by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: April 18, 2010   Last Updated: April 25, 2010

Inside every human being, there is a book waiting to be written. It's not that easy to take on a project this large, though it is very satisfying indeed to achieve that finished book, and to know that your ideas, thoughts and characters were captured within the covers of that book. Writing a book takes planning, as not only will you need the time to achieve it, but you will also need a multitude of ideas to use within the pages of that book.

Planning.

When planning writing a book, this should include setting aside sufficient time to devote to the written work. Often people plan to write books but actually have very little discipline.

If you look at the writers who are unfulfilled in movies and popular media, and who are always “writing that book” but never actually achieve it, it is because they don't plan correctly, and run out of ideas and inspiration. The first step is to have time set aside, and the discipline and will to use it.

Getting an idea.

You must know the genre of the book, the age range and type of person you are aiming at as potential readers. This is vital because this dictates the style of the book to be written. You also need a firm plan of what kind of story you wish to write. This is the skeleton of the book. Decide how long a book should be, and how many chapters. Then we shall begin together to flesh out that idea and make it into an actual possibility of becoming a real book.

Setting.

When is your story set? What time period? What kind of people will appear within the book. Knowing the time period helps you to flesh out the characters and scenery which are the important elements of the books' continuity. Which country is it set in? What do you know about that country at that time? Research. Find out all you can about what normal life would be like within that time scale.

Characters.

Get to know your characters intimately. This is vital. Think out the story and how each character fits into it. You should know what they look like, what kind of person they are, and have as much idea as possible about each one of them.

Try not to overcrowd the story with too many characters since this may confuse the reader, and mean that you neglect the description of characters within the book. It is far better to have a few well drawn out characters than too many ill described ones, which do not seem real to the readers.

Think of how they dress, how they behave, what their morals are, and how they would react in given circumstances.

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