How to Write a Book From Start to Finish

How to Write a Book From Start to Finish: A Proven Guide

So you want to write a book. Becoming an author can change your life—not to mention give you the ability to impact thousands, even millions, of people.

But writing a book isn’t easy. As a 21-time New York Times bestselling author, I can tell you: It’s far easier to quit than to finish.

You’re going to be tempted to give up writing your book when you run out of ideas, when your own message bores you, when you get distracted, or when you become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the task.

But what if you knew exactly:

  • Where to start…
  • What each step entails…
  • How to overcome fear, procrastination, a nd writer’s block …
  • And how to keep from feeling overwhelmed?

You can write a book—and more quickly than you might think, because these days you have access to more writing tools than ever. 

The key is to follow a proven, straightforward, step-by-step plan .

My goal here is to offer you that book-writing plan.

I’ve used the techniques I outline below to write more than 200 books (including the Left Behind series) over the past 50 years. Yes, I realize writing over four books per year on average is more than you may have thought humanly possible. 

But trust me—with a reliable blueprint, you can get unstuck and finally write your book .

This is my personal approach on how to write a book. I’m confident you’ll find something here that can change the game for you. So, let’s jump in.

  • How to Write a Book From Start to Finish

Part 1: Before You Begin Writing Your Book

  • Establish your writing space.
  • Assemble your writing tools.

Part 2: How to Start Writing a Book

  • Break the project into small pieces.
  • Settle on your BIG idea.
  • Construct your outline.
  • Set a firm writing schedule.
  • Establish a sacred deadline.
  • Embrace procrastination (really!).
  • Eliminate distractions.
  • Conduct your research.
  • Start calling yourself a writer.

Part 3: The Book-Writing Itself

  • Think reader-first.
  • Find your writing voice.
  • Write a compelling opener.
  • Fill your story with conflict and tension.
  • Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft.
  • Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle.
  • Write a resounding ending.

Part 4: Editing Your Book

  • Become a ferocious self-editor.
  • Find a mentor.
  • Part 5: Publishing Your Book
  • Decide on your publishing avenue.
  • Properly format your manuscript.
  • Set up and grow your author platform.
  • Pursue a Literary Agent
  • Writing Your Query Letter
  • Part One: Before You Begin Writing Your Book

You’ll never regret—in fact, you’ll thank yourself later—for investing the time necessary to prepare for such a monumental task.

You wouldn’t set out to cut down a huge grove of trees with just an axe. You’d need a chain saw, perhaps more than one. Something to keep them sharp. Enough fuel to keep them running.

You get the picture. Don’t shortcut this foundational part of the process.

Step 1. Establish your writing space.

To write your book, you don’t need a sanctuary. In fact, I started my career o n my couch facing a typewriter perched on a plank of wood suspended by two kitchen chairs.

What were you saying about your setup again? We do what we have to do.

And those early days on that sagging couch were among the most productive of my career.

Naturally, the nicer and more comfortable and private you can make your writing lair (I call mine my cave), the better.

How to Write a Book Image 1

Real writers can write anywhere .

Some authors write their books in restaurants and coffee shops. My first full time job was at a newspaper where 40 of us clacked away on manual typewriters in one big room—no cubicles, no partitions, conversations hollered over the din, most of my colleagues smoking, teletype machines clattering.

Cut your writing teeth in an environment like that, and anywhere else seems glorious.

Step 2. Assemble your writing tools.

In the newspaper business, there was no time to hand write our stuff and then type it for the layout guys. So I have always written at a keyboard and still write my books that way.

Most authors do, though some hand write their first drafts and then keyboard them onto a computer or pay someone to do that.

No publisher I know would even consider a typewritten manuscript, let alone one submitted in handwriting.

The publishing industry runs on Microsoft Word, so you’ll need to submit Word document files. Whether you prefer a Mac or a PC, both will produce the kinds of files you need.

And if you’re looking for a musclebound electronic organizing system, you can’t do better than Scrivener . It works well on both PCs and Macs, and it nicely interacts with Word files.

Just remember, Scrivener has a steep learning curve, so familiarize yourself with it before you start writing.

Scrivener users know that taking the time to learn the basics is well worth it.

Tons of other book-writing tools exist to help you. I’ve included some of the most well-known in my blog po st on book writing software and my writing tools page fo r your reference.

So, what else do you need?

If you are one who handwrites your first drafts, don’t scrimp on paper, pencils, or erasers.

Don’t shortchange yourself on a computer either. Even if someone else is keyboarding for you, you’ll need a computer for research and for communicating with potential agents , edi tors, publishers.

Get the best computer you can afford, the latest, the one with the most capacity and speed.

Try to imagine everything you’re going to need in addition to your desk or table, so you can equip yourself in advance and don’t have to keep interrupting your work to find things like:

  • Paper clips
  • Pencil holders
  • Pencil sharpeners
  • Printing paper
  • Paperweight
  • Tape dispensers
  • Cork or bulletin boards
  • Reference works
  • Space heaters
  • Beverage mugs
  • You name it
  • Last, but most crucial, get the best, most ergonomic chair you can afford.

If I were to start my career again with that typewriter on a plank, I would not sit on that couch. I’d grab another straight-backed kitchen chair or something similar and be proactive about my posture and maintaining a healthy spine.

There’s nothing worse than trying to be creative and immerse yourself in writing while you’re in agony . The chair I work in today cost more than my first car!

How to Write a Book Image 2

If you’ve never used some of the items I listed above and can’t imagine needing them, fine. But make a list of everything you know you’ll need so when the actual writing begins, you’re already equipped.

As you grow as a writer and actually start making money at it, you can keep upgrading your writing space.

Where I work now is light years from where I started. But the point is, I didn’t wait to start writing until I could have a great spot in which to do it.

  • Part Two: How to Start Writing a Book

Step 1. Break your book into small pieces.

Writing a book feels like a colossal project, because it is! Bu t your manuscript w ill be made up of many small parts.

An old adage says that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time .

Try to get your mind off your book as a 400-or-so-page monstrosity.

It can’t be written all at once any more than that proverbial elephant could be eaten in a single sitting.

See your book for what it is: a manuscript made up of sentences, paragraphs, pages. Those pages will begin to add up, and though after a week you may have barely accumulated double digits, a few months down the road you’ll be into your second hundred pages.

So keep it simple.

Start by distilling you r big book idea from a page or so to a single sentence—your premise. The more specific that one-sentence premise, the more it will keep you focused while you’re writing.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before you can turn your big idea into one sentence, which can then b e expanded to an outline , you have to settle on exactly what that big idea is.

Step 2. Settle on your BIG idea.

To be book-worthy, your idea has to be killer.

You need to write something about which you’re passionate , something that gets you up in the morning, draws you to the keyboard, and keeps you there. It should excite not only you, but also anyone you tell about it.

I can’t overstate the importance of this.

If you’ve tried and failed to finish your book before—maybe more than once—it could be that the basic premise was flawed. Maybe it was worth a blog post or an article but couldn’t carry an entire book.

Think The Hunger Games , Harry Potter , or How to Win Friends and Influence People . The market is crowded, the competition fierce. There’s no more room for run-of-the-mill ideas. Your premise alone should make readers salivate.

Go for the big concept book.

How do you know you’ve got a winner? Does it have legs? In other words, does it stay in your mind, growing and developing every time you think of it?

Run it past loved ones and others you trust.

Does it raise eyebrows? Elicit Wows? Or does it result in awkward silences?

The right concept simply works, and you’ll know it when you land on it. Most importantly, your idea must capture you in such a way that you’re compelled to write it . Otherwise you will lose interest halfway through and never finish.

Step 3. Construct your outline.

Writing your book without a clear vision of where you’re going usually ends in disaster.

Even if you ’re writing a fiction book an d consider yourself a Pantser* as opposed to an Outliner, you need at least a basic structure .

[*Those of us who write by the seat of our pants and, as Stephen King advises, pu t interesting characters i n difficult situations and write to find out what happens]

You don’t have to call it an outline if that offends your sensibilities. But fashion some sort of a directional document that provides structure for your book and also serves as a safety net.

If you get out on that Pantser highwire and lose your balance, you’ll thank me for advising you to have this in place.

Now if you’re writing a nonfiction book, there’s no substitute for an outline .

Potential agents or publishers require this in your proposal . T hey want to know where you’re going, and they want to know that you know. What do you want your reader to learn from your book, and how will you ensure they learn it?

Fiction or nonfiction, if you commonly lose interest in your book somewhere in what I call the Marathon of the Middle, you likely didn’t start with enough exciting ideas .

That’s why and outline (or a basic framework) is essential. Don’t even start writing until you’re confident your structure will hold up through the end.

You may recognize this novel structure illustration.

Did you know it holds up—with only slight adaptations—for nonfiction books too? It’s self-explanatory for novelists; they list their plot twists and developments and arrange them in an order that best serves to increase tension .

What separates great nonfiction from mediocre? The same structure!

Arrange your points and evidence in the same way so you’re setting your reader up for a huge payoff, and then make sure you deliver.

If your nonfiction book is a memoir , an autobiography , or a biography, structure it like a novel and you can’t go wrong.

But even if it’s a straightforward how-to book, stay as close to this structure as possible, and you’ll see your manuscript come alive.

Make promises early, triggering your reader to anticipate fresh ideas, secrets, inside information, something major that will make him thrilled with the finished product.

How to write a book - graph

While a nonfiction book may not have as much action or dialogue or character development as a novel, you can inject tension by showing where people have failed before and how your reader can succeed.

You can even make the how-to project look impossible until you pay off that setup with your unique solution.

Keep your outline to a single page for now. But make sure every major point is represented, so you’ll always know where you’re going.

And don’t worry if you’ve forgotten the basics of classic outlining or have never felt comfortable with the concept.

Your outline must serve you. If that means Roman numerals and capital and lowercase letters and then Arabic numerals, you can certainly fashion it that way. But if you just want a list of sentences that synopsize your idea, that’s fine too.

Simply start with your working title, then your premise, then—for fiction, list all the major scenes that fit into the rough structure above.

For nonfiction, try to come up with chapter titles and a sentence or two of what each chapter will cover.

Once you have your one-page outline, remember it is a fluid document meant to serve you and your book. Expand it, change it, play with it as you see fit—even during the writing process .

Step 4. Set a firm writing schedule.

Ideally, you want to schedule at least six hours per week to write your book.

That may consist of three sessions of two hours each, two sessions of three hours, or six one-hour sessions—whatever works for you.

I recommend a regular pattern (same times, same days) that can most easily become a habit. But if that’s impossible, just make sure you carve out at least six hours so you can see real progress.

Having trouble finding the time to write a book? News flash—you won’t find the time. You have to make it.

I used the phrase carve out above for a reason. That’s what it takes.

Something in your calendar will likely have to be sacrificed in the interest of writing time . 

Make sure it’s not your family—they should always be your top priority. Never sacrifice your family on the altar of your writing career.

But beyond that, the truth is that we all find time for what we really want to do.

Many writers insist they have no time to write, but they always seem to catch the latest Netflix original series, or go to the next big Hollywood feature. They enjoy concerts, parties, ball games, whatever.

How important is it to you to finally write your book? What will you cut from your calendar each week to ensure you give it the time it deserves?

  • A favorite TV show?
  • An hour of sleep per night? (Be careful with this one; rest is crucial to a writer.)

Successful writers make time to write.

When writing becomes a habit, you’ll be on your way.

Step 5. Establish a sacred deadline.

Without deadlines, I rarely get anything done. I need that motivation.

Admittedly, my deadlines are now established in my contracts from publishers.

If you’re writing your first book, you probably don’t have a contract yet. To ensure you finish your book, set your own deadline—then consider it sacred .

Tell your spouse or loved one or trusted friend. Ask that they hold you accountable.

Now determine—and enter in your calendar—the number of pages you need to produce per writing session to meet your deadline. If it proves unrealistic, change the deadline now.

If you have no idea how many pages or words you typically produce per session, you may have to experiment before you finalize those figures.

Say you want to finish a 400-page manuscript by this time next year.

Divide 400 by 50 weeks (accounting for two off-weeks), and you get eight pages per week. 

Divide that by your typical number of writing sessions per week and you’ll know how many pages you should finish per session.

Now is the time to adjust these numbers, while setting your deadline and determining your pages per session.

Maybe you’d rather schedule four off weeks over the next year. Or you know your book will be unusually long.

Change the numbers to make it realistic and doable, and then lock it in. Remember, your deadline is sacred.

Step 6. Embrace procrastination (really!).

You read that right. Don’t fight it; embrace it.

You wouldn’t guess it from my 200+ published books, but I’m the king of procrastinators .

Don’t be. So many authors are procrastinators that I’ve come to wonder if it’s a prerequisite.

The secret is to accept it and, in fact, schedule it.

I quit fretting and losing sleep over procrastinating when I realized it was inevitable and predictable, and also that it was productive.

Sound like rationalization?

Maybe it was at first. But I learned that while I’m putting off the writing, my subconscious is working on my book. It’s a part of the process. When you do start writing again, you’ll enjoy the surprises your subconscious reveals to you.

So, knowing procrastination is coming, book it on your calendar .

Take it into account when you’re determining your page quotas. If you have to go back in and increase the number of pages you need to produce per session, do that (I still do it all the time).

But—and here’s the key—you must never let things get to where that number of pages per day exceeds your capacity.

It’s one thing to ratchet up your output from two pages per session to three. But if you let it get out of hand, you’ve violated the sacredness of your deadline.

How can I procrastinate and still meet more than 190 deadlines?

Because I keep the deadlines sacred.

Step 7. Eliminate distractions to stay focused.

Are you as easily distracted as I am?

Have you found yourself writing a sentence and then checking your email? Writing another and checking Facebook? Getting caught up in the pictures of 10 Sea Monsters You Wouldn’t Believe Actually Exist?

Then you just have to check out that precious video from a talk show where the dad surprises the family by returning from the war.

That leads to more and more of the same. Once I’m in, my writing is forgotten, and all of a sudden the day has gotten away from me.

The answer to these insidious timewasters?

Look into these apps that allow you to block your email, social media, browsers, game apps, whatever you wish during the hours you want to write. Some carry a modest fee, others are free.

  • Freedom app
  • FocusWriter

Step 8. Conduct your research.

Yes, research is a vital part of the process, whether you’re writing fiction or nonfict i on .

Fiction means more than just making up a story .

Your details and logic and technical and historical details must be right for your novel to be believable.

And for nonfiction, even if you’re writing about a subject in which you’re an expert—as I’m doing here—getting all the facts right will polish your finished product.

In fact, you’d be surprised at how many times I’ve researched a fact or two while writing this blog post alone.

The importance of research when writing

The last thing you want is even a small mistake due to your lack of proper research .

Regardless the detail, trust me, you’ll hear from readers about it.

Your credibility as an author and an expert hinges on creating trust with your reader. That dissolves in a hurry if you commit an error.

My favorite research resources:

  • World Almanacs : These alone list almost everything you need for accurate prose: facts, data, government information, and more. For my novels, I often use these to come up with ethnically accurate character names .
  • The Merriam-Webster Thesaurus : The online version is great, because it’s lightning fast. You couldn’t turn the pages of a hard copy as quickly as you can get where you want to onscreen. One caution: Never let it be obvious you’ve consulted a thesaurus. You’re not looking for the exotic word that jumps off the page. You’re looking for that common word that’s on the tip of your tongue.
  • WorldAtlas.com : Here you’ll find nearly limitless information about any continent, country, region, city, town, or village. Names, monetary units, weather patterns, tourism info, and even facts you wouldn’t have thought to search for. I get ideas when I’m digging here, for both my novels and my nonfiction books.

Step 9. Start calling yourself a writer.

Your inner voice may tell you, “You’re no writer and you never will be. Who do you think you are, trying to write a book?”

That may be why you’ve stalled at writing your book in the past .

But if you’re working at writing, studying writing, practicing writing, that makes you a writer. Don’t wait till you reach some artificial level of accomplishment before calling yourself a writer.

A cop in uniform and on duty is a cop whether he’s actively enforced the law yet or not. A carpenter is a carpenter whether he’s ever built a house.

Self-identify as a writer now and you’ll silence that inner critic —who, of course, is really you. 

Talk back to yourself if you must. It may sound silly, but acknowledging yourself as a writer can give you the confidence to keep going and finish your book.

Are you a writer? Say so.

  • Part Three: The Book-Writing Itself

Step 1. Think reader-first.

This is so important that that you should write it on a sticky note and affix it to your monitor so you’re reminded of it every time you write.

Every decision you make about your manuscript must be run through this filter.

Not you-first, not book-first, not editor-, agent-, or publisher-first. Certainly not your inner circle- or critics-first.

Reader-first, last, and always .

If every decision is based on the idea of reader-first, all those others benefit anyway.

When fans tell me they were moved by one of my books, I think back to this adage and am grateful I maintained that posture during the writing.

Does a scene bore you? If you’re thinking reader-first, it gets overhauled or deleted.

Where to go, what to say, what to write next? Decide based on the reader as your priority.

Whatever your gut tells you your reader would prefer, that’s your answer.

Whatever will intrigue him, move him, keep him reading, those are your marching orders.

So, naturally, you need to know your reader. Rough age? General interests? Loves? Hates? Attention span?

When in doubt, look in the mirror . 

The surest way to please your reader is to please yourself. Write what you would want to read and trust there is a broad readership out there that agrees.

Step 2. Find your writing voice.

Discovering your voice is nowhere near as complicated as some make it out to be.

You can find yours by answering these quick questions :

  • What’s the coolest thing that ever happened to you?
  • Who’s the most important person you told about it?
  • What did you sound like when you did?
  • That’s your writing voice. It should read the way you sound at your most engaged.

That’s all there is to it.

If you write fiction and the narrator of your book isn’t you, go through the three-question exercise on the narrator’s behalf—and you’ll quickly master the voice.

Here’s a blog I posted that’ll walk you through the process .

Step 3. Write a compelling opener.

If you’re stuck because of the pressure of crafting the perfect opening line for your book, you’re not alone.

And neither is your angst misplaced.

This is not something you should put off and come back to once you’ve started on the rest of the first chapter.

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Oh, it can still change if the story dictates that . But settling on a good one will really get you off and running.

It’s unlikely you’ll write a more important sentence than your first one , whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction. Make sure you’re thrilled with it and then watch how your confidence—and momentum—soars.

Most great first lines fall into one of these categories:

1. Surprising

Fiction : “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” —George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nonfiction : “By the time Eustace Conway was seven years old, he could throw a knife accurately enough to nail a chipmunk to a tree.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man

2. Dramatic Statement

Fiction : “They shoot the white girl first.” —Toni Morrison, Paradise

Nonfiction : “I was five years old the first time I ever set foot in prison.” —Jimmy Santiago Baca, A Place to Stand

3. Philosophical

Fiction : “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” —Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Nonfiction : “It’s not about you.” —Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

Fiction : “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. —James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss

Nonfiction : “The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’” —Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

Great opening lines from other classics may give you ideas for yours. Here’s a list of famous openers .

Step 4. Fill your story with conflict and tension.

Your reader craves conflict, and yes, this applies to nonfiction readers as well.

In a novel, if everything is going well and everyone is agreeing, your reader will soon lose interest and find something else to do.

Are two of your characters talking at the dinner table? Have one say something that makes the other storm out.

