For those who are passionate about books, writing, and publishing, this project may seem too good to be true. You can take your pick of genres and themes – from thrillers to historical fiction – and establish the outlines for numerous books before you even begin to draft a single word.
In reality, it’s much easier than that. With just a few hours of your time each week, you can put in place the essentials for a book project that will see you through to the end – with a little help from some virtual assistant software.
Establishing The Genre
Before you begin to establish the plot for your book, you will need to choose its genre. It could be historical fiction set in the Tudor period, or fantasy fiction with an Asian twist. Whatever it may be, you will need to consider the marketplace. Where will you publish your work? What is the demand in your chosen genre? These are all questions that you will need to ask yourself before you can answer the ultimate question: What am I writing ?
Once you have established the genre, you can move on to the next step – designing the plot.
Designing The Plot
The plot of your book, as with any screenplay or television series, is the backbone of your story. Without a clear idea of what happens at the end, you will find it difficult to write the rest of the story. So, you need to sit down and design the exact sequence of events that you will need to get from start to finish. Bear in mind that you will need to write a book that is at least 400 pages long. If you are writing a thriller, for example, you will need to write a 700-page book to feel that you have covered all the major plot points. Designing the plot for your book is not as difficult as you might think and there are numerous examples of well-written plots out there that can serve as inspiration. You can use a free online tool like Plot Planner to quickly lay out your plot. You can even review the outline you have just created to make sure that you have not overlooked anything vital.
Writing The Great Opening Pages
The opening pages of your book are the most vital and, therefore, the most important pages. They should hook your readers and, ideally, encourage them to keep reading. To achieve this, you need to write something unique and powerful that will compel the reader to keep turning the pages. Whether you are writing a historical fiction based on fact or some fictionalized account, you will need to decide how much of the historical information you are willing to include. If you choose to use sources and facts from the past, you will need to do your research and get the details right.
To start with, you may want to consider reviewing some of the most famous opening pages of books, both old and new. A timeless classic example is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. In the first few pages, we are introduced to – among other things – a talking lion, a magical wardrobe, a terrifying flying witch, and the delightful Mr. Tumnus. The result is a magical opening that fully captures the reader’s attention and compels them to continue flipping the pages.
If you choose to write a historical fiction book, you will need to decide at what level of detail you want to present history. Do you want to go for a complete setting, including costumes, food, and etiquette? Or would you rather present a more simplified account of historical events? The former can be an amazing project to embark upon, but it will require a lot of research. The latter can be much more manageable and you can use all the spare time you have to write the rest of the story. Of course, you can mix the two together – make realistic settings within an account of historical events.
Editing, Proofreading, And Publishing
Once you have completed writing the great opening pages of your book, it’s time to move onto the next phase of your project. Editing is the process of going through your work and making changes to improve its quality. It can be an overwhelming task, so it’s a good idea to enlist the help of an editor or several. Alternatively, you could take a more DIY approach and get some family and friends to give you honest feedback on what they think of your work. The only difference is that you will need to go through the process of editing and rewriting the entire book to make the necessary changes – even if it’s just a few pages at a time.
After you have edited your work and sent it off to your publisher, it’s time to publish the book. Depending on the type of publisher you have chosen, this could be as easy as swapping paperbacks for e-books and waiting for the sales to come in – or it could be a more involved process. Some publishers would want to see additional copies of your book before they will even consider trading money. An outline is a very handy tool in this case, as it makes the process much simpler. You can quickly create an entire catalogue of your published works from which to draw when you are querying publishers.
To wrap up, the process of writing a book is very flexible. You can write in a steady, methodical fashion, taking your time to draft the entire book or you can pick up the pace and write a couple of chapters a week. The most important thing is to write regularly and to ensure that you always keep moving forward. You never know what inspiration might come along and kickstart your imagination.