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1. Knowing these steps on how to write a novel can be very helpful. This is because these steps can make writing a story much faster instead of sitting around think of ideas for a story. Also these steps can make your story a smoother more interesting story because you have thought about all the possible things in you story.
2. These steps can improve a writer´s book because these steps can show a writer what needs to still be done evn when they thin they are finished. This is helpful because having a story that is missing a few pieces are usually not very good stories but checking to make sure everything is done can make a story a whole lot better.
3. It is important to follow all of these steps because without one of these steps your whole story might be missing something or it may be unclear. For example if you skip the part where you should get to know your characters, you might introduce your main character with blue eyes but then later on tell the reader that she has green. this can leave a reader confused and it may even lead to the reader not wanting to read any of your other books because they fear they may be unclear.

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Here is a list of editing programs that can be helpful when editing you story.

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We're sure at some point, a visually-oriented app will come along and make text editors obsolete overnight. But people have been gleefully predicting the demise of the 'old way' of designing and developing websites for years, and yet text editors just won't die. Those who love text editors swear they are advantageous for speed and control, the best-in-class apps making a designer or developer more efficient.

Here's our list of 18 excellent text editors for a range of platforms, ideal whether you're bathed in the glow of an iMac screen, hammering away on a PC laptop, or frantically trying to update a client website using a tablet while connected to flaky beach Wi-Fi. If we've missed your favourite, let us know about the app in the comments and why you think it's great.

We admit there's a whiff of nostalgia about this entry, given that Notepad++ was one of the earliest text editors we used on Windows. But the app deserves its place on this list, because it can still compete with the best of them. For no money whatsoever, you get a capable (if sometimes workmanlike) editor with plenty of features, and you can also mess about with the interface to make it better suit your requirements. Download it today.

Launched in 2008, GitHub has become the code storage and development site of choice worldwide, and so any tool it releases is going to cause a big stir.

That's certainly been the case with Atom. Dubbed "a hackable text editor for the 21st Century", it's designed to be simple to use out of the box, but also easily expandable using hundreds of packages.

Since launching in invite-only private beta early last year, it's now fully open source and available to download for free.

Adobe's open-source text editor is created from the code that builds the web, and the developers note that if you can code in Brackets, then you can code on Brackets. In other words, although you initially get a simple, usable editor, seasoned programmers should be able to hack it to their liking.

Available across all of the three main desktop platforms, Sublime Text is a great general-purpose text editor that offers plenty of power to anyone working on websites. It's especially well suited to anyone wedded to the keyboard, providing powerful shortcuts and tools to leap about a document, make (multiple) selections, filter the file, and quickly make edits.

Switching between projects is also lightning fast - perfect for anyone juggling multiple clients. Sublime Text may be downloaded and evaluated for free, but a licence must be purchased for continued use.

Vim is essentially the text editor people flock to when they look at the others on this list and consider them toys for newbs. There's a pretty steep learning curve, due to its overtly techie nature; but if you can cling on or are just looking for something more powerful to work with, you'll find plenty to like in Vim's flexible tools, customisation and macros, and efficiency-oriented commands.

There are various incarnations of Emacs but one of the most often-used is GNU Emacs; a free, extensible, customisable text editor. It's one of the most powerful editors out there and as such takes a while to learn your way around, but if you have very particular requirements you may find this is the one for you.

If you don't need all the features of a full IDE, you can get the text editor from Komodo IDE for free. Komodo Edit is a multi-language editor that does multiple selections, autocomplete, tracks changes and has a Markdown viewer.

If coding on the go is your thing, this is a great option for iOS devices. It's designed to make it easy to make quick changes to your website and will sync with Dropbox and SSH/SFTP servers. It's also a fully-equipped code editor that you can use to develop software on your touch device, should you wish.

Webuilder is designed to be fast, easy-to-use and accessible for beginners, yet powerful enough for advanced coders. There's syntax highlighting that supports HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, XML and more; it enables you to edit directly on your servers via FTP, SFTP and FTPS; there are auto-quotes and auto-brackets; a CSS prefixer and loads of special functions for JavaScript and PHP. Definitely worth a look.
Next page: nine more great text editors

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We're sure at some point, a visually-oriented app will come along and make text editors obsolete overnight. But people have been gleefully predicting the demise of the 'old way' of designing and developing websites for years, and yet text editors just won't die.

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Scene maps are used to help the writer visualize which scenes work and which ones don´t. In this website there is an example of a scene map.

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Scene Maps (Formal) | One Stop For Writers

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Craft individual story scenes by exploring your character's outer and inner motivations, sources of conflict, and the stakes involved.

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These questions can help a writer know more about all of their characters. These questions came from the website: https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/90-things-to-know-about-your-characters-before-writing/

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Here in this website, there are examples of some famous authors and their story outlines

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Gathering your thoughts when writing a novel can be a tricky process. Which is why many of the greats made sure they planned their plots beforehand.

A mini-collection of notes penned by writers including James Salter and J.K. Rowling have surfaced. From tables to scrawls to diagrams they are a fascinating look at how authors were inspired to write their classic prose.

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Losing the plot: Fascinating collection of notes, diagrams and tables show how famous authors including J.K. Rowling and Sylvia Plath battled to plan out their novels beforehand

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Gathering your thoughts when writing a novel can be a tricky process. Which is why many of the greats made sure they planned their plots beforehand. A mini-collection of notes penned by writers including James Salter and J.K. Rowling have surfaced.

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Some stories end with a very powerful last line, making the ending unforgettable.

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A book's final sentence is the ribbon on a packaged plot, tied neatly and prettily before an author hands her story over to her readers' imaginations for good. It's a last chance for a good first impression.

Some last lines have the power to disrupt the course of an entire story, shaking up our expectations. Others leave us hanging, and still others provide a cathartic sense of closure. A beautiful, or at least effective, final sentence anchors a story in a reader's mind long after the book is finished.
Here are 21 of our favorite last lines in literature:
It'd be a glaring omission to not mention Fitzgerald's oft-quoted thesis about the American Dream.

God, is anything more beautifully, simply written than these final lines? We don't think so.

Egan's theme of using music and sounds to convey nostalgia is wrapped up neatly here, and she paints the characters' lives as cyclical, like the playing of a favorite record.

A fitting conclusion to a book about globalization, and its power to rapidly change the world.

Ethereal and evocative, this line nicely wraps up Capote's deeply personal and heart-wrenching story.

The lines belong to Lily Briscoe, the novel's resident artist, but could just as easily describe the work of art that Woolf has just concluded.

Like Fitzgerald's final lines, Cather's provide a poignant thesis statement.

That this sentence is the last line from Cheever's last novel makes it even more of a quaint, humble nod to his role as a teller of quiet, suburban stories.

Mitchell's famous last lines are at once heartbreaking and hopeful.

The definitiveness of this brusque sentence has a blunting effect, highlighting the bleakness of Orwell's predictions.

Angsty teens everywhere can relate to Holden's desire to quell his heightened emotions.

The last line of DFW's first novel hints at what else he had in store. Ending an entire book in the middle of a sentence is a bold and playful choice.

The butterfly motif brings the concept of "lightness" to life; this final vignette captures the mood of the book perfectly.

Ominous and syntactically exciting, this final line brings Conrad's dark novel full circle.