Some deep-seeded rift in their relationship has surfaced—just a misunderstanding, or an injustice?

Thrust people into conflict with each other . 

That’ll keep your reader’s attention.

Certain nonfiction genres won’t lend themselves to that kind of conflict, of course, but you can still inject tension by setting up your reader for a payoff in later chapters. Check out some of the current bestselling nonfiction works to see how writers accomplish this.

Somehow they keep you turning those pages, even in a simple how-to title.

Tension is the secret sauce that will propel your reader through to the end . 

And sometimes that’s as simple as implying something to come.

Step 5. Turn off your internal editor while writing the first draft.

Many of us perfectionists find it hard to write a first draft—fiction or nonfiction—without feeling compelled to make every sentence exactly the way we want it.

That voice in your head that questions every word, every phrase, every sentence, and makes you worry you’re being redundant or have allowed cliches to creep in—well, that’s just your editor alter ego.

He or she needs to be told to shut up .

Turning off your inner self-editor

This is not easy.

Deep as I am into a long career, I still have to remind myself of this every writing day. I cannot be both creator and editor at the same time. That slows me to a crawl, and my first draft of even one brief chapter could take days.

Our job when writing that first draft is to get down the story or the message or the teaching—depending on your genre.

It helps me to view that rough draft as a slab of meat I will carve tomorrow .

I can’t both produce that hunk and trim it at the same time.

A cliche, a redundancy, a hackneyed phrase comes tumbling out of my keyboard, and I start wondering whether I’ve forgotten to engage the reader’s senses or aimed for his emotions.

That’s when I have to chastise myself and say, “No! Don’t worry about that now! First thing tomorrow you get to tear this thing up and put it back together again to your heart’s content!”

Imagine yourself wearing different hats for different tasks , if that helps—whatever works to keep you rolling on that rough draft. You don’t need to show it to your worst enemy or even your dearest love. This chore is about creating. Don’t let anything slow you down.

Some like to write their entire first draft before attacking the revision. As I say, whatever works.

Doing it that way would make me worry I’ve missed something major early that will cause a complete rewrite when I discover it months later. I alternate creating and revising.

The first thing I do every morning is a heavy edit and rewrite of whatever I wrote the day before. If that’s ten pages, so be it. I put my perfectionist hat on and grab my paring knife and trim that slab of meat until I’m happy with every word.

Then I switch hats, tell Perfectionist Me to take the rest of the day off, and I start producing rough pages again.

So, for me, when I’ve finished the entire first draft, it’s actually a second draft because I have already revised and polished it in chunks every day.

THEN I go back through the entire manuscript one more time, scouring it for anything I missed or omitted, being sure to engage the reader’s senses and heart, and making sure the whole thing holds together.

I do not submit anything I’m not entirely thrilled with .

I know there’s still an editing process it will go through at the publisher, but my goal is to make my manuscript the absolute best I can before they see it.

Compartmentalize your writing vs. your revising and you’ll find that frees you to create much more quickly.

Step 6. Persevere through The Marathon of the Middle.

Most who fail at writing a book tell me they give up somewhere in what I like to call The Marathon of the Middle.

That’s a particularly rough stretch for novelists who have a great concept, a stunning opener, and they can’t wait to get to the dramatic ending. But they bail when they realize they don’t have enough cool stuff to fill the middle.

They start padding, trying to add scenes just for the sake of bulk, but they’re soon bored and know readers will be too.

This actually happens to nonfiction writers too.

The solution there is in the outlining stage , being sure your middle points and chapters are every bit as valuable and magnetic as the first and last.

If you strategize the progression of your points or steps in a process—depending on nonfiction genre—you should be able to eliminate the strain in the middle chapters.

For novelists, know that every book becomes a challenge a few chapters in. The shine wears off, keeping the pace and tension gets harder, and it’s easy to run out of steam.

But that’s not the time to quit. Force yourself back to your structure, come up with a subplot if necessary, but do whatever you need to so your reader stays engaged.

Fiction writer or nonfiction author, The Marathon of the Middle is when you must remember why you started this journey in the first place.

It isn’t just that you want to be an author. You have something to say. You want to reach the masses with your message.

Yes, it’s hard. It still is for me—every time. But don’t panic or do anything rash, like surrendering. Embrace the challenge of the middle as part of the process. If it were easy, anyone could do it.

Step 7. Write a resounding ending.

This is just as important for your nonfiction book as your novel. It may not be as dramatic or emotional, but it could be—especially if you’re writing a memoir.

But even a how-to or self-help book needs to close with a resounding thud, the way a Broadway theater curtain meets the floor .

How do you ensure your ending doesn’t fizzle ?

  • Don’t rush it . Give readers the payoff they’ve been promised. They’ve invested in you and your book the whole way. Take the time to make it satisfying.
  • Never settle for close enough just because you’re eager to be finished. Wait till you’re thrilled with every word, and keep revising until you are.
  • If it’s unpredictable, it had better be fair and logical so your reader doesn’t feel cheated. You want him to be delighted with the surprise, not tricked.
  • If you have multiple ideas for how your book should end, go for the heart rather than the head, even in nonfiction. Readers most remember what moves them.
  • Part Four: Rewriting Your Book

Step 1. Become a ferocious self-editor.

Agents and editors can tell within the first two pages whether your manuscript is worthy of consideration. That sounds unfair, and maybe it is. But it’s also reality, so we writers need to face it.

How can they often decide that quickly on something you’ve devoted months, maybe years, to?

Because they can almost immediately envision how much editing would be required to make those first couple of pages publishable. If they decide the investment wouldn’t make economic sense for a 300-400-page manuscript, end of story.

Your best bet to keep an agent or editor reading your manuscript?

You must become a ferocious self-editor. That means:

  • Omit needless words
  • Choose the simple word over one that requires a dictionary
  • Avoid subtle redundancies , like “He thought in his mind…” (Where else would someone think?)
  • Avoid hedging verbs like almost frowned, sort of jumped, etc.
  • Generally remove the word that —use it only when absolutely necessary for clarity
  • Give the reader credit and resist the urge to explain , as in, “She walked through the open door.” (Did we need to be told it was open?)
  • Avoid too much stage direction (what every character is doing with every limb and digit)
  • Avoid excessive adjectives
  • Show, don’t tell
  • And many more

For my full list and how to use them, click here . (It’s free.)

When do you know you’re finished revising? When you’ve gone from making your writing better to merely making it different. That’s not always easy to determine, but it’s what makes you an author. 

Step 2. Find a mentor.

Get help from someone who’s been where you want to be.

Imagine engaging a mentor who can help you sidestep all the amateur pitfalls and shave years of painful trial-and-error off your learning curve.

Just make sure it’s someone who really knows the writing and publishing world. Many masquerade as mentors and coaches but have never really succeeded themselves.

Look for someone widely-published who knows how to work with agents, editors, and publishers .

There are many helpful mentors online . I teach writers through this free site, as well as in my members-only Writers Guild .

Step 1. Decide on your publishing avenue.

In simple terms, you have two options when it comes to publishing your book:

1. Traditional publishing

Traditional publishers take all the risks. They pay for everything from editing, proofreading, typesetting, printing, binding, cover art and design, promotion, advertising, warehousing, shipping, billing, and paying author royalties.

2. Self-publishing

Everything is on you. You are the publisher, the financier, the decision-maker. Everything listed above falls to you. You decide who does it, you approve or reject it, and you pay for it. The term self-publishing is a bit of a misnomer, however, because what you’re paying for is not publishing, but printing. 

Both avenues are great options under certain circumstances. 

Not sure which direction you want to take? Click here to read my in-depth guide to publishing a book . It’ll show you the pros and cons of each, what each involves, and my ultimate recommendation.

Step 2: Properly format your manuscript.

Regardless whether you traditionally or self-publish your book, proper formatting is critical.

Because poor formatting makes you look like an amateur .

Readers and agents expect a certain format for book manuscripts, and if you don’t follow their guidelines, you set yourself up for failure.

Best practices when formatting your book:

  • Use 12-point type
  • Use a serif font; the most common is Times Roman
  • Double space your manuscript
  • No extra space between paragraphs
  • Only one space between sentences
  • Indent each paragraph half an inch (setting a tab, not using several spaces)
  • Text should be flush left and ragged right, not justified
  • If you choose to add a line between paragraphs to indicate a change of location or passage of time, center a typographical dingbat (like ***) on the line
  • Black text on a white background only
  • One-inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides (the default in Word)
  • Create a header with the title followed by your last name and the page number. The header should appear on each page other than the title page.

If you need help implementing these formatting guidelines, click here to read my in-depth post on formatting your manuscript .

Step 3. Set up your author website and grow your platform.

All serious authors need a website. Period.

Because here’s the reality of publishing today…

You need an audience to succeed.

If you want to traditionally publish, agents and publishers will Google your name to see if you have a website and a following.

If you want to self-publish, you need a fan base.

And your author website serves as a hub for your writing, where agents, publishers, readers, and fans can learn about your work.

Don’t have an author website yet? Click here to read my tutorial on setting this up.

Step 4. Pursue a Literary Agent.

There remain a few traditional publishers (those who pay you and take the entire financial risk of publishing your book rather than the other way around) who accept unsolicited submissions, but I do NOT recommend going that route. 

Your submission will likely wind up in what is known in the business as the slush pile. That means some junior staff member will be assigned to get to it when convenient and determine whether to reject it out of hand (which includes the vast majority of the submissions they see) or suggest the publisher’s editorial board consider it.

While I am clearly on record urging you to exhaust all your efforts to traditionally publish before resorting to self-publishing (in other words, paying to be printed), as I say, I do not recommend submitting unsolicited material even to those publishers who say they accept such efforts.

Even I don’t try to navigate the publishing world by myself, despite having been an author, an editor, a publisher, and a writing coach over the last 50 years.

That’s why I have an agent and you need one too.

Many beginning writers naturally wonder why they should share any of their potential income with an agent (traditionally 15%). First, they don’t see any of that income unless you’re getting your 85% at the same time. And second, everyone I know in the business is happy to have someone in their corner, making an agent a real bargain.

I don’t want to have to personally represent myself and my work. I want to stay in my creative lane and let a professional negotiate every clause of the contract and win me the best advance and rights deal possible.

Once under contract, I work directly with the publishing house’s editor and proofreader, but I leave the financial business to my agent.

Ultimately, an agent’s job is to protect your rights and make you money. They profit only when you do.

That said, landing an agent can be as difficult and painstaking as landing a publisher. They know the market, they know the editors, they know what publishers want, and they can advise you how to put your best foot forward.

But how do you know who to trust? Credible, trustworthy agents welcome scrutiny. If you read a book in your genre that you like, check the Acknowledgments page for the agent’s name. If the author thinks enough of that person to mention them glowingly, that’s a great endorsement.

If you’re writing in the inspirational market, peruse agents listed in The Christian Writer’s Market Guide . If you’re writing for the general market, try The Writer’s Market . If you know any published authors, ask about their agents.

The guides that list agents also include what they’re looking for, what they specialize in, and sometimes even what they’re not interested in. Study these to determine potential agents who ply their trade in your genre. Visit their websites for their submission guidelines, and follow these to a T.

They may ask for a query letter, a synopsis, a proposal, or even sample chapters. Be sure not to send more or less than they suggest. 

The best, and most logical place to start is by sending them a query letter. Query simply means question, and in essence the question your letter asks is whether you may send them more.

Step 5: Writing Your Query Letter.

It’s time to move from author to salesperson.

Your query letter will determine whether a literary agent asks to see more, sends you a cordial form letter to let you down easy, or simply doesn’t respond.

Sadly, many agents stipulate on their websites that if you hear nothing after a certain number of weeks, you should take that as an indication that they’re not interested. Frankly, to me, this is frustrating to the writer and lazy on the part of the agent. Surely, in this technological age, it should be easy to hit one button and send a note to someone who might otherwise wonder if the query reached the agent at all.

But that’s the reality we deal with.

So, the job of your one-page single-spaced email letter is to win a response—best case scenario: an invitation to send more: a proposal or even the manuscript. 

Basically, you’re selling yourself and your work. Write a poor query letter and an agent will assume your book is also poorly written.

Without being gimmicky or cute, your letter must intrigue an agent. 

Your query letter should:

  • Be addressed to a specific person (not to the staff of the agency or “To Whom It May Concern”)*
  • Present your book idea simply
  • Evidence your style
  • Show you know who your readers are
  • Clarify your qualifications
  • Exhibit flexibility and professionalism

*If you see a list of agents in a firm, choose one from the middle or bottom of the list. It could be that they get less personal mail than the person whose name is on the door. Who knows? That you single them out may make them see your query in a more favorable light.

For some great advice on writing a query letter, check this out: https://janefriedman.com/query-letters/  

  • You Have What It Takes to Write a Book

Writing a book is a herculean task, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

You can do this .

Take it one step at a time and vow to stay focused. And who knows, maybe by this time next year you’ll be holding a published copy of your book. :)

I’ve created an exclusive writing guide called How to Maximize Your Writing Time that will help you stay on track and finish writing your book.

Get your FREE copy by clicking the button below.

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How to Plan a Book (Ultimate 10 Step Guide)

How to Plan a Book (Ultimate 10 Step Guide)

by Ali Luke

Writing a book isn’t easy.

It takes weeks, probably months, of consistent work.

It will challenge you.

Yet ... a book can change everything.

Perhaps your book will add an extra income stream to your freelancing business, bringing in royalties so that you’re no longer purely tied to by-the-hour work.

Perhaps your book will be an important signifier of your expertise in your field, impressing current clients ... and netting you new ones.

Perhaps your book will give you access to a brand-new audience: you’re not doing it for the book-sales money, but the new leads who might buy considerably higher priced products or services from you.

Or perhaps your book will reach thousands or even millions of people, having a real impact on their lives.

If you never get it written – you’ll never know.

And even the most daunting tasks become manageable if you break them down.

Here’s how to plan and write your book, in ten simple steps.

Note: This post focuses on non-fiction books, as the planning process is very different for fiction. If you’re a novelist or would-be novelist, you may find some of the general advice helpful – but for more tailored help, check out my post Your Two-Year Plan for Writing, Editing and Publishing Your Novel (However Busy You Are)  

Step #0: Check That People Actually Want This Book

planning writing a book

This step precedes any actual planning! If you’re going to write a book, you (probably) want people to eventually read it. That means making sure there’s an audience for your work before you spend a ton of time creating it.

Even if it seems ridiculously obvious to you that people need your book, that doesn’t necessarily mean they want it.

Here’s how to get an idea of what people do want:

Run a survey of your audience (if you have an existing audience – e.g. through your blog, email newsletter or Facebook page). Ask them about your possible book ideas: which would they most like to read?

  • Look for existing books on a similar topic: how well are they selling? You might take a look at their rank on Amazon.
  • Look for blog posts about the topic . Have they got a reasonable response, in terms of comments, shares, etc, compared with other posts on the same blog?
  • Think about questions that you frequently get from people new to your topic area. Is this book something that would answer those?

If you have yet to come up with an idea, all of these can be great ways to get to know what your audience wants so you can deliver exactly that.

Important: Don’t try to cover everything about a broad topic – it’s way too much to handle, plus, what will you write next?

KEY ACTION: Make sure that there’s an audience for your book. Don’t leap into planning and writing without taking this step.

Step #1: Get Clear About Your Book’s Eventual Format and Purpose

planning writing a book

Allow: 15 – 60 minutes to think about it, depending on how clear you already feel about this.

We already took a quick look at some of the great benefits a book might bring. It’s time to be crystal clear about what you want.

Is your book going to be:

  • A physical book you sell at events , to bring in a little extra money, but also to leave participants with a lasting reminder of you and your work?
  • A free ebook you give to your email list , as an incentive to subscribe?
  • A premium ebook you sell through a website or blog you own? (These often contain specialist information, and they’re usually priced high – $29 or $49 wouldn’t be uncommon.)
  • A mass-market ebook you sell through Amazon and other online retailers? (These are priced much lower, anything from $0.99 - $9.99, but you have the potential to reach a much larger audience.)

All of these have different benefits, and some will suit different types of ideas – for instance, a free ebook for your email list is likely to be short and specific. Decide up-front what sort of book you’re writing.

KEY ACTION:  Come up with a target word count for your book : to help you with this, you might want to look at similar books and figure out roughly how long they are. (Count the words on an average-looking page and multiply by the number of pages.) This will be important for the next few steps.

Step 2: Figure Out a Working Timetable

planning writing a book

Allow: 15 minutes to work out a sensible timetable.

I can tell you one sad truth about writing a book: if you wait for a chunk of free time to appear in your schedule ... it’s never going to happen.

The good news, though, is that a small regular effort really will add up. You just need to decide when you’re going to fit “write my book” into the rest of your life.

Chances are, you have a busy life. You might not have much flexibility over your time: perhaps you have a day job, or a health condition, or (like me) you have to find time to write while raising young children .

At least one of these should be possible for you, though:

1. Writing for 15 minutes first thing in the morning, seven days a week ( as Darren Rowse, of ProBlogger fame, mention s here , this is exactly how he got his first ebook written).

2. Writing for 30 minutes, Monday to Friday, in your lunch break at your day job.

3. Writing for 10 minutes, twice a day, while your baby is napping.

4. Writing for an hour every Saturday and Sunday morning.

5. Writing for an hour on two weeknights each week. (Decide which nights in advance.)

Each of these will net you two hours or more per week on your ebook. That’s enough time to write 2,000 words, which means that for a 40,000 word ebook (which would definitely be long enough to count as full-length), you’ll be done with your draft in 20 weeks, or about four and a half months.

If you’re impatient like me, four and a half months might feel like ages . But trust me, if you wait to suddenly have a whole free week to write like the wind ... you’ll still not be finished, months later .

Of course, if you have more time available, by all means use it! If you can find, say, an hour a day for your ebook, you’ll have that 40,000 word draft done in a little over a month.

Bonus tip: If you’re planning ahead for promoting your ebook (e.g. lining up guest posts), don’t forget to allow time for editing and publishing. My rule of thumb is to allow about 2/3 rd s of the drafting time for this phase – so if it took you 20 weeks to draft your ebook, allow roughly 13 for the editing and publishing.

KEY ACTION:  Commit to a specific “book writing” time : write this down and share it with at least one person (pop it in a comment on this post, if you want).

Step 3: Get Your Book’s Outline Started by Mindmapping

Write a book

Allow 10 – 20 minutes for your initial mindmap.

Perhaps you’ve already got a good sense of what’s going into your book, or maybe you just have a title or topic idea and you don’t know what to include.

Either way, mindmapping is a great way to get started.

Write down your book’s topic in the centre of a sheet of paper, then jot down related ideas around the edge. You can link ideas together, indicate sub-ideas, and so on.

This definitely doesn’t need to be a work of art. Here’s my very quick mindmap for a book idea I’ve been mulling over:

planning writing a book

Although you’ll be turning this into a traditional linear outline soon, it’s important to start with a non-linear approach: it helps you get all the ideas out of your head and onto paper without worrying about what order they need to go in, and it can free you up to be more creative.

Note: There are lots of apps available to help you create mindmaps: personally, I like good old pen and paper– no learning curve, and maximum flexibility!

KEY ACTION: Create a mindmap. Don’t wait to feel inspired, just grab a bit of paper – right now, if you can – and get going.

