How to Write a Book Step By Step. Everything You Need To Know

Probably the hardest thing to come up with? Or maybe plan an interesting action? To decide on a genre? Build the world? Create heroes your readers will love? This article is about writing a book step by step.

Perhaps you feel confused about information overload. You have no idea where to start, or on the contrary – do you know exactly what information you are looking for? If you’ve ever wondered how to write a book, you’ve come to the right place. This is the guide I was looking for but never found. Here you will find all the information about writing books that I have collected over the years, and tested while creating several novels and dozens of short stories. It is a guide that is still being developed.

What? Let’s write this book – together!

How to write a book? General tips

The most important point that I cannot ignore at the outset is that you are overwhelmed with a lot of work while writing the book. And yes, that’s normal. Because writing is just difficult. It is complex. It requires a huge amount of time and commitment.

And that is why it is really worth doing everything to make this writing process as easy and pleasant as possible. Each of us will eventually find some kind of “shortcuts” or tips that will completely change the way we look at a given part of the process. I hope that the collection of articles on how to write a book step by step will make it easier for you to work on your own novel, but above all it will also make it at least a bit more enjoyable. 

However, even the best tips from great writers will not work if they are not in line with you, your work style, and your approach to creating. They can even make your writing harder, in other words, they can make your writing process more difficult than it could be. This does not mean that we should close ourselves to everything that is not natural for us or that causes us discomfort. I have just the opposite experiences – usually these are the most valuable lessons that completely change our way of thinking and approach so far. Therefore, I encourage you:

Trust yourself / yourself! 

If something doesn’t work, including how you write the book, try different versions. If the thing still doesn’t work, give it up in favor of trying something new

You can write hundreds of hours about how to write a book step by step, but the most important tip I can give you at the very beginning of this path is testing and choosing what suits you.

This collection of articles is not a set of universal truths and principles (because there are simply no universal truths and principles that can answer the question of how to write a book without a margin of error). However, I hope you will find in it a remedy for doubt, a temporary lack of motivation, over-whelming, or inspiration to overcome it. It will also show you a general direction that is worth taking.

The last thing – you found this article under the title: “How to write a book step by step” for a reason. I believe that focusing on small steps, i.e. small parts, is the best and fastest way to write a book. Thanks to this approach, working on your own novel, but also a guide or a collection of short stories, will be less overwhelming and will seem a bit simpler.

Important information

Technically speaking, this text serves as a collection of articles related to how to write a book step by step. On the one hand, a single article would not be able to fit as large a volume of text as I can include in many smaller articles. On the other hand, navigating such a list is much simpler – just find a topic you are interested in and click on it, and you will go to a page with a specific article on a topic that relates to how to write a book or you can also get the help of educational publishers who can help to get this done very effectively and short span of time.

The list of articles is constantly expanding. If a topic is not underlined, unfortunately I haven’t been able to write such an article yet (I have been running this blog since September 2018).

What can you do? First of all, I am very pleased that you got here so early. If you need information on a topic that has not been included in this blog yet (and it concerns the broad topic of how to write a book), please let me know in the comment below this article – I will do my best to write about it as soon as possible. The second option is to get inspired by this list and search on your own (here you will soon find a list of YouTube’s, bloggers and authors that I personally inspire or consider worth recommending). You can also hire Nexus Ghostwriting for your book writing project.

Let’s start from the beginning

1. About what writing a novel looks like.
2. How to write a book in Word. All about text formatting.
3. What do you need to write a book?
4. What you absolutely don’t need to write a book.
5. A novel in a month – is it possible?

From idea to plan

1. 55 book ideas that will inspire you to write your own.
2. How to create a really good plot idea for a book.
3. From idea to first sentence.
4. Pros and Cons of Novel Planning.
5. Everything about creating a plot.
6. How to quickly create a book plot
7. Who will tell my story? Narration in the novel.
8. Meet your heroes.
9. About creating the world of the novel.
10. With magic in the background – the world of novels in fantasy.
11. Pisarski research, or where I can find what I’m looking for.
12. How to write good scenes?
13. About how to divide a novel into chapters and parts.

About writing a book in practice

1. What is the first draft of the novel?
2. 25 tips for aspiring writers.
3. Linguistic correctness in the first draft does not count.
4. Immersive atmosphere and thrilling pace of the novel.
5. About bad writing, or what to avoid.
6. How to improve your writing style.
7. It’s all about writing good dialogues.
8. How to write to attract the reader.