"The cults of the famous and the dead" is such a punchy last line, it could just as well serve as the book's subtitle.

Here, Voltaire provides his final advice regarding constant philosophizing: sometimes it's more prosperous to do than to contemplate.

We'll take any optimism we can get from curmudgeonly Franzen, regardless of whether or not it's meant in earnest (and in this case, it seems to be).

The dreaminess of this entire novel is punctuated with this final sentence, which is more of an ellipses than a stark period.

"As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free."
From The Tempest by William Shakespeare

This is the last we hear from the Bard; it's the final line of his final play, a humble request for applause before he leaves the stage.

See what he did there?! About confronting the end?! Brilliant.

The above is only a portion (we wouldn't be able to fit all of it in this article), but we couldn't NOT include one of the longest last sentences in literature. The last chapter of Ulysses is Molly Bloom's stream of consciousness, and it's simply amazing.

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21 Amazing Last Lines From Literature That Will Make You Want To Read The Whole Book

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A book's final sentence is the ribbon on a packaged plot, tied neatly and prettily before an author hands her story over to her readers' imaginations for good. It's a last chance for a good first impression. Some last lines have the power to disrupt the course of an entire story, shaking up our expectations.

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In this website there are 6 common ways stories are ended.

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Has this happened to you? You've found the perfect book, a true page-turner that you can't put down. Happily you read until you come to the end, and... well, it's awful, to put it nicely! And it completely ruins the book. Recently my friend and fellow Humble Fiction Cafe (HFC) writers group member, Linda Lindsey,...

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A Pros and Cons list can be helpful when making a decision whilst writing like what you want your genre to be

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Here are some genre choices that can help a writer decide which genre they want their story to be

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This article needs attention from an expert in Literature. The specific problem is: overbroad understanding of the term "genre".WikiProject Literature may be able to help recruit an expert.

Writing genres (more commonly known as literary genres) are categories that distinguish literature (including works of prose, poetry, drama, hybrid forms, etc.) based on some set of stylistic criteria. Sharing literary conventions, they typically consist of similarities in theme/topic, style, tropes, and storytelling devices; common settings and character types; and/or formulaic patterns of character interactions and events, and an overall predictable form.

A literary genre may fall under either one of two categories: (a) a work of fiction, involving non-factual descriptions and events invented by the author; or (b) a work of nonfiction, in which descriptions and events are understood to be factual. In literature, a work of fiction can refer to a short story, novella, and novel, the latter being the longest form of literary prose. Every work of fiction falls into a literary subgenre, each with its own style, tone, and storytelling devices.

Moreover, these genres are formed by shared literary conventions that change over time as new genres emerge while others fade. Accordingly, they are often defined by the cultural expectations and needs of a particular historical and, cultural moment or place.

According to Alastair Fowler, the following elements can define genres: organizational features ( chapters, acts, scenes, stanzas); length; mood; style; the reader's role (e.g., in mystery works, readers are expected to interpret evidence); and the author's reason for writing (an epithalamion is a poem composed for marriage).

Genres are formed shared literary conventions that change over time as new genres emerge while others fade. As such, genres are not wholly fixed categories of writing; rather, their content evolves according to social and cultural contexts and contemporary questions of morals and norms.

The most enduring genres are those literary forms that were defined and performed by the Ancient Greeks; definitions sharpened by the proscriptions of modern civilization's earliest literary critics and rhetorical scholars, such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Aeschylus, Aspasia, Euripides, and others. The prevailing genres of literary composition in Ancient Greece were all written and constructed to explore cultural, moral, or ethical questions; they were ultimately defined as the genres of epic, tragedy, and comedy. Aristotle's proscriptive analysis of tragedy, for example, as expressed in his and saw it as having 6 parts (music, diction, plot, character, thought, and spectacle) working together in particular ways. Thus, Aristotle established one of the earliest delineations of the elements that define genre.

By Age

Classic (or literary fiction): works with artistic/literary merit that are typically character-driven rather than plot-driven, following a character's inner story. They often include political criticism, social commentary, and reflections on humanity. These works are part of an accepted literary canon and widely taught in schools.

Coming-of-age
Bildungsroman: works that focus on the psychological and moral growth of a character from youth into adulthood.

Encyclopedic

Epic: a narrative defined by heroic or legendary adventures presented in a long format.
Epic poetry: narrative poetry about extraordinary feats occurring in a time before history, involving religious underpinnings and themes.

Fabulation: A class composed mostly of 20th-century novels that are in a style similar to magical realism, and do not fit into the traditional categories of realism.

Folklore (folktale)

Historical: works that take place in the past-which can be real, imagined, or a combination. Many such works involve actual historical figures or historical events within historical settings.

Metafiction (aka romantic irony in the context of Romantic literature): uses self-reference to draw attention to itself as a work of art while exposing the "truth" of a story.

Philosophical

Pop culture: fiction written with the intention of being filled with references from other works and media. Stories in this genre focused solely on using pop culture references.

Postmodern

Realist: works that are set in a time and place that are true to life (i.e. that could actually happen in the real world), abiding by real-world laws of nature. They depict real people, places, and stories to be as truthful as possible.

Religious or inspirational

Satire: usually fiction and less frequently in non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement.

Social and political fiction

Theatre-fiction

Thriller (or suspense): typically dark and suspenseful plot-driven fiction involving a person or group facing imminent harm, and the attempts made to evade that harm. Thrillers regularly use plot twists, red herrings, and cliffhangers, and seldom include comedic elements.

Urban: fiction set in an urban environment.

Western: works that follow cowboys, settlers, and outlaws exploring the American frontier and Old West, typically in the late-19th to early-20th century.

Action fiction and adventure fiction. The hero's journey is the most popular narrative structure of an adventure novel.

Comedy (including comic novel, light poetry, and comedic journalism): usually a fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain and sometimes cause intended laughter; but can be contained in all genres.

Crime fiction (including crime comics) centers on a crime(s), how the criminal gets caught and serves time, and the repercussions of the crime

Fantasy (including comics and magazines) is a speculative fiction that use imaginary characters set in fictional universes inspired by mythology and folklore, often including magical elements, magical creatures, or the supernatural. Examples: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1885) and the Harry Potter books.

Horror (including comics and magazines) involves fiction in which plot and characters are tools that elicit a feeling of dread and terror, as well as events that often evoke fear in both the characters and the reader. Horrors generally focus on themes of death, demons, evil spirits, and the afterlife.

Science fiction

Science fiction (including comics, magazines, novels, and short stories) is speculative fiction with imagined elements that are inspired by natural sciences (physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc.) or social sciences (psychology, anthropology, sociology, etc.). Common elements of this genre include time travel, space exploration, and futuristic societies. (Sci-fi was originally regarded as scientific romance.)

Romantic fiction primarily focuses on a love story between two people, usually with an optomistic, emotionally satisfying ending. Also Romance (literary fiction) - works that frequently, but not exclusively, takes the form of the historical romance.

Literary fiction is a term that distinguishes certain fictional works that possess commonly held qualities to readers outside genre fiction.[citation needed ] Literary fiction is any fiction that attempts to engage with one or more truths or questions, hence relevant to a broad scope of humanity as a form of expression.[citation needed ] Genre fiction is fiction written to appeal to fans of a specific genre. There are many sources that help readers find and define literary fiction and genre fiction.