Step #4: Develop Your Ideas into an Outline

planning writing a book

You might want to allow a couple of separate sessions for brainstorming: sometimes, new ideas will quietly bubble away in the back of your mind when you’re not actively working, ready to pop out when you return to your mindmap a day or two later.

Once you’ve got plenty of ideas down, you can develop them into a linear outline. I do this by noting on my mindmap which ideas are key ones and which probably won’t – on reflection – fit within this book at all. I figure out a sensible order for the key ones and this forms the start of my outline – often the chapter headings.

Good ways to order your ideas include:

1. From first step to last step. If you’re taking readers through a process, like publishing their ebook on Amazon, it makes sense to start with what they’ll need to do first (e.g. commission a cover design).

2. From easiest to hardest. Some books cover advice that’s more pick-and-mix: ways to develop your freelancing business, for instance. You might start with the easy, quick wins and move on to more complex tips.

3. From A to Z. If your ebook is more like a directory of resources (e.g. reviews of 100 books on writing), and you don’t want to imply any kind of “best” to “worst” ordering, then an alphabetical list can work well.

4. From earliest to latest. Perhaps you’re writing about a historical event or movement; often, it makes sense to order at least some of your chapters chronologically, starting with the earliest point in time and working forward to the latest point (which might be the present day). You might well have a broader overview at the start of the book, though, and a conclusion at the end.

5. In separate parts. If your ebook covers distinct areas within a topic, it might make sense to split it into several parts (at least two, probably not more than five).

Here’s an example of how you might structure an ebook into different parts. I’ve written a full chapter plan for Part One, then the other parts have rough notes about what will be included:

How to Find Time to Write When You Have Kids

  • Introduction

Part One : What Do You Want to Achieve?

Chapter One: You Don’t Need to Feel Guilty About Wanting to Write

Chapter Two: Setting (Sane) Writing Goals for the Year

Chapter Three: What Are You Willing to Give Up, or Compromise On?

Part Two : Setting a Writing Schedule That You Can Stick To ... And Enjoy

(sample schedules, how little blocks of time add up, where to carve out extra time, sticking to schedule, productivity / procrastination)

Part Three: How Routines Help You Write (And Get Everything Else Done Too)

(routines for your writing sessions or working days, housework checklists, single and multi-tasking where appropriate)

Part Four: Specific Tips for Different Ages and Stages

(from babies to teens; bring in guest writers here with older kids)

For me, this is one of the most exciting stages of writing a book: with a list of chapters, that book feels much closer to becoming real. The next step is simply to start filling in the details.

KEY ACTION: Create at least a high-level overview of your book . You should have a written record of all the major areas that you’ll be covering – and ideally, you’ll have working titles for your individual chapters.

Step #5: Fleshing Out Your Chapters with Key Points

planning writing a book

Allow 1 – 2 hours to go through your whole chapter plan. You may want to do this in stages.

For each of your chapters, you’ll probably want between three and five key points (if you’re ending up with more than five, think about splitting it into two chapters; if you have two or only one key points , you might want to merge it with another chapter).

Go through your mindmap and pull out any sub-points into their relevant chapters. If you like, you can also start new mindmaps for each part or each chapter, to help you get ideas down.

If you’re stuck on a particular chapter, wondering what to include, you could:

1. Go through any related posts on your blog. Do any of them spark a new idea?

2. Think about common questions you get from readers. What do they most need to know within this particular chapter?

3. Consider ways to give more advanced information , where relevant: this sometimes fits best into an appendix or on your blog, with a link in the ebook, so that a chapter doesn’t end up becoming really long and unwieldy.

KEY ACTION: Flesh out at least the first three chapters of your book. If you’re really keen to start writing, you don’t necessarily have to do the whole plan at this stage – you can plan ahead a few chapters at a time.

Step #6: Make Writing a Breeze with Your Standard Chapter Template

planning writing a book

Allow 15 - 30 minutes to come up with a strong chapter template.

This isn’t something you have to do to write a book – but it will definitely make your life easier, and it guarantees a well-structured, easy to follow book for your reader.

Come up with a “standard chapter template” that you use for all your chapters, unless there’s a good reason not to. (Your introduction and conclusion will likely be a bit different, for instance.)

Here’s a possible chapter template: many non-fiction authors use some variant of this.

  • Chapter title
  • Brief introduction to what you’ll learn in this chapter, possibly in bullet points.
  • Three to five key points, each with a subheading. (This is the bulk of the chapter.)
  • Brief conclusion, summing up what you’ve learned – again, this may use bullet points.
  • Exercises to help you put what you’ve learned into practice.

As you can see, this is very like the standard structure you’d use for a blog post:

  • Call to action

So if you’re a blogger, you should find this a natural and hopefully fairly easy way to structure your book.

(In fact, it’s certainly not unheard of for bloggers to construct books that are, essentially, a series of blog posts. Michael Hyatt’s Platform and Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog are both edited collections of blog posts.)

Of course, you can get more detailed with your template. You might decide to follow a standard structure for your key points, for instance, perhaps starting each one with a quote, example, or screenshot. You might add a “case study” or “further reading” or other bonus section to each chapter, before the conclusion.

Good news: you’re done with the planning!

Of course, there may well be other planning-related tasks to tackle (perhaps you’ll need to do research for specific chapters) – but you’ve got a strong, solid overview of your whole book and you can start writing.

KEY ACTION: Decide on a basic chapter template. Feel free to use the five-point example above, or come up with one of your own – you might want to look at how the chapters are structured in books that are similar to yours.

Step #7: Tackle Your Writing in a Sensible Order

planning writing a book

Allow 15 minutes to decide how best to approach writing your book.

While there’s nothing stopping you creating your chapters piecemeal, adding in bits and pieces of text to your detailed outline until it eventually becomes a finished book, I prefer a more structured way of working.

For most books, it makes sense to:

1. Draft each chapter in turn, starting with Chapter 1 and working forward. It’s usually best to work sequentially as then you can easily refer back to things you’ve already covered – and you can get a sense of flow and progression into your book.

2. Draft the introduction after writing the main bulk of the book. That way, you’ll know exactly what you’re introducing! Quick tip: once you’ve drafted it, try cutting the first paragraph or two – and see if the introduction reads better without them. Most writers (me included) tend to produce some “warm up” text before really getting going.

3. Draft the conclusion last. Make sure you don’t miss this out: it’s easy to end up stopping with your final chapter, but it’s usually a good idea to have some kind of overall wrap-up that offers the reader some sensible next steps. These may well include checking out another book you’ve written, or subscribing to your blog or newsletter.

4. Add any extras after completing the manuscript. These might include an “About the Author” section, a dedication, a page where you thank people who helped with the writing, and so on. You’ll also want to include a Table of Contents – which you can generate automatically in most word processors, if you set up your chapter titles correctly.

Of course, there are other ways you might choose to tackle this. Maybe you want to write the easiest chapters first, to help you overcome your initial resistance to getting started . Or maybe you want to take on the most research-intensive chapters to begin with, so you know that some of the hardest work is out of the way quickly.

It’s up to you. What matters is that you have a sensible plan, so you don’t constantly waste time wondering what the heck to work on next.

KEY ACTION: Decide how you’re going to approach the writing of your book : write down your plan so you can refer back to it as you go along.

Step #8: Staying Focused When You Sit Down to Write

planning writing a book

Writing a book is a big, high-resistance task – and lots of us have trouble staying productive . Having set writing times (see Step #2) can help you get past some of the initial resistance to sitting down – it’s book writing time, so you’re going to open the document up and get moving – but you may still find yourself getting distracted.

Procrastination can easily become a habit: if you spend your writing sessions constantly checking Facebook or watching cute cat videos then that’s going to feel like a natural, normal part of writing. You’ll end each session feeling frustrated and disappointed.

There are a lot of different little things you can do to boost your focus, but these are the three that are likely to make the biggest, most immediate difference:

1. Switch off your wifi, or unplug your Ethernet cable, when you’re writing . If you can’t go online at all, you’ve removed a whole bunch of distractions! (Yes, I know you can just switch it back on or plug the cable back in ... but that adds in an extra step, and an extra decision point where you can remind yourself to stay focused.)

2. Work in short timed bursts of 10 – 30 minutes. You might like to try the Pomodoro technique . Tell yourself that you only have to write for X minutes and then you can take a break. I like to set a timer running; some writers find this a bit too pressuring.

3. Reduce external distractions as much as possible. If you’re in a busy coffee shop and you’re distracted by other people’s conversations, wear noise-cancelling headphones and play music to drown out the world. If you’re at home and family members keep interrupting, work in a quieter room.

KEY ACTION: Decide on one thing you will do to boost your focus whenever you’re working on your book. Try to make it something very quick and simple, so you can do it straight away at the start of each writing session – that way, it’ll quickly become a habit. For instance, “switch off wifi” or “set a timer for 15 minutes” or “put my music on”.

Step #9: Knowing How   to Write Each Sentence of Your Book

planning writing a book

Allow 15 minutes to jot down key details about your “typical” reader.

Even if your blog posts seem to flow easily onto the screen, you might find yourself feeling stilted and uncomfortable writing your book. Perhaps the writing seems awkward or affected; maybe you’re veering between going into way too much detail on every point and skating over important information.

Often, this is just a case of pushing on with the writing until you find a natural voice and flow – it can take time. To speed up the process, you may find it helps to focus on one specific “typical” reader of your book (perhaps someone you know in real life, perhaps someone who’s commented on your blog). You might hear this called your “ideal reader”, “reader avatar” or “ reader persona ”.

How would you write it if you were explaining it to them in an email? What would they think about that off-color joke – would it make them laugh or cringe? How much do they already know, and where might they need some extra pointers?

Remember, too, that you’ll be able to come back and edit – so even if your writing is a little rough around the edges at present, keep moving forward!

KEY ACTION: Write down a few key details about your “typical” reader. Ideally, pick an actual person: if that doesn’t work for you, come up with a composite. How much do they already know about your topic area? What sort of tone will they respond best to (encouraging, brash, practical, jokey)?

Step #10: Follow Your Working Schedule (and Get Back On Track When Needed)

planning writing a book

Allow 10 minutes to decide how you’ll deal with problems.

Starting a new book can be a bit like starting a new diet: you go at it enthusiastically for a few days ... only to end up slipping back into bad habits. After a few weeks, you give up altogether.

Inevitably, you’ll have bad writing days. You’ll have sessions where you just can’t focus, or when you get interrupted just as you’re getting into flow. You’ll have hectic weeks where life gets in the way.

What’s important is that, after a bad day or week, you get back into writing. Don’t let one blip turn into an excuse to give up altogether.

You might find it helps to:

1. Find ways to protect your writing time. If you’re constantly being interrupted, can you go somewhere else (coffee shop, library, park) to write in peace?

2.  Make the most of the time you do have . Even if you can only find 30 minutes this week, use them to the full.

3. Set times for “catch-up” writing sessions if needed. Perhaps you normally write from 6pm – 6.30pm after work, but if that doesn’t happen for some reason, you’ll write first thing on a Saturday morning instead.

4. Take a proper break from writing. If you’re starting to burn out, have a week off. Finishing your book a week later than planned won’t make much difference (unless you’re on a deadline); giving up on your book at all will!

Assume that, at some stage, things will go a bit pear-shaped ... and prepare for it.

KEY ACTION: Decide now what you’ll do if you have a bad week and feel tempted to give up. Take some time off? Talk to a supportive friend? Reconnect with the reason why you wanted to write the book in the first place?

And that’s it! If you follow these steps, you’ll soon have a full first draft of your book.

If you do just one thing from this list this week, make it this one: set a regular time to work on your book. If you can do that, everything else will fall into place: you can go through the plan during your initial working sessions, then get started on the writing.

Further Reading

Once you’ve finished writing your book, check out some of these detailed posts for help with the next stages – editing and publishing:

Eight Simple Tips for Editing Your Own Work (Ali Luke, Write to Done) – even if you’re hiring an editor to help, it’s a good idea to make your book as good as possible first.

5 Ways to Find the Right Freelance Book Editor (Stacey Ennis, JaneFriedman.com) – editing isn’t cheap, and you want to make sure you’ll be working with the right person.

How to Self-Publish An Ebook (Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn) – a hugely in-depth article with loads of helpful links and tips.

How to Self-Publish A Print Book (Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn) – again, lots of great information, and a good look at whether print is worth it or not for you.

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How to Plan a Novel: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide

By Jarie Bolander

Download the Math of Storytelling Infographic

Before you can write a novel you need to know how to plan a novel.

Story Grid has many tools that can help you through the process. Follow along with this post as we walk you through it.

How to Plan a Novel

Writing a novel can be rewarding and a tremendous amount of fun. It can also be a struggle. For me, I like to avoid struggling by planning my novels so I have an anchor to what my goal for the novel is. I actually do this for all the writing I do.

I like to start with the plan instead of an outline since an outline is more of a micro-level detail and it can be challenging to know all the details before you start writing.

Here are the 9 steps to plan your novel:

  • Brainstorm Things to Write About
  • Figure Out the Length of Your Novel
  • Decide on Your Global Genre
  • Schedule Your Writing Time
  • Decide on the Tools to Use
  • Plan the Time and Place to Write
  • Organize Your Writing Prompts
  • Write Your Character Studies
  • Create Public Accountability

Plan > Outline

For me, the plan on how to write a novel is the high-level guide to your detailed level work. For example, if you had a plan to write your novel during NaNoWriMo , then the logistics of writing 1,667 words a day (50,000 words / 30 days) has to be part of your plan — independent of what you write about.

The direction you might take with your novel, especially early on, will be in flux. If your plan accounts for that, then those adjustments will be a lot less disruptive. Plans are also a great way to focus on intent and give you a base in which to launch from.

How to Plan in a Novel

Generally, a high-level plan for your novel will consider the following aspects of the writing process as well as creating a plan of record. More on that later.

#1 Brainstorm Things to Write About

It’s always a good idea to have a list of things to write about. Even if these are not on theme for your novel. Brainstorming a few things will get you thinking about what your novel might be about. One of the best things to write about is a funny or sad part of your life. These life moments make great stories. They also provide some great ideas for characters. 

For one of my novels, I created a character that was a mashup for three real-life people. I took the best of all three and made one super quirky person.

#2 Figure Out the Length of Your Novel

It’s good to have a general target for the number of words that your novel will be. Of course, this estimate might change once you start writing but it’s good to set a baseline for what you need to shoot for.

Novel lengths vary depending on the genre and the author. If you’re just starting out, then I’d suggest between 50,000 words. The sweet spot for a novel, according to Reedsy , is about 80,000 – 90,000 words. This length does depend on genre. Below is a list based on the Reedsy article. Note these are marketing genres and not content genres, which I know can be confusing:

  • Commercial and literary novels: 80,000 – 100,000
  • Science fiction and fantasy: 100,000 – 115,000
  • Young adult: 55,000 – 70,000
  • Middle grade: 20,000 – 55,000
  • Romance: 80,000 – 100,000
  • Mystery: 75,000 – 100,000
  • Thriller: 90,000 – 100,000
  • Memoir: 80,000 – 90,000
  • Western: 45,000 – 75,000

Of course, these are only guidelines and you should follow the muse for what’s best for you.

#3 Decide on Your Global Genre

Far too often, authors have too many great ideas for a novel and then they try to pack it all into one book. The thinking being that if it’s a good story, why does it matter that I have six different stories going on?

Truth be told, it matters a lot to readers that a novel has a specific content genre that it’s being written in. This is different from the marketing genes above. This global genre is an important part of the plan since it will guide you in what scenes are required and what other masterworks in your genre you should study. 

These masterworks are great resources for not only ideas but for inspirational writing prompts to help you when you’re stuck.

#4 Schedule Your Writing Time

If you’re in the NaNoWriMo crowd, then you got 30 days to write your first draft. For others, you might want to take a little longer. Regardless of your length of time, pick a time frame to a first draft. That way, you can plan your novel with nice micro milestones to keep you on track and motivated. 

#5 Decide on the Tools to Use

Before you start to write, setup your writing toolbox. This could be your favorite program like Heminnway or Scrivener. It might even be buying a bunch of notebooks to free write in along with your favorite pens. Once you pick your tools, then set them up ahead of time so that there is little distraction dealing with tools.

The reason it’s important to get your tools right to write is that it removes distractions and excuses. I for one, have wasted hours picking the right font or template to write with because I did not want to write. Removing that form of resistance will help you achieve your writing plan and stay on track.

#6 Plan the Time and Place to Write

Researchers on habits suggest that in order to form a new one, it’s best to consistently perform the habit at a certain place and a certain time. They also recommend adding your new habit to an existing habit. The reasoning is that it’s easier to add something to an existing habit than to start from scratch.

As a writer, we all know what gives us the best changes of writing our novels is minimizing resistance. By being consistent with your writing time and place, you push resistance back into the shadows where it belongs. Better still if you attach your time and place to write to an already established habit like writing after you get home from the gym, you’ll have a better change of doing it.

#7 Organize Your Writing Prompts

When I wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo, I found it helpful to have snippets of beats and scenes in which to riff on. Some of these writing prompts were as simple as a scene type like Talking Over Coffee or Family at a Dinner Table or Boss Makes an Inappropriate Joke. All of these writing prompts I came up with ahead of time because I knew that when I got stuck, I did not want to have to think of them.

One of the reasons I use the Story Grid Framework for my novels and nonfiction, is because it has baked in writing prompts. For example, when you pick a genre in the Story Grid Framework, Obligatory Scenes and Conventions come along for the ride. These baked in writing prompts make it a lot easier to get unstuck. As an example, when I wrote a love story, one of the Obligatory Scenes is that The Lovers Breakup scene. This prompt helped me navigate a tricky transition by adding a breakup scene and then, a little later on, The Lovers Reunite scene — another love story Obligatory Scene. 

#8 Write Your Character Studies

This one may seem a bit cart before the horse but I have found it tremendously valuable to write 150-500 word character studies about the characters in my novels. I know that sometimes you might not know all the characters but if you can write down a character study for the protagonist and the antagonist, you’re off to a good start.

#9 Create Public Accountability

All good plans have a method or metric that publically keeps you accountable to stay on plan. While the “public” part does not need to be a shout from the rooftops, your plan should be shared with others to keep you accountable. Ideally, you’d find an accountability partner that is also embarking on a project, so that both of you can help each other stay engaged and excited.

With the above answered, you can now write your plan of record, which sounds a bit corporate because that’s where I got it from. This short statement of your plan is a great way to solidify your novel writing plan into a tangible form that keeps you accountable and reminds you of your goal.

Before we do that, let’s go over some rules of thumb to help you plan.

Rules of Thumb

Like all rules of thumb, these are based on my experiences and those of my writer and editor friends. Mileage may vary but it’s always better to have some rough ideas as to how to plan your novel so you can complete it. 

Since I’m a Certified Story Grid Editor, I also took a lot of these rules from this post from Shawn:  How Many Scenes in a Nove l .

  • 80,000-90,000: Number of words in the average novel.
  • 250: Number of words on an average page.
  • 3: Number of acts or parts of a novel. This is based on the classical 3 act play.
  • 25%: Percent of the novel that’s Act 1 or the Beginning Hook.
  • 50%: Percent of the novel that’s Act 2 or the Middle Build.
  • 25%: Percent of the novel that’s Act 3 or the Ending Payoff.
  • 15: Number of core scenes or beats in a novel.
  • 1,500: Number of words in the average scene.
  • 33: Number of scenes in a 50,000 word novel.
  • 250: Average number of words a person reads a minute.
  • 200: Average number of pages in a 50,000 word novel.
  • 1,667: Number of words a day to write a 50,000 novel in 30 days.

