Brian Scott asked:


Before you begin writing your book, you must research your idea and see if it is in-demand with readers. Who is going to read it? To whom are you trying to appeal with your words? You must have a general idea of who your intended audience will be. Check out other books. Is there a book already published that resembles your book? What will make your book unique from theirs? If there are similar books already out there, what is going to make your book different and make people want to buy it?

When you are ready to begin your book, decide on a schedule that is best for you, one that you can stick to. Your schedule should begin before your research and carry through to the completion of the book. Make a detailed outline with the main plot, events leading to that plot, and explicit detail about the characters. An outline is also a good reference point to double-check your timelines and details.

ONE IDEA IS NOT ENOUGH

Part of the reworking process is changing direction within the writing. Many beginning writers aspire to write a book. They have an idea and a vague plan to turn the idea into book. Picture a first grader telling you she wants to write a book about horses. Although you can collect a lot of information about horses to write several books, the vague idea is not enough for an adult writer to create a marketable book. To write a book, you need to start with a topic. You may or may not be an expert on the subject. After you have the first vague ideas, you need to start asking yourself questions to focus in on a specific, marketable topic. Answering those questions will lead you to more questions, and so on. Even if your original idea is unique and leads you to write new information that the world does not yet have access to, you will need to add to that original idea to create an intriguing finished product. If you are not an expert, or you have not created any new information, it will take more time and effort to produce a unique piece of writing. Fiction is the same as non-fiction. Many stories have been told before. If you want to become a published author, you need to come up with an engaging and new journey for your readers to take.

RECYCLING OLD IDEAS

There is always room in your book for old ideas. Your readers will need a familiar starting place within your writing. As you are putting together your ideas for a complete book, you will probably publish smaller pieces of work in magazines and newspapers. It is okay, as long as you cite yourself, to reuse some of that work. In that way, you can publish as you go along while still making progress towards your end goal in book publishing. After several months or even years, you will have poured out your effort and knowledge into a completed book.

You may want to turn off your editing software for your first draft. Mesh the plot, the characters, and everything together, without using your spellchecker. You can fix your grammar, spelling, and punctuation later. Most authors don’t write their books from front to back. By writing different chapters or events, it may be easier for you to come back and connect them later. Sometimes having the words on paper makes it easier to fill in the blanks.

FIRST DRAFT

You have finished your first draft. Now is the time to read it. Reading the rough draft allows you to zero in on the timeline, link the plot with the characters, and ensure everything makes sense and flows together. Once you have accomplished these tasks, use your editing software. It is time to fix your grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Two widely used grammar programs for authors include WhiteSmoke Software (www.WhiteSmokeSoftware.com), and a book formatting software called WizardsForWord (www.WizardsForWord.com).

Now put you book aside. Let it sit for 7-10 days or so before you pick it up again. This will give your mind time to clear. Now read the book again. Does it still flow and make sense? Do you need to add something or change it? Now is the time.

Choose someone to proofread your book for you. If possible, hire a professional editor to do this or someone with a writing or English background. Besides editing your manuscript, a professional copyeditor can also offer you unbiased opinion and advice.

Lastly, create the final draft. The final draft should be error free. This is your last chance to change anything before it goes to the publisher. Now is when all that time you spent writing a book comes together to make its trip to publication.

Unlike other areas of expertise, book writing is a different process for everyone. As you set out to write a book, you can follow some basic guidelines, but getting your ideas from your head to the page is an invention of your own. Not only will you have to get the information onto the page, but also you will have to write in a way that thousands or even millions of readers can relate to and understand.



BRENT

Derek Murphy asked:


There are some things you can’t learn quickly. Spelling, grammar, word choice and sentence construction take years of practice before you feel comfortable expressing your ideas. However, there are a few simple things you can do to improve your writing today. In this tutorial we’ll give you the tips to write a successful essay, even if English is not your native language.

The main focus of this tutorial will be organization. If the word “organization” makes you uncomfortable, you’re not alone. Everybody hates the idea of structuring our sentences into some cookie-cutter format. When I was a kid I refused to cooperate with my teachers as they tried to teach us any kind of method for writing. I was creative, had a flare with words, and got straight A’s anyway. Why should I have to do the 5-part process which included brainstorming, pre-writing, a first rough draft, a second rough draft and finally a finished paper?