These are genres belonging to the realm of nonfiction. Some genres listed may reappear throughout the list, indicating cross-genre status.

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This article needs attention from an expert in Literature. The specific problem is: overbroad understanding of the term "genre". WikiProject Literature may be able to help recruit an expert. Writing genres (more commonly known as literary genres) are categories that distinguish literature (including works of prose, poetry, drama, hybrid forms, etc.)

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In this document I have created an outline for an ending for my story.

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Publishing your book professionally can take a lot of work and help. This website can help you get your book published professionally.

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If you want to find out how to get published, just follow this simple guide. Learn about the main routes to publication and the pros and cons of each one.

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When editing your book these ten step are very useful when trying to successfully edit a book.

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Writers' victories are short-lived indeed.

For a brief moment after completing a first draft, writers sit back, breathe a sigh of relief, post a self-congratulatory humblebrag about finishing our manuscript, and then immediately think about that one character whose arc we forgot to complete, or that we're pretty sure we overused the word "that," or that those squiggly red lines scattered throughout our manuscript are surely incorrect.
In other words, the joys of #amwriting give way to the trials of #amediting.
As a strong (and biased) believer that every author needs an editor, your first line of literary defense shouldn't be a professional editor. Rather, you need to learn how to self-edit sending your manuscript off to be edited.

As a full-time , I witness dozens of simple mistakes authors constantly make. If only they'd take the time to learn and incorporate better self-editing techniques, they would become better writers, endear themselves to their editors, and maybe even save money on a professional edit.

Furthermore, beta readers and early reviewers will be grateful for the creation of a readable early draft.

If you're ready to self-edit your book, consider these 10 tips:

1. Rest your manuscript

Why rest your draft for so long? You want to try to forget everything you've written so that when you do come back to self-edit, the book almost seems as if someone else wrote it. You want fresh eyes, and the best way to do that is to rid your mind of what's been filling it for so long.

2. Listen to your manuscript

Hearing your words spoken makes mistakes glaringly obvious. You can enlist a (very patient) friend to read it to you, or you can go the friendship-saving route, which has the benefit of being free: use your computer's built-in speech synthesis function.

If you're a Mac user, click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen, select System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Speech. Choose a System Voice and Speaking Rate you can tolerate, then select "Speak selected text when the key is pressed." If you want to change the keyboard combination, click "Change Key" and follow the directions. I prefer Option+Esc.

Once you've enabled your preferred shortcut key, simply highlight any text (within any program) that you want to hear read aloud. Then hit your shortcut keys and follow your words on-screen as your computer reads them aloud.

For PC users, make use of , part of the system's Ease of Access Center. Press "Windows+U" and click "Start Narrator." Since the program is intended for blind users, it will automatically begin to read any text your mouse encounters. To turn this off, hit "Control." To have Narrator read a paragraph, place your cursor at its beginning and type "Caps Lock + I." To have Narrator read an entire page, press "Caps Lock + U."

3. Search for troubling words

All writers have specific words and phrases that (which?) always cause them to (too?) second-guess whether (weather?) they're (their?) using them correctly. If you know what your (you're?) troubling words are, use your word processor's search function to locate every possible variant of that word or phrase.

If you're unsure of how to properly use these words, there's no shame in looking them up. Grammar Girl likely has the answer, or check The Write Life's post on 25 Editing Tips for Tightening Your Copy for invaluable tips.

4. Remove or replace your crutch words

Do you know the top 10 words you use most frequently in your manuscript?

Outside of necessary articles and prepositions, you may be surprised at what words you tend to use over and over. One client of mine used "suddenly" too often, making every action seem unnecessarily rushed. Personally, my crutch words tend to fly in the face of the age-old encouragement for all writers to "eschew obfuscation."

In other words, I tend to cash in ten-dollar words when five-cent words suffice.

makes it simple to discover your crutch words and is available for Mac, iOS, and Windows users. In Scrivener's top menu, go to "Project > Text Statistics," then click on the arrow next to "Word frequency." If necessary, click the "Frequency" header twice to sort your words by frequency. You'll then be presented with what could be a jarring list of the words you might be overusing. (To include your entire manuscript in the frequency count, be sure to have your entire manuscript selected in Scrivener's Binder.)

For Microsoft Word users, there's a free Word Usage and Frequency add-in , but other, less technical online solutions may also help, like TextFixer.com's Online Word Counter or WriteWords' Word Frequency Counter .

No matter how you determine your crutch words, go back through your manuscript and see where you can remove or replace them.

5. Remove all double spaces at the end of sentences

If tapping two spaces following your sentences is an age-old habit ingrained into you since before the dawn of modern digital typography, may I suggest ingraining another practice?

Conduct a find-and-replace search after you're done writing. In Word, type two spaces in "find" and one space in "replace" and hit enter. Voila! You just time-traveled your manuscript into the 21st century. (If you're interested in why you should only use one space, read Slate's Space Invaders: Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period .)

6. Search for problematic punctuation

Are you a comma chameleon, adapting that otherwise innocent punctuation mark to do work it was never meant to do? Or does your manuscript need a semicolonoscopy - a thorough check-up on proper semicolon and colon placement?

If you know you have trouble with certain punctuation marks, conduct a search for that mark and figure out whether you're using it correctly. If you're still unsure, let your editor fix it, but make a note to ask him why.

7. Run spell check or use an automated editing program

I think writers become too accustomed to the colorful squiggles under words and sentences on their digital pages; I know I do. In an effort to get ideas on the page, we might run rampant over grammar and usage.

Yet those squiggles mean something. At the very least, run spell check before sending your manuscript to an editor or beta reader. It's a built-in editor that I'm not sure every writer uses to their advantage. You may not accept every recommendation, but at least you'll save your editor some time correcting basic errors.

You might also consider trying out automated editing programs. The Write Life's provides a great overview of six top editing services. I have yet to try them all, but I'm a fan of From Grammarly to WordRake: A Review of 6 Automatic Editing Tools Grammarly.

8. Subscribe to The Chicago Manual of Style

By subscribing to CMOS (it's only $35 a year), you'll be able to look up issues on your own before sending your manuscript off to an editor or beta reader. Sure, you shouldn't get too hung up on some of the issues (editors have their jobs for a reason), but learning more about the mechanics of writing can only help you become a better writer.

9. Format accordingly

While preferred styles may differ from one editor to the next, you can show your professionalism by formatting your manuscript to conform to industry standards.

Such formatting makes it easier for beta readers to consume, and editors prefer industry-standard formatting, which allows them more time to edit your actual words instead of tweaking your formatting. Here are some basic formatting tips:

Send your manuscript as a Word document (.doc or .docx).

Use double-spaced line spacing. If you've already written your book with different line spacing, select all of your text in Word, click Format > Paragraph, then select "Double" in the drop down box under "Line spacing."

Use a single space following periods.

Use black, 12-point, Times New Roman as the font.

Don't hit tab to indent paragraphs. In Word, select all of your text, then set indentation using Format > Paragraph. Under "Indentation" and by "Left," type .5. Under "Special," choose "First line" from the drop down menu. [Note: Nonfiction authors may opt for no indention, but if they do so they must use full paragraph breaks between every paragraph.]

