Any tips for writing a book?

Write every day for one or two hours. Write at the same time every day so it becomes a habit. Cut out TV entirely. It is a waste of time and brains.

Read lots of good books, not just genre fiction. Read classics, poetry and plays.

Do not write thinking about publication, fame or money. Write for yourself, challenging yourself to improve.

As far as getting into the "creative state", don't wait for it. Waiting for inspiration or creativity is like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. You need to compel yourself sometime and just write. No-one but you can tell you how. But you do have this, everyone does: the ability to discover who you are and what works for you. So try things. Try different times of day, try music, try starving yourself, all kinds of things. You can and will learn about who you are and how to get in touch with your muse.

Good luck

And don't start anything with the word "well".

Trick #1 - One thing that I do, because I have a lot of walking time and driving time, and less sitting at a computer to write a book time, is I record myself and talk out my stories. This really works for me but it depends on you, if it would work for you. With this method I'm not forcing my stories to be something they aren't. It isn't rushed, i'm just telling myself a story. I use this to talk out the details and how the world works and I think it's fabulous. The problem with this method is having to go back through the recordings and copying them down - that part is a bit tedious.

--I was reading this article about several authors and how they write - some use note cards taped to a wall, some could only write with alcohol or while lying down. I also read this book about writing practices and the whole first chapter was dedicated to deciding to either write clothed or naked.

- the arguments here being - if you don't have clothes on you cant go anywhere and thus have to write - but others cant write unless they feel ready for the day and well dressed. Just some thoughts.

It also said that when it comes to writing -or anything - you will only get distracted if you want to.. - kind of the whole - you have to let it happen, for it to happen.

Anyway if you read all that, basically you have to find your groove - maybe try to write at different times - maybe wake up early and try to gets some words on the page or listen to music..

And also check out this website http://hollylisle.com/how-to-start-a-novel/ - she has some really good articles on writing (that are totally free) and I found them really helpful.

Good Luck

M

Well I learned this in class, so no promises. You should start off with what you wanna talk about. Do a rough draft if you have to. Put all your thoughts and ideas on paper on what your gonna write about. Make a theme if you'd like. Is it gonna be a romance, horror, sci-fi? Whatever you choose. Are there any characters? Try to go ahead and visualize what they would look like and what their personalities might be like. Make a setting. Where is all this taking place at? A donut shop, the gas station, the Eiffel Tower. Who knows? Now that you've got everything prepared, you should probably start off with a hook! Something that already catches the readers attention the minute he starts reading it. Then add some details, Describe what things look like, where you are, who your talking to, and make the conclusion a big BAM! I hope this helps

First and foremost, just write! You don't necessarily need to tell a "story" just yet, just get in the habit of writing. Little pieces of dialog between two or more characters, descriptions of particularly interesting scenes or props or events... practice writing little pieces at every opportunity. Next, give yourself permission to "fail". No one is born a great writer, just like no one is born a perfect athlete or dart-thrower. You aren't going to hit your targets the first time you pick up a bow and arrow, and you aren't going to write the Next Great Novel the first time you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You're going to be terrible, at first, just like we were all terrible at walking before we got the hang of it. Acknowledge that you've got new skills to learn, then do what you can to learn them. Start with basic stuff like spelling, grammar and punctuation; and yes, it is important that you master these skills WITHOUT resorting to spell-/grammar-check programs.

Why? Because you need to understand the language you're speaking and writing in well enough to bend the rules for using it without breaking them. Among other things, skills with these rules will help you provide each character in your stories with distinctive "voices". A character who never uses contractions ("I cannot help you" or "I do not know") reads very differently from someone who seems incapable of uttering a complete sentence ("Can't help" or "Dunno") and gives readers very different ideas about the kind of person they are.

Psychologically, give yourself permission to experiment, which means you're going to fail. "Fail Fast, Fail Often, and Follow Your Passion" will rarely steer you wrong when you're trying to create anything of any importance. Even if you're going to use lots of technical tools (do a web-search on "Free Book Writing Software"), you need to let yourself go through more than one draft of a story or novel.

Best of luck!

I start by making an outline. Not creative you say? An agent will want to see it anyway, so you have to write it eventually. If you write it first, you don't get writers block on what should happen next.