Not knowing where to start? Perhaps you have the drive to write but the end result looks dauntingly far away? The following will help you to sit down and start writing  immediately.  You only need to follow below guidelines and you are on the way of becoming an author!

I will forgo for the moment all the preliminaries that need to be taken care of before you can sit down and write as they only make everything look complicated and therefore would present a psychological burden. Like your frame of mind, the location of writing, your expectations, the list goes on. Because you re geared to ‘get on with it’, with the actual writing, that is.

If you are a self-publisher, you can also ignore the correct form of double spacing, headers and footers, pagination,  which publishers require. And you do not need to bother with a business proposal and introductory letter, however, an automatic word count is a handy instrument, freely provided by most word processors  

Immersing into the writing part you enjoy the wonderful world of painting with words and style of sentences. Later on, you may transform your finished manuscript in to the correct layout with all the trimmings for an ‘official’ presentation. But your creation will always be the same.

There are three things you need to take care of to enable you to put words together into sentences and get somewhere, namely towards the end result:

1.    SYNOPSIS

The first is the writing of a synopsis, that is, exactly what the book is about. A love story that leads through a lot of difficulties and tribulations, a thriller with sudden and unexpected surprises, a historic work, containing newly discovered facts, your own past you wish to enlighten the world with or addressing your family and close friends, you understand what I am trying to say. In this short description, the persons are named, the actions are laid-out, the story is explained to an unsuspecting reader or publisher.

Having this synopsis before you, you cannot get astray- it will guide you through the other pieces of pre- writing that you require.

2.    CHARACTER OUTLINE

Now, having your book outlined and printed out before you, it will be easier to identify the various characters that appear in your story. Write them down by their name, what they are and describe their main characteristics. This comes  easy if you manage to think of a relevant screen character you know – perhaps you can manage to paste into this a picture of this actor, as this will assist you later on in slipping into this persons personality and acting out on paper a very realistic behaviour. Which will make your story so much more believable and fascinating!

This goes, of course, not only for humans, but animals too and even sceneries you are describing can be from a well-known personal experience or from a movie. This would bring so much more immediacy to your writing.

3.    CHAPTER OUTLINE

Now the story unfolds in a concise way and in segments. From the begin you dive into the story and deal with who does what with whom, where they met, and on the story goes all portioned into chapters

There is now law requiring certain amount of chapters, but normally a chapter is somehow self contained, like in a theatre, where a change of scenery indicates a new act. And the beauty is that you can change things around as you recognise improvements in your story whilst working on this outline. Complicated situations are put down on paper as well twisted emotions and reasoning thereby straightening out your train of thoughts

With these three requirements, namely synopsis, character outline and chapter outline, printed out before you, it will be so easy to start your story. Now, writing down  the words as they come to your mind will be easy and after a while your surroundings will disappear and you are in your own world, created by yourself. I shall soon deal with more tricks of easy writing, if you only bring the determination and discipline. And now – off to create your own publication!

PETER FREDERICK

www.life-on-the-road.com

peter.frederick@life-on-the-road.com

So how can you fast-write a book? The answer is that there are multiple ways. You can write it yourself. You can have it ghostwritten. You can coauthor it. You can dictate it. You can interview your way to a book.

Writing Yourself

Before you write a book, have a soul-storming session with yourself, friends or Mastermind group and write out as many titles as you can. Include areas of interest you’d like to write about. Plan to review and add to this list regularly.

Write what you know. Surely you have a signature story that you frequently tell to the delight of listeners. Use that to get your mental juices flowing. Don’t try to be perfect. Remember, nobody ever publishes their first draft!

You don’t have to sit down and write a book today or tomorrow. Take it one step, or sentence, at a time. Write a little each day and watch your book develop.

Hiring a Ghostwriter

Almost all celebrities and people of fame have ghostwriters who interview them and do the “heavy lifting” for them in writing their books. Inexpensive ghostwriters can be found in a multitude of places. For instance, ask other authors if they know great ghostwriters, every English department head will cheerfully tell you who the students are with great talent and promise, and, in Hollywood, the Screen Writers Guild is loaded and overflowing with talented writers who are hungry for work.

Sample their work before you sign a contract. Many are superb, we are told. You dictate what you want written; and they write it, research it, and finish it for you.

Co-Authorship is Wonderfully Beneficial

Co-authorship is another way to get your book out of you and do it fast! It keeps you dedicated to your writing, publishing, and marketing assignments, because you don’t want to let down your colleagues, friends, co-authors and future readers. As a result of our co-authorship partnership, we wrote 100 books in 95 days, a feat that has never been achieved in the publishing industry anywhere on earth, and we had a tremendous amount of fund doing it!

