So you recently had an idea to write a book, perhaps a crime fiction, or a romantic drama, or maybe a book addressing a social cause. But you have a lot of questions storming into your mind. You're nervous, you're worried, you're shy. You're anxious if anyone would want to read it. What if people don't like it? what if people show no interest? What if your book attracts negative reviews?

Questions like these will surely break your will to write. But here's where it all begins. Face your demons. The hardest part is to begin. Thinking of an opening scene or paragraph is the most crucial part. This will be where your readers will begin to decide whether to read on or keep it aside. Face it. It's a challenge. Writing a book itself is a matter of stepping out of a number of comfort zones. Publishing and promoting only add to the laundry list.

But there's something more important. That is, to know what you are going to write. Know how the story will begin and how it will end. Create a framework for the story. List each chapter and what part of the plot will go into it. This will help you keep track of how the book should progress. We'd all be blobs of flesh if we didn't have a skeleton, right? That's how the framework is going to support your story. Set this one up first and you won't have to worry about how to go about with the story.

Now use this framework and construct each chapter. Describe everything that's relevant to the story. Places, people, attires, traditions, objects, paint a picture for everything. Put your heart into the little details. This will make sure your readers imagine exactly what you want them to imagine. Once you are completely immersed in your writing, you will begin to have more ideas. You will begin to experience what your characters should be experiencing in a particular scene. And then you will imagine all the things you would do if you were that character. Let your mind wander, and write down those thoughts in a concise and comprehensive manner.

Make conversations more human. It's okay if your characters stutter and stammer and fiddle with objects in the middle of a conversation. That's how most humans talk. From my perspective, a reader begins to form a connection with a book when he begins to relate to the characters. You cannot always have all characters speak fluent British English without using a slang or two here and there.

Plot twists and shocking revelations add spice to a story. You may not know where you might be able to add one of those when you begin writing. Don't worry. It'll come to you as you write. The curious little child inside you will poke and probe you to explore other options. Give in to that. In the end, you have to give the world something new, something unique, something special, something never seen before.

Now here's another really important part - proofreading. Find another bibliophile friend who would proof read for you. As the author of the book, you will have the story and the flow on the tip of your tongue. Your brain will skim through your content and overlook errors, a lot of embarrassing ones. You will be immune to your own errors. Have a friend point them out for you. Be open to criticism. Remember, criticism is your best friend, not your enemy. Understand another person's perspective on your work and see if it is feasible for you to incorporate those suggestions. Let it not turn into an argument over who owns the story and who's supposed to decide what goes into it.

Finally, once you have completed your book and done ample of proofreading, don't just leave it on your shelf or your hard drive. It deserves to see the light of the day. Find a publisher. Most publishers will charge you up front for signing the deal, which will include promotions and interviews and book fairs, apart from cover design, professional proof reading and ISBN's. This will also be time consuming as the publisher will take his own time to read and decide if he wants to publish your book in the first place. If you think you cannot afford that, you can always be your own publisher. Amazon provides the Kindle Direct Publishing platform for self publishing your books. In a matter of hours your book will hit online marketplaces. Then all you have to do is use social media to promote your book. I'm sure your good friends would love to spread the word for you.

Remember, if you want to, you can do it! Just put your heart and soul into it. It's not easy, it's time consuming, but the satisfaction of getting your own book published is absolutely unparalleled. So pick up your pen, typewriter, laptop, whatever you prefer, and start writing.


Having said all of that, my first Self-Published Crime-Fantasy Wrathful Wings is out now on Amazon as a Kindle eBook as well as Paperback. Do check it out and leave your reviews. Happy reading!
Love, N.V. Bruno.