Wriging Thread: How do you write a book?

How do you write a book?

loism — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:34:55

@Odile,

@loism
That your English is limited shouldn't be a problem, there is a readership that prefers English at a high level of thought though transparent language. It's the international community of writers and readers who communicate in English. I love to hear voices from other parts of the world.

=Thanks. I will try improving my level of thoughts as well as my proficiency.

@Scrivs, Thanks once again for the topic.

How do you write a book?

SimplyJessica — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:41:11

That's good to hear, I am writing a book of my current experiences.

How do you write a book?

Scrivs — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:21:48

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, it is slowly moving along.

How do you write a book?

Odile — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:45:10

Hi Scrivs,

I wrote a book last year, non-fiction in Dutch and English.
At first you may simply start writing and pouring all your ideas on the paper. Later you might want to do research.
The shapeless book starts to get an outline from the ideas to the outline, or you might do it reversely.
There aren't wrong ways, you have to find out your own way. If you want to use existing techniques, you can read about these in books on writing.
There are numerous ideas on how to write and they contradict each other.
If you want your book to be readable, you need to pay attention to grammar. But last day I read a blog intentionally full of grammar mistakes and it made me laugh.
You also don't want to repeat stuff that everyone knows already. But the thing is: not everyone knows everything already...
My book is at a publisher awaiting.

Another thing is the marketting angle-
What is the audience you're writing your book for? This means you'll do it in a different way, if you're going for a commercial book or a book that centres on your own fun writing it and enjoying other people's comments when writing it.
Those two can go together.
I know I have quite a few forum friends that are waiting just as eagerly as I am that my book comes out, even though they witnessed some of the struggles I faced writing it, and some even read entire sections of the book.

Why not join a writer's community? Maybe someone knows a good on?

@loism
That your English is limited shouldn't be a problem, there is a readership that prefers English at a high level of thought though transparent language. It's the international community of writers and readers who communicate in English. I love to hear voices from other parts of the world.

How do you write a book?

loism — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:16:48

Very good pointers given by bloglify, SimplyJessica, Carmodyarc and Noelkingsley.

I have never written a book and may never attempt it because of my limitations in the language.

@Scriv, all the best to you. I look forward to reading your work.

How do you write a book?

SimplyJessica — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:45:20

Scrivs, if it's a dating manual, write it like a manual. Put all the obvious things that people are too dumb or preoccupied to know about in there. And then sell it labelling it something like "The System by Dr. Love".

... or something like that.

How do you write a book?

NoelKingsley — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:58:26

When I wrote my book (paper), I made a long list of single words that summarised the topics or considerations I wanted to include. Then I arranged them into groups under a suitable chapter heading (which need not be final) then I organised each collection of topics in the chapters into a logical sequence.

Then I wrote the book making sure I included all the topics I had in mind. This way it provided me with a framework and order that made some sense. It did not stifle my creativity as they were only headings. If while writing I found myself changing course, that was fine. At least it provided a framework as a starting point and to come back to if I got stuck.

If you want to publish a paper book for the shops, it's good to get an agent to represent you as they can negotiate the best publishing deals and the extra they can get you will more than justify their fees. To get an agent you'll need a a synopsis of your book, a couple of sample chapters, a back cover text (what you'd imagine may be written on the back to entice customers to pick it up) and a brief bio about yourself and your background that supports your writing. You can get a list of agents in the Artists and Writers Year Book 2008.

An ebook sounds good though as it's instantly online and available without lengthy publishing times that can take a year or more.

Hope this helps,
Noel

How do you write a book?

Scrivs — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:19:52

No clue yet, I haven't put a lot of thought into this, kind of just popped in my head and I wrote here in Notes so I could get some ideas going around.

How do you write a book?

carmodyarc — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:42:29

I think it would be pretty interesting to participate in an "interactive writing experience." What kind of venue were you toying with for that type of thing?

How do you write a book?

Scrivs — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:33:29

$5M acting classes it is then. I guess I'll write a couple of chapters then decide which route I should go. When I meant do thing interactively I definitely didn't mean showing whole chapters of the book, but throw out excerpts that could start some conversation. Maybe parts that I feel are weak or strong or times where I just get stuck.

How do you write a book?

JPhill — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:27:53

Well I will only sell off the movie rights if JPhill promises to play me in the movie.

$5 mil is my asking price......which includes paying for acting classes.

How do you write a book?

Scrivs — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:23:46

Well I will only sell off the movie rights if JPhill promises to play me in the movie.

How do you write a book?

bloglily — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:20:26

With print, comes: Money. Fame. Oprah. Movie rights. That kind of thing.

I am a print book person, obviously. Someone who knows more about ebooks vs. conventional publishing should jump right in, but my guess is that a conventional publisher won't want to buy something that's already been out there, even if only in ebook form.

But the great thing about an ebook is that you finish it and you put it out there and there's no waiting around for people to buy it, print it, market it, etc.

How do you write a book?

Scrivs — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 03:07:33

To be honest I never even considered the conventional publisher route since I've always done everything online and just considered making an ebook. With that said, what do you see being the advantages of going the route you suggest? I guess I could always give it a shot and if it doesn't work out press forward with an ebook, or do you think it is possible to go both routes at once? Maybe if it was a successful ebook then it could be easier to sell to a conventional publisher no?

How do you write a book?

bloglily — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:24:44

Yay Scrivs! I'll be in line when you're signing your tome in San Francisco.

Assuming that what you're after is the sale of your book to a conventional (i.e., print) publisher, here's what I know:

There are a couple of great things about writing non-fiction (which is what I assume this book is!). First, there's a much bigger market for non-fiction than fiction. And second, you don't actually write the whole book first. What you do is write an outline, and a couple of sample chapters. (There are a ton of very good books on just this subject and if you email me, I can give you some references). Then you mail the whole thing out to a slew of agents, and find somebody to sell it for you. If you're an expert in this area (as you clearly are) and you have a platform (as you do), so much the better.

As for getting feedback, it sounds like what you have in mind is a kind of online writing group. I think that's a good idea. It's important to have other people read and respond to what you write. It keeps you going and it keeps you honest.

But I'd be careful about putting too much out there -- my impression is that things that've been "published" before (even online) aren't as easy to sell to a conventional publisher.

How do you write a book?

Scrivs — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:40:06

Last year I started working on a book about women (surprise) and I got a couple of the chapters done and would like to return to it and finish it up. This will obviously be my first written work of this size so I am asking those of you who have written books how do you go about it. As simple as it sounds I only realize now that I never created an outline to guide me and just simply began to wing it, which in hindsight was probably not the best approach for this type of book.

Also, have any of you tried an interactive writing approach where you publish part of the work online before it is published to receive feedback?