Four steps to writing a book

Dreaming of writing a book? Perhaps you work in a field where publishing a book is a mark of your success. Specialists in many professional fields often pen books that become learning texts for those who follow in their footsteps. Most would-be novelists, however, want to pen an epic story that will merit them a spot in literary history. Whatever sort of book you’re writing, be prepared to spend time and expend a great deal of effort to complete the piece. Then, the hard part will begin. Writing a book, any author will tell you, is much easier than getting it published. Still, if you are determined to follow this dream, here are a few steps to help you on your way.

First, you want to fall back on something you learned in high school. You want an outline to follow. An outline for a book will evolve as the story does. Some writers actually refer to their outline as a story map. These “maps” outline not only the plot, but can help you keep track of timelines, characters, events and even the name of the fictional cat. Your initial outline will be bare bones, but be sure you leave lots of room for scribbling in notes as the story evolves. In the end, some outlines are as long as many short novels.

Secondly, you will need to begin your book. If you are basing it upon past events, you might choose to include an epilogue that outlines those previous events and brings the reader up-to-date with your introduction. If no epilogue is required, you can launch right into your introduction. Unlike a story or a paper, your introduction is going to be pages, sometimes chapters, long. The first few chapters in a book are crucial. Don’t forget, these are what you’ll be sending to publishers or agents to earn their acceptance should you be so fortunate as to merit their interest. They should be interesting, intriguing and very well written.

In the third step, you will be following your outline to create the story. Many writers do three, four or even five drafts of a book. The first, or the rough draft, is simply the story without too much embellishment. Then, the second adds the extras that will flesh out the tale. Take as many drafts as you need. Yes. This is time consuming. Writing a book is not like penning a short story. It is a job and one that, until the book is published, often feels quite thankless.

The fourth step, upon the completion of your final draft is to seek out either a literary agent to represent you to major publishing houses, or to be bold and seek a publisher on your own. Be forewarned that many of the bigger publishers don’t read work by authors who are not represented by an agent. Before sending any of your actual writing to an agent or publisher, you’ll compose a query letter describing their book and attempting to interest them in your manuscript. Most will not actually want to read any of your work unless this letter piques their interest.

If you’re lucky enough to have your manuscript read by either an agent or publishing house, you still only have a slight chance of being accepted. Some agents might send it back with suggested changes or perhaps offering advice on a firm better suited to representing your type of work. Often, even works that are accepted require massive revisions and rewrites to meet the publisher’s criteria. If you think this sounds like hard work, then you are right. It is. Still, the dream of having your work published is enough to make taking all four steps worth the while.

Four steps to put more passion in your article writing

Article writing of certain types can be either an indulgent time spent waxing most eloquently about your favorite topic, or it can be a chore. It is not only the topic, but also your approach, that determines which it will be. Obviously it is easy to convey your enthusiasm when the subject matter is one that interests and excites you. If, on the other hand, the topic is one of those that might serve as a cure for insomnia, the task can be a little daunting. So, how do you put more passion, more zeal and more pizzazz into an article about a subject you dislike? Easy! You improvise with words.

The first step is acknowledgement. You might say to yourself (aloud if no one is around to question your sanity) something along the lines of “I hate this subject.” After owning up to your less than eager anticipation for the work, do the routine things like research and planning your lay out or outline. After all, you still have to write the article.

The second step starts once you are ready to write. Now try to put the subject, if not into an entirely new light, then at least slant the light from a direction that makes it appear a little less dull. For instance, if your assignment were something like, “write a three-hundred word article on making potato salad”, you could spice it up with finding some exotic types of potato salad or getting a quote from a famous chef on the subject.

If no light is going to make this subject look good, at least to you, then go to step three. Simply write the article from a purely factual angle. Write it quickly and worry more about getting your facts straight than your phrasing. Why? That would be because you are immediately going to re-write it completely. In the rewrite, you keep the facts but play with the phrasing. Where you find passive verbs, insert some action. Add interesting adjectives and adverbs and even a tricky prepositional phrase. Punch it up and make it more fun to read.

Finally, get advice from someone who might actually like the subject. If you hate cooking but your neighbor wants to be on the Cooking Channel, ask her for some ideas. Don’t use her as a source, but get a new look at the subject from the perspective of a person who is biased toward, not against it.

Whether it’s a four part series of articles on toenail fungus or a set of how-to articles on preventing diaper rash, these four steps can take the tedious subject matter and, with some effort on your part, transform the finished article by adding a passion and a life it might not have if you had written it in the “I hate” mode. Four simple steps take the article from passable to passionate, and can any of us really have too much passion?