I’m sure you’ll find more rules of thumb for your writing. As you do, keep a list of them so that the more plans you create, the better they become.

Plan of Record

Now that you have a good grasp of the answer to the questions above and some general rules of thumb for planning, it’s now time to pull it all together and write a plan of record.

A plan of record is a short paragraph or two that focuses on what you’re going to achieve. It’s like a high level goal narrative that should crisply and cleanly capture how you’re going to achieve writing your novel. Below I have written a couple of examples.

NaNoWriMo Plan of Record

In 30 days, I’m going to write a 50,000 word novel in the Love > Courtship content genre that is based on my first girlfriend in highschool. I’ll need to write 1,667 words a day, which is a little over a scene a day. I’ll have to write a total of 33 scenes with about 8 scenes being in the beginning and end and 16 scenes being in the middle. Before I start writing, I’m going to create five character studies and set up Scrivener with their standard novel template. I’m going to share my progress with the NaNoWriMo community to keep me on track and inspired.

Draft in a Year Plan of Record

My goal is to write a 125,000 word novel in the Action > Labyrinth content genre that is like Ready Player One. I’ll need to write 345 words a day, which is about a scene every 5 days. I’ll have to write 84 scenes with about 21 being in the beginning and end and about 42 in the middle. I’m going to use Google Docs to write so I can easily share my progress with my best friend Jim. Before I begin, I’m going to do ten character studies and outline the beginning hook so I won’t get stuck.

Trilogy Plan of Record

My goal is to write a three novel trilogy. Each novel will be 75,000 words. I want to complete the draft of the first one in six months. That means, I need to write 465 words a day, which is a scene about every 3 days. I’ll have to write 50 scenes with about 12 for the beginning and end as well as 26 for the middle. I’m going to use Hemmingway as my authoring tool (desktop version). Before I begin, I’ll write a high level outline of all three books so that I can build the world in book one. 

Discipline Equals Freedom

Planning can feel like the resistance taking over to prevent you from writing. I know for me, when I’m stuck, I revert to doing mundane tasks like formatting text, messing with my tracking spreadsheet or reading blogs. That does not mean you should neglect planning.

Planning how you’re going to take on the massive undertaking of writing a novel is time well spent because it gives you a sense of the discipline required to get that first draft done. This discipline, surprisingly, will give you the freedom to create the novel you want. The reason being that when you work your plan, you’ll make progress. Incremental progress is the single biggest motivator to finishing a hard, long, and complex task. It’s the daily, little wins that make the daunting task manageable.

I have a plan. Now what?

Now that you have a plan of record on how you will write your novel, it’s time to take the next step and nail down some of the marco parts. The best method I have found and use is the Global Foolscap Method . This method is part of the Story Grid framework to create stories that work. For me, it makes a lot of sense to start macro then to focus on micro. That’s what the Foolscap does. Another method that seems promising, which I have not yet used, is the Beat Sheet from the book Save the Cat Writes a Novel . It’s based on the classic screenwriting book Save the Cat.

What’s interesting about both of these macro-level approaches, is that both the Global Foolscap and the Beat Sheet have 15 core scenes/beats that make up a novel. That’s encouraging since this shows the universal structure of story. So pick something that works for you and get going.

Whatever method you use or find, the important point is that you now have a plan of record in which to monitor your progress, stay motivated, and finish your novel. Good luck! 

I’d love to see some of your plan of records. Feel free to share them in the comments.

If you want to connect with me directly, follow me on Twitter @TheDailyMBA or checkout my blog, thedailymba.com .

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Home / Guides / Book Writing / How to Write a Book in 2024: The Ultimate Guide for Authors

How to Write a Book in 2024: The Ultimate Guide for Authors

  • Should you write a book?
  • Outline the Book
  • Write the Book
  • Edit the Book
  • Get Feedback
  • Publish & Market Your Book!

Writing a book is a long process, but it doesn’t have to be scary. Many writers benefit from having a checklist of things they need to do. Enter: This comprehensive guide. I will guide you through the planning stages, the writing process, the editing phase, and the marketing phase (though you should start marketing your book long before it’s finished). And before we get there, I’ll help you determine if you should even write a book in the first place. Considering you’re here, the answer is most likely “ yes! ” Can anyone write a book? Yes, anyone can write a book. All you need is determination, a willingness to learn, and a story you want to tell. Bookmark this page or copy and paste it into a text document so you can check off each step as you make progress along your book writing journey .

  • How to write a book
  • Best ways to plan ahead
  • A lot of writing tips
  • Industry standards and expectations
  • Software recommendations
  • Outlining tips
  • Editing and proofreading tips
  • How to market your book

Links in this article may give me a small commission if you use them to purchase products. There’s NO extra cost to you, and it helps me continue to write handy articles like this one.

It’s common to hear between friends, “I’m going to write a book one day.”

But there are several steps in between that statement and the actual process of writing books.

I want to get this idea out of the way: you can and should write a book!

Most people want to write a book but never get around to it. Well, you can do it.

If you don't think you can, or you think you're not talented enough, remember that even the Stephen Kings and Neil Gaimans of the word started out with a skill level of zero, and you're probably more skilled than that!

Don't get me wrong, writing can be hard. But it's learning to deal with those hard things that make you a better writer. So let's discuss how you can make it happen.

Before you set deadlines or create your writing space, there are a few things you should do:

  • Figure out why you’re writing
  • Don’t give yourself excuses to not write
  • Determine your big ideaw
  • Create a budget for your book writing
  • Establish accountability
  • Announce that you’re writing a book!

Nail Down Your “Why”

Why are you writing this book? Answer this question, and your writing process will have a sense of direction. Many authors have a story they need to tell. It’s in their heads. They can’t stop thinking about it. Whether it’s because of the compelling characters, the fantastical new worlds, or the powerful central theme, a good book writer must tell the story in their head. If you’re in it for fame and fortune, you won’t find it here. Only the top New York Times bestselling authors gain fame or fortune. Most authors make between $40,000 and $80,000 per year — though it’s worth noting that earning an author’s salary can take years of establishing yourself within the industry. You should also determine what you want this book to become. Questions you can ask yourself:

  • Do you want this book to appear in brick-and-mortar stores across the country?
  • Are you happy to display in local bookstores and libraries?
  • Is this an online-only book?
  • Do you want to turn writing into a career or a one-time affair?
  • Is this the beginning of a series or a one-off story?
  • Do you want to write a book that’s great for people in a social media group you’re a part of and their friends?

Overcome Common Barriers to Writing Your First Book

Before they become a problem, you need to overcome common barriers to writing a book. You can toss a rock and probably find a “writer” who started a book or, more often, has an excellent idea for a book they’re never going to write. But you’re different. You need to tell this story, and you’re looking up resources to help you get started. These are some of the most common excuses for not writing a book and how to overcome them:

  • I don’t have the talent. No one knows how to write a book before they learn, practice, and experiment. Until you try, you’ll never know if you genuinely have the stuff it takes to be a successful author.
  • I can’t concentrate. Yes, distractions abound: kids, work, Facebook, hunger, messy desk, neighbors, the dog. Find a way to overcome the distractions and just concentrate if you really want to tell this story.
  • No one will want to publish my book. Though traditional publishing is difficult to achieve, independent publishers and self-publishing offer additional venues for success.
  • I can’t write without a deadline. Then give yourself a deadline! Tell your spouse or a friend that you intend to finish your manuscript within 6 months. Or announce it on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit — wherever peers can keep you accountable.
  • Taking time to write makes me feel guilty. You shouldn’t feel guilty doing what you love, what you feel you need to do, or what could earn you a salary in the future.
  • Writing is too hard. Writing may prove a harrowing task. It can take a long time (though there are ways to write faster ). But there is nothing quite like the rewarding feeling of having written a book.
  • My grammar is terrible. Use proofreading software like Grammarly or ProWritingAid . Also, the more you write, the better you get at grammar — and quickly.
  • My life is too dull to write anything interesting. They say, “Write what you know.” But honestly, that’s what research is for. Write what interests you. It doesn’t have to be about your life. Write to escape your (supposedly boring) life.
  • People won’t like what I write. Thick skin is required for writing. Unfortunately, some ignorant or insecure people may put you down — whether for your book or for the simple fact you’re a writer. But let the ridicule roll off you like water off a duck’s back.
  • My back hurts. Sitting in a chair for long hours to write can make your back hurt. Come up with a system where you can lie down to rest or walk around to mobilize your back every hour.
  • Fiction offers nothing of value to society. This is just flat-out untrue. Art is society’s record of history. Fiction evokes emotion that causes a reader to feel something. A book’s central theme is powerful for its intended audience — and for some, life-changing.

Determine Your Topic

To determine your topic, answer these questions:

  • What do I want to write about?
  • What is important for someone (like me) to write about?
  • Can I effectively tell this story?
  • Who would want to read about my story?

For nonfiction, it’s customary to choose a topic about which you have particular expertise. For readers who buy your book, determine what information to include that will best benefit these readers. For fiction, you can determine your genre(s), then your subgenre(s), then what would make your story unique. Each genre comes with its own tropes that readers expect you to deliver. Is your book idea good? Does it serve anyone? Does it add value, whether by entertaining, informing, or teaching the prospective reader? If you’re having trouble determining your topic, check out these resources:

  • Plot Generator
  • Writing Prompts
  • Best Book Title Generators
  • Short Story Prompts by Squibler

Validate Your Book Idea

Before you completely narrow down your story or topic, you need to know if it's a good idea or not. To do this, you need to run through four steps:

  • Step 1: Learn if and how many people search for your book idea
  • Step 2: Learn if the idea is profitable during the book topic validation process
  • Step 3: Discover how hard the competition is for your book
  • Step 4: Rinse and repeat

If you find your book topic is not profitable, you can still write it. But if that's the case, you will have to resort to different marketing tactics. You will need to focus on finding the right market somewhere other than Amazon, and getting them interested in reading your book.

Read more about validating your book idea here.

Create a Budget

Don’t let this step scare you. If your budget is $0, that’s okay. But you need to create a budget, so you know what you’re willing to spend down the road. What might you spend money on as an author?

  • Research software for authors, like Publisher Rocket
  • Book writing software, like Atticus
  • Proofreading software, like ProWritingAid
  • Book formatting services, like Ebook Launch
  • Email service, like GetResponse
  • Cover design services, like Damonza (if you’re self-publishing)
  • A human editor (if you’re self-publishing)
  • Book reviews from paid influencers
  • Various marketing efforts
  • Promotional giveaways
  • A professional looking website

What should an author not spend money on?

  • Literary agents — An agent should only make money when you make money. Beware agents who charge upfront fees. They are preying off of authors who desperately want to publish their book .
  • Vanity publishers — If an indie publisher asks for an upfront charge, they are probably a vanity press, and you do not want to use their services. These seldom result in a profit.
  • Beta readers — Although it’s nice to buy them lunch to talk about the book, when you find people to beta read your book, they are reading for enjoyment. They’re getting a free book out of this. If you pay them, that’s getting into professional editor territory, and most beta readers probably aren’t qualified for that.
  • A human editor and proofreader — If you’re traditionally publishing, the publishing house will most likely pay for the editor.
  • Cover design — If you’re traditionally publishing, the publisher will most likely pay for the cover design. This item may end up in your final budget if you’re self-publishing.

How much money does an author make per book? A first-time, self-published author might make between $5,000 and $20,000 on their first book, not including expenses. A traditionally published first-time author can expect up to $5,000 without a massive existing audience.

Establish Accountability for When Things Get Hard

It’s important to establish accountability for when the going gets tough. Who will support you through your writing process? Find a reliable person in your life that's experienced in book writing or can help encourage you along the journey. Ask them to ask you about how your writing’s coming along. Some days, you will hate them. Other days, you will thank them. Also, plan for how you’ll handle writer's block , discouragement, falling behind, etc. For example, if you didn’t reach your daily word count goal, plan on going over your goal next weekend. Or, if you get writer’s block, work more detail into your outline or take a walk to clear your head.

Publicly Announce What You’re Doing

You need to publicly announce that you’re writing a book. Not only is this a marketing must that gets your friends and family buzzing about your book, but it also creates public accountability for you. Sound terrifying? Remember, if you’re going to be an author, this is the first of many marketing steps you’ll need to take. It’s also one of the easiest (and least expensive). If you need a community of like-minded authors, I'd recommend fully investing in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as a great way to push yourself and gain accountability. Don’t get scared by this step. You may worry about what people have to say about you writing a book. Writers need thick skin, and this is an excellent exercise in accepting congratulations and ignoring naysayers. For instance, I recall a fellow author’s grandfather commenting on a Facebook post: “Hope it works out for you. But if it doesn’t, I can always get you a job down at Duke Energy.”

My friend didn’t let the comment bother him, instead accepting that his grandfather didn’t understand that writing and even self-publishing is an entirely legitimate career path nowadays. Is it worth only selling your book on Amazon? Yes! As a self-made author who primarily markets on Amazon, I cannot recommend this route highly enough.

Make a Plan

Before writing your book’s outline, here are 8 crucial steps all great writers should use to plan ahead:

  • Create a writing space
  • Set a schedule
  • Determine word count goals
  • Set deadlines
  • Do your research (market, genre, topical)
  • Discover your voice & tone
  • Choose the best book writing software for your project
  • Get in the author mindset

Create a Writing Space

When you create a space for writing, it will mentally help you to set aside that space for only writing. Your writing space should not be the same as your home office or your relaxation space. If you write your book in the same place as you watch TV, the temptation of TV easily overpowers your will to write. If you work in the same area as you write, it’s difficult to distinguish the two in your subconscious. Of course, you don’t always have to write in the same place. Although some writers need to be in one place at a single desk to get in the headspace, many authors can write from multiple locations with no problem. A good space for writing might be:

  • A dining room your family doesn’t use
  • A home office no one is using
  • A desk in your bedroom (facing away from the bed)
  • A coffee shop
  • On the porch
  • At the park

Set a Schedule

Every author can benefit from setting a designated writing time. Determine when you can work on your book and set a schedule. Some authors love sticking to a strict schedule. For others, a schedule is just a helpful guideline. At first, you may want to experiment with various lengths of time and days of the week. Figure out how long it takes you specifically to write what you want to write in a given day. Some writers may need to relegate their writing to 8 hours on Saturday. Others may have the luxury of spending 2 hours writing, 5 days a week. For inspiration from successful authors, check out Medium’s article: The Daily Routine of 20 Famous Writers (and How You Can Use Them to Succeed) .

Determine Word Count Goals

You should determine your word count goal for each writing session. Average word count goals for bestselling book authors range between 500 and 2,000 words a day. Again, for some authors, this strict word count goal is helpful. For others, it is nice to have a general goal to target — there’s no need to stress out if you don’t reach it. Of course, your word count goal is flexible. It depends on your writing schedule, your genre, your experience, your discipline, how far you are in your book, and your own personal writing habits. Many book writing tools, such as Atticus allow you to set daily word count goals and keep track for you.

Side note: Check out this fascinating article for more info: The Daily Word Counts of 19 Famous Writers .

Set Deadlines

A deadline for your writing makes you accountable. It gives you a tangible target. It drives you. How many of us didn’t do the college paper until the night before it was due? Well, you can’t write a book in one night, but the sentiment still applies. Setting a due date — even if it’s arbitrary — motivates you to keep writing, keep writing, every day on your schedule, and continue to reach your daily word count goal. Set up a way to track your time and word count progress. Atticus allows you to set an overall word count goal and a deadline to reach that overall word count. (I know I keep gushing about Atticus, but it just has so many amazing features .) Here’s a great article on How Long It Takes to Write a Book & Do it Well .

Do Your Research

Do not skip this step. This is not boring. It is necessary. You need to do your research on the market, your genre, and the specific topic you’ve chosen to write about. If you don’t, sales numbers and the quality of your book will suffer. Depending on your genre, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, and your familiarity with your future readers, you will probably need to conduct:

Market Research

Genre research, topical research.

Get to know your audience. Market research tells you what readers want. It may also predict the sort of sales you can expect. Market research might tell you that few people are interested in stories about a sentient clump of dirt. How would you market and sell that book ? Consider catering your story to the market research you discover. This isn’t selling out. This is catering to a particular audience. Figure out what your readers are looking for. Often, readers will respond to an audience avatar, which is a character the reader can really relate to. If you’re writing a fantasy book, I strongly recommend working dragons into your story. Dragons sell. The word “dragon” sells. A picture of a dragon on the cover sells.

If you’re writing a children’s book , don’t be afraid to bank on traditions: Boys love superheroes, and girls love princesses. If you’re writing a nonfiction book , try to reach an untapped market. A friend of mine is writing a book on a specific category of mobile software development that he couldn’t find any books on. He taught himself and now wants to teach others what he learned.

Genre research is critical. You need to deliver certain unspoken promises to your audience. Each genre has its own expected tropes and unspoken promises that you need to know to satisfy your reader. Find out what is typical for your genre:

  • Character archetypes
  • Word count/chapter length
  • Story structure
  • Common themes

Pro tip: Check the Amazon bestsellers list in your genre for hugely helpful research. If you write a romance book, for instance, and you don’t deliver on the expected tropes of romance, you’re going to get negative reviews and fewer sales. There is a fine line between unique and unsatisfying. Check out these great articles on genre research:

  • Tropes Readers Adore Across 15 Fiction Genres
  • 101 Horror Tropes
  • 7 Thriller Tropes That Have Stood the Test of Time
  • 101 Romance Tropes For Writers
  • Kid Novel Tropes
  • 101 Fantasy Tropes

Fiction or nonfiction, most books require some foothold in reality. Topical research entails the research you must do to fully understand what you’re writing. Readers can tell if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Even if a reader isn’t an expert, lack/misuse of jargon, an illogical timeline, or not following your own rules will key the reader in that you didn’t do your topical research. Then, you will lose credibility with the reader.

You don’t need to be a degreed expert on police procedures to write a police drama. You don’t need to scientifically study a unique type of plant to write about a forest. You don’t have to learn every detail of the War of 1812 to write a historical drama around that time. But it needs to be evident in your writing that you have taken the time to research important aspects of your book’s topic. If you can interview an expert, that’s an added bonus. You could even put that on the back cover or the foreword bragging that you did the in-person research. You need to get readers to trust you as a writer as early in your tale as possible.

Discover Your Voice & Tone

Discover your unique voice and the tone you’re most comfortable writing in. This may change between books, particularly if you swap genres or if you’re a nonfiction writer who now writes fiction. Find your unique words. Determine if humor has a place. How literary will your prose be? Read other books in your genre for inspiration. For example, one of my author friends decided to use “is/are/am/be” as little as possible in his prose, then go crazy with it in his dialogue — giving the dialogue a distinctly relaxed feeling separate from the prose. Another example is Jane Austen’s unique voice. I think of Elinor in Sense & Sensibility. Her intellectual, judicious voice was one of the first examples in the literature of the character speaking for themselves instead of an author avatar. If you benefit from writing prompts to discover your voice, try out Daily Prompt on iOS. Word to the wise: Deciding to employ unique grammar techniques is risky. Some readers are sticklers for grammar and may put down your book if it contains what they perceive as grammatical “errors.” For some readers, these choices are a distraction. For some authors, though, these changes are necessary or more aesthetically pleasing.

