4 Things to Consider When Inspiration for Writing a Novel Hits
When inspiration for writing a novel hits in a powerful way, the decision on whether or not to write your story is taken care of. Inspiration blows all concerns out the door, and you find yourself writing anyway, simply because you just have to get the story down. You find yourself immersed in the world of your characters and the story revealing itself as you type. It’s an exciting time. Inspiration for writing a novel After you’ve had a seed of an idea sitting at the back of your mind for a while, anything might set off the level of inspiration needed for you to start typing: music, a photo, someone walking down the street, a conversation you overhear, a sunset, a dream, a movie or TV show, or a book or short story. For me it was a book. I found a book with the dramatic atmosphere and writing…
Is your book worth writing? Is the idea good enough?
Ideas are cheap, easy to come up with, but are they worth developing and turning into an actual product? Is your book worth writing? This is the question that stumped me when I had an idea for my first novel. I didn’t know if the idea was worth the effort it would take to write the book and finish it. Would the story work? Would anyone be interested in it? And did I have the skill to realise my vision for the book? I can give you my opinion on your idea in my Story Sculpting Facebook Group. Just download my Novel Revision Checklist and you’ll be eligible for group membership, but you should also consider the points laid out below. I believe that all ideas, with sufficient time, skill and commitment, have the potential to turn into a book worth reading, even if it is only for a small…
How to Write a Novel: Write What You Care About
The instruction to ‘write what you know’ suggests that it’s a good idea for authors to draw from their life experiences when writing, and in the last post in this series on how to write a novel I talked about ways to do that. One aspect of writing what you know is writing what you care about. Anything we care about, we’re likely to know a bit about, and we’ll also have the curiosity to do some research to find out more about the topic. Another good reason to write about things you care about, is that you’ll have a reason to write the book and a reason to finish it, and you’ll be more likely to be able to maintain your inspiration through the challenges of writing a book. What keeps you going? Writing a book takes a lot of time, and our life can easily take over our…
Do Book Trailers Sell Books?
Do book trailers sell books? It’s hard to say just what makes a book sell, especially when you’re doing a lot of different things to promote your book at the same time. An author’s platform these days includes Facebook and Twitter and whatever other social media platforms you feel comfortable using, and you need a steady stream of material, of which a book trailer is only one thing you might put out in a day or a week. Videos do get more engagement on social media, however. Their reach on Facebook is much wider than even a photograph, so that makes it worth adding video to your social media content. You don’t need one, but it’s certainly good if you have one, and it will likely sell your books better than a photograph – so long as it’s a video that holds people’s attention. Is the cost worth it? If…
What Does ‘Write What you Know’ Mean?
Write what you know is a common piece of advice you might hear from a writing teacher, but how valid is that proclamation? After all, did J.K Rowling know anything about magic? All those fantasy, sci fi and historical fiction books are not about our times or even our planet or realm, and yet authors write about them, so are they ignoring this advice? And even those who write about murders and describe the corpses, have all those authors actually walked onto a crime scene and seen a body like that? I doubt it. Certainly some might, but plenty of others haven’t. Writing a novel? Feeling overwhelmed? Get new insight and inspiration with my FREE Novel Revision Checklist. DOWNLOAD IT NOW. What the instruction to write what you know isn’t saying The advice to write what you know isn’t suggesting that we should all stick to memoirs or contemporary fiction.…
Inspiration for Authors: How to Get Inspired and Stay Inspired
The key to overcoming the obstacles that stop you writing a book, be it fiction or non-fiction, is to get some inspiration for authors, in particular learn to get inspired and stay inspired. But if inspiration is simply not there or it’s shaky, then getting and staying inspired is not so easy to do. People tell me that one of my special skills is being able to inspire people, and I’m someone who never has writer’s block, not once since I started writing solidly in 2007. I’m always inspired with something; it’s my ability to bring things to fruition that is hardest for me. So do I have some tips? I do. General pointers on Inspiration for Authors: Inspiration does not come in a mind that is trying to be inspired. If you’re desperate to get inspiration, it probably won’t come. Inspiration comes to a relaxed mind. Meditation will open…
Overcoming Obstacles to Novel Writing: What’s Stopping you?
Writing a novel? Feeling overwhelmed? Get new insight and inspiration with my FREE Novel Revision Checklist. DOWNLOAD IT NOW. Do you want to write a novel but haven’t got started or haven’t got very far before grinding to a halt? Considering how long it takes to write a novel, especially when you also have a job, it seems wise to start sooner rather than later, so what’s stopping you? And how do you overcome these obstacles to novel writing? I had an idea for my first novel for many years before I started writing—and when I did begin, I discovered that I had a series not a single book! But what stopped me from beginning my novel was, more than anything, a lack of confidence in myself and in my idea. Only when I shared my idea with a publisher friend and she said she thought my idea was worth…
What I Learned From Book Reviewing (and you can too)
Reading doesn’t only give you a sense of story and a familiarity with written language, it also stimulates your imagination, and it’s imagination that gives birth to an idea for your own story, but book reviewing takes the benefit of reading one step further. The benefits of book reviewing for authors Taking the step from reading to evaluating what you read turns the reading into a learning experience, and the more you learn about writing, the better able you are to evaluate what you read. The better you are at evaluating others’ books, the better you will be at evaluating your own books, particularly if you take a step from what you like, to what you consider good writing. What you like is personal, but what you consider good writing is more objective, and if you can develop a degree of objectivity in evaluating others’ books, you can also apply…
What makes an author? Do you have it?
When I began my journey as an author, I was very unsure of myself. I wondered what makes an author, and did I have what it takes? Could I write a good book – after all, no one wants to write a bad one! What I didn’t realise at the time was that I already had the basic requirements for becoming a fiction author—a love of books and a good imagination. They’re not enough by themselves to make an author, but they’re what you need to start with, and if you don’t already have them, you can develop them. Reading comes before writing. I still love picture books, and as a child, before I could read the words, the illustrations drew me into another world, the world of the imagination. A book was never far from my hands. I devoured them from the time I was very small. Nothing…
Social Proof and Some Delightful New Editing Recommendations
What is social proof? Authors who self-publish are running a business, and like any business these days an online presence is vital. If you don’t have a website that can be found with a quick search, you don’t exist in the public eye. Your website is proof that you are running a business, or in the author’s case, have written a book. But to encourage a customer to buy your product or engage your services you need something called ‘social proof’. Social proof is what tells customers that you and your product can be trusted. We can tell people about our books, or about our editing services, but it’s what people who’ve read our book or used our editing services say about them that provides social proof that the book or the services are worth purchasing. Reviews are social proof for authors, and recommendations provide social proof for me as…