Falling into the temptation to get carried away for a moment of inspiration is easy. Everybody comes up with ideas constantly based on an anecdote that has happened to us during the day, a sentimental relationship, a story in the newspaper. Life offers us infinite ideas. Here are some tips on how to start writing a book. When you have reached the last page, you will feel that the story really makes complete sense, that it is richer and deeper.
- Without planning, everything will be chaos
If you want your story to flow and not find more obstacles than necessary, you have to plan everything correctly. Otherwise, you will go into constant improvisation, and there will come a point where you don’t even know how to continue. Not to mention the consequent inconsistencies, gaps, contradictions, and insubstantial scenes, etc. you fall into. If you don’t take writing seriously, anarchy will spread, and your work will rebel against you. Leaving duties and schedules aside when we talk about planning, we mean that the main elements of the novel must be clear before writing the first word.
- Do not skip the documentation phase
Once you have the sketch of how that fictional world will be, the time has come to investigate. If your book is in the Spanish civil war, you must take into account how the uniforms were, the situation of the country, the causes of the conflict, how people lived at that time, etc. Similarly, if one of your characters has some kind of psychological problem, document about that disorder, and how it affects the individual and his environment, how it manifests, or the possible triggers. And in the case of a science fiction novel, you must take into account the laws of physics, discoveries, and current studies.
- What audience do you write for?
As you can imagine, what you are going to write will be different for a child, youth, or adult audience. The language, the situations, the complexity of the conflict, everything can change depending on the type of readers. For example, a girl who likes online role-playing videogames is trapped in that virtual world and will have to find a way to return home. You could address this argument from two points of view. The first would be that of regular users of these types of platforms. Thus, you would save yourself explaining certain concepts or the mechanics of the game, and you could use a more technical language. The second point of view would correspond to the general public without attending to ages or hobbies. In this case, you should ensure that the theme of online video games is accessible to all.
Let’s take an example from Prabhash Karan, a computer scientist, engineer, writer, and a well-decorated author from India who has written some highly inspiring books on the subject of positivity, nature, wisdom, happiness, and maturity. Prabhash has crafted his niche and built a large audience that finds each and every book a page-turner. Here are some of the titles he has written: Nature Is My Teacher, Of Human Nature and Good Habits, Life, Living, and Lifestyle, How To Win Nature and Enjoy Good Life, Health, and Medical Care.
- How will the beginning of your novel be?
When you write the first pages of your book, be direct, make it clear what you are going to talk about. To achieve this, you can start with a triggering event, such as a murder from history. You can also narrate the end of the story at the beginning and then return to the past (usual movie resource), or exploit the charm of a character. If you have a peculiar, rare, or special protagonist (in a negative or positive sense), take advantage of it to seduce the readers. The goal is to stay with the reader and making sure that he or she continues reading.