Choose the Best Book Writing Software for Your Project

You may already have Microsoft Word downloaded to your computer or be comfortable with Google Docs because you use it for work. But I implore you to choose the best book writing software for writing your individual project.

I use Atticus for all my fiction novel writing. MS Word may suffice, but it is definitely inferior to Atticus’s robust features emphasizing organization and customization.

Several book writing tools are available to try. Some cost a one-time fee, while others cost a monthly subscription fee. (I suggest the one-time price tag.) Be careful using Google Docs to write a novel. Once you get above 15,000 words or so, Google Docs slows down. It is designed for short-form, collaborative documents — not lengthy books, though their technology is improving. Below are 4 pieces of software for writing your book:

Microsoft Word

Read my more in-depth article on the Best Book Writing Software .

Use Atticus. It is unmatched in overall capability. Not only does it allow you to write great books, but it comes with tracking software to help you form effective writing habits, and it's a robust formatting software , which means you'll never need to use more than one program to handle the entire novel production process from start to finish.

Read my full review of Atticus .

How much does Atticus cost?

  • Atticus costs $147 as a one-time fee. This includes all current and upcoming features, including all writing, formatting, and collaboration features.
  • It works on virtually all platforms, including Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chromebook.

Scrivener is the next best thing. It has great organization and customization, but it has a steep learning curve, but only because it is such an amazing piece of software. You can upload all your research files (including images and audio) into the Binder sidebar, so everything shows up in one window. You can split-screen within Scrivener, bookmark files, or simply write with its distraction-free Composition Mode. Read my full review of Scrivener . How much does Scrivener cost?

  • Scrivener costs $49 (one-time) for Mac or Windows.
  • It’s $19.99 for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).
  • Reduced pricing of $41.65 is available for “students & academics.”

There is a full 30-working-day free trial that only counts the days you use the app. Use Kindlepreneur’s unique discount code (KINDLEPRENEUR) to get 20% OFF your purchase.

  • Download Scrivener 3 for Mac
  • Download Scrivener 1 for Windows , which is on par with Scrivener 2 for Mac (update coming in 2021)
  • Download Scrivener 1 for iOS , which is also on par with Scrivener 2 on Mac (a handy tool for on-the-go writing with an iPad or iPhone)

Ulysses is a sleek, easy-to-use, yet customizable book writing tool. Your project syncs automatically between devices, or you can store projects locally. Not only does it look great, but it also utilizes a drag and drop functionality with its Library feature. Unfortunately for Windows users, Ulysses works only on Apple products. The price has gone up in recent years. Ulysses now costs $5.99/month or $49.99/year. However, they do offer a free 2-week trial.

Microsoft Word is the industry standard for word processing. Most people think of MS Word when you say “word processor.” However, it’s meant for memos and business letters — not novel writing. Most writers probably use MS Word because it is so ubiquitous. Heck, the famous DOC/DOCX file format originated from Microsoft Word. Stephen King uses MS Word to write his book manuscripts, as do other authors. But there are many helpful word processors out there that boast more robust features ideal for writing a book. Word is cumbersome and only suitable for writing in a linear fashion. For many writers, it is helpful to write out of order or switch around the order of scenes and chapters. In MS Word, this is very inconvenient. How much does Microsoft Word cost? Microsoft Word costs $139.99 as a one-time purchase. Alternatively, you could spend $6.99/month (or more) for a subscription to Microsoft 365, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and 1 TB of cloud storage on OneDrive.

Get in the Author Mindset

To get in the author mindset, a million authors will do a million different things. Figure out what you specifically need to do to get into the writing mindset, and do that every time you get ready to write. What might help you get into that author mindset:

  • Walk around outside (my favorite brainstorming method)
  • Turn on relaxing or mood-setting music ( YouTube has every playlist imaginable, including ambiance scenes to transport you anywhere you wish you were writing)
  • Read a book
  • Listen to an audiobook
  • Read your outline where you’re about to start writing
  • Sit outside and breathe in the fresh air
  • Write in a journal
  • Doodle in a notebook
  • Close everything else on your computer
  • Clear your desk

Now that you’ve done the hard work of preparation, it’s time to outline your book! This is where we diverge from planning that applies to fiction and nonfiction and focus more on an outline for a fiction novel. (If you’re writing a nonfiction book, skip to section 3 for helpful writing tips.)

Yes, you need to outline your book — whether it’s vague or very detailed. For some authors, a very general outline can give your story direction and focus, like a roadmap. For others, a highly detailed outline prevents writer’s block, improves pacing, avoids plot holes, and saves time editing after the fact. How do you begin to write a book? You begin to write a book by writing the book’s outline. Writing an outline ahead of time can preemptively prevent writer’s block, plot holes, and pacing problems. And you can always edit your outline later; it’s a living document.

  • Choose an outline type
  • Pick an outlining software
  • Actually write the outline

Check out my in-depth guide: How To Outline A Novel .

Choose an Outline Type

There are many types of novel outlines. Some are more detailed than others, so pick the outline type that best fits your individual needs:

  • A synopsis outline looks the most like an essay. When you write a synopsis , you need to summarize everything that matters to the story in 2-3 pages.
  • A beat sheet outline lists the “beats” of the story into individual paragraphs or bullet points. A beat is a change in tone, motivation, character development , etc.
  • A mind map shows the spatial relationship between characters, story beats, timelines, and chapters. You can map out any number of story elements on your mind map.
  • A scenes and sequences outline lists out all the scenes and sequences in your story, in whatever order you want. Switch the order and experiment with scene progression. This outline can be detailed or vague.
  • A character outline puts character development first. List out the critical moments in your character arcs. Check out How to Create a Character Profile .
  • A skeleton outline lists out the key plot points in your story. It is the most sparse approach to outlining.

Pick an Outlining Software

Whatever outlining software you pick, it should help you. That’s the only requirement. The best outlining software can be the same as your novel writing software. But some authors find it useful to utilize software explicitly designed for novel outlining.

  • Scrivener offers ready-made, built-in templates for plotting out all sorts of books and genres. Using these templates, you can organize your thoughts into an effective novel outline.
  • The Novel Factory is a structure-heavy novel outlining software. Easy to use, genre-specific templates, robust export capabilities — the main downside is that it isn’t available on Mac. Read my full review of The Novel Factory or download The Novel Factory today . Use my coupon code KINDLEPRENEUR to get 20% off your subscription.
  • Plot Factory is useful outlining software that offers straightforward templates, character creation features, world-building capabilities, and many more. Read my full review of Plot Factory or download Plot Factory today . Use my coupon code KINDLEPRENEUR for 35% for the first 12 months!
  • Plottr is a handy outlining tool that offers templates such as the 8 Sequences Method, Hero’s Journey , 12 Chapter Mystery Formula, and so much more. Read my full review of Plottr .
  • Microsoft Word offers a bunch of book outline templates that make creative writing easier. Plus, if you download any outline template from the web, you can likely open it with Word.
  • Google Docs is fantastic for collaboration . If you work with another person on your book outline, Google Docs autosaves to the cloud every few seconds across multiple devices at once.
  • Evernote helps you take notes in a modern, sophisticated way. Write down your notes however you want, share notes with others, and access Evernote across unlimited devices.
  • Ulysses creates projects out of fragments, such as chapters or scenes — a structure that lends itself to outlining in segments.
  • bibisco is a word processor that emphasizes character. Before you start writing, bibisco encourages you to fully map out your character beats and character arcs — great for character-led outlining.

Create the Premise

You need to create a premise for your novel. This gives your writing direction, helps with marketing, and provides you with an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a 30-second pitch about what makes your story interesting, unique, and worthy of attention. To create the premise of your novel, write down the following:

  • Main protagonist
  • Main antagonist
  • Secondary characters
  • Character motivations
  • Central theme
  • Inciting incident
  • The book description (seriously, you want this written before you write the book)

Now brainstorm. Write down all your thoughts, even the bad ones. Don’t censor your ideas. There are no bad ideas when you’re brainstorming. Break up your book into smaller pieces. Determine the natural progression of your main idea and central theme. Finally, consider your reader’s perspective. Is this book’s central idea what your readers want? Figure out the intersection between what you find most interesting and what audiences find most interesting. Now you have created a premise that will give your writing focus and direction. You can use this premise to entice potential readers, editors, agents, or publishers.

Craft the Setting

The setting is where the story takes place. The setting should enhance character development, plot points, mood/tone, atmosphere, suspense, the passage of time, etc. You must craft a setting that is:

  • Interesting
  • Evocative of some emotion
  • Vital to the central theme
  • Important to your character(s)
  • Well-fleshed out
  • Well-researched

Even if you don’t write down everything about your setting in the actual book, you need to understand everything about your setting. Readers can tell if you’re making the setting up as you go or if you know more than they do about where the story takes place.

Construct the Characters

Next, construct your characters , the story element with which most readers connect the most.

You must give each significant character (at least the protagonist and antagonist) a satisfying character arc. Many readers will care more about the character development than the plot development! The plot should serve characters as much as characters contribute to the plot. Give each major character:

  • Motivations
  • External conflict(s)
  • Internal conflict(s)
  • Complex relationships with other characters
  • Backstory (avoid cliches, which are very easy to include in backstories)
  • Distinct traits , including physical and personality attributes
  • Strengths and weaknesses (character flaws are essential!)

You can base characters on real-life people, but I recommend not basing your character entirely on an individual person that you know. Instead, take inspiration for one character from multiple real-life people.

When you put your character through challenging situations, remember that you should construct characters that make bold choices that move the plot forward. Your main character should be more than just an observer.

Develop the Plot

Now that you have your outline type, outlining software, premise, setting, and characters, it’s time to develop your plot.

A plot is what happens in a story.

  • In the beginning, decide what exposition you need to occur in the plot before the inciting incident. How will you introduce your main character(s)? How will you get readers to care about the main character(s)?
  • After the inciting incident that starts the central conflict of the book, what rising actions occur? There should be twists and turns, surprising character development, and satisfying payoffs to promises made by the genre choice or premise.
  • To avoid the mid-novel slump, continue to put your character through hardships and mini-conflicts that engage the reader and keep up your story’s pace.
  • Usually, before the climax, the main character faces their lowest point. This is where he or she hits rock bottom.
  • The climax should solve the main conflict of the novel. It should be the most intense, satisfying section of your book.
  • The resolution is usually pretty short. What character arcs and side plots need to be resolved? Are there any unanswered questions?
  • Finally, a denouement is the very ending. What is the last thing that happens in your book?

Some authors may benefit from writing their plot on a physical piece of paper or index cards to start with. It may help to use a plot structure, especially if this is your first time writing a novel. You can use any of these templates (or none of them — it’s your book!):

  • Three-Act Story Structure
  • Hero’s Journey Template (by Joseph Campbell)
  • The Snowflake Method (by Randy Ingermanson)
  • Save the Cat Beat Worksheet (by Blake Snyder)
  • The One-Page Outline

It may sound simple, but writing a book takes hard work and determination. You have your goals, your space, your topic, and your research. Now you need to write that book!

Read my article on How to Start a Story that Hooks Readers Right Away . As long as you have an outline, writer’s block and procrastination shouldn’t be significant problems. Whenever you sit down to write, go to whatever scene in your outline speaks to you most. Yes, you can write a book out of order — and it’s easy to do with a detailed outline. Some authors may write in a very linear fashion. Depending on the narrative, it may be necessary to write every chapter and scene in order. There are many rules of writing a book, including industry standards for formatting, grammar, and avoiding cliches. I cover 20 major writing rules below, but there are also many “rules” of writing a book that you can choose not to obey, as long as you have a good reason. How many pages should a book be? A book can be any number of pages, depending on audience and genre. A novel is defined as at least 40,000 words (or about 150 novel pages), though most authors aim to double that word count. Fantasy and science fiction tend to be longer. Nonfiction books vary wildly, depending on how long it takes to thoroughly discuss the topic. Because you have the outline from the previous section, I’m not going to take you through how to write a beginning, middle, and end to your story. I’ve already covered how to outline those. However, I think this is the place for handy tips and tricks that every author should know.

Follow These Writing Principles

Although most of these are strong suggestions, not necessarily must-dos, these writing principles can guide you through your writing process and result in a higher quality book. 20 writing tips, tricks, industry standards, and guiding principles for authors:

  • Come up with a book title before you write. A title can give you direction, guidance, and focus. However, change it if need be. In the middle of writing, or after you’re finished, experiment with various title options. Check out this Book Title Generator .
  • Pick a subtitle for marketing purposes. A subtitle can increase your novel’s visibility by including valuable keywords that are great for searchability and marketing purposes.
  • Choose a basic typeface. When you’re writing a manuscript, stick with Times New Roman. When you’re submitting your manuscript to a publisher or a literary agent, they don’t want to see fancy fonts or weird formatting.
  • Don’t start with a cliché. Beginning clichés include waking up, looking in a mirror, lots of dialogue, a dream sequence, a weather description, backstory, and similar book beginnings you’ve heard many times. Some experts even argue against starting with an action scene or prologue, but I would disagree. Those last two can be done well.
  • Don’t start with an info dump. This is a common mistake for new book writers. They want to orient readers into their story’s world and setting. They want to immediately describe everything about their characters that they worked so hard to develop. But you need to start your novel with a hook, a little mystery, and an action (not an action scene, to be precise). An info dump on the first page will scare off readers, editors, agents, etc.
  • Stick to one perspective. If you want to write in a first-person perspective, stick to it. Same for third-person — but with the added caveat of omniscient vs. limited. Beginner’s tip: Don’t use the first person for a first novel; it can easily come off as amateurish and overly introspective. Also, most writers should never use more than 1-3 POV characters. George R.R. Martin is the rare exception.
  • Stick to one tense. Your book should probably be in the past tense. Present tense books from first-time authors tend to read as amateurish. However, young adult books may work in the present tense. Whatever you choose, stick to it. Do not go in and out of present tense. Read this article on when to use “had/have/has” in past tense flashbacks.
  • Use adverbs sparingly. Adverbs may be a crutch for many inexperienced authors. Instead of an adverb, you should use a powerful verb that expresses gripping action without needing an adverb. For example, instead of your main character “loudly saying” an important line of dialogue, perhaps she should “exclaim” it.
  • Avoid “to be. ” Like avoiding adverbs, avoid “to be,” and its conjugates is/am/are/was/were. Use them whenever necessary, of course. But “to be” may signal passive voice and can often be replaced with a more powerful verb.
  • Be careful with pronouns. Pronouns are great tools for avoiding repetition. However, you don’t want to confuse the reader with multiple he’s and she’s and they’s. When you finish a chapter, read it aloud and see if you confuse yourself with any pronoun usage.
  • Ensure every chapter has conflict. Without conflict, your reader feels no stakes or urgency. Every single page should feature conflict and the progression towards its resolution. When you’re about to write a chapter — or finish one — ask yourself if that chapter has/had conflict. No? Then cut it. (Or rework it.)
  • Make every sentence reveal character or advance the action. This is Kurt Vonnegut’s incredible advice that still holds true today. If a sentence doesn't accomplish one or both of these things, remove it. If the paragraph still makes sense, leave that sentence out.
  • Never answer every question. From the first page, your readers need a question that demands an answer. You can introduce any number of questions, but never leave all the questions answered. An unanswered question is what makes readers want to keep reading. Answer a question here and there to satisfy readers with a sense of progression, but never answer every question.
  • Avoid lengthy sentences. Sometimes, a long sentence is needed. More often than not, however, readers digest shorter sentences better. Especially in action scenes, suspenseful sequences, or heated arguments, lengthy sentences disrupt the momentum.
  • Format your dialogue correctly. Commas and periods almost always go inside quotation marks. Check out my article on formatting dialogue for more in-depth info.
  • Use dialogue tags sparingly. Dialogue tags, like “they said” or “she answered” or “Taylor sang” can be useful. However, replace dialogue tags with action tags from the speaker for more spice and less repetition. For instance, don’t write [Greg said, “Where are you?”]. Write [Greg cupped his hands around his mouth. “Where are you?”] instead.
  • Don’t use flowery dialogue tags. “Said” is basically an invisible word. You can use it over and over without the reader noticing. Don’t replace it with more exciting words: elucidated, informed, filibustered, clarified, etc. These can easily distract the reader and ruin the flow of the conversation.
  • Give your characters bold choices. Make sure your characters are making bold choices that progress the plot. No one wants to read about a casual observer in an otherwise fascinating narrative. The main character should directly affect the story.
  • Create likable characters. You readers will root for your characters if the characters do likable things. Have your character show kindness to someone who is bullied. Have your character tell the truth in the face of a lie. Have your character save a cat from a tree (any Blake Snyder fans?).
  • Create unlikable characters. Inversely, you probably want readers to hate certain characters in your book. Have your antagonist bully someone smaller or weaker than him/her. Have your antagonist lie, even if it’s petty and seems insignificant. Give your antagonist snarky comebacks to everything people say. But be careful — you don’t want too many unlikable characters. The most fun part of these characters is working in their comeuppance into the ending of your novel.

Take a Break Before Editing

Once you’ve finished your first draft, take a break. You deserve it! You’ll likely go through a second draft, third draft, beta reader draft, professional edit draft, and another professionally edited draft before you get to your final draft. But those will all be easier than writing the darn thing. You’ve conquered the behemoth. You’ve finished a book. No one can take that away from you. Now sleep in for a few days.

Editing your book may take a lot of time, but it doesn’t have to be difficult or stressful.

You must edit your own book; then , you must hire a human editor. There’s no getting around it. No professional author publishes his/her first draft: not James Patterson, J.K. Rowling, or Joyce Carol Oates. You need to edit your own book to be the best it can be before an editor makes it even better. You need to hire a human editor to go over your book, or readers will be distracted by every little mistake you missed: grammar, spelling, word choice, amateurish writing style, all sorts of errors. Now here’s where the article diverges into 2 paths:

  • If you’re traditionally publishing, the publishing house will pay for a human editor.
  • If you’re self-publishing, you will need to pay for a human editor.

When editing, it’s almost always better to cut than to add. Although it can feel like you’re cutting off parts of your baby, some subplots, useless characters, lengthy descriptions, and directionless twists hurt your story more than they help it. Let’s break up the editing process into 3 steps:

  • Developmental edits
  • Scene edits

Developmental Edits

When editing, you should deal with developmental edits first. These are big picture edits that become clearer after the entire narrative has been created. For a nonfiction book, these edits frequently involve the clarity, focus, and consistency of your primary theme. Ask yourself questions such as:

  • Are there places the information or storytelling bogs down the pace?
  • Is my voice consistent throughout the book?
  • Are there any gaps in my content or places where the flow feels disorganized?
  • Does my book meet the need of my audience or just my own vision?

