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How to write a book

Information

If you ever wanted to write a book and wanted to know how to go about it, join this group.

Members: 27
Latest Activity: Dec 18, 2012

Upcoming posts (as of 10/04/2011):

* Characterisation
* Plot

* Schedule
* Research
* Marketing your book
* Nature of the publishing industry
* Style
* Grammar & Punctuation
* Needs of the author/of the muse/of the character
* Dialogue, Dialects, Accent & Speech
* Descriptions (or how not to write like George Elliot, bless her heart)
* Spelling
* Writing the first draft

* How to start writing in general

* Overall process of writing a book
* The editing process (why you need help no matter how good you are and also who to call)
* What comes after: Glossaries, indexes, bibliographies and the differences between them
* What comes before: Prefaces, forewords, dedications and the like.

* Copyright
* Structure
* Myths & excuses

If you have any specific questions you'd like me to answer in post form or any ideas for bits of the writing process that I haven't covered, post a comment or send me a message.

Discussion Forum

How to write a book: Part 13: It’s kind of crowded in here…

Started by Marisa Wikramanayake Jul 8, 2011. 0 Replies 0 Likes

There are currently about twenty one characters in my head and counting.Each story I come up with or am asked to write, begets more of them.What I am going to discuss in this post is how to create…Continue

Tags: development, story, creation, writer, author

Time and expectation management

Started by Marisa Wikramanayake Jun 5, 2011. 0 Replies 0 Likes

I have half a mind to post a picture of my schedule in this entry.You know, just so all of you can laugh at it a bit."Marisa, you seem to set very unrealistic goals or have very high…Continue

Tags: expectation, scheduling, writing, marisa, wikramanayake

Motivation...

Started by Marisa Wikramanayake May 16, 2011. 0 Replies 1 Like

I once had an alternative life as a dancer. As a dancer, when you move and watch yourself in the mirror in the studio, you can see straight away where you are going wrong. You can see what doesn't…Continue

Research. Or why I need a travelling library.

Started by Marisa Wikramanayake Apr 10, 2011. 0 Replies 0 Likes

As I write this, I am on a countdown to a self enforced deadline with my novel. I may not keep that deadline but that's another tale for another post. The important thing is that you have to keep…Continue

Tags: marisa, wikramanayake, research, book, a

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Comment by Alicia Curtis on October 7, 2011 at 7:55am: How do you get into the zone and do GREAT work? Check out this discussion

Comment by Marisa Wikramanayake on January 13, 2011 at 5:19am: Thanks Janine, I will write something on copyright soon. Anything else you want to see? Trying to frame some of this stuff into articles/discussion topics is a bit tough.

Comment by Janine Ripper on December 2, 2010 at 9:01pm: Just a suggestion for topics Marisa...copyright?

Comment by Marisa Wikramanayake on November 9, 2010 at 11:19am: Good structure will make it easier to understand the content. No matter how wonderful the content is, it gets lost if the structure isn't good. If the chapters aren't logical, if the flow of information isn't logical or proceeding in a logical fashion and so on. I'd say both are equally important. You might have the most fantastic message to get out but there is no point expecting it to shine out on it's own if you don't do the work on the structure to allow it to shine.

Writing a book is a lot of work.

Comment by Aaron Koo on November 3, 2010 at 11:56pm: I don't plan to release a book anytime soon however I have always been interested in non-fiction writing.

Whether its a biography, self-help, entrepreneurship, "how to's" etc..

I wonder, how much is the emphasis placed on the structure rather than content itself?

Comment by Marisa Wikramanayake on September 20, 2010 at 3:07am: It certainly is quiet around here. :-D

Comment by Marisa Wikramanayake on August 30, 2010 at 6:49am: re: writing groups: Ca depende.

They can teach you to be disciplined in sticking to a routine as you have to usually produce something every week or month.

It also provides a means of socialisation and a means of getting feedback.

Personally, for me, I am too bloody lazy to get up and go and I probably should. But I already have a bunch of friends nagging me and providing feedback and I prefer to write at my own pace because I really like taking the time to think a lot about my characters/plot...

... or to procrastinate by playing computer games.

I am not petrified of sharing my writing - though I understand that fear - you always have it when starting out. You just have go through it.

Start small and safe and share your work with one person who can offer criticism on it and tell you how to improve without damaging your confidence. When you improve enough you'll know. You'll see a change in the way you speak.

Comment by Janine Ripper on August 29, 2010 at 6:35pm: So may I ask Marisa, et al, what are your opinions of writing groups? Helpful, repressive? My last experience was at Uni in a creative writing class and I detested it as the idea of being graded because of a lecturers opinion on my writing was freaky, plus I was petrified of sharing my writing (reading allowed). These days of course Im so much more confident. Numerous books I've read had recommended writers groups for various reasons. What are your opinions?

Comment by Marisa Wikramanayake on August 17, 2010 at 1:48am: Ok, still figuring all this out so let me know if I put something in the wrong place.