Writing For Profit At Home

Tired of punching a clock or putting in a sixty-hour week and taking home forty hours worth of pay while on “salary”? If so, and you’re a trained copywriter, the Internet might just be the perfect place for you to turn for a break in the “routine”. While you might not start out at anything near your current pay rate, even the – freelance writing jobs available on-line offer writers some attractive options. So, if you write and want to be your own boss for a change; read on and learn a little bit about making money on-line through writing either as a free-lancer or a free-lance subcontractor.

If you spend anytime surfing the web, you’ve seen sites that are looking for “people who want to earn big $$$ working from home”. Most of them, sad to say, turn out to be just what you thought… scams. There are, however, quite a few legitimate sites where writers, graphic artists, IT specialists and other professionals can advertise their availability and even bid on open jobs. Of course, as with any sort of prospective employment, check out the site, read their fine print and approach the entire thing as an adventure, not as an investment. Invest only when you find out if there is really any money to be made!

Think about it for just one minute. Everything you read on line was written. Someone had to write it. Whether it’s a web site’s content, a banner ad’s slogan or a blog about a political race, a writer is required. So, why not spend some of your spare time searching the web, researching some of the sites and maybe taking on a trial subscription. You risk very little and you could gain something truly valuable, freedom from the clock.

Writing to Make Money

There are thousands of ways to make money through online resources. One of the many ways is to write opinions about people, services, products and websites. There are weekly, biweekly and monthly payments available for just writing opinions in your own blog and then posting it in various other blogs.
Writing is a marketable craft. While many people enjoy writing, they don’t take it any farther than using their skills for simple communication. For those who aspire to the level of professional writer, words are a product from which profit is derived. Writing to make money or to supplement an existing income is the primary motivation for most writing professionals. Whether they want to write articles for a magazine, newspaper or the World Wide Web, or perhaps they are shopping their first novel around to publishers, the writer who wishes to transform their craft into a livelihood must continually hone their skills, and occasionally expand their repertoire to include new market-viable forms of work. The writer, who has, heretofore, specialized in technical writing, may be missing out on opportunities in other types of work. Specialization, on the other hand, has its good points. Establishing a solid reputation in a particular field can assist the writer in find employment as their reputation may attract new employers. For writers who wish to break into print, there are publications that can help them fine tune their work and instruct them where and how to submit it. For those who prefer to make their name on the Internet, there are sites for that purpose, as well. Writing to make money does not cheapen the art. All writers find it gratifying to know their readers appreciate their work enough to pay for it.

Writer’s Block

Every writer suffers from writer’s block. It is as common as sunburn on a beach. For some, the prospect of putting that first word on a blank page is daunting, and sheer indecision can prevent them from being able to begin. Other writers find that, for them, writer’s block is that moment when you simply cannot think of what ought, logically, to come next.

Explaining writer’s block to a writer is simple. Explaining it to non-writers is tough. I would expect the best way to describe it would be as sudden onset vocabulary amnesia. As a writer, married to a non-writer, my husband will testify to the number of times he’s heard me exclaim that my mind has a hole in it and that everything I ever knew about writing fell out of it. He smiles and promptly gives me a different task. Being a wise man, he’s learned the trick that usually fixes the writer’s block is distraction.

Step away from the work. Take a walk. Watch a TV show. Or write about something else. Then, when you have gotten past that frustrated state induced by a block, you can try again. Chances are that it won’t be too long before your block dissolves and you are back on track. Writer’s block is a malady peculiar to the craft and its cruelty can only be felt and understood by one who has suffered through it.

Tutorial Writing

In the world of modern academia, and of continuing education long after graduation, tutorial writing is fast becoming the “in” field for writers. Tutorials on how to operate some of today’s high-tech equipment are often more difficult to read than the device is to understand. It is, therefore, essential that the writer of tutorial remember the goal of the work is to instruct.

Instruction, or tutorial writing, follows protocols. It introduces the subject and breaks it down into steps that, when followed, produce a desired result. It should also point out things that ought not to be done. A tutorial work on how to operate a space heater really should point out where not to use it, and when it should be turned off. A tutorial on how to set up an effective filing system should warn about common errors that will hinder the process. But, for the most part, tutorial writing is about what should be done.

