HOW TO WRITE A BOOK — A SIMPLE STEP BY STEP METHOD PART 2
Okay so to continue from the previous post on how to write a book part 1. Let’s move to the next phase of writing your book — your masterpiece.
By now — you know your book has to have a big idea you want to share, you also know that you have to choose one idea you are most passionate about.
The next phase is for you name your book
This is probably the hardest for me to do especially when it comes to my novels but one thing I have found that worked is if you can think of your big idea and let it consume you like it should, then one or two words will consistently jump out to you that you can use or you can simply just pick a name that sounds very interesting to you — it doesn’t have to be overly complicated.
Other ideas you can use is
- Choosing a name that radically captures attention by the sound of it an example would be “How stupidity saved my life” by Okechukwu Ofili
- Another is looking out for names in the topic you are discussing and see how the best selling authors name their book.
- Using a big word and then explaining what you mean below an example is Overlap: Start a Business While Working a Full-Time Job. Go from overwhelmed and feeling stuck to getting clarity and creating financial freedom. by Sean McCabe.
The next phase — RESEARCH
This is probably an area really skipped in a lot of books today the author only shares his or her perspective without relevant data to back it up.While that can make for a good book it really doesn’t make for a great book that will last years after.
And when I say research it really doesn’t have to be you leaving in the jungle for month to explain how a jungle life works but if for instance you want to write about marriage don’t write what marriage means to you alone based on only your experience test out the hypothesis you are putting forth with other people marriage and see it there are tweak you might need to add to yours.
You can even do your research by speaking to enough people about your ideas. Now someone might say doing this type of research may take forever — it really doesn’t, all it takes is lots of patience and a determination to not only write a good or average book but a book that actually solves peoples problems in that area.
When you research your topic you move from just writing a book you want to read, to writing a book that would help people. Write that book because it is worth it not just because you want to become an author
The last phase for this post is to create your content outline
The place of an outline cannot be overemphasized.
I have written with one and I have written without one and I will tell you, I got more work done when I knew what I wanted to write about.
I write novels and I definitely advises you use it even the master tell us to use one — Jame Peterson uses an outline he never writes a book without having fleshed a fully completed outline he gets it very detailed. Even John Grisham uses one — now if the masters are using one what is your excuse.
And please don’t mention the so-called creativity flow or letting the story tell itself. I believe in creativity and I truly sometimes get this whole twist and turn that totally change my book but I also know that if I waited for every time I felt creative to write a book I would never finish my book.
Sometimes letting the story tell itself can put you in trouble you end up in a place where your character can’t seem to move forward in the story and then you have to go back and rewrite loads of pages or worse get frustrated and stop writing — simple advice use an outline
If you are writing a non-fiction book the use of an outline cannot be overly underestimated you need it to keep you focused on what to write next.
Are these all the phase to writing that book — no I would share lot more in the next post look out for it
If this has been helpful to you — please share it and if you feel stuck in your writing process and you need help why don’t you reach out and let us talk
