When most people hear that I have written a book, the first thing they say is “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.” Well that is the same for almost anyone who hasn’t yet put pen to paper and the idea of writing a few tens of thousands of words can become daunting at the start.
All you need is an idea and that will be your seed you will plant and grow from. The idea can be the beginning, middle or end of the book. It can be something as big as a major scene or as small as motive. When you are thinking of your first idea try to imagine how they might get to this point or what how the situation may influence or impact the next stage of the story.
You can start a story by writing a brief summary and then build on each sentence with more details and dialogue. Write a sentence or two that describes in brief what happens in a scene. From this, you can expand by adding more detail.
For example, you can write that the main character drives to work and receives bad news that they will be losing their job at the end of the week due to cutbacks. From this you will of course need to have a name for your character and also the person delivering the bad news. Where is the workplace? What job does the character hold? What are they both wearing? Was the news expected or was it a shock? How did they react when they were given the news?
From each of these questions you could write several sentences or even paragraphs to get the answers you want for the reader.
When you have the pieces for your story you can start writing it down and piecing it together. You can get a good rhythm if you have the pieces and a general idea of what to say and before you know it you have already written a couple of thousand words and well on your way to write more.
You need to remember that everything you put down is not set in stone and you don’t have to commit to any part of your story if you do not feel that it fits. If you have an idea but don’t know where to put it, make a note of it somewhere to come back to later. You may not put it into this story; you may use it in future work.
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