HOW TO: Write a book & Writing tips

PLOTTING

Okay, so before you jump into writing after finding some random quote on Pinterest and thinking; "That would be a great book, let me find a random picture, think of a quick title and post the quote on the description!"

STOP. DO NOT DO THIS, EVER.

Trust me, I know this by experience. I used to be a 5SOS writer, preferably Luke & Ashton. I'd find a dark quote, i.e, "every girl wants a bad boy who will be good just for her".

Thinking it'd be good inspiration for a bad!boy fan fiction and then quickly write the first chapter, they meet by "bumping into each other" then proceed to write:

He glared at me like if he hated me, so I shyly looked down at the floor and did sweater paws, I'm so shy that even my hands don't want to be seen. He continued to glare at me, "watch where you're going!" He barks and leaves, making me let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He was mysterious and I liked that, so I needed to find out more about him.

Don't ever do that. First of all, not only is it cringe, it will look like a 14 year old girl in High School who is obsessed with grunge aesthetic and thinks she's punk because she listened to 1 Nirvana song, wrote it.

The way I do it, I think about what I want in a book, I write it down on my notes or on a piece of paper so that I don't forget, I think about the characters and what they will look like, then I give each of them, preferably the main characters their own characteristics cause they're not robots, and then I go on google and search up baby names for girl/boy, find a cute one and use it. Same for the last name.

Then, kind of knowing what the book will be about I go on Pinterest or Google, I search up quotes relating to that genre, in example in my case for my book EVER SINCE, NEW YORK which is about best friends, I search for: quotes about best friends who fall in love.

You get me? Okay, good.

Please do NOT hurry and write the first chapter just like that because I promise you the less time you spend trying to work out every detail for your book, the more likely you will end up deleting it.

Work out how old they will be, color of their eyes, color of hair, are they shy, are they outgoing, do they have siblings, 1 parent, 2 parents or none, are they in high school or college—literally think of everything and write it down so that you don't forget.

And that is what I do to prepare myself when it comes to coming up with a new story. I plot everything out before I write.

Also, please don't add a lot of characters in your story because I promise you will forget about them or not know how to use them. The best way is to think of the main characters first and their sidekicks (best friends, family members) and then introduce new characters as the book progresses.

Next → BOOK COVER.