Writing falls into two categories: writing and editing. When you write don’t edit and when you edit, don’t write is a tried and true maxim. When you have your story flowing don’t stop to do research. Write. Mark the text where material needs to be added and keep writing. More on this below.
A book will require anywhere from six months to ten if even fifteen years to write. This is not something you can rush and hope to turn out a good produce.
How I Write A Non Fiction Book
- Is this book viable? Determine if there is a market and does your book ad to the literature or only rehash what others have published?
- Rough Outline. Jot down everything you can think of that will be in this book. Don’t
worry about order, which comes first, just write. Use this outline to identify those areas
that you will need to research. - Start working on your research. Complete everything to your satisfaction and in a way
that allows you to find any fact in minutes at most; in seconds is better. - Now, complete a final Table of Contents (TOC). One that you are happy with, but
knowing that you may still change it. That’s fine, don’t fear making changes as the book
unfolds. - Now turn your TOC into an annotated TOC. That means writing four, five or six
sentences under every chapter heading. Use bullets if you prefer, but get down the gist of
what each chapter will present. Spend time here. Don’t rush, work hard to structure the book. - Start writing.
- Complete the manuscript and immediately start your first revision.
- Start thinking about the title, book cover, and marketing. Also publication. Will you look for an agent, a publisher, or self publish?
How I Write Book Length Fiction
- First off, fiction is much more difficult. You will need to know how to do characterization; how to name characters; to construct the world they live in; write about their town, city, year that the story takes place.
- The above steps all apply, but in addition you may well find that you’ve left things out
that must be added or have included material that does nothing to move the plot forward and delete them. - Here’s a trick, when you come to a place where you need a name or data that you don’t have just insert XXX, and keep writing. You can come back later and add the material. Writers have been doing this for decades, maybe centuries. It’s nothing new.
