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/

First draft:

Your creation is done. Well, the first part of it is. At this point, you have poured your blood, sweat, tears, and possibly a bit of your soul into it. I know you are proud of that sucker and think, right, let's hit publish. STOP! Do Not Pass Go! It's not time yet.

The first draft is just that. There will be problems with it—everything from misspellings to inconsistencies to totally screwing up your characters. Honest to God, I've changed hair colours and names halfway through a story and didn't realise it! This is where the next step comes in.

Proofreading:

Find someone to read it. The best people to read your manuscript are not your nearest and dearest; Unless they have a mean streak. Because you need someone that will tell you where you messed up and let you know where it doesn't flow right, or there's a plot hole.

Many writers join Facebook groups and offer to read drafts in return for you doing the same thing. You can also form groups on your own and ask for people to read it and give you feedback. This is more in the beta readers area, though. Always remember to run your manuscript through Grammarly or an editing program first so that it's as clean as possible before you hand it over.

Editing:

I can not stress this enough; everyone needs an editor. Usually, a team will go through a manuscript, and they can still miss mistakes. I have seen a manuscript have no less than six professionals look it over and still miss something! As painful as it sounds, you will need an editor, especially if you are self-publishing. The self-publishing world is hardcore and highly competitive. You can not have glaring errors in your final manuscript, or it will tar your name forever.

Book covers:

Now that I've scarred you with the editing part, let's talk book covers. Yes, people judge a book by its cover. I suggest that you always put effort into the cover. It doesn't have to cost the earth. There are decent cover artists that do pre-mades’ for as little as $30. I've bought them for $10 in the past, but those were bargains.

The main thing is that they give a reasonable interpretation of your story. If you have a person on the cover, make sure they at least resemble the MC’s in your book. It is a huge turnoff to read, and the brunette on the cover is now a blonde.

The font is also important. Try to have the title as the main draw, but make sure your name is well. It is your work and you want the reader to remember who you are. You can also add a subtitle or exert if there is room. I try to keep to simple covers that are not too busy.

Marketing

Many new or even seasoned writers miss this step or wait until after publishing. This is where social media is your friend. Before you ever publish your book, you should be marketing it. So, go shout it on the mountain! There are countless promo pages on Facebook, and to start you off, here is one that I run.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1630704480519533

Other places to post your book is

Twitter

Pinterest

Goodreads

LinkedIn

Instagram

blogs

and any other social platforms you are involved in.

Publishing:

How you choose to publish will impact the way you do it. If you are going to self-publish, there are a few different routes.

Amazon is the primary distributor for self-published books, and you can join their unlimited program. That does, however, mean that you are tied in with Amazon on a rolling three-month contract. You can not publish your work anywhere else in that time frame, even if you remove your content from Amazon.

There is also Draft2Digital that is a one-stop-shop for publishing. They will publish your books across several platforms and take you step by step to do it. In addition, both companies give you reports on things like sales and ratings. I am currently on Amazon, as I'm lazy and can't be bothered to put in more effort.

If you want to go the traditional route, it's definitely the harder road. Very few publishers will accept manuscripts anymore. They will, however, post on their sites if they are. The big six will not even look at you without a literary agent. The first step here is to send your finished manuscript to literary agents and hope that one of them picks you up. Expect lots of rejection, even JK Rowlings was rejected for the Harry Potter books!

E.L James was discovered on Wattpad! She was writing Twilight fanfic. Will you ever look at Bella and Edward the same again? There really isn't a straightforward way when it comes to publishing, but know it is a lot of work no matter which route you decide to take.

Taxes:

This is the part that everyone hates, but no matter where you go, you will have to make sure your tax forms are filled in before you can publish anywhere. As an Author, you are considered self-employed. So, keep records of everything that you spend. Everything means from writing pens and paper to programs and editor costs. Then, you can put it all down as deductibles when it comes to the taxman.

Also, if you are a student, you may get a student discount on many apps or devices that you need. This can come in super handy!

To sum up, if you write 2,000 words a day, you can finish your novel in 30 days. I would give yourself at least another month for the rest of the busywork. Of course, that is if you work on it every day and keep on top of things. Writing a book is not easy, but it is worth it.

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About the Creator

J.B. Miller

Wife, Mother, student, writer and so much more. Life is my passion, writing is my addiction. You can find me on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandy28655/

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