Hello Booknet users, 

Are you thinking about writing your own novel or short story but you don't know where to start?

Worry not. In this post, I'll be giving you a couple of pointers on what to consider to make that happen. 

1. Decide what genre you want to write. Is it a love story? A fantasy adventure? Space horror? Google the characteristics of your preferred genre. 

2. What age category your story is aimed at - children's books,  middle grade, young adult, new adult, adult?

3. Create main and secondary characters. Beyond a distinctive voice and different personalities, give them traits, quirks, flaws, goals, motives, wants, and needs. Also, give them names that fit the genre of the story. 

4. Think about world-building - create a cultural background, not just a setting.

5. Think about who is going to tell the story - the point of view - usually the main characters get the spotlight.

6. Choose either the present or past tense and first person or third person narration, sticking to your choice throughout the entire novel.

7. Vary your sentences and paragraphs for a fast-paced read. Use active voice instead of passive voice. 

8. Use punctuation marks, like a full stop, commas, quotation marks, or question marks.

9. Don't be afraid of "said" dialogue tag.

10. Show the characters' emotions through action and speech. Don't just tell the reader "she was angry". Show how she yanked the cloth off the table and stormed out the room, shouting "You're all a bunch of idiots."

11. Avoid information dumps. Instead of writing pages of the research you did on a certain topic, sprinkle a bit of description between dialogues and space it out throughout your story. 

12. Don't waste your time overthinking the process. Enjoy the discovery. The first draft is only you telling the story to yourself. And it will take time.

13. Accept your mistakes and learn from them.

14. Revisions and rewrites make any story better.

15. Believe in yourself and you'll prevail.

16. Do it all over again, try different methods, like outlining, plotting, or write at the seat of your pants (pantsing). You'll achieve your dreams only by doing something. So why not give it a try? 

Remember, Repetitio est mater studiorum. The more you write, the better you will become. 

Have faith & Good luck. 

Do you wish to know more? Check out some of my writing relates works.

These are put together for self-study purposes. I hope you'll find them useful. 

Glossary of Writing Terms

Story Discovery

Simple Grammar and Punctuation

Commonly Confused Words

Thank you for reading. Take care.