Almost everybody dreams about writing a book. Every second teenager tried to write at least a short story, and many others also start writing poems at this age.
Writing a book is an exciting experience and a perfect opportunity to let the world know about your thoughts and emotions. No wonder why 200 million Americans would like to publish a book. And many of them start working in that direction by establishing their own blogs.
Having a blog is a great starter if you want to become a book author, as it provides you with a great opportunity to practice and improve your writing over the long period of time. But if you’ve been blogging for a while and it’s time to make the next step, where do you start your journey as an author?
Here’s a complete step-by-step guide for you to transition from a blogger to an accomplished book author.
Step #1: Think about the Style of your Book
If you’re thinking about finally starting a book, you might need to consider several steps before actually writing, including figuring out the style of your book and its prominent feature that would make it unique.
Developing a writing style is a complex process involving a lot of analysis on your part. You might want to re-read the entries you’ve written for your blog to see what constitutes your personal writing style as well as incorporate the techniques other writers use.
How can you make sure that using your unique writing style will help you write an excellent book? Here are 3 essential tips:
- Speak the language of your audience. Before starting a book, identify your audience. Who could be interested in your book? Who will relate to the experiences described in your book? Answering these questions will help you adapt your writing style to the needs of your audience.
- Identify the reason why you’re writing. What do you want people to see and experience? What message do you want to tell the world? Answer these questions using your unique writing style.
- Be inventive. Your audience should know something to remember you by. It can be the use of specific phrases and even your own coined words.
Step #2: Have a Plan
When writing, planning is essential. If a writer is serious about a book, planning is a must-do. “During my workshops, I emphasize the importance of planning in writing,” says Michelle Wight, a writing coach at A Writer. “Otherwise you’ll end up with a messy writing and no one will perceive you as a serious, committed writer.”
As a blogger, you’ve probably done some planning for your blog entries, but with the book, it will definitely be different, as now planning will require more details and specifics.
Which steps does the book planning involve?
- Figure out the major theme. A book can touch upon different topics, but there should always be a central theme and smaller ones to revolve around it. It will make the structure of the book more complex.
- Single out the idea. What is the core message of your book? The answer to this question will be the idea of your book.
- Work on the essentials. Develop complex characters, work on dialogs, narrations, descriptions. All these essentials should look organic and complement the tone of your book.
- Work on the plot. Structure the ideas you have about the plot to make it logical. Or not. It depends on the genre you choose and your writing style. Work on the setting and timeline, where the events will take place.
- Fill in the gaps. Revise your plan. Do you want to add or change something? Don’t skip on this last step.
Step #3: Start Writing
Working on your style and planning out a book is a very time-consuming process, but once you’re done – start writing!
Writing a book is a very exciting and creative process that will consume you right away. But while writing, you shouldn’t forget about:
- Employing your blogging experience. You have many months of perfect writing practice. It taught you everything about style and consistency in writing. So by all means, do not forget what blogging taught you.
- Stick to your plan. It’s easy to get carried away while writing. But sticking to a plan is crucial. It allows you to keep your writing in order.
- Find a place to write. Finding your special writing spot is half a battle, they say. Find a place that will motivate, inspire and connect you to the events and characters of your book.
- Create a daily challenge. Figure out how much you would like to write each day and set a final deadline for your book. Following deadlines will help you be more organized and accomplish more.
Get Inspired!
Believe in yourself and you’re halfway there. When you believe in yourself, you make everything possible. So if you’ve been longing to start writing a book, do it! Use your writing experience to the full extent and do one step at a time. Being more organized will help you achieve more.