The first paragraph of any chapter, after a subheader, or following a bulleted or numbered list shouldn't be indented.

Use page breaks between chapters. In Word, place the cursor at the end of a chapter, then click "Insert > Break > Page Break" in Word's menu.

10. Don't over-edit

Set aside an hour or two to go through this list with your manuscript, but be careful about over-editing. You may start seeing unnecessary trees within your forest of words, but you don't want to raze to the ground what you've toiled so hard to grow.

A middle path exists between exhausting yourself in a vain attempt for perfection and being too lazy to run spell check. Do yourself and your book a favor and self-edit, but be careful not to go overboard.

If you're creating a professional product, your self-edits shouldn't be your last line of defense against grammatical errors. In other words, I don't offer this post to write myself out of a job. Even in going through the self-editing steps above, you'll still need an editor to ensure that your manuscript is as polished as possible.

Plus, going through the editing process with a professional editor will help you become a better self-editor the next time you write a book.
Do you self-edit? What tips and tricks work best for you? This post originally ran in December 2014. We updated it in December 2016. This post contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you're supporting The Write Life - and we thank you for that!

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Self-Editing Basics: 10 Simple Ways to Edit Your Own Book

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Writers' victories are short-lived indeed. For a brief moment after completing a first draft, writers sit back, breathe a sigh of relief, post a self-congratulatory humblebrag about finishing our manuscript, and then immediately think about that one character whose arc we forgot to complete, or that we're pretty sure we overused the word "that," or that those squiggly red lines scattered throughout our manuscript are surely incorrect.

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Rewriting your book can be very stressful, but it can be very rewarding.

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Everybody who loves to rewrite your book, raise your hand! No takers? Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought.

In my experience of ten novels and hundreds of short stories, rewriting ranks way at the bottom of the writing process-somewhere down there with paper cuts and insomnia. By the time you finish your beautiful story, all you want is to be done, finished, finis. The realization that you may need to go back and redo it is exhausting to say the least.

But it doesn't have to be that way. As I discovered during rewrites of my portal fantasy Dreamlander, there are ways to rewrite your book that can be both fun and easy.

Following are some of the tricks I've learned along the way.

1. Let the Manuscript Rest

Even if you're already aware of your story's problems as you type "The End," don't be in too big a hurry to start ripping it apart. Letting your manuscript cool for a while does two things:

1. It gives you the mental and emotional distance to view the story objectively.

2. It allows you to rebuild your creative muscles, so you'll have the stamina to tackle a major rewrite.

2. List Your Story's Problems

While you're waiting, don't ponder your story, but do let it simmer in the back of your brain. Whenever you're struck with an idea for an addition or the realization of a scene or character that doesn't quite work, write yourself a quick note, so you'll remember to consider it later, when you're ready to get serious about how to rewrite your book.

3. Create a Scene Map

To gain a better sense of your overall story-including which scenes work and which don't-make a map of your book.

Write a numbered list of your chapters and scenes. As you go, consider each scene's importance and effectiveness. Use highlighters to indicate scenes that can be deleted, scenes that can be combined, scenes that are weak, and scenes that are perfect.

4. Make List of Necessary Changes

Using your map, create a list of directions for your rewrite.

For each scene that needs work, type the number of the chapter and scene (I included a brief description as well, to help me immediately recognize what section I was working on). Beside each scene's designation, include a brief description of the work to be done: delete; combine with previous scene; delete minor character; change references to main character's siblings, etc.

I also included some general instructions, at the top of my list, regarding changes I wanted to make throughout to my MC's character arc, among other things.

5. Create Draft 2.0

Hacking up your precious work of art is always a bit traumatic, so put your mind at ease by saving your manuscript as a new file. That way, you will lose none of your initial brilliance, and if you decide you like things better the way they were before, you can always return to the first draft.

6. Rejoice in the Perfection You're Creating

Rewriting is hard work. But it's also freeing and satisfying. Raising your story to its full potential, cutting its weaknesses, and beefing up its strengths is exciting! Don't lament the work; revel in it. As E.B. White pointed out,

The best writing is rewriting.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinion! What steps do you use when figuring how to rewrite your book? Tell me in the comments!

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/kmweiland.com/podcast/rewrite.mp3
Click the "Play" button to Listen to Audio Version (or subscribe to the Helping Writers Become Authors podcast in iTunes).

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The 6 Best Ways to Rewrite Your Book - Helping Writers Become Authors

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Everybody who loves to rewrite your book, raise your hand! No takers? Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought. In my experience of ten novels and hundreds of short stories, rewriting ranks way at the bottom of the writing process-somewhere down there with paper cuts and insomnia.

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Creating an outline is very important and helpful because then it can help the writer flow through their book instead of coming up with an idea right on the spot and then writing it.

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Mention the word outline in a room full of writers, and you're sure to ignite a firestorm of passionate debate. Writers either love outlines, or they hate them. We either find them liberating, or we can't stand how confining they are.

My experience has been that more often than not, those who swear they dislike outlines are thinking of them in the wrong ways. Outlines are not meant to trap you into preset ideas or sap your creativity before you start the first draft. Outlines are also definitely not meant to be lifeless Roman-numeral lists.
This guest post is by K.M. Weiland. Weiland is the IPPY and NIEA Award-winning and internationally published author of the Amazon bestsellers Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel, as well as Jane Eyre: The Writer's Digest Annotated Classic, the western A Man Called Outlaw, the medieval epic Behold the Dawn, the portal fantasy Dreamlander, and the historical/dieselpunk adventure Storming. When she's not making things up, she's busy mentoring other authors on her award-winning blog Helping Writers Become Authors. She makes her home in western Nebraska.
To imbue your writing with the full power of outlining, you need to approach the process from a mindset of flexibility and discovery. When you do this, you'll end up with a road map to storytelling success. Road maps are there to show you the fastest and surest way to reach your destination, but they certainly don't prevent you from finding exciting off-road adventures and scenic drives along the way.

At their best, outlines can help you flesh out your most promising story ideas, avoid dead-end plot twists and pursue proper structure. And the greatest part? They save you time and prevent frustration. Sketching out your plot and characters in your first draft can take months of trial and error. Figuring out those same elements in an outline requires a fraction of the time-and then allows you to let loose and have fun in your first draft.

Let's take a look at how to get the most out of the outlining process, beginning with the shaping of your premise and working all the way through to a complete list of scenes. (Note: Although this outlining method is one I use myself and highly recommend, keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way to outline a story. The only requirement is that you find the groove that works for you. If you start outlining and begin to feel the technique isn't working for you, rather than denouncing outlines entirely, consider how you might adjust the process to better suit your personality and creative style.)
[Learn important writing lessons from these first-time novelists.]
1. Craft your premise.

Your premise is the basic idea for your story. But it's not enough to just have an idea. "Guy saves girl in an intergalactic setting" is a premise, but it's also far too vague to offer much solid story guidance.

This is why your outline needs to begin with a tightly crafted premise sentence that can answer the following questions:

* Who is the protagonist?

* What is the situation? What is the hero's personal condition at the beginning? How will that condition be changed, for better or worse, by the hero himself or by the antagonistic force?

* What is the protagonist's objective? At the beginning, what does the hero want? What moral (or immoral) choices will she have to make in her attempt to gain that objective?