Now that I’m older and wiser (and spend a great deal of my time writing and editing academic essays) I’ve learned that organization is a necessary tool to make writing easy, quick and great. Unless you’re trying to write the next post-modern novel, any kind of writing can benefit from proper organization.

Step One - Organizing Your Essay

Never, ever start writing an essay without knowing what you want to say. An outline is a simple way to organize your ideas into manageable content. It will not only let you write your essay much faster, but also much better.

Many people will want to skip past this step to learn “more important things”. You probably know all about outlines and don’t think they can help you - you want to learn to write better. Take my word for it, making outlines a writing habit will make a huge difference in your writing.

Why? Because it will also help follow these rules:

An essay should have only one subject

Each paragraph should have one topic which supports the subject

Each topic should give at least three specific examples as evidence

Each sentence should be organized and linked with transitions

Most people start by writing the essay, and then go back and try to organize it later. I tried this process when I wrote my first book, and 5 years later it’s still not as organized or clear as I want it to be. The problem is, after you have a bunch of great sentences, it is really difficult to move them around or have the ideas link together logically. You’ll spend a lot of time moving things around, which can actually make the paper more complicated and difficult to read.

Even if your writing is excellent, bad organization can kill a paper. And its such an easy thing to do! So, at the risk of repeating myself: always make a detailed outline before you start writing.

Step Two - The Content:

Now that you’re ready to start with an outline, you’ve got to figure out what to put inside. In other words, what kind of content should be in your paper. Here is a basic plan for a typical five-paragraph essay:

INTRODUCTION: The introduction is your chance to make a good first impression on your reader - you have to capture their interest. Also - you need to say exactly what you’re essay will be about.

Background information. Get the reader’s attention using one or more of the following:

Anecdotes

Quotations

Questions

Facts and Statistics

Thesis Statement. Your thesis statement should have two aims - to provide the topic and the approach of your essay. The topic is what you will talk about, the subject, and the approach is what is interesting about the topic, or the focus.

For example, the thesis statement “I will talk about the rain forest” is too broad. What about the rain forest? If you think the US consumption of beef is a major factor in rain forest depletion, then say so in your thesis statement. It should be clear: “The US consumption of beef is a major factor in rain forest depletion.” If this is your thesis, you can catch the reader’s attention immediately with some fancy data, like “89% of the world’s oxygen supply comes from South American rain forests - forests which are being cut down at an alarming rate.”

BODY: The body is where you can provide evidence to support your thesis. A typical essay will have about 3 paragraphs in the body. Each paragraph will begin with a Topic Sentence which states the main supporting point of the paragraph. The rest of the paragraph will be filled with supporting details, examples and facts.

CONCLUSION:The conclusion makes final comments by doing one or more of the following:

Restating Main Points

Asking a Question

Suggesting a Solution

Making a Recommendation

Making a Prediction Step Three - The Writing:

Once you have your outline, you can start filling in blocks of text with sentences. As long as your paper has one clear focus and you write topic sentences for each paragraph, your essay will be pretty clear.

Try to write in a smooth, conversational voice as if you were talking to someone on the phone. Use transitional words to introduce ideas (also, another reason, besides, finally, first of all, furthermore, in addition, moreover, most importantly, one reason, the third reason) and to give examples (especially, for example, for instance, specifically, such as).

Generally, you want to avoid complicated or flowery language for an academic paper. Focus on clear, smooth writing. Let the facts and data speak for themselves. However brave students and writers can use stylistic techniques to write a stronger paper. It is risky when you’re just learning, but great writers - even academic writers, make their writing stand out with by adding style.

HOW TO WRITE BEAUTIFULLY: Style is the hardest thing to learn, and to teach. Read magazines like National Geographic to get a feel for stylistic writing. They use run-on sentences, began sentences with ‘And’, and drop little-used-gems like “Moniker”. They can get away with it because they are aiming for an intelligent consumer base who enjoys beautiful and intelligent writing.

