When writing a book, what are all of the key things to consider most importantly?
Courses in creative writing range in length from under a week to over three or four years in some university courses. I don't think we can cover much of that in this forum. My only thought is that you need to have at least an outline of a story in your mind before you consider anything else.Originally Posted by amazingmusic
I'd say the most important include some of the following:
Why do I want to write a book?
Do I have anything to say that other people would want to read?
Does it matter if I get published or not? Have I got the time to waste if I have no guarantee of publication?
Do I have the necessary skills already, or do I need further education in either writing, or in the subject of the book?
Do you want to write it out longhand (paper and pen), on an old-style typewriter or on a computer?
Are you going to self-edit and proofread or give it to a professional and watch it get ripped apart and rebuilt before you finally realise the edited version is better?
Have you ever written anything longer than a blog or an email?
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
I don't think this is irrelevant.
Many years ago a (non-fiction) book I wrote was published. I am proud to say that sales ran into double figures! Younger colleagues/friends who knew that I was a published author (I have no idea how they found out) would say things like, " I want to be a writer. I am only teaching/working in a bank/office/factory/whatever until I have enough money to give me the freedom to write. What should I do now?" My advice was always the same - if you are writer, write, now. You may need to have a job to provide a roof over your head and food in your belly, but don't wait; write!
T S Eliot, considered by many to be one of the most important poets of the last century, worked (as a teacher, lecturer, reviewer and publisher) all his life. Yes, like most of us lesser beings, he worked, for money. But, from the age of fourteen, he wrote. Every day he turned up at his school or office and did his job; all the time, he wrote, on the way winning many awards, including the Nobel Prize for Literature (1948).
ps. I think that Raymott's questions are a very sound response to your original question. If a wannabe writer can't think of answers to those questions, then s/he will always be a wannabe, never a writer.
Does this mean you sold ten copies?
For amazingmusic:
If you are really interested in finding out more about writing a book, you could look here:
Writers and Authors chat rooms and forums
http://www.authorforum.com/
You could also employ Google to see if you can come up with some more information.
TomUK
Between ten and ninety-nine. The 'ran into' implies that the figure was towards the lower end of the range.
That's what I understood. I just wanted to clarify the numbers for the record. I guess it must have been a very disappointing experience.
TomUK
I'm going to assume you were using classic British understated humour. If not, I would be damn proud of a book I had written selling any copies at all, let alone somewhere between ten and ninety-nine. Well done, 5jj!
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
Thank you.
I have just discovered that you can still buy a secondhand copy of you wish, here - please don't. It will cost you more than I earned from it nearly thirty years ago, and my co-author has been trying to pretend for many years that it was nothing to do with him.
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