* Who is the opponent? Who or what stands in the way of the hero achieving his objective?

* What will be the disaster? What misfortune will befall the hero as the result of her attempts to achieve her objective?

* What's the conflict? What conflict will result from the hero's reaction to the disaster? And what is the logical flow of cause and effect that will allow this conflict to continue throughout the story?

Once you've answered these questions, combine them into one or two sentences:

Restless farm boy (situation) Luke Skywalker (protagonist) wants nothing more than to leave home and become a starfighter pilot, so he can live up to his mysterious father (objective). But when his aunt and uncle are murdered (disaster) after purchasing renegade droids, Luke must free the droids' beautiful owner and discover a way to stop (conflict) the evil Empire (opponent) and its apocalyptic Death Star.

2. Roughly sketch scene ideas.

Armed with a solid premise, you can now begin sketching your ideas for this story. Write a list of everything you already know about your story. You'll probably come to this step with a handful of scenes already in mind. Even if you have no idea how these scenes will play out in the story, go ahead and add them to the list. At this point, your primary goal is to remember and record every idea you've had in relation to this story.

Once you've finished, take a moment to review your list. Whenever you encounter an idea that raises questions, highlight it. If you don't know why your character is fighting a duel in one scene, highlight it. If you don't know how two scenes will connect, highlight them. If you can't picture the setting for one of the scenes, highlight that, too. By pausing to identify possible plot holes now, you'll be able to save yourself a ton of rewriting later on.

Your next step is to address each of the highlighted portions, one by one. Write out your ideas and let your thoughts flow without censoring yourself. Because this is the most unstructured step of your outline, this will be your best opportunity to unleash your creativity and plumb the depths of your story's potential. Ask yourself questions on the page. Talk to yourself without worrying about punctuation or spelling.

Every time you think you've come up with a good idea, take a moment to ask yourself, "Will the reader expect this?" If the answer is yes, write a list of alternatives your readers won't expect.
[The 5 Biggest Fiction Writing Mistakes (& How to Fix Them)]
3. Interview your characters.

In order to craft a cast of characters that can help your plot reach its utmost potential, you'll need to discover crucial details about them, not necessarily at the beginning of their lives but at the beginning of the story.

To do this for your protagonist, work backward from the moment in which he will become engaged in your plot (the "disaster" in your premise sentence). What events in your protagonist's life have led him to this moment? Did something in his past cause the disaster? What events have shaped him to make him respond to the disaster in the way he does? What unresolved issues from his past can further complicate the plot's spiral of events?

Once you have a basic idea of how your character will be invested in the main story, you can start unearthing the nitty-gritty details of his life with a character interview. You may choose to follow a preset list of questions (you can find a list of more than 100 such questions in my book Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success), or you may have better luck with a "freehand interview" in which you ask your protagonist a series of questions and allow him to answer in his own words.
[Here's a great article on how to structure a killer novel ending.]
4. Explore your settings.

Whether your setting is your childhood neighborhood or the seventh moon of Barsoom, you'll want to enter your first draft with a firm idea of where your prominent scenes will be taking place.

Don't choose a setting just because it sounds cool or because you're familiar with it. Look for settings that will be inherent to your plot. Can you change your story's primary locale without any significant alterations to the plot? If so, dig a little deeper to find a setting better suited to your plot, theme and characters.

Based on the scenes you're already aware of, list the settings you think you'll need. Can you reduce this list by combining or eliminating settings? Nothing wrong with a sprawling story locale, but extraneous settings should be eliminated just as assiduously as unnecessary characters.

5. Write your complete outline.

You're finally ready to outline your story in full. This is where you will begin plotting in earnest. In Step 2, you solidified the big picture of your story by identifying the scenes you were already aware of and figuring out how they might fit together. Now, you will work through your story linearly, scene by scene, numbering each one as you go. Unlike the "sketches" in Step 2, in which your primary focus was on brainstorming and exploring possibilities, you will now be concentrating on molding your existing ideas into a solid structure.

How comprehensive you want to be is up to you. You may choose to write a single sentence for each scene ("Dana meets Joe at the café to discuss their impending nuptials"), or you may choose to flesh out more details ("Joe is sitting by himself in a booth when Dana arrives; Dana orders coffee and a muffin; they fight about the invitation list"). Either way, focus on identifying and strengthening the key components of each scene's structure. Who will be your narrating character? What is his goal? What obstacle will arise to obstruct that goal and create conflict? What will be the outcome, and how will your character react to the resulting dilemma? What decision will he reach that will fuel the next scene's goal?

Work to create a linear, well-structured plot with no gaps in the story. If you can get this foundation right in your outline, you'll later be free to apply all your focus and imagination to the first draft and bring your story to life.

As you mentally work through each scene, watch for possible lapses of logic or blank areas in how one event builds to another. Take the time to think through these potential problems so they won't trip you up later. If you get stuck, try jumping ahead to the next scene you know, and then working backward. For instance, if you know where you want your characters to end up, but not how they'll get there, start at the ending point and then see if you can figure out what has to happen in the preceding events to make it plausible.

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6. Condense your outline.

Once you've finished your extended outline, you may want to condense the most pertinent points into an abbreviated version. Doing so allows you to weed out extraneous thoughts and summarize the entire outline into a scannable list for easier reference. Because your full outline may contain a fair amount of rambling and thinking out loud on the page, you're likely to end up with a lot of notes to review (I often have nearly three notebooks of material). Rather than having to wade through the bulk of your notes every time you sit down to work on your first draft, you can save yourself time in the long run by doing a little organizing now.

You may choose to create your abbreviated outline in a Word document, write out your scenes on index cards, or use a software program such as the free Scrivener alternative yWriter.

7. Put your outline into action.

By now, you'll be feeling prepared and eager to get going on your first draft. Each time you sit down to work on your manuscript, begin by reviewing your outline. Read the notes for your current scene and the scene to follow. Before you start writing, work through any remaining potential problems in your head or on paper. If the time comes (and it will come) when you're struck with a better idea than what you had planned in your outline, don't hesitate to go off-road. These ventures into unknown territory can result in some of the most surprising and intriguing parts of your story.

An outline will offer you invaluable structure and guidance as you write your first draft, but never be afraid to explore new ideas as they occur. Remember, your outline is a map showing you the route to your destination, but that doesn't mean it is the only route.
Thanks for visiting The Writer's Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here.
Brian A. Klems is the author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You're Having a Girl: A Dad's Survival Guide to Raising Daughters.

Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKlems
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7 Steps to Creating a Flexible Outline for Any Story | WritersDigest.com

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Mention the word outline in a room full of writers, and you're sure to ignite a firestorm of passionate debate. Writers either love outlines, or they hate them. We either find them liberating, or we can't stand how confining they are.

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Having characters that are very relatable  are important when making a good story.

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OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! - Joanna Penn
Creating unique characters is something every fiction author has to focus on because it can make the difference in writing a book that resonates with the audience, and that means sales. I love the Lee Child Jack Reacher novels because the character stands up for justice in a cruel world in every book, and I am also trying to create a memorable heroine in my own Morgan Sierra in the ARKANE thrillers. But what is it about characters that keep us coming back and how can we achieve the same affect in our novels? Today, guest author Jen Blood shares some tips.
From television to movie franchises to fiction in every genre imaginable, the world loves a good series.