In general, you can improve your writing style with these tips:

Use a lot of adjectives and adverbs

Describe each thought as fully as possible

Link ideas together in longer sentences

Try to create mental images by using metaphors and similes

Choose your words carefully - pick words that carry emotion

Instead of saying, “the man rode a horse to school”, you can say, “The strong man rode his horse roughly towards the school,” or “The elegant man and his horse moved as one, racing across the plains like a gust of wind towards the school.”

Step Four - Editing:

Read your paper again. Sentences that have more than one main idea need to be broken up. Sentences that do not support a paragraph’s topic sentence, or do not directly support the Thesis Statement, should be removed. Flowery language, big words, and artistic writing should usually be cut out. You want your writing clean, simple and easy to read. (At least for an essay - you are writing to inform or persuade, not to entertain.)

Take another look at your title - make it sharp and engaging.

Now that you’ve finished your essay, check your Thesis Statement again and make sure it covers exactly what your essay is talking about. Sometimes your essay will evolve, and cover a more interesting, but slightly different topic. That’s fine, but change your Thesis Statement to agree with it.

Step Five - Proofreading:

The last step to writing an essay is proofreading. Check your essay for punctuation, capitalization, and indentation. Make sure the format is consistent, the line spacing and page numbers are right, and the references are formatted correctly. Check your “Its” and It’s”, and your “There” and “Theirs”. Little things are the hardest things to catch, especially editing your own paper. If you need any help editing or proofreading your essay, check out www.mypaperperfect.com



CESAR

Kathleen A. Ernst asked:


For over a decade, while I was developing my writing skills, I had the great good fortune to work at a large outdoor ethnic museum near Milwaukee called Old World Wisconsin. This historic site includes a crossroads village and ten working farmsteads, with restoration dates ranging from 1845 through 1915. Old World Wisconsin is a place where Interpreters get their hands dirty, so my knowledge of historical domestic and agricultural processes grew exponentially. I learned how to warp a loom, how to milk cows, how to make rennet and lye soap. I prepared wine, sauerbraten, hops yeast, and Finnish egg coffee. And I’ve passed many of these skills, of course, on to my characters.

But hands-on experience brings much more to a writer’s toolbox than technical understanding. Living history sites and events can provide the specific sensory details that bring a scene to life. I know what hog intestines smell like when they’re being prepared for sausage casing, how flax fibers feel between my fingers as they twine into linen thread, what threshing machines sound like when they rattle to life in the middle of a newly-shorn wheat field. And because I have a novelist’s vivid imagination, my experiences at the site provided compelling insight into the lives of people long gone. Standing on a brick kitchen floor until my knees ached, having to fetch draft horses that broke through fences on a daily basis, wanting to weep when cabbage moths or drought destroyed crops I had carefully nurtured, cutting oats with a sickle so slick with sweat it was hard to grasp-this kind of experience provided new perspectives of the women who peopled both the restored homes I worked in and the pages of my novels.

The good news is that, to varying degrees, anyone can gain some hands-on perspectives about the people they are writing about. If possible, visit a working historic site. Obviously this is easier for those writing about, say, the nineteenth-century farm experience than those writing about Biblical days. But even sites only tangentially related to your time and place might provide some useful sensory experiences. Ask the interpreters (guides) questions. Visit during different seasons. Hang around, take photographs, jot sensory details and impressions in a notebook.

Look, too, for reenactors interested in your period. Ask reenactors questions that go beyond process and facts, and get to the experiences of the people they portray. Ask if you can hold their musket, or try your hand at tamping cabbage into sauerkraut, or whatever else is going on. Volunteer to help out at the next event. Get involved.

Finally, be creative about finding ways to experience bits of life. Sew (or order) a wool frockcoat, or a corset and period-appropriate dress. Learn how to tat lace or carve shingles with a drawknife. Grow heirloom vegetables. Ask a farmer to show you how to pluck chickens. Make a fire pit in the back yard, and try baking bannocks or cooking stew or frying flatbread.

Get your hands dirty. You, and your readers, will be glad you did.



BOBBIE