Did you ever dream of being called an AUTHOR?
Every day on social media or among our network we find so many people writing a book, is that easy.
Let’s try to dive deep into a step wise process and see if it’s easy.
1. Finding the inspiration behind writing the book, the WHY?
This is the most important step without which we can’t even start. It’s very important to understand the WHY, the purpose, the motive, or the inspiration behind writing a book. It could be just to share your thoughts with the world, it could be to share your feelings, your opinion concerning some topic, it could be just a hobby, it could be stress-reliever, it could be to show the world that you can achieve your dreams or it could be even just a simple reason to be able to recognized by google.
Whatever the reason is, there has to be a “why” to write the book.
2. Selection of the genre
There are various genres like Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Contemporary, Dystopian, Mystery, Horror, Thriller, Paranormal, Historical fiction, Science fiction, memoir, self-help, and many more. but we don’t want to choose what others like, what’s popular, what’s trending rather we should choose what genre we love writing or what genre we love reading. Choose one or a combination of two or three max
3. Outline of the book
You can’t just start writing the book and wait every day for the creativity box to open and convert them into words. You need a plot, a setting, characters, location, conflict, turning point, climax, and resolution. Once your brief outline is ready then start the inside planning and detailing.
4. Disciplined Planning
If you decide one day that you will choose a quiet place amongst nature, take a vacation for a week and finish the book there, this rarely happens.
For writing a book it’s very important to follow a disciplined approach.
A fixed day, time, and space works wonders. It could be sometimes that during that time, nothing comes to mind, you feel blank, but still be on the date with your writing during that time. Reading, researching, thinking, planning, talking to characters, visualizing is all a part of the writing process.
5. Momentum Building
When we start writing the book we are most excited as we are doing something new. When we are towards the end phase, we are again excited because we are going to gain authority. But the mid part is the most hilarious. You will start feeling that your plot is not interesting anymore, what people might think of me, I think I should restart, I guess I should change the plan or quit it. But the best way is to keep going and don’t let these thoughts overpower you. Don’t wait for perfection, choose completion over perfection.
Always remember, don’t rewrite, don’t go back and forth else you will never be able to finish the book.
6. Facing the odds and challenges
Now you must be thinking about what could be the challenges as it’s your book, your schedule, your deadlines. But the biggest challenge is we ourselves. We start doubting ourselves, our abilities, we start assuming what will people think, if they criticize, if they laugh.
There could be challenges that you are not getting enough motivation to write anymore.
There could be times when you pressurize your mind by comparing yourself to other writer friends who might be writing more than you.
There could be a challenge that you are not enough time to write.
But there is only one thing that can help you fight with these odds, your strong will power, and determination to finish your book.
7. Design a captivating Book Cover and Title
Once you finish the book, you think it’s over finally. But the biggest challenge comes here. The title and cover page is something that is going to create a curiosity in the reader to read or buy your book. It has to be very well thought of, very well placed, and presented.
8. Editing and Formatting of the Book
Don’t ever miss this part. No one wants to read a book that has grammatical and structural errors. This is where you should invest and get a good editor to finalize your book.
9. Self-Publishing
The new era of self-publishing on amazon has opened paths for many aspiring authors, it’s very easy, just a few steps and you are there.
I know after reading this you might think it’s difficult, or few might think it’s difficult.
But it’s all mindset.
If you wish to write a book, start now, give a deadline, and follow the steps.
Best wishes on your author’s journey.