Dictate Your Book

Many would-be great writers don’t have the desire to physically write, type, or compute, yet they could master the fine art of dictation. Again, you can hire a great assistant to transcribe and perfect your dictation.

The software from Nuance is called Dragon NaturallySpeaking and claims to have 99% accuracy after training. Alternatively, you could use www.idictate.com (very inexpensive); and send your dictated files from your computer to theirs in India. Or call your dictation in daily by phone over Skype.com for free.

The possibilities for how to do it obviously keep expanding as an increasingly literate world becomes hungry for information, insight, and wisdom.

You Could Interview Experts and Put Their Thinking into Your Books

Interviewing experts is another way to fast-write a book. This is what Napoleon Hill did to write a book called Think and Grow Rich. It has sold over 100 million copies worldwide. (It is becoming a major motion picture directed by Martin Dunkerton, and it will feature Mark Victor Hansen.)

You can interview the leaders of any field and turn it instantly into money-making books, CDs, videos, movies, documentaries, or whatever. As Hill’s title says, “Think! And grow rich!”

I get it all the time when I tell people that I am a writer and published author. They tell me, “I wish I could write a book,” or “I thought about writing a book,” or “Some day I’m going to write a book” – so when are you going to start?

Then I hear the excuses, “I don’t know how to write,” or “I don’t know where to start,” or “Nobody would be interested in what I have to say,” etc, etc, etc. If I pressure them a bit, then they may try to change the subject. I think many people have a romantic idea of what writing is all about. The truth is, the writing itself is very easy and is completely natural for most; it is our negative thoughts about it that gives the greatest difficulty. There is a book in each and every one of use that needs to come out and there is one person waiting to read it.

Writing is very much like going to the bathroom; it’s in you and it needs to come out. Sometimes it just crap, and other times it’s a very relieving experience. But the reason you do it is always the same – you have to!

I think people who want to write get confused between writing just for the sake of it, and wanting to write a book or article. They don’t really know why they want – they just want to – because. Believe me “because” is good enough. However, if you think you are going to write a book and it’s going to be a million seller, you are most likely setting yourself up for disappointment. Of the thousands of books written every year, very few are published and even fewer are best sellers, and even less are million sellers.

It is not my intention to discourage you from writing; quite the opposite; I want to encourage you to write something, anything; just get started!

There is a very simple writing process that I teach people that is full proof. Anyone can write a word, anyone can turn that word into a sentence, and that sentence can be made into a paragraph – anyone can do it, I promise. I will tell you how, and we’ll see if your thoughts of being a writer are just a whimsical idea; like being a rock star or movie actor and if there is a true desire to write.

Good books don’t just happen; they are created through hard work. The writing is the easiest part of creating or publishing a book and you can do it, if you have the desire. It’s all the other things, like proofing, publishing and marketing that scare many writers off.

Most people have a fear of making mistakes or not having the perfect book on the first draft. Those people who do have these fears will most likely never start. But I will tell you – all writers whether it is their first effort or they are seasoned writers, all have the same fears.

When I sat down this morning, I had no idea about what I was going to write about. I tossed around a few ideas and agonized over the title. It’s not very often that I have the thought before I sit down. The only thing I have before I start is the desire. An idea may come to my head, but then the ever present doubt comes, “what do I know about that,” or “I won’t have enough material to make a descent sized article?” Never is there the idea in my head that someone might not like it; that doesn’t enter my head because the truth is; I don’t care if anyone likes it – I write for myself first because it is in me to do so, and it needs to come out.

This thought allows me to move forward and start the title and first lines of the article or book; from there the material just begins to flow. The real bonus is that because I have done it for myself, the article or book is already a success, I am relieved and the paper work is done.

I will give you a very simple and short version of how to start you poem, article or book. This works every time and you cannot fail.

Find a place where you feel comfortable; many of us writers like the kitchen table and there are some good reasons for that. It is a place that is familiar and a place where we have experienced many things. The ghosts of family members and friends and others are sitting there with us. Their images are opportunities for a story, poem or article.

Many people start off thinking they will write their memoirs and are quickly turned around by what comes out. An experienced event may turn into a philosophical book about things you never thought you knew anything about and now you have become an expert.

I never thought that I was spiritual, certainly not religious; but I have been writing spiritual material for eight years and my books are selling in nine countries and my articles are being read all over the world – who would have thought?