Read Cascadia’s breakdown of developmental editing for nonfiction books . For a fiction book, developmental edits include making changes to your:

Your characters should have clear motivation , distinct characteristics, believable choices, and satisfying character arcs. Readers experience your book through the characters’ eyes, so characters are usually your most important story element. Changing characters may mean changing many scenes or even adding scenes to elucidate their traits and motivations. Your plot should be engaging, believable, satisfying, and free of plot holes. Your plot should follow a plot structure and genre expectations. If your plot doesn’t check any of these boxes, consider editing your story’s overall plot. This might mean cutting out or adding entire chapters. Make sure there are no loose ends or plot points that go nowhere. Your ending should be preceded by a build-up, foreshadowing, set-ups, and a clear central theme summed up by said ending. Your conflict should engage the reader, further the character development, and make them want to keep turning pages. Consider editing your central conflict if you see ways to strengthen your conflict. Every chapter needs to have a conflict, as well as advancing the overall conflict. Look through your table of contents , and ask of each chapter, “What is the conflict happening in this chapter?” Your theme needs to be clearly conveyed, usually via your plot, characters’ motivations, and conflict/resolution. If you think your themes don’t come across clearly enough, you may need to adjust certain scenes to clarify your central theme. Beta readers are really helpful in determining whether your themes come across.

Scene Edits

We’ve got our big picture developmental edits out of the way. Now let’s dive into scene-by-scene edits, a critical step for editing fiction. Here’s a checklist for when you do your scene edits:

  • Each scene and sequence should contribute to character development or the central conflict. Scenes can contribute to worldbuilding, backstory, and atmosphere, but no scene should go by without character development or conflict development.
  • Always start a scene in media res (in the middle of the action). It helps with pacing, keeps readers engaged, and offers up a mini-question for you to answer right away.
  • Always end a scene with a cliffhanger, however small. Keep your readers asking questions and turning those pages.
  • Make sure every scene is correctly oriented in time and location. Readers need to know where and when everything is happening. Near the beginning of each scene, insert a brief physical description of the unique qualities of where the scene takes place.
  • If one scene is a lot longer than other scenes, ensure that your physical descriptions aren’t overly long, or that your dialogue doesn’t go on and on, or that your action scenes aren’t slow-paced.
  • If one scene is shorter than other scenes, determine whether the pacing is too rushed, whether you skipped establishing time and location, or whether that scene could be combined with another.
  • Every scene needs a consistent voice, a consistent POV, and a consistent tone.
  • Of course, show, don’t tell in every scene.

Now you can proofread and edit your book, line by line. If you don’t have the dexterity to pour over every sentence for grammar, spelling, word choice, and more, then you can use proofreading software like ProWritingAid or Grammarly . Hemingway is another valid option, but it’s my third choice compared to the other two. List of common errors you should fix in copy edits:

  • Passive voice
  • Too many commas
  • Filter words (which are most common when writing in the first person)
  • Too many adverbs
  • Inconsistent voice or POV
  • Too many pronouns, especially the nonspecific “it”
  • Sentences that go on, and on, and on
  • Improper subject-verb agreement
  • Misused words
  • Repeated words
  • Overused jargon

Stop Editing Your Own Book

Once you’ve edited and edited and edited, know when it’s time to stop. You’ve done well. You’ve spent the time necessary to improve your manuscript. Now reward yourself with a week’s rest.

Authors may have big egos.

Not you, of course — other authors…

But it is essential to separate yourself from your work and get feedback from beta readers, professional proofreaders, and editors. You can get feedback from anyone, but I recommend you seek feedback mainly from folks who know something about writing, publishing, or book marketing. Librarians, avid readers, English majors — these people may give you the most constructive feedback.

Enlist Beta Readers

Enlist beta readers to give you feedback. Find willing beta readers on social media , friend groups, and anywhere else you can imagine. Alternatively, you can find a critique partner. This is basically a beta reader for whom you also beta read. Usually, critique partners have some experience in the field, so they can prove very helpful. Plus, most are free. How many beta readers should you have? You should have at least 3-5 beta readers, but some new writers cast a wider net for more feedback opportunities. Unfortunately, some beta readers may never get around to reading your work. They are doing this for free, so don’t harbor too many grievances. I do recommend creating some kind of guide, like a few questions to ask themselves as they're reading. A deadline can also help. Although you want feedback, don’t necessarily make any changes until 2 or 3 beta readers give you the same feedback. Some authors enlist beta readers after they’ve hired a professional proofreader. But I say that’s not necessary.

Hire Editor(s)

You need at least one professional human editor to look over your work. And yes, this is after you’ve edited it yourself. You need to present your best work to a human editor and let him or her make it even better. If you’re publishing through a traditional publisher, they will hire editors in return for a share of your royalties. If you’re self-publishing, this is a necessary (and tax-deductible) expense. And I won’t lie to you: Full-time editors cost money. A copy editor or line editor is different from a proofreader. Here are the 4 types of editors , in chronological order of when they should be hired in your editing process:

  • Developmental editors are the first editor you should hire. They can be the most expensive, but they look at your whole book and help you know what big picture changes you should make to improve your overall story.
  • Line editors focus on the flow of ideas, transitional elements, mood, tone, voice, and style throughout your entire book. They make sentences crisper and tighter by fixing redundancy and verbosity issues and improve awkward sentence and paragraph construction without a full rewrite.
  • Copy editors make changes to the text, including spelling, grammar, word choice, syntax errors, and punctuation use. (“Copy editing” means something different in the UK; there, it’s akin to proofreading.)
  • Proofreaders search for last-minute spelling, grammar, and minor formatting mistakes. A professional proofreader looking over your formatted book should be the final step before publishing.

Of course, you don’t need to hire all four editors. I recommend hiring a developmental editor early in the editing process, a line editor near the end of the editing process, and a proofreader with formatting experience right before publishing. How do you find a great book editor? The best way to find a book editor you can trust is often a word-of-mouth referral from an accomplished author. You may also try book editing services that connect you with fantastic editors for your book. How much does an editor cost?

  • Developmental editors may cost $1,000 and $8,000, depending on your manuscript length and the individual proofreading professional.
  • Line editors charge between $600 and $2,000.
  • Copy editors run between $300 and $1,200.
  • Proofreaders will set you back between $200 and $1,000.

Check out these helpful articles:

  • Book Editing 101
  • Book Editing Blueprint (a fantastic class I’d recommend!)
  • List of the Best Book Editors and How to Select Them
  • Best Proofreading Software
  • Best Proofreading Services You'll Ever Find

Build Your Launch Team

Your launch team ( ARC team ) is a group of people who help your book launch prove as successful as possible. Members of your launch team leave (glowing but honest) reviews on Amazon and share the book’s launch with their circle of influence. The more book reviews you have, the more Amazon suggests your book to other readers. Also, good reviews of your book mean more people are likely to buy your book. A launch team could include:

  • Beta readers
  • Friends/family who want to support you
  • Fans of your previous work
  • Readers of your blog
  • Followers on your social media
  • Critique partners
  • Business contacts
  • Fellow authors

When you recruit launch team members, make sure they know what to do on launch day/week and kindly hold them accountable for following through. Offer freebies to encourage follow-through.

Publish & Market Your Book!

Finally, it’s time to publish your book. And don’t forget you have to market your own book, too — whether you’re going through the self-publishing or traditional publishing process.

When you publish your book, make sure you format your book correctly , nail your back cover blurb , have a stellar book cover (traditional publishers will usually pay for this), and properly organize the front matter and back matter . Hopefully, you know that you have to start marketing your book long before it hits shelves and the online marketplace. Be sure to check out my podcast about book marketing . Here are some articles you can read to learn more about book marketing:

  • Book Marketing 101
  • Kindle Keywords for Self-Publishers
  • Ultimate List of the Best Book Review Blogs
  • How to Use Surveys to Sell More Books
  • Best Email Services for Authors
  • How to Sell Your Books in an Indie Bookstore

Dave Chesson

Related posts, writing a book for the first time a breakdown of the complete process, how to write the best novel outline of 2024: 6 easy steps, sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

3 thoughts on “ How to Write a Book in 2024: The Ultimate Guide for Authors ”

Loved this format, Dave – am currently editing my next book, so could skip right to that section for tips. The bloggers list will also come in handy for me very soon, so that’s much appreciated too!

I really enjoyed this article. There were many good points I never considered. I am a new writer. I self-published my first book in 2008, it is on Amazon. I am working on a second novel and it is in the revising stage. I cannot afford an editor, so I hope my editing will be enough. I plan to submit to Amazon.

Thank you so much for the hard work you put into making this information available for authors or soon to be authors, it was much needed.

I laughed over the idea of outlining software. Really? I do my initial outline in longhand in my plots notebook, where I also describe the characters. I wouldn’t feel connected to them if I did them onscreen. Then I outline 6 chapters ahead, on the end of my document, erasing or moving events around as I go with the chapters written. It sounds like someone has come up with a way to make authors spend more. If I want to write out of order, I add a scene or convo to the plot outline to slot in. Word is quite flexible enough! You don’t need any fancy software. Indeed, you can do it longhand with a separate notebook for outlines. And then edit the first time on transcription, which is more efficient than writing to screen. Only arthritis makes me abandon the habit.

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How to Start Writing a Book: The 5-Step Plan for Any Book Idea

April 22, 2015 by Brian Tracy --> Writing

As a bestselling author of 75+ books, I get a lot of questions from aspiring authors. So far, the most common questions have been centered around how to start writing a book .

Become a Best-Selling Author Plan and Write your Book in 90 Days or Less

Many people want to write a book but they don’t know where to begin.

“What comes first,” they ask, “the researching, the writing, the planning, or the outlining?”

Here’s the deal:

I have a system that will help anyone get through the process, from writing to publishing, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

In my experience, I have found that even if you understand all the steps that go into creating a book , taking the correct first step makes all the difference.

You should know:

Planning your book properly makes writing and publishing at least 10 times easier.

This is true for anyone who wants to write.

That includes you, even if you’re:

  • A beginner who wants to write a book about your life
  • An expert in your field who wants to advance your career
  • A published author working on another piece in your niche

One of the reasons that so many people never finish their book is because they did not properly plan it out.

By planning out your book before you start can save time and money, while saving yourself from hitting a wall after writing your first three pages.

How Do I Start Writing a Book?

It seems that most people have a burning desire to write a book .

The reasons for wanting to do so are varied. Some have a message they feel will help the world. Others want to become an author  because they have a desire to level-up in life or achieve expert status in their field.

No matter the driving force, I get the same questions from most of them: “ How do I start writing a book? ” and “How can I finish my book this time?”

They often seem to be frustrated. Sometimes they seem to be afraid of failure or burdened by self-doubt.

I would be frustrated, too, if I didn’t know how to plan a book, which is where I always start.

At the bottom of this post, you’ll find the same checklist for writing a book that I use. I encourage you to plan out your future bestseller entirely before you start on your first page.

This will help you create the big picture and lay out everything you’ll need to go from planning a book to publishing it. From there, you will essentially, only have to fill in the lines.

I guarantee you:

This is the best way to start a book and will save you from dealing with writer’s block later on. It also lays out everything you need to go from starting to finishing (and publishing) your soon-to-be bestseller.

By taking a few minutes to read this, it will save you hours of frustration from poor planning!

If you want, just skip down to the checklist at the end and print it out, or keep reading for all of the details.

This is How to Start Writing a Book in 5-Steps:

1. find your passion.

You have to be passionate about your subject to be able to write an entire book on it. You must believe in it.

Your passion for writing is your desire. It is your need to get your information into other hands because you care about it.

How to Find Your Passion

One of the best definitions of a writer is, “A person who can not write.”  Ask yourself these questions.

  • What are you writing about?
  • What do you have a passion for?
  • What knowledge or expertise do you have that could benefit the lives of others?

Why Do I Need to Have Passion to Start My Book?

If you are not passionate about what you write about, it will be much harder for you to write your book. One of your main goals should be to write something that you are proud of. You will be much prouder of your work when you start your story with passion.

2. Define Your Target Market

Your target market consists of the people that you think your book will appeal to. These are the people that will benefit most from your book. For example, if you are writing a book about attracting more business, the motivations for people to buy your product will most likely be business owners and entrepreneurs.

Exactly Who Are You Writing This book For?

Why will your book appeal to them? Answer these questions about your ideal reader to define your target market.

  • What are the hopes, fears, and dreams of your reader?
  • What are the desires and motivations of your reader?
  • What are the interests and concerns of your readers?
  • What are the problems that your reader has that your book will solve?

3. Define Your Demographics

Demographics are important to know when planning your book out because it will help define your voice throughout the story.

What Are Demographics?

Demographics are statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it. Identifying your demographics and your potential readers will help you further drill down into what readers you really want to target. If you are writing a children’s book, your demographic will be much different than if you were writing a book on marketing and sales.

Who Is Your Targeted Demographic?

Ask yourself these questions when identifying the demographics of your readers.

  • What is the age range of the prospective reader?
  • What is the sex of your ideal reader?
  • What is the income range of your ideal reader?
  • What is the job level or occupation of your ideal reader?
  • What is the level of education of your ideal reader?

Success coming too slow? Join my webinar below to become a best-selling author in less than 90 days!

planning writing a book

4. Expand Your Knowledge

Continuously expand your knowledge on the subject of your book. Buy, read, and find out everything you can about other authors, books or articles dealing with your same subject.

Why Should You Expand Your Knowledge Before Writing Your Book?

The answer to this question is simple…

You want your book to be different and more up to date than any other books on the market. This is what is going to make for a great book that sells more copies. There are many books on every subject out there. Your book has to stand out.

But, how do you do this?

Let me tell you…

How to Make Your Book Stand Out

In order to make your book stand out, it must have at least three different ways it is superior to others in the field. Ask yourself…

How is your book going to be superior to others in your area?

Then answer the question with 3 unique ways that it will. If you are writing a book about public speaking, what 3 things make your book different from other public speaking books? Perhaps you have a technique that you use that nobody else knows about. Maybe you have found the secret to delivering your speech shorter and faster than anyone else.

All of these things make your book unique to others.

Understanding what makes your book unique will help it stand out from the competition when you submit a book proposal  and when you choose your title .

5. Gather Your Information

Once you have answered all of these questions, you will need to gather all of the research that you will need to write your book. Plan your book, do your research and homework before you start to write.

How to Gather Information For Your Book

When you begin to gather information, you want to answer these questions.

  • Do you have all of the information you need to write your book?
  • Do you have solid examples and/or experiences that explain and back up each of your book points?
  • If not, what pieces are you missing?
  • Where will you find the missing pieces?
  • Is there any area that you’re unclear about?

Once you have all of the answers to these questions, you will be able to begin writing your book.

I am able to write 5 books a year because I plan out every detail before I begin writing. This is my tried and true technique of making sure I have everything I need before I begin.

Before you begin writing your book, ask yourself these questions …

  • What is my passion?
  • What is my ideal target market?
  • Who are my demographics?
  • Have I expanded my knowledge?
  • Have I gathered all of my information and done my research?

When I decide to write a book, I’ll sit down with a blank piece of paper and I’ll lay out the entire book on paper without reference to any resource material.

I can then write the whole book from beginning to end without even using my notes.

I’ll design a book by organizing the chapters and deciding which will be number one, two, and so on. Then I develop the subject, chapter by chapter. Then I’ll write an introduction to set up the subject and get everybody really interested.

But that’s not the very first step…

It all starts with what you really care about.

Key Takeaways From This Video

Start with your message and answer these questions first:

  • What message do you have that could really benefit other people?
  • What message do you have that you would want your children to know?
  • What message do you have that burns inside of you?

Select one main idea for your book. Write at the top of a piece of paper, “What are all of the things I would want to talk about or include in this book?”

Answer this question with a list of everything that you want to talk about in the book. This is the starting point of your book.

I use this technique every time I want to write a book, which means I’ve used it now over 75 times to write books.

Thanks for reading. Questions or comments?

After you get your book started, be sure to figure out the rest of the process with my advanced guide, How to Write a Book .

How to Start Writing a Book (10-Minute Guide)

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter , Facebook , Pinterest , Linkedin and Youtube .

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How to plan a novel in Milanote

planning writing a book

Follow this step-by-step guide to learn the modern process of planning a novel in Milanote, a free tool used by top creatives.

Starting a novel can be an exciting but daunting experience. It's the beginning of the creative process—where your mind is overflowing with ideas, inspiration, and plans. This guide will help you organize everything in one place so you can begin writing with confidence. You'll brainstorm ideas, collect inspiration, research your topic, dream up unique characters and create an outline for your story. At the end you'll have a solid foundation that will speed up the entire writing process.

In this guide you'll learn how to plan and organize your novel...

  • 1. Set up your plan Create a place to plan your novel
  • 2. Research Collect articles and data
  • 3. Brainstorm Generate ideas & characters
  • 4. Moodboard Organize inspiration & references
  • 5. Outline Map out the sequence of events
  • 6. Character profile Create vivid, believable characters

1. Set up your plan

Traditionally, your ideas and plans might be scattered across various sticky notes, to-do lists, spreadsheets, and documents, making it hard to keep track of everything and get a bird's-eye view of your project. A central project plan combines these artifacts into one easy-to-access place. It will evolve over the lifespan of your novel but usually includes:

  • Inspiration and moodboards
  • Character profiles
  • To-do lists
  • Comments and feedback from others

Planning board for a novel

Create a new board to plan your novel.

Create a new board

Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.

Choose the Novel Plan template.

Choose a template 

Each new board gives you the options to start with a beautiful template.

2. Research

Whether you're writing a sci-fi thriller or historical fiction, research is a crucial step in the early writing process. It's a springboard for new ideas and can add substance and authenticity to your story. As author Robert McKee says "when you do enough research, the story almost writes itself. Lines of development spring loose and you'll have choices galore." When you bring your research into one place and see things side-by-side, new ideas and perspectives start to emerge.

Writers research guide step08

First, open the Research board

You’ll find the board for collecting research on your Novel Plan board. Double click the Research board to open it and get started.

planning writing a book

Double click the  Research  board to open it.

Save links to articles & news

Wikipedia, blogs, and news websites are a goldmine for researchers. It's here you'll find historical events and records, data, and opinions about your topic. We're in the 'collecting' phase so just save links to any relevant information you stumble across.

planning writing a book

Drag a link card onto your board to save a website.

Install the  Milanote Web Clipper

Save websites and articles straight to your board. 

Save content from the web

With the Web Clipper installed, save a website, image or text. Choose the destination in Milanote. Return to your board and find the content in the "Unsorted" column on the right.

Collect video & audio

Video and movie clips can help you understand a mood or feeling in a way that words sometimes can't. Try searching for your topic or era on Vimeo , or Youtube . Podcasts are another great reference. Find conversations about your topic on Spotify or any podcast platform and add them into the mix.

planning writing a book

Embed Youtube videos or audio in a board.

Embed Youtube videos or audio tracks in a board

Copy the share link from Youtube, Vimeo, Soundcloud or many other services. Drag a link card onto your board, paste your link and press enter.

Collect important images

Sometimes the quickest way to understand a topic is with an image. They can transport you to another time or place and can help you describe things in much more detail. They're also easier to scan when you return to your research. Try saving images from Google Images , Pinterest , or Milanote's built-in image library.

planning writing a book

Use the built-in image library. 

Use the built-in image library

Search over 500,000 beautiful photos powered by Unsplash then drag images straight onto your board.

Allow yourself the time to explore every corner of your topic. As author A.S. Byatt says "the more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free".

Collect research on the go

You never know where or when you'll find inspiration—it could strike you in the shower, or as you're strolling the aisles of the grocery store. So make sure you have an easy way to capture things on the go. As creative director Grace Coddington said, "Always keep your eyes open. Keep watching. Because whatever you see can inspire you."

planning writing a book

Download the  Milanote mobile app

Save photos straight to your Research board.

