In the spirit of Christmas, I thought what better gift could I give an aspiring writer or ‘would-be’ author than some free writing advice from a professional writer and author? I know getting professional help in the world of writing and publishing can be very expensive, and not everyone who has the desire to write has the money to pay for mentorship or publishing industry expertise.
So, I hope these little nuggets over the next TWO WEEKS land in just the right spot for some of you. Today’s first free tip is for those of you wishing to write a book in 2025.
Many people think writing a book is all about “the writing”. They imagine sitting down at their desk and just letting the words flow. Yes, there is a time and a place for that style of writing (Write from Source is all about that) but I guarantee you will hit the inevitable 30-page brick wall commonly referred to as writer’s block. I also guarantee your writing will have touched on many wonderful topics – but that didn’t go anywhere in the end. The literal version of herding cats.
The planning of a book is VITAL or else you will waste your time. That’s the truth. Even if you get so far and you hand it over to a ghostwriter or editor, the chances are you will need to start again. OK, the writing itself will not be wasted – but you will find it needs to be unpicked and re-arranged to the point you may lose the will to continue. And that would be such a loss because the world needs your story.
The first thing you need to ask yourself is, ‘Why am I writing this book in the first place?’ You need to understand your book from the reader’s perspective. What will they get out of it? What action do you want your readers to take once they have read your book? Or what would you like them to learn from your experience? There has to be a reason – a purpose. Write this down and keep mulling it over. You may find more reasons come to mind that may change the tone or the nature of the content slightly.
Once you have a few firm ideas around Purpose/Meaning and Messaging, you will need to build your scaffolding. By this I mean – PLAN your Chapter Outline … write it out so you can see the flow of your story. Does it follow your Narrative Arc? Do the subjects link together to lead the reader through the story you are telling? Can you see a beginning, middle and end through your Chapter Outline? If you find this stage hard – then you are going to find it even more challenging to write a whole book without this map.
Once you have evaluated your draft chapter outline and decided you are happy (the titles don’t need to be the final titles – just indications of content) … you move on and plan each scene within each chapter. That’s right – you plan your scenes ahead of writing them. Note them as bullet points under the chapter outline …Yes, this may well be a lengthy process – but while you are doing this – ideas will come!
If you PLAN your scenes ahead of writing, you can see where you may have some challenges or gaps within your Chapter Outline and your overall story …And remember these scenes must have a beginning, middle, and ending. If your character walks in the room at the beginning of the scene … you must remember they are in the room as you continue writing – and that perhaps they will leave the room at the end of the scene.
This is “scaffolding”. This stage helps guide you through the writing process and without it you will only get so far. Of course, there is a bit more to the overall process, but if you want to write a book in 2025 I hope you take this free advice onboard. I know it seems ‘boring’ because you just want to get on with the writing – but this will be the biggest gift you can give yourself in the writing process. You will see that the scaffolding phase leaves space for creativity when it comes to the writing stage of your book. With scaffolding in place, you will never wonder what you’re going to write next.
The parting gift in all of this is around managing expectations. If you can get your head around the fact writing a book involves so much more than the simple act of writing, you are more likely to succeed as a writer. After all, that’s why we always say “The writing is the easy part”.