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What goes into writting books?

So what goes into writting a book, can anyone do it, ive been wanting to do many things for a while but i think sense i was a kid i wanted to write a book or even a short story or something that i can publish. the thing is i have major dylexia, i tend to not plan things and instead write on the spot, also i have partiall ideas. i dont want to write fanfic but instead i want to do something more orginal. i was told i was a creative writter as a kid but im not sure about now.

im not even sure if writting a book is worth it or not i raley even read but yet i feel like something is missing in life. is there by chance a good youtube video that explains all of this?

33 comments
  • There's a lot of good answers already here, so I will post a few unique things.

    I'm writing a novel (a damn good one too). The first thing you want to know is that you need years of experience if the novel's going to be any good. That does not mean you need years of reading and writing experience specifically— you can replace it with other kinds of experience. For one, you'll need some maturity— some understanding of people, some understanding of the world, stuff like that. And then you're going to want to read at least a little about writing, even if it's just TVTropes.

    This may not work for you specifically, but it would also help a lot if you— like me— are a huge lover of any of the fictional arts. I don't really read novels anymore, but I am obsessed with the multimedia fiction arts— things like movies, comics, and video games. I read a ton of articles about writing, I watch a ton of multimedia critics and essayists, and I read things like Mythcreants and TVTropes. Unlike most people I know, I hugely value the writing and storytelling in video games, and can get really angry at games that have a ton of writing/dialogue but it's all crap (looking at you, Pokémon and Golden Sun).

    I would also like to say that pure "pantsing" is a pretty bad idea, even for pantsers. "Pantsing" means that you just sit down and start writing. Don't do that. At least start planning and writing down things you really want to see happen in your novel, locations, characters, whatever. At best, outline as much as possible before you even start. With that said, having a roadmap is good, but not critical; personally, I think preparing your novel to include scenes you are super excited about is much more important.

    Which leads to a very important point: if you don't like writing something, stop writing it. Focus on things you love. If that scene or genre is boring you or is soul-crushing, stop writing it and write a scene you're excited about. If you're excited about something, your readers will be too. They'll feel your energy and love.

    Next point. In this day and age, don't write anything too standard or predictable. There are a million and a half generic D&D-feeling fantasy books that don't get published, and they will bore any agent (and reader). Bring something new and exciting to the premise, and make sure people know about it from the first few paragraphs. Intrigue people.

    Final point for now: Focus on writing well. Don't focus on what's selling, don't focus on a market, don't try to chase bandwagons. Do not care if you will get published or not. For one, trade publishers are usually awful, don't offer anything of value except a professional editor, and are basically crappy venture-capitalist middlemen. Just focus on writing something you love and which is genuinely good, for now. By the time you're done, the trade publishing landscape will probably have changed anyway.

  • Writing a novel is really hard and takes a lot of skill. My advice is to start by writing short stories to develop your writing ability. Post them online to get feedback. Keep slowly improving until you are good enough to write something longer.

    There are plenty of online writing sites where users post their work for feedback. One good one is Critique Circle.

  • Writing a fiction book is pretty much making your own D&D campaign where you're all the characters and the DM.

  • Something you can look into is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, in November.

  • Write something at first; maybe use one of your partial ideas and really concentrate on making something small, but good. Now, put that away somewhere out of the way, but still accessible.

    Now, write something else entirely. Maybe another small project. Keep going. Write more. Do a little writing each day, and in between, read stuff written for different audiences. Read MLK's "Letters from a Birmingham Jail." Read some sci-fi. Read a comic book. Read a boring, dry report about something. Absorb, then write again.

    Now, after a month or so, maybe two, pull out the first thing you wrote. It will give you a good gauge of the progress you've made. And you might hate what you wrote, and that's OK, as long as you realize that the first thing you wrote is the floor, and you're only going to get better from that point on. Finally, plan! Sometimes creative genius can come out of the ether, but it's best to plan and not rely on that happening. Give yourself a destination and rough idea of how you'll get there. Then let the wind take you.

    Best of luck, and enjoy!

33 comments