But why?

Plot is certainly part of it, but, with rare exceptions, we can just as easily see the same story played out in a standalone feature. The reason we keep coming back to the series - whatever medium it may be - is because of the characters. We want to know how they're doing, where they'll end up, who they'll hop into bed with next. We want to see them conquer the bad guy... Or get conquered doing it. We become invested in them; they become like better looking, cooler versions of ourselves, our friends, and our family.

As a writer, the question of how to craft the perfect serial character may seem on its surface to be no different than how to craft any great character: Just come up with a general background, give them great hair and a few charming quirks and... Voila, you've got yourself a bonafide hero - someone the world will love to come home to, time and again.

Not so fast.

Because there are things like character arc, consistency, story arc, believability, and the matter of maintaining interest over the long term, creating a great serial character is a whole different ballgame. Here, then, are five steps to creating a character who will stand the test of time.

(1) Know Your Character.

Before you publish that first book, I think it's always a good idea to know your main character(s) inside and out. What color is her hair? Eyes? What's her birthday? Birth sign? Does your hero believe in God? Why or why not? Maybe a lot of this will never come up in the first book - in fact, you may never explore some of it over the course of the series. But you need to know, one way or the other, so that you don't put your foot in it in book four by talking about how your hero has been an atheist since age five only to have it pointed out by fans that he was a devout Catholic in book one.

To help me in crafting my Erin Solomon mysteries, I keep a file readily accessible with all of my characters' vital stats and what I've actually mentioned in each novel, so that I can maintain consistency throughout the series. Nothing pulls a reader out of the story faster than realizing the author doesn't actually know her own characters.

(2) No One Lives in a Vacuum.

In other words, the events in your novels should have some impact on the characters.To me, there's nothing worse than a character who never learns from his mistakes, never draws from past experience, and doesn't seem in the least changed by the events in their past. Particularly if you're writing a mystery, thriller, or adventure series, those events are pretty significant. Stuff is blowing up, people are dying, treasures are lost, prisoners escape... This is bound to have some effect on your protagonist. We are the sum of our experiences - our characters are no different.

In Dennis Lehane's award-winning Patrick Kenzie/Angie Gennaro P.I. series, the last novel in the series - Moonlight Mile - deals specifically with the events in the fourth novel, Gone Baby Gone, and the fallout from that case twelve years later. Beyond that, it explores the impact such close contact with violence and a hardened criminal element has had on Patrick and Angie as they now strive to be loving parents in a world in which they've seen the absolute worst.

You don't have to go that deep, obviously, but if in book one your character loses his dad in a fire, and then five books later must pull someone from a burning building, don't miss the opportunity to draw on that experience. It will make your characters richer and that much easier for readers to invest in as the story progresses.

(3) Be aware of your character's journey.

I'm referring here to your character's arc - the way that he or she changes and grows (or fails to) from story to story. This may be within a single novel or the entire series. The nature of writing means that our characters are always surprising us - insisting on going left when we really, really wanted them to go right, which means that a character's arc may well shift from what you originally thought it would be when you first set out to write the series. But if your character is making the same journey and struggling with the same issues (and making no real progress) in every single novel, it's bound to get old. Likewise, it's to your benefit to move the journey at a believable pace, rather than leaping from Point A to Point X in a single story.

Let's say your main character is a buttoned-down executive assistant afraid of her own shadow in the first novel. Rather than having her evolve into a flaxen-haired vixen who can kill a man with her stiletto by the end of the first book, try to think in baby steps: She lets her hair down by the end of the first book. Fires a gun for the first time. By the fifth book, she can totally be a flaxen-haired vixen killing men with her stilettos, and your readers will love her (and you) because they've been along for the ride; they've seen that evolution.

(4) Use action to define your character.

In plot-driven work, it can be very tricky balancing a complex character with a dynamic storyline. Who wants to talk about how you feel about your mother when there's a bomb about to go off in the middle of Times Square? The best mainstream writers out there, for my money, understand how to do both at the same time - How someone deals with a bomb that's about to go off in the middle of Times Square says a lot about that person, after all.

Take for instance a scene in Nevada Barr's Deep South, the eighth book in Barr's bestselling Anna Pigeon series. Anna is a forest ranger forever stumbling onto nefarious plots in national parks around the U.S. In Deep South, she's in the middle of an investigation into the murder of a young girl when someone locks an alligator in her carport. The scene that follows is terrifying and action-packed, not so much because Anna is in danger, but because the alligator gets hold of her dog. The scene ends with, " 'You'll live,' she hissed to the gator. 'Unless my dog dies.' Even as she said it she knew she would wreak no vengeance on the alligator. It had merely been doing what alligators do, without conscience, without malice, without blame."

In that three-page scene, the reader learns more about who Anna is - her bravery and her fears, her blind devotion to those she loves, and even her feelings on wildlife in general - than any full chapter expounding on her virtues could ever tell. By integrating character with action, Barr makes the reader that much more invested in the outcome of the scene, and gives us just a little more insight into who Anna is as a person.

(5) Study the Masters.

In the case of character development over the long term, I honestly think that one of the best things a writer can do is... Watch TV. Really. When television is done well, it provides a rare opportunity to explore and develop characters in a way no other medium can. Even serialized novels are limited, by their very nature - there's only so much material we authors can come up with in a limited time frame, after all. TV, on the other hand, follows the same character for between six and twenty-two (depending on the network) episodes a season, for up to ten or more seasons. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Dexter, 24, Prime Suspect... These are all examples of shows where the plot never suffers for the complexity of its characters. The same goes for the great serial mystery novels, of course: Jeffery Deaver, James Lee Burke, J.D. Robb, John Sandford, Nevada Barr, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly...

Read a few books in a series (ideally from the beginning) and watch the way that these writers develop their characters over time.

To me, there is no greater pleasure than finding a series that has a well-thought-out plot, great writing, and characters with whom I can't wait to spend an evening - or, in some cases, a whole weekend.

I'd love to hear which characters you find yourself returning to again and again, and why. What keeps you coming back? Please leave a comment below.
Jen Blood is a freelance journalist, reviewer, and editor, and author of the critically-acclaimed Erin Solomon mysteries All the Blue-Eyed Angels and Sins of the Father. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing/Popular Fiction from the University of Southern Maine, and does seminars and one-on-one tutorials on writing, social media, and online marketing for authors. On October 15th, Jen will be releasing a collection of short stories on Amazon with four other authors of serial mysteries called Serial Sleuths, Volume I: Haunted. The stories feature each author's serialized characters in ghostly or paranormal mysteries, to celebrate the Halloween season. All five authors featured in the collection have agreed to donate 100% of their profits to the non-profit organization Doctors Without Borders. To learn more, visit http://erinsolomon.com/serial-sleuths. Top image: Boomerang by Bigstock Jen also runs the website http://bloodwrites.com, which features reviews, interviews, excerpts, and writing-related posts for readers and writers of the mystery,suspense, and thriller genres.

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5 Tips For Creating Characters Readers Can't Wait to Come Back To

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Creating unique characters is something every fiction author has to focus on because it can make the difference in writing a book that resonates with the audience, and that means sales.

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One of the hardest thing to do whilst writing a story is coming up with an ending.

