There is one thing there cannot be too many of in this world, and that is books. If you get lucky, you can sell your book, if you get really lucky, your book becomes a best seller. It really doesn't matter if your book is good, so - get over that. We aren't writing a GOOD book, or a PUBLISHABLE book, we are writing A book.
Get it?
Good.
Now, the point with this "exercise" is to get you over what ever it is that stops you from writing a book. Because you obviously want to write a book, if you are reading this.
So, let's start.
There is no reason why it should take you more than a week to write your book.
Google "write 10.000 words a day", and read a couple of articles.
Some points are
- set a certain time and sit down and just write. You can use a timer and write 15 minutes intervals, then take a short break and then come back and write another 15 minutes. It would be best if you can create the most creative environment, pick the time you are at your most creative and productive, but what you must do is to see there are no interruptions. Turn off the phone, lock the doors, put on earphones and nice, quiet music in your ears, something that doesn't disturb you, give yourself a cup of coffee (or what ever) and write.
- just write. It doesn't need to make any sense. If you don't have anything to write, think about some issue you have VERY STRONG opinions and write down your opinion. Think about that time when someone said or did something and what you wish you had done. Write it down. Write fan fiction. Try to write something you have read. Retell a fairytale. Anything, just as long as you write.
- you should have a story you WANT to tell, for any reason. Either because it means something to you, or because you think it's an interesting story worth telling.
- plan your writing beforehand. It doesn't matter if you have just thought about it, or if you have a plan on paper, just know your story.
Think about it a little.
What do you want to read?
If you have read a book you loved, try to rewrite it. Just tell it your way. You know, like Arthur's saga - has been told thousand ways the last century, and most of them are good. Or... any high fantasy is Lord of the Rings retold :-D So - change what you didn't like, add what you missed, and remember to change all the names, you know like how Cassandra Clare changed Ginny and Draco to Clary and Jace, or how E.L.James changed Edward and Bella into Christopher and Ana.
Which is your favorite genre? Which genre do you most like to read?
That is the genre you will be writing in.
Think about the books in this genre you have read. What is your favorite trope? Which trope do you dislike most? Use both in your book. The favorite as it is, the hated one changed to better please you.
1) Choose three (or more) of your favorite books or books you liked, books you think are good books.
Now, describe their plot, with your own words.
( Google "How to write a short plot summary")
That is the plot of your book. Just mix them all together the best you can.
2) Pick a dozen characters you love. These people can be from a book, a movie, tv series, anywhere. It can even be a real person.
Now, gender swap them. Race swap them.
Now, write a character sheet for each of them. (Use the character sheets for novel writing, not RPG)
Important things to think about:
Who is the person that intrigues you? What was their childhood like? What did they dream of? What was their greatest desire? What obstacles did they face? What was their greatest triumph?
BTW, to get their picture, pick an actor to play this character. Focus more on the CHARACTER of your characters, than looks. Or pick actors by THEIR looks (that is, an actor you are attracted to), not how you imagine the characters in the books, or who played them in the series/movie. (After all, they are gender swapped and race swapped, so they can't play the same character.)
This is the "description" of your character. No purple eyes and red hair, unless the actor you chose has purple eyes and red hair. :-D Let's keep the Marysueness down a bit.
Do NOT describe the character as "looking like soandso" or "if this book was a movie, this character would be played by soandso", but "he was tall and slender, with narrow shoulders and slightly wide hips. His eyebrows were slightly angled, which gave his face a somewhat worried look. He had a small mouth with a shy, boyish smile, and a gap between his front teeth. All that was overpowered by the straight, unafraid look of his slightly narrow, deep dark brown eyes. When he wasn't smiling, he looked serious and focused, like a man who genuinely cared about what you were saying." Or, don't do it like that, because it could be done much better, but you get the idea.
3) Pick a world you love. Be it Middle Earth or East London. That will be the world of your novel.
Come on, this is a quickie, to get you started. We'll "steal" everything here.
Just change everything. Give things a new name, put mountains where there were plains, lakes in deserts, plant forests in farm areas and swamp the forests.
Take some interesting, fascinating places from our world and insert them here and there on your map.
Why not mix many worlds from books you like?
Develop your own legends and histories about why those places are where they are.
Inhabit them with life forms adjusted to the environment, place people there and give them a culture "stolen" from a people living in the same kind of area in our world.
Change the colors, make the sand green and plants red.
Unless you write about East London. That already exists.That you shouldn't change. Much. Use Google Earth to "walk" the area, and invent street names and addresses.
Steal the best descriptions of worlds from books. But do it with style, meaning, you take the passage but change it, to describe something different. You know, Andy Warhol got famous by coloring photos. Basically :-D
A reef of clouds and lightning raced across the skies from the sea. . . . My hands were shaking, and my mind wasn’t far behind. I looked up and saw the storm spilling like rivers of blackened blood from the clouds, blotting out the moon and covering the roofs of the city in darkness. I tried to speed up, but I was consumed with fear and walked with leaden feet, chased by the rain. I took refuge under the canopy of a newspaper kiosk, trying to collect my thoughts and decide what to do next. A clap of thunder roared close by, and I felt the ground shake under my feet. . . . On the flooding pavements the streetlamps blinked, then went out like candles snuffed by the wind. There wasn’t a soul to be seen in the streets, and the darkness of the blackout spread with a fetid smell that rose from the sewers. The night became opaque, impenetrable, as the rain folded the city in its shroud.
- Carlos Ruiz Zafón; Shadow of the Wind
That passage echoes the main characters emotions with the weather, and binds it into a dance, each encouraging the other, and you can do the same. Just don't do exactly the same, because that's really stealing, plagiarism, and it's not OK. Don't do that.
Write down all the books you were inspired by, and where you stole from, and mention it in the end of your book. Credit people you stole from. That's just good manners.
4) Your book's name will be
an idiom you like. Or a line from a poem or a song you like.
5) You know those books on step 1 whose plots you described, concise the plots into one sentence. Use that sentence as
your snowflake.
Now you should have a first draft :-D
If you get stuck on any step, you can look at this
Master Outline or this
Pulp Fiction Master Plot
Also,
How to Write a Novel in Only 10 Days
"A great place to start is with your own life:
What strange experiences have you had?
What are you afraid of?
Who is your best friend and how did you meet?
What is your strongest or most impactful memory?
What do you want to achieve in life?
What would you consider a great adventure?"
- The Ten Day Outline by Lewis Jorstad
Now find
The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne and do the first edit of your draft.