You need to bring something to the table; how about a pencil, pen and paper. Leave it on the table and don’t do anything; just get comfortable with the idea that it is there and so are you – don’t think!

Let your mind wonder and take no notice of what you are doing or why, this is a form of meditation, but with one exception. In meditation we want to get into a state of nothingness and try to stay there as long as possible. Here we want to get to that state then notice a thought, when the thought comes to our awareness, write it down quickly. Then go back to your meditation. Note here that it doesn’t matter what the thought is, just write it down.

This is stupid; I’m sitting here wasting my time!

This table is dirty!

The neighbour and his damn lawnmower; I can’t concentrate!

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog!

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party!

I’ve got better things to do!

This is not working!

Congratulations, you’re a writer; this is what we do.

Now, you just need to do this again sometime. Throw your paper into the garbage, and put away your pen. The only difference between what you have done and what I do is that I write a few more words than you.

The biggest mistake most beginners make is that they think their spelling, grammar, structure and style have to be perfect – wrong! Never think about these things. The whole idea of what you just did was the same as going to the bathroom – you got to get the crap out – it’s a start. If you get to the point where you have written a book; there are people you can pay to make changes and corrections – don’t worry about it. I will make the same mistake with this article as you will. I will proof read it myself at least three times and then submit it to my site for people to read. The worst person to proof read your material is you. There are very few successful authors that do all their own proofreading, except for those of us who can’t afford to have someone do it for us. If you are the only one that is going to be reading your work, then that doesn’t even matter; just write.

After you have practiced this little exercise a few times, you are going to be amazed at what begins to flow from you. It will more than likely be something completely different than what your initial thoughts were. You must keep going and see where it takes you – that is the excitement. Trust me; you will be going on a wonderful trip. What you do with your writing after you have done it doesn’t matter if you have written for yourself first. If others will receive benefit from what you have done, great; that is a bonus for you and you may even earn some money for you effort. But your greatest reward comes from doing it.

If your desire comes from a true state of being a writer, your one, two or three words will work into sentences, paragraphs and books. It happens automatically despite the fact that you may think it doesn’t. If you continue with this exercise, I guaranty something extraordinary will happen; what you do with it will be another thing; at this time it doesn’t matter. The whole point of this article is to get you to begin somewhere. How much effort does it take to write one word? In my genre, two words describe perfectly what life is all about, they are “I Am” and it is all you need to know. “I Am and writer” is a declaration life being a writer. Even if you write down “I can’t do this,” you have succeeded. Now that’s a great title for a new book!

It was not my intention this morning to write an article about writing that would help you get started along your new journey – it just flowed out of me.

PS, I didn’t think I would get past the first paragraph with this article; I am one day late to post it to my web site; but it is done in spite of my doubts.

Writing a book isn’t hard, but you have to make a commitment and put in the work to actually make your dream of becoming an author a reality. If you’ve been searching through web sites and books for a writing strategy that ensures success, then look no further. Use the following five tips to get your book done!

1. Develop an Outline
Think of your outline like your plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should give you a fairly detailed idea of what you want to write and where you want to organize everything in your book. Consider the following questions: How are you going to move the story along? What are your major scenes? What information are you going to convey? What anecdotes will you use to highlight your main points? Put all this information together in one place, and then refer to it every time you sit down to write.

2. Dedicate Time to Writing
If you want to write a book, the most manageable way to do it is write every day. Even if you just get a few paragraphs down every morning before work, you’re making steady progress—and those pages add up. So get up thirty minutes early tomorrow morning and write for as long as you can. Do this every day and your book could be finished in a matter of months.

3. Get Motivated
The rewards for writing every day take time to pay off. You have to show up and do the work, but the most appealing benefits don’t start happening until after the book is published. To keep yourself plugging along, you have to find ways to keep yourself motivated. Try treating yourself to a new book or night at the movies for every fifty pages you finish. Small rewards can keep you going until the big-picture benefits come your way.

4. Be Accountable
When it’s just you keeping track of your work, slacking off is easier. So be accountable for your writing progress to at least one person. You could keep a running page tally with a colleague or spouse—just make sure the person is tough enough to keep you writing.

5. Overcome Challenges
As fun and rewarding as writing a book can be, every author faces challenges. The successful ones know how to overcome the obstacles that occur when writing a book-length manuscript. Be aware of the resources available to you—such as books on writing, writing communities, and classes—that can help you overcome and avoid the challenges that might otherwise stop your progress altogether.

Get Your Book Done
It doesn’t matter where you are in your writing life right now. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, you can write your book. When you use these five strategies, success is definitely within your reach!

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