SO, I'm thinking of writing a book !

Goodie2shoes · ‎04-30-2012

I have plenty of ideas swimming around in my head and I do have a story to tell but I'm having trouble hitting the start button. Are there any story tellers out there who have completed and sold their story who can give me a little boost ? How did you get your pen in motion to put your thoughts on paper ? Did you get published and what was the process like? Any feedback would be appreciated because I really have been thinking about this for years, thanks

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

Good for you! There are LOTS of books out there on how to write and different methods to try and plot it all out or not plot at all. Stroll by the library or, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can start for free there.

I am a big fan of writing classes and I highly recommend Gotham. If you can afford their classes (around $300 for the intro to writing) and are really serious, they give really good feedback and guidance in a friendly environment with about 12 other people guided along by a published author.

The best writing advice they will all tell you (books, online, etc) is get your butt in the seat, write, write, write, write some more, and then clean it up and write again. Don't worry about the publishing end of things until you get a polished work completed which will be awhile if you do it right. Good Luck!

brii · ‎06-20-2010

Good for you! How exciting

Annabellethecat66 · ‎03-12-2010

Go over to the TV/Movies section. "Our Own" (he's a TV buff like us) gardenman just had a book published.

It is available at Amazon and it's called The Community. Come on over, we're all very excited about it.

Title it "Hey Gardenman........" See if he has something to say, just a thought.

Zita · ‎05-24-2011

I'm a writer with books on Kindle and Smashwords, and have published memoirs in several anthologies.

The tips I offer you are these:

1. As one poster said, don't worry about publishing until you've written something!

2. Find a writer's critique group that you are comfortable with, for support and input.

3.Take some writing classes for beginners, either online or onground if you have a local arts organization

4. When you have some words on paper, take a look at the kindle website "Write On."

Lots of help and critiquing there.

5. Check your library or bookstore for books on writing. Highly recommended is Lawrence Block's Writing the Novel from Plot to Print to Pixel.

Just do it! You never know if you can unless you try!

AngusandBuddhasMom · ‎03-10-2010

I have found writing the first draft is easy its the rewrites and editing that is the task.

MaggieMack · ‎10-01-2014

@Annabellethecat66, I think gardenman's book is called The Campaign.

One of my favorite authors is Diana Gabaldon, who is most famous for her Outlander books. She had the writer gene, and decided to pursue it after earning a PhD in Environmental Ecology. How did she start? She was on Compuserve in a writing group and would put up a chapter for people to read. The chapters were so well received that the group told her to finish the book and find an agent. The rest is history.

@Goodie2shoes, best wishes as you follow your dream! Have faith in your story and in your ability to bring it to life in words. There are multitudes out here who are always looking for the next great read!

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. - Aesop

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

The best way to learn to write is by writing. The more you write the better you'll get at it. You also want to read as much as you can. Instead of getting lost in the story though, focus on the construction of the story. Try to figure out why the author is telling the story the way they are. Common traps to avoid are getting overly descriptive. Trust your readers to fill in the blanks. It's not unusual to find multi-page descriptions of a character or scene that quickly become tedious. Most importantly, have fun writing.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

chi5925 · ‎03-09-2010

@Goodie2shoes wrote:
I have plenty of ideas swimming around in my head and I do have a story to tell but I'm having trouble hitting the start button. Are there any story tellers out there who have completed and sold their story who can give me a little boost ? How did you get your pen in motion to put your thoughts on paper ? Did you get published and what was the process like? Any feedback would be appreciated because I really have been thinking about this for years, thanks

You should consider going to a writing site to get you jump-started. A really good one is scribophile.com. You can communicate with others in your situation, get inspiration, get honest, constructive critiques of your writing, and there are plenty of forums there where you can interact with other writers just like yourself.

Good luck to you! Hope that you are successful in your writing venture!

Annabellethecat66 · ‎03-12-2010

@AngusandBuddhasMom I agree with you. I've never even 'attempted' to write a book but I often wrote for my college newspaper (I know, not the same). However, I can tell you from that experience that it was soooo difficult editing my articles. I never could decide if it was more difficult editing my articles by myself or having someone else 'help' me with it! Either way, when I'd finished I felt like I'd 'given birth' and then someone asked me to pick which part I wanted to keep.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. I've been told many times I should write a book but I'm way too lazy.

I say, if you want to do something, go ahead and do it, otherwise it won't get written. I hope the OP does write the book.

"Our" gardenman wrote one and now we're all going to read it, just think we know, well kinda know him!!