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If there's anything writers struggle with even more than beginnings, it is endings. Imagine you've captured your reader's attention, kept her following you for the entire journey, and now all of your hard work comes down to one final scene that will make or break her reading experience. Yikes!

Here are some tips on approaching your story's ending.

What's in an Ending?

Good endings make sense, evoke emotion like contentment, anger, sadness, or curiosity, shift the reader's perspective, or open her mind to new ideas. They do not confuse or cast the whole story as a hoax. Good endings bring the hero, and more importantly, the reader to some kind of destination-even if it's a trap.

Good endings highlight for us how the protagonist has changed from the beginning of the book. If the protagonist is the same person as he or she was in the beginning, then the story is lacking a crucial dimension of character development.

Some Ending Types

The Straight-Up Ending. The journey is over, the hero has completed his quest. He has learned what he needed to learn, and is now moving on. This ending can be happy, sad, or something in between. This is also sometimes referred to as the "linear" ending. Many dramas, adventures, and romance stories end with a straight-up ending.

The Cliffhanger. Cliffhanger endings, as their name suggests, leave the hero dangling in the jaws of some unsolved danger. These are often seen on TV and movies and used often at the ends of a chapter, though the Goosebumps books, if anyone remembers, are good examples. Open endings, the ones where the hero's true fate is left to the reader's imagination, can also be argued to fall under this classification.

The Shocker. These endings leave the reader thinking, "Oh, Gods, no way!" They are created by introducing a final twist to the plot, one that transforms the reader's understanding of the events of the story so far. Horror, crime, and thrillers make use of these endings a lot, and if you're looking for great examples, look no further than the fiction of Roald Dahl.

The Philosopher. Occasionally, a story ends with an invitation to wonder and keep exploring its themes. The hero's journey concludes, but not quite: the reader is still left to wonder about the hero's fate, though not always in a cliffhanger or shocker sense. I call this type of ending the Philosopher.

The Terrible Ending. Avoid the Terrible Ending. Unless done exceptionally well, these include stories where (1) the protagonist was really crazy all along, or (2) it was really all a dream / hallucination.

Tips for Writing Your Story's Ending

Wrapping up loose ends. I've already said that endings wrap up a hero's journey, but don't forget to wrap up any other loose ends lying around. Endings are also the place to make sure that any plot holes left open and characters left unaccounted for are explained - it's not something you want to discover after publication.

Test readers matter. Where possible, always have a brutally honest beta-reader on your side. They can tell you if your ending brings the story to the right kind of conclusion, and there's nobody better than an honest reader to tell you if your ending is obvious or downright terrible.

Writing the ending first. You'll get to the end a lot quicker if you know where you're going. Write, or at least outline, a story's ending before you start working on the story. Bad endings are often bad endings because they were written on the spot as "filler," with the writer having no idea what they were building up to.

Writing several endings. Write several options for your story's end, each with the hero ending up in a different situation. Happy, sad, conclusive or not - eventually you'll find that the right one falls into place.

Researching different endings. Take a bunch of books and read only the first and last scenes. The worst thing that can happen is a couple o' spoilers, I promise! Research which endings work and which of them don't.

The last line matters. The last line holds a lot of the punch, and in a lot of cases it's what sticks. Take a look at some of these last lines and compare them to your own personal favorites...

Famous Last Lines

Take a look at these last lines. Did they work? Why?

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Making Ends Meet: How to Write a Good Ending to a Story - Re:Fiction

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If there's anything writers struggle with even more than beginnings, it is endings. Imagine you've captured your reader's attention, kept her following you for the entire journey, and now all of your hard work comes down to one final scene that will make or break her reading experience. Yikes!

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When choosing a genre, keep in mind what genre can be done easily for you.

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The choice of genre is a pretty straightforward process for some writers. They love writing one kind of thing, and that's what they focus on. For the rest of us, this can be a difficult decision to make.

Making a Choice is All About Marketing

By choosing to stay open to writing in any genre you are free to pursue any idea that grabs you. You could write a gothic horror novel, followed by a techno-thriller.

So why choose if, by choosing, you limit your options? It all comes down to marketability.

When a publisher buys your novel what they are really buying is you, the author. They want to know that they can build a platform, a brand, around you and your writing. They need to believe that there will be more books, similar to the first, on the way. That means sticking to one genre.

Imagine pitching a fantasy novel to a publisher. They ask if you have other novels either finished or in-progress. You tell them that you also have a romance, a western, and a collection of hard-boiled crime stories. Does this help you sell your fantasy novel? Not at all.

If all your other books, stories, and works-in-progress were in the fantasy genre, then you'd be that much closer to a sale. It might sound shallow, but it does make sense.

Other Benefits Genre Choice

Sticking to one genre has a few other advantages as well:

Constraints breed creativity. Sometimes having some rules to write by actually makes you more creative. When you can write about anything it can be difficult to know where to start.

You look more professional. It's important for publishers to see that you understand the need to build a platform and that you've started on your own. The more confidence they have in your willingness to market yourself, the better.

You become known as an expert. The more you write in one genre the more people see you as an authority in that area.

It's one less choice to make. As a writer building a career your life is filled with endless choices. Now you have one less!

How to Choose

The most obvious way to pick a genre is to write what you like to read. If you mostly read romance, then write romance. Most of us read in several genres, and that can make it tricky though. Do you choose the one that seems the most marketable? The one you think is the most fun? Flip a coin? This is ultimately a personal choice, but there are a few techniques that can help you choose:

Make a pros and cons list. The classic decision-making tool. Write down the good and bad reasons to write in each genre and see how it shakes out.

Go with your gut. After thinking about your options for a while, sit quietly for a while and listen to your intuition. Forget about marketing, or what your friends will think, what does your heart tell you to write?

Pick the most marketable genre. This is tricky since it's almost impossible to guess where the market is going. That said, you may be choosing between writing in a super-niche, micro-market, and something more mainstream. If you truly feel that they are equally-weighted in every other way, then maybe go with the one you think you can sell.

As you examine potential genres pay attention to the ones that attract you but scare you at the same time. If you're excited to write in a certain area but afraid that you won't be able to do it, then seriously consider choosing that genre. Often what you fear to do is what you need most to grow as an artist.​

When to Choose

Do you really need to choose right away? It probably won't hurt. If you are writing in several genres, you will have to pick one once a publisher agrees to publish one of your novels. And since your off-genre novels won't do much to help you sign a deal, you might as well choose as soon as you can.

Changing Your Mind

Once you're established you can start to work in a new genre if you like. Many successful authors write in multiple genres. They didn't start out that way, though.

They mastered one genre at a time, building a fan-base and a catalog before moving on to something new. Of course if you're prolific enough to be shopping multiple books in multiple genres you can always use a pseudonym to brand each genre separately. It's certainly not an easy way to start out though!

The Bottom Line

As critical a decision as this is, it's important not to let it paralyze you. The worst thing you can do is use your indecision about the genre as an excuse not to write. If you really need to write something off-genre, then go ahead. Just make the choice as soon as you can, and keep the words flowing in the meantime.

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Here Are Some Helpful Tips On How to Choose Novel Genres for a Book

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The choice of genre is a pretty straightforward process for some writers. They love writing one kind of thing, and that's what they focus on. For the rest of us, this can be a difficult decision to make. By choosing to stay open to writing in any genre you are free to pursue any idea that grabs you.