Take photos on the go

Shoot or upload photos directly to your board. When you return to a bigger screen you'll find them in the "Unsorted" column of the board.

That's a great start!

Research is an ongoing process and you'll probably continue learning about your topic throughout your writing journey. Reference your research as you go to add a unique perspective to your story. Read the full guide on Organizing research for your novel to learn more.

3. Brainstorm

You have an idea for a story. It's just a spark at the moment, but you can't stop thinking about it. Now is the time to harness your creative energy and turn your idea into something real. And brainstorming is the perfect technique for the job.

Brainstorming is a classic creative technique for generating new ideas quickly. You can use it to dream up new characters, settings, or even explore themes you want to include in your book.

story ideas brainstorm step06

First, open the Brainstorming board

You’ll find the board for brainstorming on your Novel Plan board. Double click the Brainstorming board to open it and get started.

planning writing a book

Double click the Brainstorming board to open it.

Start with your central topic

What's the central idea or concept for your story? This is your starting point. It might be just a rough idea at the moment or a topic that you want to explore, but this process will help you see how far you can take it. Add a note that describes your concept in 1 to 2 sentences to get started.

planning writing a book

Add a note to describe your central idea.

Drag a note card onto your board

Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left hand toolbar.

Your initial idea doesn't need to be something groundbreaking, you'll transform it over time. As Steven Spielberg says "All good ideas start out as bad ideas, that's why it takes so long."

Add as many ideas as you can

Now it's time to get creative. Start adding any ideas that relate to your main concept. Think about different parts of your story, locations, characters, or even the history of your topic. Explore every thread until you fill the board. Don't worry about evaluating your ideas yet, that will come later.

planning writing a book

Add a note for each idea.

Add inspiring imagery, motion & sound

Sometimes it's easier to communicate an idea with an image or video, especially if it's a mood or style you're trying to express. Gather reference imagery, videos, and sound and add them into the mix. Images can help define things like fashion, character attributes and emotions, scenes, and more.

planning writing a book

Use the built-in image library.

Drag images from your computer onto the board.

Upload a image or document  

Click the "Upload file" button or just drag a file onto your board. You can add images, logos, documents, videos, audio and much more.

Finally, organize your ideas into themes

Once you've explored tangents and shared feedback, the next step is to make connections. This is where you see the magic of brainstorming.

Start by grouping similar ideas to uncover patterns in your thinking. Add a title to each group so it's easy to scan. You might find your ideas fall into groups like story, location, characters, or scenes, but there are no rules about how you do it.

planning writing a book

You're done brainstorming

Now that your brainstorming session is complete, you have some strong ideas and you should start to see your initial concept coming to life! Remember, just as creativity and inspiration is constantly evolving, so are ideas. Come back and add to the brainstorm when inspiration strikes. Read the full guide on brainstorming ideas for a novel to learn more.

4. Moodboard

During brainstorming, you imagined the different parts of your story. It's time to start collecting inspiration with a moodboard (or "inspiration" board). It's a technique used by designers, filmmakers, and photographers but works just as well for creative writing.

Moodboards can help you visualize any aspect of your project. You can use them to figure out how a character or location could look. Or they could be centered around the era or the emotion you want to capture. You can create a moodboard for each of these separately or mix them all into one board. There are no strict rules.

novel moodboard step06

First, open the Moodboard

You’ll find the board to make your moodboard on the Novel Plan board. Double click on the Moodboard to open it and start adding your inspiration.

planning writing a book

Double click the  Moodboard to open it.

Collect existing material

Start by adding any existing material you have—this could include images you've saved to your computer as inspiration. Just drag and drop them onto your board.

planning writing a book

Drag files from your computer.

Upload a file or document  

Add inspiring imagery.

The imagery you bring into your moodboard is what helps you express the feel of your story. Images can help you define things like tone, emotion, or a feeling you might be struggling to capture as you're writing. Use Milanote's built-in image library or search for visual elements from around the web. Don't worry about organizing the images just yet, that step will come later.

planning writing a book

Save images from other websites straight to your board.

Roll over an image (or highlight text), click Save, then choose the destination in Milanote. Return to your board and find the content in the "Unsorted" column on the right.

Transform your board from messy to organized

Once you have all your inspiration in one place, the next step is to arrange your ideas to create the perfect composition. Try combining different elements together. This is where you'll start to see new ideas appear. Perhaps the combination of two unrelated images will trigger an exciting new storyline.

planning writing a book

Resize your images to add hierarchy.

Resize images

Drag the corner of an image to resize it. Double-click the corner to return it to its original size.

Crop images.

Crop images

Double-click an image and press edit to crop or rotate it.

You’ve finished the moodboard!

Now that your moodboard is complete, you have a powerful visual reference for your story and hopefully a bunch of new ideas. Remember, you can create multiple moodboards to explore different aspects of your story at any time. Read the full guide on making a moodboard to learn more.

Next, we'll start outlining your story.

A novel outline is often described as a roadmap or blueprint for your story. It helps you see the big picture and plan the sequence of scenes, characters, and ideas that will become your novel. It's a simple, flexible technique to help all types of writers stay organized.

This method is perfect for 'visual' writers—those who prefer to see the big picture as a sequence of events. Think of it as the modern, digital equivalent to the corkboard or wall of sticky notes, but much easier to manage.

Writers outline guide step02

First, open the Outline board

You’ll find the empty Outline board on the Novel Plan board. Double-click it to start adding the mapping out your story.

planning writing a book

Double-click the  Outline board to open it.

Map out the key scenes

Start by laying out the major scenes or events you know so far. These might be the key turning points, locations, or plot twists. Don't worry too much about the order or details yet, just get the main parts out of your head. This is a quick flexible way to brainstorm the centerpieces of your story.

planning writing a book

Add a Column for each key scene.

Drag a column onto your board

Name it, then drag any relevant notes or images into your column

Add high-level details

Next, add a sentence or a short paragraph for each scene. There are no rules for how much detail to add, do what works best for you. Think about what's being communicated in this scene, the location, and the characters involved. This will help you consider where characters are introduced and how this scene connects with the next one.

planning writing a book

Add a note to describe the plot points.

Get the sequence right

Seeing your story at this level lets you make connections between themes and concepts you might otherwise miss if you went straight into writing. Re-read your outline so far. Look for scenes that feel out of place. Perhaps your transitions need some tweaking or a character appears without a proper introduction. Highlight areas that need more work and move scenes or plot points around to get the sequence just right.

planning writing a book

Drag plot points around to get the sequence right.

Add imagery or video

While imagery probably won't make an appearance in your novel, this is a great technique for kickstarting new ideas. Experiment by adding images or movie clips that relate to your scenes. If you're the type of writer who creates moodboards, now's the time to see if you've already got imagery that could help evoke the feeling you're trying to capture. Try saving images from Google Images , Pinterest , or Milanote's built-in image library.

planning writing a book

You're done!

Now that you've finished a draft outline, you can start writing, confident that your story has a strong foundation. If you want to learn more about this stage, read the full guide on how to outline a story or start with one of 5 outline templates .

6. Character profile

One of the most integral parts of any story is crafting relatable and vivid characters. As writer Ernest Hemingway said, “When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”

The character profile is a popular technique for developing genuine personas for your story. It will help to shape a narrative as well as provide a handy reference point for their personality traits, backstory, goals, flaws, and challenges.

Character profile for a novel

First, open the Character profile board

You’ll find the first character profile board on the Novel Plan board. Double click on the Character board to open it and get started.

planning writing a book

Double click the  Character profile  board to open it.

Start with basic characteristics

A character might start as a bundle of random ideas, traits and plot points from your game concept, so it’s important to bring everything together in one place. You can begin to shape the character and make them original. Consider the emotional connection between your audience and your character, and work towards the desired outcome. You may find that switching the age and gender of a character can lead to very different responses from your reader.

planning writing a book

Add notes to describe your character.

Add an image to represent your character.

Click the "Upload file" button or just drag a file onto your board. You can add images, logos, documents, videos, audio, and much more.

Build their backstory

Your character's backstory describes the journey they have taken up to this point. It allows you to explore their fears, weaknesses, and motivations and to define their purpose. You can explain the character's methods and evaluations—why they act the way that they do, the choices they make, and how it drives the individual forward. Are they making progress towards their goal, or making things worse?

planning writing a book

Add a note to describe their backstory.

Drag a note card into your board

Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left-hand toolbar.

Give them quirks, faults, and flaws

Your character should come from an authentic place. That means that the character probably has some contradictions that make them a little out of the ordinary. If a character is too simplistic, it can feel cliched. Character flaws such as overconfidence, impatience, or recklessness can add new dimensions to a hero and make them feel more relatable.

planning writing a book

Add a note to describe their quirks and flaws.

Add visual references & examples

Even if you're writing a novel, visual references and inspiration can help bring your character to life. There are lots of fantastic sites where you can find great visual inspiration for free, like Pinterest or Google Images . You can also create a character moodboard at this stage to help explore all aspects of their appearance. See our guide on creating moodboards for a novel to learn more.

planning writing a book

Organise & refine

Once you have everything you need, it's time to organize your content into logical topics. There's no right or wrong way to do this. The goal is to make your character profile easy to scan and reference as you're writing the story.

planning writing a book

Use Columns to group related content

Create the rest of your characters

It's important not to fall into the trap of giving just one character too much responsibility for the drama in your story. Work on additional characters that compliment and contrast the traits of your main character. You can repeat the above process to develop a whole cast of characters that help bring your novel to life.

planning writing a book

Use the  Character Relationship Map template

You're all done!

Hopefully, this guide has helped you stay organized while building a solid foundation for your novel. If you're just starting a new story, use the Novel Plan template below to get set up in minutes.

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Story Planner’s easy-to-follow steps help writers plan novels, screenplays and more.

Writing is easier when you have a plan. We take you through each stage of the planning process to help you create a better story.

How Story Planner can help you

We offer a range of story plans to suit your writing style, whether you like a fast, easy planning method, or more detailed story structure.

We look at planning methods so you don't have to. We've selected the very best ways to plan a story and many popular methods used by successful writers.

Our plans can help with more than just plots. We can help you understand your characters, define your story setting, and understand why you write.

Story Planner Helper will guide you to choose the right plan. We have plans for every stage of the writing journey.

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It took J.K Rowling five years to outline the plots for her Harry Potter books - she used detailed spreadsheets and notes.

66% of writers plan their novels.

The majority of agents ask writers to send a one or two page story outline or synopsis.

"A pantser" is the word used to describe someone who writes without any planning. They write "by the seat of their pants."

Story structure was described by Aristotle in his "Poetics" in 335 BC. The Dramatic Structure he described is at the heart of many modern writing plans.

  • Choose from a vast range of templates.
  • Easy A-B-C steps to help plan story structure.
  • Save, edit and export your plans.
  • Try popular planning methods like the “Snowflake Method” and “The Hero's Journey”.
  • Keep all your ideas saved in one place. Add to and develop them when inspiration strikes.
  • Try Story Planner Novel Launcher to take you from idea to a book outline in 6 simple stages.

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Story planning and outlining: Complete guide

Story planning is an excellent solution to avoid getting stuck. Read why outlining stories is a smart choice, methods to plan stories, authors on planning and more, plus find extra resources on planning and story structure.

  • Post author By Jordan
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planning writing a book

This guide to story planning and outlining explores common planning terms and techniques in fiction writing, free and paid tools to plan your story, authors on their planning approaches, and more.

Key story planning terms

Explore common organizing terms you’ll find in articles and books on how to plan stories:

What are novel outlines and story maps?

A novel outline gives a simplified view of your story’s overarching arcs and development .

A working book title idea plus a wireframe to sculpt scenes upon helps stories take shape.

It could be a narrative version of your story written as a single page, a paginated PDF exported from a story planner (like Now Novel’s planning dashboard ), a spreadsheet or visual plot diagram (often called a story map).

Your outline should provide a helpful overview of your story’s structure. It should also make drafting a more guided, structured part of the writing process .

What is brainstorming?

Generating ideas in a short space of time through creative exercises. Idea-generating activities that form the first step of the writing process (prewriting) . For example:

  • Freewriting: Writing down anything that comes to mind on a topic, scenario or prompt for a set time
  • Answering questionnaires: A helpful way to brainstorm details about your story’s characters
  • Mind-mapping: Writing high-level concepts (e.g. ‘love’) on a page, then linking ideas visually (e.g. ‘romance’, ‘meet cute’, ‘lovers’ conflicts’) to niche down and find further ideas

What are drafts and ‘draft zero’?

A draft or rough draft of your story is a completed version of your manuscript, prior to polishing such as editing and revision.

In story planning, the term ‘draft zero’ is often used to refer to a planning process in which you write a complete, rough draft without stopping to edit.

This gets the bare bones of your story down and helps you create foundations and parameters (more on this where we discuss outlining methods below).

What is storyboarding?

Storyboarding is a planning approach typically used in visual storytelling such as TV, film and advertising (though you can use it to write narrative fiction too).

You create frames in sequence representing story beats or moments in the timeline of a scene to plan plot events in visual terms.

What are plot templates?

Print-outs, PDFs, or writing tools structured to enable you to fill in predetermined event-types to plan a story.

For example, a romance plot template may include important beats for a romantic story such as:

  • The meet cute: The moment future lovers first lock eyes
  • The refusal/not a chance: For example, Lizzie Bennet being put off by Mr Darcy’s insulting initial behavior in Jane Austen’s 1813 Regency romance, Pride and Prejudice
  • The second encounter: Another encounter during which romantic leads begin to understand each other better

Recommended reading

Find more on story outlining, brainstorming, planning first drafts and using story templates:

  • How to write a plot outline: 7 plotting techniques
  • Story ideas: Romance brainstorming in 8 easy steps
  • How to organize story scenes (plus scene structure template)

To the top ↑

I don’t start a novel until I have lived with the story for awhile to the point of actually writing an outline and after a number of books I’ve learned that the more time I spend on the outline the easier the book is to write. John Grisham

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Why outline stories? The plotter vs pantser debate

Why plan or outline stories at all?

There is a longstanding debate between the merits of plotting/planning books in advance vs ‘pantsing’ (noun: pantser). To ‘pants’ your novel means to write ‘by the seat of your pants’ – no story maps, no satnav.

Story planning pros: Reasons to prepare

‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’, and all that jazz.

Not necessarily – many writers do swear by a not-very-plotted process. In his interviews with The Paris Review , E.L. Doctorow said:

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. E.L. Doctorow, quoted by Nancy Groves in ‘EL Doctorow in quotes: 15 of his best’ in The Guardian , Wed 21 July 2015.

You can make the whole trip that way (and props to your driving/writing skills if you do). However it’s also easy to take a wrong turn. Or get stuck in the ditch of a muddy middle . Planning your story means:

  • Knowing what scenes you need to write.
  • Avoiding weaker structure with more fixing required later.
  • Being able to spot potential story arc issues sooner.
  • Having greater confidence because you know where your story’s going.
  • Keeping a wider view of scenes and chapters (your story’s overall cohesion).
  • You keep process material that makes it easier to track and monitor structural changes and any necessary plan departures.
  • You can build wins upfront (the planning) that set up momentum for your draft.
  • You have a stronger chance to produce a rough draft that already has the padding taken out.

Story planning infographic - 8 reasons to plan

Pantser vs plotter compromise: Planning your way

What if you’re a veteran pantser and you love the freedom of the blank page, writing without fog lights?

If you prefer pantsing to plotting, you could do minimal planning to at least organize your writing process (if not the full plot):

  • Outline one step ahead in pairs of action and reaction. This will help to ensure cohesion from scene to scene.
  • Treat your pantsing first draft as a ‘draft zero’ – prep work for whatever you’ll keep for a second (if necessary more plotted) draft.
  • Create a reverse outline as you go. Summarize the events of each chapter in a paragraph once you’ve written it. It will help you keep the total story cohesion in mind and remind you of what makes sense to follow.
  • Plan scene-by-scene and chapter focus only. Character questionnaires and brainstorming in detail not for you? Use a corkboard (like the Now Novel Scene Builder) to just plan the basic events of each scene or chapter before you sit down to write, without extra preparation.

Have you found your own compromise between planning and pantsing stories that works? Share your approach in the comments.

Download a free story planning and progress tracker template we made in Google Docs.

story planning template and progress tracker in Google Docs made by Now Novel

(Go to the ‘file’ menu and select ‘make a copy’ of the file after logging in to your Google account to gain editing permissions and save a private version of the outline template to your own Google Drive).

Learn more about plotter and pantser approaches:

planning writing a book

  • Story plotting and structure: Complete guide

Read more about story plotting and planning stories’ structure in our complete guide.

Common pantser writing challenges - how to fix them | Now Novel

Common pantser writing challenges (and how to solve them)

Read more about common challenges pantsers face (and ways to overcome them).

I am a hopeless pantser, so I don’t do much outlining. A thought will occur to me and I’ll just throw it into the story. I tell myself I’ll worry about untangling it later. I’m glad no one sees my first drafts except for my poor editor and agent. Marie Lu

Book planning methods: Becoming a story organizer

If you don’t want your poor editor and agent to wring their hands in despair, over a book that doesn’t materialize (or may flop without substantial development), planning helps you stay on top of your process .

Explore organizing factors in novels and methods for outlining your story below:

Story outlining techniques

There are several story outlining techniques you could try. You could:

1. Plan a story by writing a synopsis first

It may seem a strange idea to write a synopsis of a story you haven’t written yet. It’s a useful way to get the cogs of story whirring, though.

The Now Novel dashboard walks you through planning stories from your Central Idea into writing a one line, then one paragraph, then one page synopsis. The expanding of your idea unlocks further ideas and questions to answer.

2. Summarize scenes and sequels to outline connected chapters

If you prefer to outline scene by scene (a compromise with pantsing), scenes and sequels provide one way to organize your story.

In Techniques of the Selling Writer , Dwight Swain divides story units into ‘scenes’ and ‘sequels’. Each unit has three parts:

Scenes as units of action, says Swain, should contain a goal which leads to a conflict , then disaster .

Scene example

A man named Mr Lockwood goes to inquire about lodgings ( goal ) where he is treated inhospitably by his landlord Heathcliff and attacked by the landlord’s dogs ( conflict ). He cannot leave because they are snowed in for the night ( disaster ). This is the opening scene of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights .

According to Swain, a sequel consists of a reaction to the previous scene , then a dilemma , then a decision .

Sequel example:

Mr Lockwood goes to bed where he reads a woman named Catherine Linton’s diary ( reaction to being snowed in). He dreams Catherine’s ghost is at the window begging to be let in. He is in a dilemma when his cries awaken his already grumpy, now angrier landlord. So he decides to walk in the yard until sunrise and depart ( decision ).

3. Plan scenes and chapters on index cards, post-its, corkboards

If you’re a visual planner or prefer a more physical planning activity, writing out summary index cards for scenes ( like Vladimir Nabokov did ) or using post-its and corkboards is useful.

When we chatted to mystery series author Dr Bonnie Traymore (whose first novel was developed with the help of our Kickstart your Novel course ), Bonnie shared:

I used the services of Hedi Lampert who works for Now Novel and she gave me an idea of taking post-it notes and putting scenes on a whiteboard, and just kind of pasting it on, and that that worked pretty well for me. I know there’s a lot of online stuff that you can do. But for me, the physical act of writing and putting it on got me off the computer and standing up because writing and sitting is such a sedentary process. Author Bonnie Traymore, interviewed by Jordan Kantey for Now Novel.