Support along the way

1. About what’s keeping you from writing?
2. How to write more in no time. Pomodoro technique and sprints.
3. Why the lack of creativity is your fault.
4. What to do when you have ideas but can’t write anything
5. How to write when I don’t feel like writing? About the motivation for writers.
6. My book is garbage can. About clerical doubts.

A small dose of motivation

1. Subjective Collection: Ten Best Quotes About Writers.
2. 18 helpful quotes about writing books

Books on writing

1. Best Book for Blocked Writer – Review of “Dear Artist” by Julia Cameron.

I have a novel – what next?

1. Editing the first sketch – large stones.
2. Proofreading a novel – do it yourself.
3. How to come up with a title for a book?
4. Alone or through a publishing house? Or how to publish a book

How to write a book – FAQ:

1. How long will it take me to write a book?

Some people will take a lifetime to write a book. Others, with the accumulated experience, will be able to publish several books a year. There is also no simple answer to the question of how to write a book quickly (although I am planning an article with strategies that will allow you to write faster in a short time).

Do you have writing experience? This is your first book or your next? How many pages do you envision to include what you want in it? Do you have a novel plan ready?

As you can guess on this point, there are a lot of factors. Below you will find the simplest (but not very accurate method) for determining when you will write a book. This is a translation of the method described by Sara Cannon, and she is responsible for all the rights associated with her and a great deal of gratitude (it totally changed the way I think about writing!).

• The first step will be to determine how many words you can write in an hour. The easiest way is to set the alarm clock several times during the typing session and “extract” the average number of words written in one hour. You surely know that this number will vary depending on the day – level of your fatigue, emotional involvement with the text, level of its difficulty.

– Personally, I prefer to lower this number so as not to be disappointed at the end of the year (based on these calculations, I set my writing goals for each year).

– You can easily check the number of words in Word by selecting a specific amount of text (the result will appear in the lower left corner of the screen). Or in “Google Docs” available to everyone for free – by selecting “Tools” and then “Number of words” in the bar or by using the Ctrl + Shift + c shortcut.

• The second step is to determine how much time each day you can spend on writing.
• The third step is to calculate how many days in a year you are able to write. Consider any public holidays, rest days, a certain range of days that you are likely to be sick, and those that you just don’t feel like writing.

Yes, this step takes some time, but is crucial to finding out how to write a book quickly. The answer will usually be – write a lot every day. However, it is not feasible for everyone (it is not for me).

For example, I have rejected all holidays, important anniversaries and birthdays, and also … all Mondays. I figured out the number of days I’m likely to be sick, as well as 4 days a month apart from any other days off I probably won’t be writing due to fatigue or simply not being motivated.

• Have you counted all the days you won’t write? The next step is to subtract them from 365 days a year.
• The fifth step is to multiply the number of words you are able to write in an hour by the amount of time in the day you plan to write.
• The sixth, final step is to multiply the result from step five by the number of days you plan to write.

Do you have your calculations? Take a look at the answer to the next question and you will know how many weeks / months / years it may take you to write the first version (so-called first draft) of your book

2. How many pages should my book have?

By drawing very loose boundaries, it is about 70,000-100,000 words. I will write more on this topic in the future.

3. How long will it take me to plan my book?

The truest answer is – as much as you will want to spend on it. I will write more about this in the article “Pros and Cons of Novel Planning”.

4. Do I have to write according to the draft of the novel, one by one?

After all, this article is titled “How to write a book step by step” But the answer is – no, it’s up to you.

Personally, I’ve found that I have a tendency to choose the scenes that excite me the most and avoid the ones that are more difficult to write. This is why, with some exceptions, I try to write my novels in order from the first chapter to the last. My novels written this way have a better pace and I enjoy writing them more

5. Can I write a book about?

Yes you can. If you are a novice writer, what you will write about and how you write your book is entirely up to you. Later in your career, the publisher may also have an influence on the subject of your books (if you agree to this).

A separate matter is whether you will find readers who will want to read your book.

6. I want to write a book, but I can’t write.

Personally, I strongly believe that writing can be learned in exactly the same way as skills in any other field. Three things will surely make a huge part in improving the way you write:

• Reading well-written books,
• Developing your knowledge of language, style and plot building (for novels and stories)
• Practice.

Be sure to let me know about it! I will do my best to replenish it as soon as possible.