Good practices in tutorial writing are to keep the paragraphs short and utilize lists. Repetitive phrasing or rephrasing to emphasis key points is helpful for the reader and reinforces what has already been learned. Good tutorial writing should have the goal of instructing and simplifying any process.

Travel Writing

Travel writing is fast becoming one of the most popular fields of modern research writing, both for short work (articles, etc.) and for novelists. Since travel is a subject that fascinates most readers, the writer endeavoring to enter the travel writing market, needs to be aware of their market audience.

The travel reader is usually an intelligent person who either plans to travel extensively or may already have done so, or they are not in a position to travel and so use their reading as a substitute. Either way, knowing your material is essential to sell well in any travel writing market. Many guidebooks, travel web pages and other sources who utilize travel writing, require their writers to actually have visited and have first-hand knowledge of the area about which they write, in addition to having done extensive research.

While travel writing is essentially factual, it can be stretched and pampered a little with the use of colorful descriptive wording and allusions to activities that might be undertaken in the destination. This allows a writer room to stretch their vocabulary as long as they keep it within the limitations of fact obtained from an honest perspective. It’s no different to the academic approaches to critical essays at online universities or on-campus colleges – you’re writing for an audience that want to gain knowledge, but don’t necessarily want it delivered to them in a haughty, over-factual manner. Thus, it behooves the travel writer with less experience to refrain from using excessive first person statements and stick closer to their research.

Thesis Writing

Thesis writing is the apex of academic writing. In a thesis, the goal is to form an opinion or theory (a.k.a. a hypothesis) and then research respected, reliable sources to find facts and data that will support this theory. The thesis usually contains an introductory paragraph stating the writer’s theory or thesis, and then is followed by subsequent paragraphs that contain the supporting data.

A good thesis must follow an outline. The outline will ensure that instead of random arguments for the proposed theory, the reader will be able to follow a clear road map that takes them step-by-step through the writer’s reasoning. Summing up the paper is a paragraph known as the “summarization” or a concluding statement. This restates the initial thesis with the added benefit of having already “proved” or made a strong argument for its veracity. It is essential that all sources used in thesis writing be documented in a bibliography that is attached as an addendum to the work. Direct quotes and other “word-for-word” data inserted in any paragraph should be duly footnoted so that the reader can access the material and verify the facts.

Thesis writing is non-fiction, but can be presented in an informative manner that engages the reader, eliminating their having to endure a string of stale, dry factual data. Good thesis writing involves planning, outlining, researching and meticulous preparation.

Short Story Writing

Writers often compose their first short story in grammar school. In the same token, many prominent novelists began their distinguished careers as the writers of short stories. Short story writing is not child’s play. Usually fictitious, the story can range from as short as two hundred and fifty words, up to ten to fifteen thousand, depending on the publisher’s criteria. Since brevity is of the essence in most instances, the writer will need to convey the tale in concise, compelling sentences.

Think of short story writing as building with a small stack of lumber. You can’t construct a mansion, but you must make each piece of lumber count if you’re going to keep out the rain. It is, for many writers, more challenging to keep the word count down than to wax eloquent with excessive verbiage. The storyline must be followed. The introduction, body of the story and the conclusion are still vital. But the writer will need to fill in these blanks with the fewest possible words that will enable the reader to not only follow the tale, but enjoy it, as well.

Short story writing requires searching out the most efficient words to complete each sentence or phrase. This allows the writer to make maximum impact with minimal wording, which is, in essence, what short story writing is all about.

Sales Copy Writing

Persuasive writing finds its strongest voice in sales copy writing. Sales copy, whether it is written for advertisement or description, must entice the reader. Good sales copy will tout the advantages of the product or service to be sold, using terms targeted for a specific audience. Usually the copy is short and requiring unique, catchy phrases that will not only engage the reader’s curiosity about the product, but also stick in their minds. The catch phrase, or tag line, used by big retailers sets them apart and is a part of sales copy writing known as “branding”.

Sales copy can be short, almost terse and still get the point across. Some advertising copy can be a single word accompanied by a stellar video. Other times, there are no pictures, only the writer’s words to illustrate the product/service and its desirability to the audience. Strong, persuasive sentences that command attention and action are the backbone of good sales copy. This ultra-competitive form of writing defies the rules of traditional grammar and punctuation for the purpose of grabbing the attention of viewers, listeners and readers. The copy is written in a compelling.

Negative words are avoided, unless the copy requires the contrast and comparison of a product with that of a competitor. Sales writing copy is meant to sell not only the product or service, but the writer’s skill, as well.

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