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These 9 steps can bring your dream book into reality.

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Writing a book is one of the most challenging and rewarding things you will ever do. We won't sugarcoat it: it takes serious determination, patience and hard work to finish a book. Talent? That's not nearly as important as you think. In fact, with courses like this, you can write a book in just 30 days.

Every writer develops her own way of writing a book. Some like to pump out hundreds of pages of rough drafts, others deliberate over each and every word put to paper. As you develop a taste for writing, you will soon discover a method that works for you. But for absolute beginners, this blog post should serve as a good starting point.

Step by Step Guide to Start Writing a Book

Step 1: Pick a Genre

Take a quick glance at your bookshelf. What do you see? Mills and Boons historical romances? Charles Bukowski's Dirty Realism? Paperbacks straight from the NYT Bestsellers list? Anne Rice vampire rip-offs? The complete Dune and Foundation series?

Picking a genre is the first step in writing a book. Don't base this choice on what genres sell best, but what you like to read. A hardcore sci-fi fan writing a 'new adult' novel is only going to produce a shoddy book - if she finishes it at all.

In other words, write for yourself, not the market. Stephen King puts it best:

"When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out."

Step 2: Start from the End

Endings are the hardest part of any story. Don't take our word for it; just ask any writer buddy of yours. Most beginners start out strong but find themselves flummoxed by the time the ending draws near. It doesn't help that the ending is also the thing that stays longest with readers.

So before you put a single word to paper, figure out how your story ends. Not how it begins - that can be redrawn and revised indefinitely - how it closes. Work your way backwards. How does the character(s) reach his/her ultimate fate? What are the catalysts that lead to the close? What was their origin? And so on. Your plots will sound much more plausible and you'll avoid the dreaded Deus Ex Machina that plagues so much fiction.

Want to write a book fast? Take this easy to follow course on writing and publishing books by Mindy Gibbins-Klein.

Step 3: Create Your Characters

Characters, not plots, are the soul of good writing. You don't recall the story from Henry V; you recall Falstaff. The plot of Catcher in the Rye is mostly superfluous. It's Holden Caulfield who holds your attention. Same with Sherlock Holmes, Atticus Finch, and Hercule Poirot. Characters stay with readers for generations, the stories are mostly forgotten.

This is why you must draw out your characters before you start writing the book. These tips should help:

Write a Character Biography: When was the character born? What is her name? Who were her parents? Was she rich, poor, or middle-class? Where did she go to school? What did she study in college? Answering questions like these will help draw a deep portrait of the character and make her more convincing.

Understand the Character's Motivations: What does your character want? What are her motivations for doing what she does?

Understand Character Arc: Character arc refers to the character's development through the story. The essential quality of every good character is change. For example, Harry Potter starts off naïve and ends up a steely eyed adult, while Frodo Baggins is a nobody from Shire who ends up as the savior of Middle Earth.

Understand the Struggle: "Character A wants B, but C stands in the way". How A manages to overcome C and get B is the heart of any story. For example: Rocky wants to be a champion, but crushing poverty and Apollo Creed stand in his way. How he overcomes this is the meat of Rocky, not the final fight itself.

Step 4: Make an Outline

Once you have your characters firmly in place, start creating an outline of the plot. This is meant to serve as a very rough guideline to hold the plot in place. You don't have to follow it word for word; feel free to improvise while you write.

Chiefly, the outline should:

Give a brief overview of what happens in each chapter.

Delineate the primary struggle in the novel.

Show how different events and characters interact and affect each other (A murders B, C takes the fall, etc.)

Allow plenty of room for improvisation

Step 5: Write the First Draft

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed"

-Ernest Hemingway

The first draft is where you discover the story by yourself.

As you write, you'll find characters and plots growing in directions you'd never thought possible. The outlines you wrote earlier will often be discarded as you experiment with characters, plots, styles and forms. This is a place for you to break the mold and push yourself creatively. Don't bother being perfect; the faster you can jot down ideas on paper, the better. Eventually, this rough collection of thoughts, ideas, and plotlines will come together into a comprehensible book - after due editing and countless revisions of course. For now, focus on writing - anything.

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Step 6: Get Yourself a Drink

Now that you're done with the first draft, head over to the nearest watering hole and grab yourself a drink. You've earned it.

Step 7: Rewrite

This is the part where most writers fail. Slinging out a rough draft is easy enough; turning that incomprehensible mess into something readers would want to read takes time, patience and practice.

Ideally, you should give yourself a few months between first draft and first rewrite. This gives you the creative distance necessary to analyze the writing dispassionately.

Ask sharp, pertinent questions - does the plot make sense? Are the characters convincible? Is the pace too slow? Too fast? Is the writing crisp and creative enough? Is the story fun to read?

The first rewrite should take you considerably longer than the first draft. Don't worry about getting every word right - you'll take care of that during editing. For now, focus on pulling the rough ideas in the draft into a narrative that actually makes sense.

Step 8: Edit

"Write Drunk; Edit Sober"

- Ernest Hemingway

Done with the first rewrite? Don't start partying yet. There is still lots of work to be done.

Editing is the opposite of creative writing. Instead of spinning beautiful metaphors and creating lush imagery, you have to actually delete linguistic flourishes. The amazing adverb you found after an hour's search in the thesaurus? Gone. Those long-winded, poetic asides? Deleted.

This is where, as Stephen King puts it, you must " kill your darlings ".

To make this murder slightly easier, follow these tips:

Minimize Adverb Use: Adverbs are the lazy man's writing crutches. They reduce into a single word what should generally be conveyed by context. "He walked quickly to the door as Lily pulled into the garage" is not bad writing, it's lazy writing. Try being more descriptive - "He rushed to the door as soon as he heard Lily's car pull into the garage".

Use Plenty of Synonyms: This quote from Dead Poet's Society says it all:
"So avoid using the word 'very' because it's lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don't use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won't do in your essays."

Tighten Up: A book is no place for lazy writing. Take out words and passages that aren't absolutely crucial to the story. Your book should be half its original length after a solid round of editing.

Get Outside Help: Most writers don't have the critical distance to edit their own books properly. Consider getting outside help - a professional editor or a friend - to look over your manuscript.

Step 9: Party!

Congratulations - you've now written your very first book. This is the time to hit the clubs and party hard. Then wake up next morning and start working on your second book!

Ready to publish? Try this step by step guide to writing and publishing your book.

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How to Start Writing a Book: 9 Steps to Becoming an Author

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Writing a book is one of the most challenging and rewarding things you will ever do. We won't sugarcoat it: it takes serious determination, patience and hard work to finish a book. Talent? That's not nearly as important as you think. In fact, with courses like this, you can write a book in just 30 days.

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1. How can knowing the steps of writing a book assist a writer?
2. How can doing these steps improve a writer's book?
3. Why is it important to follow all or most of these steps?

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In this document I have written the first chapter of my story.

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In this document I have started an outline for my story, including many events that will happen in my story.

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In this document, I have made a list of characters that will appear in my story. Each character has an outline, characteristic list, and appearance info.

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For my story, The Last Ten, I have decided that this story´s genre is going to be Sci Fi.

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In this website I have included the nine steps to write a story and have included some personal examples of each step.