4. Plan story beats in actions and reactions

If a novel planning approach using Swain’s scenes and sequels sounds too complex, try simple units of ‘action’ and ‘reaction’ . Example:

Action: Evacuation order pamphlets rain down on a city. Reaction: The city’s inhabitants including a blind protagonist must leave urgently. ( All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr).

The reaction becomes the seed for new actions and reactions.

5. Use three-act structure (or modified three-act structure)

Three-act structure is an approach to story structure deriving from Aristotle’s theories on dramatic structure in Greek antiquity. The simple premise that a story should have a beginning, middle, and end.

Three-act structure is divided into:

  • Act 1: This introduces core characters such as the protagonist and important figures in their life, as well as the inciting incident . The inciting incident is the event (or series of events) that urges your character to act/depart/commit to a goal.
  • Act 2: The middle third of the story typically includes complications, conflicts, mistakes, discoveries. If the protagonist’s goal seemed straightforward before, Act 2 reveals it won’t be a cakewalk.
  • Act 3: The final third of the story includes the climax (where conflict or complication reaches a peak) and denouement (unresolved plot threads resolve).

You could create a ‘Scene Group’ for each act in the Now Novel Scene Builder named ‘Act’ plus the act’s number.

Next, fill each act with scene cards describing actions and reactions to flesh out each act’s connected story events.

Now Novel Scene Builder - Example of planning story acts

6. Plan using the Hero’s Journey

Many archetypal stories have similar narrative structure.

For example stories that follow ‘The Hero’s Journey’ (theorized by Joseph Campbell) or one of several modern versions of Campbell’s ideas (such as Dan Harmon’s simplified ‘Story Circle’ ).

Say, for example, you take a ten-part version of the hero’s journey .

The average length of a paperback novel is 80,000 words. Divide that by ten and you have a plan of 8000 words per each section of the heroic tale (Birth, Call to Adventure, Meeting the Helper, etc.).

7. Use other methods (MICE, the snowflake method, Saves the Cat)

There are various other story planning methods. Inevitably when we discuss outlining, someone will comment, ‘what about so-and-so’s approach?’

A few other fiction planning options you could explore:

The MICE quotient

Nothing to do with rodents, this plotting concept introduced by Orson Scott Card and developed by Mary Robinette Kowal ( see a handy infographic on Kowal’s Patreon) divides stories into four types of event. These types may be linked and nested within one another:

  • Milieu – events driven by place or location.
  • Inquiry – events driven by questions your character has.
  • Character – events driven by questions your character has.
  • Event – events driven by action.

This is where plotting and planning stories can start to seem overwrought, too complicated.

Karen Woodward breaks down Scott Card’s story outlining method and Kowal’s refinement of it in helpful detail in a blog post series.

There is also Randy Ingermanson’s ‘Snowflake Method’ and Blake Snyder’s ‘Saves the Cat’ method (developed for screenwriting but adapted for novel-writing by Jessica Brody ). We also have a comprehensive guide to using the ‘Save the cat’ method.

Learn more about story structures that create payoffs for readers, structuring and organizing scenes, and more:

  • Story structure examples: How to create payoffs for readers
  • Story planner success: How to organize your novel
  • How to write a scene: Nailing purpose and structure
I’m a big fan of outlining. Here’s the theory: If I outline, then I can see the mistakes I’m liable to make. They come out more clearly in the outline than they do in the pages. Cynthia Voigt

Tools to plan stories: Software and cloud-based help

Tools to plan and outline stories provide shortcuts while rendering story connections clearer.

Cloud-based story planning tools: Advantages

The pros of cloud-based story planning tools include:

  • Safeguard story progress : There’s less chance of losing your story progress should your desktop or laptop system be lost, stolen or damaged (singer Lana Del Rey had to start a book for Simon & Schuster from scratch when her laptop was stolen!)
  • Lightweight story planning: No having to install story planning software that may slow down your system, all your progress can be saved in your browser
  • Access and add to ideas anywhere: You can plan your story on your phone then carry on using a desktop device or vice versa

Offline (software) story planning tools

The most popular offline or software-based story planning tools include Scrivener 3 by Literature & Latte (available for Mac and Windows) and Ulysses (for Mac devices including iPhone, iPad and Macbooks).

Advantages of software-based planning tools for stories include:

  • Not needing an internet connection: This isn’t a major advantage given how ubiquitous internet access is now. But helpful if you’re going off grid (or want to turn off online distraction to write)
  • Additional features and functionality: Many software-based story planning apps offer functionality such as exporting drafts to .mobi Kindle and other eBook formats

Which story planning software should you choose?

This really depends on your:

  • Budget (do you prefer subscription-based tools or once-off licensing? What are effective planning tools worth to you?)
  • Feature requirements (do you want to create a text-based outline or storyboard visually or a mixture of both?)

Many Now Novel members have said they use a combination of Scrivener and Now Novel’s story outlining dashboard for a mix of browser-based planning, feedback and writing craft information, plus offline drafting and book formatting and file conversion.

What do book planning tools cost?

It varies by platform. For the most popular software-based apps:

Scrivener: $49 for a once-off license Ulysses: $5.99 per month or $39.99 per year

The Now Novel dashboard is a little different (read more eclectic). For $15 per month (accurate ‘The Process’ pricing as of October 2022), you get:

  • Story planning tools with unlimited stories and storage: A downloadable, paginated PDF with links back to edit your outline from each section grows as you answer structured prompts
  • Live writing webinars with authors and editors: Attend writing webinars and workshops (including first page workshops and other practical panels) with published authors and editors. Includes a growing archive of recorded sessions
  • Weekly feedback from an editor in Now Novel groups on submissions to the Now Novel feedback community
  • Exclusive subscriber newsletter with bonus content and member spotlights

What free novel planners are there?

Most tools have license or membership fees as hosting space, development, support and other features all have associated costs.

However you can also use free tools such as Google Docs and Google Sheets to plan stories.

How to plan stories using Google Docs

Google Docs offers several useful features that can be used to create summaries and outlines.

Story outlines with sidebar navigation

In Docs, create an outline with links to jump between sections such as chapters, scenes, acts, or wiki-like entries (for example, you could create a structured document with details on each of your story settings).

  • Create a new Google Docs document.
  • Give your plan a title such as ‘scene outline for [story name]’.
  • Click the + next to SUMMARY to enter a summary of the purpose for this story-planning document.
  • Click ‘Normal Text’ in the toolbar at the top to choose different sizes of heading to use. Each will add to your document’s sidebar, creating easy links to jump between sections of your outline (use a smaller-sized heading to create nested sections within larger ones, e.g. scene summaries within chapters).

Example of a Docs-based story plan

Here is a story plan created using the above approach:

Example story plan created using Google Docs - Cinderella

Creating a table for planning and tracking story progress

See the section under ‘progress’ above for checking off your story’s progress according to your plan? To create similar:

  • Click ‘Insert’ in the top toolbar in Google Docs
  • Navigate down to ‘Building Blocks’.
  • Insert the block type called ‘product roadmap’ (your story plan is your product in this case).
  • You can rename the standard column headers anything (in this case, ‘Project’ was renamed to ‘Chapter’).
  • Rename the standard drop down selection items – click the drop down under the column ‘status’, then ‘Add/edit options’ and rename status options as you choose, then click ‘apply to all’ so that every row will have the same options.

How to plan stories in Google Docs with even more structure

To really level up your story planning in Docs (requires paid Now Novel membership ), use Now Novel’s Google Docs add-on. This enables you to view your Now Novel outline in sidebar on the right as you draft per the screenshot below:

Story planning in Google Docs - Now Novel add-on

How to use your Now Novel story plan in Google Docs

  • Click ‘Extensions’ in the top toolbar of your document.
  • Navigate to Add-ons > Get add-ons.
  • Search for ‘Now Novel’ and click ‘Install’ to add the add-on to your Google Docs. Confirm permissions to allow logging into your Now Novel account from within Docs.
  • Under ‘Extension’, find ‘Now Novel’ and click ‘Start’.
  • Sign into your Now Novel account using your Now Novel username and password.

If the above steps were successful, your currently active story outline should load. Find links back to edit each section from the sidebar, too, and all your characters, plot points, setting and scene ideas.

Learn more about novel planning tools, Now Novel’s outlining dash and Google Docs add-on, and more:

  • 7 writing productivity tools to work smarter
  • Novel planner tools: 7 tips to propel your progress
  • Writing tools: Now Novel’s Scene and World Builder

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Authors on planning books

There are (as the above examples show) many ways to plan books and shorter stories. The main thing is to find the method that works for you .

Read authors on the type of planning they do to write novels and other stories (and why they do it):

Sophie Hannah on why planning books is fun (and safer)

Crime author Hannah compares planning stories to doing home renovations :

The main reason I’m a planner is that it’s huge fun! It makes life SO much easier for a writer, and it gives you something concrete to look forward to. I would hate to start writing a novel with no clue as to what might happen from chapter to chapter, or how it might end. It would be like stripping the old wallpaper in your house and pulling up all the old carpets with literally no idea how you want the rooms to look at the end of the process Sophie Hannah, ‘Why and How I Plan my Stories’

Kim Wilkins on planning solving any structural issues early

Dr Kim Wilkins is a senior lecturer in writing, editing and publishing at the University of Queensland.

In a podcast, she told the Australian Writers’ Centre:

Well, I’m a plotter, that’s how a book is written quickly and that’s how they come out the right shape, they don’t require much structural feedback, and you can just get on with the line edit and publish the damn thing. I will brainstorm the beginning with a bunch of scenes, or brainstorm part of the middle, and then I plot maybe two chapters ahead, in quite a lot of detail. And that means that when I sit down to write, when I turn off the internet and have my two hours, I look at my notebook and I go, “OK, well, I’ve got to write a scene where Sam and Violet meet in secret and they go and dance in the empty ballroom while the snow falls Kim Wilkins, in conversation with Allison Tait for Australian Writers’ Centre.

L. Sprague de Camp on why you should plan series

L. Sprague de Camp, a major figure in science fiction in America in the 1930s and 40s (who wrote over 100 books), stresses the importance of planning series in particular:

In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies. L. Sprague de Camp, quoted by Rochelle Melander in ‘Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It)’, 2011.

Read more advice from authors:

  • 8 writing tips from authors who won the Nobel
  • 88 inspiring quotes about writing a novel
The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. Agatha Christie

How to Write Scenes Free Guide

GET YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SCENE STRUCTURE

Read a guide to writing scenes with purpose that move your story forward.

What is a story planning question that’s been bugging you? Ask us via the comments below. Start creating a story plan now and view your outline in sidebar as you draft in our distraction-free Writing Pad or Google Docs.

After purchasing The Process, I was able to completely outline my first novel in a matter of weeks, all 25 chapters! – Eric

TrustSpot

Related Posts:

  • Story setting and worldbuilding: Complete guide
  • Writing fantasy: Creating a spellbinding story…
  • Tags Story planning , writing process

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Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

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Novel Planning: A Practical Guide

planning writing a book

How do you actually plan a novel? That’s a question a lot of writers, even authors with multiple books under their belts, ask themselves. And I can’t blame them—I’ve asked the same question so many times before.

A novel is a big undertaking. Whether you’re writing 75,000 words or 150,000 words, this isn’t a quick weekend project you can just crank out. Even thinking about such a large task can make even the most confident wordsmith a little nervous.

But that’s okay! Because you’ve found a guide to help you plan your novel in the best way that works for you.

See, writing is an art, and we are all artists. There’s no single method of planning that will work with everyone’s creative process. That’s why we’ve put this article together, though. Instead of telling you the way to plan a novel, I’m going to help you find your way to plan a novel.

That includes:

  • Planning your time and schedule
  • Planning your writing space
  • Planning your plan
  • Planning your actual novel

That looks like a lot of planning, but it’s really as much (or little) as you make it. And you’ll notice only one item on the list, albeit the largest item, is planning your novel itself. Trust me, it’s all part of the process.

So let’s get that process started. 

Plan Your Time

Up first, we want to create a realistic schedule . To do that, we need to realize how much time we’re going to be spending on this book.

More cynical authors would tell you that most of the time invested comes after you’ve finished your book—and that’s true. You have to revise , rewrite, work with an editor , market, publish, advertise, and then bring it back to life from your backlist of books once you’ve published another dozen stories.

We want to focus on writing your book, though. All that other stuff is important, but we’re here to plan a novel!

planning writing a book

Determine how much you need to write

It’s impossible to tell exactly how many words will be in your finished draft, but we can at least use a rough estimate to help us plan our time.

To do this, take a look at similar books in your genre. How long are they? That’s most likely the sweet spot you’re aiming for. Here are some helpful guidelines from my pal, Abi:

  • Young Adult (YA): 40,000-70,000 words
  • Short Story: 5,000-10,000 words
  • Novella: 10,000-40,000 words
  • Novel: 40,000 words or more; most novels fit into the 80,000-100,000 range with the exception of:
  • Fantasy Novel: Often 90,000-150,000 words

Are these hard and fast rules? No. But they’re guidelines because most books fall within them.

For the sake of this article, let’s assume we’re writing a 90,000-word book.

How long does it take you to write 90,000 words? I doubt it’s a number you know off the top of your head, so let’s figure it out.

Determine your writing speed

Do figure out how quickly you can get those words down, I love Chris Fox’s idea of “words per hour” or WPH. This is the speed at which you write if you were writing nonstop for an hour.

Now, a couple things to keep in mind here:

  • Very few people can write for 60 uninterrupted minutes in a row
  • Your WPH will vary up and down all the time
  • This rate is best used for estimations and recording improvement.

But how do we determine our WPH? Either once you’re done reading this article or right now, open Dabble or go to wordsprints.org and write for a couple fifteen-minute blocks. Four would be preferable, but at least two is fine. 

Write for fifteen minutes, record how many words you wrote, take a five-minute break, then repeat.

Once you’ve done that, use this formula to determine your wph rate:

Total words written / (Total minutes writing / 60)

Let’s say you wrote 1,500 words in 30 minutes. Your formula would look like:

1,000/(30/60) = 2,000 words per hour

So you can assume that, for every hour you spend writing (even if it’s broken into four 15-minute chunks), you’ll spit out about 2,000 words.

Note: Don’t stress about your unique wph rate. I’ve been in situations where 400 words in an hour was awesome and others where 3,000 words were flying out every 60 minutes. There’s no bad rate, and you will find you write faster with consistent effort.

If we write approximately 2,000 words per hour, it will take around 45 hours of pure, blissful writing to get our first draft done. There will be days when you don’t write that quickly ( or at all ). There will be days when you write faster than your wph. That’s fine, we’re just using an average for now.

planning writing a book

Determine how long your book will take

So we are going to need about 45 hours to write our first draft. Great! If we were full-time authors with literally nothing but writing to do (which isn’t even the case for full-time authors) and unlimited creativity, we could be done in a working week.

Unfortunately for most of us, we need to balance work, family, groceries, health, Netflix, and everything else that uses the precious minutes we have in a day.

To truly determine how long it will take to write your draft, think about how much time you can spend writing per day. If it’s only fifteen minutes from Monday to Friday, that’s fine!That means it’s going to take 180 days or 36 weeks to get your draft done.

I want to be clear, I’m not saying this to make you sad or lower your morale, but part of planning a novel means understanding how long it’s going to take you to write. To make that possible, the last part of planning your time is to…

Determine your writing schedule

I’m not going to take too long here, because creating a writing schedule is worthy of its own article. Which is why we wrote one. Check it out here . It even accounts for breaks, burnout, and writer’s block.

What I will say is that forming and sticking to a writing schedule is one of the best things you can do to get your book done. So many writers, myself included, took years to finish their first book because they didn’t commit to a schedule or habit .

Do yourself a favor and make a schedule.

Plan your Space

Part of planning a novel is also planning where you’re going to write it.

You technically can only write in a coffee shop or a jazz club or something, but that’s not really doing you any favors. You can also write on your couch or in bed, but that’s terrible for your body.

When planning your novel, plan a space where you can write it. You want to think of:

Comfort and ergonomics: You’re going to be spending many hours in this spot. Make sure it’s comfortable and ergonomic.

Distractions: Distractions are the bane of your creativity and come in many forms: social media, emails, family, pets, chores, literally anything you can use as an excuse to not write. If you can find a writing space with a door, that is preferable, but choose somewhere that is as free from distractions as possible and ask your family to respect your time there.

Inspiration: The more you write, the more you’ll find your creativity doesn’t need inspiration . It’s always there on tap. But it doesn’t hurt to have books, artwork, quotes, pictures, or even a vision board to help keep you inspired when that tap isn’t flowing as much as normal.

Cleanliness: Sure, some writers thrive in messy, cluttered spaces. Most don’t. Keep your writing space clean, because anything making the clutter can just be another distraction.

Your writing tool: Before you plan your novel, you need something to write with! And while you’re at it, why not try something that helps you plan your novel, too. Dabble offers a 14-day free trial , no credit card required, and you get access to awesome tools like the Plot Grid that can be instrumental in plotting your book.

planning writing a book

Plan your Plans

Now we’re getting into the good stuff. From here on out, we’re getting our hands dirty with actual planning. But before we can figure out what your first chapter is going to look like, we need to figure out what kind of planning we’re doing.

Sounds a little existential. Bear with me, though, because this is important.

What novel do you want to plan?

Arguably the most important part of planning is planning what you plan to plan. Clear as mud, right?

But you need to know some basics about your book before you dive too far into the planning process. This includes:

  • Genre and subgenre
  • Style and tone
  • POV and if you’re using multiple perspectives
  • Approximately how long you want it to be

Are you planning on writing a 150,000-word gritty, epic fantasy told from your anti-hero’s perspective? Or a 70,000-word romcom filled with witty banter told from the perspective of both love interests?

Figure out what you want to plan before we move on.

What style of planning works best for you?

Remember a bunch of words ago when I said there was no best method of planning a novel? This is where we really drive that point home.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of different methods to outline your novel out there. I’m not here to introduce you to a brand new system, but to help you find a plan of attack that works best for you. In the next section, we will cover a tried-and-true method of planning your novel, but I wanted to introduce you to a few you could draw elements or inspiration from.

Why? Because all writers fall somewhere along the “ plotter-pantser spectrum .” At one end, you have plotters , who live and die by their outlines, usually frontloading their writing workload by creating a perfect plan to see their first draft to the end.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have pantsers , who “write by the seat of their pants” and just let the words take them where they want to go. They spend more time on the other side of the first draft, revising their discovery writing.

In between, you have plantsers , who fall somewhere in between, skewing more towards plotting or pantsing, but incorporating the best of both worlds. This is where you find most writers.

For plotters: Check out the Snowflake Method . This is an extensive, multi-day outlining plan that gives you quite possibly the best roadmap for your story and the characters within it.

For pantsers: Here’s an easy five-step plan (where step five is just writing) that won’t revoke your pantser card but will give you a decent guide to help your discovery writing stay on track.

For plantsers: Check out the next section.

planning writing a book

Plan your Novel

For a flexible way to plan your novel (without spending weeks on the outline), we’re going to be referencing the three-act structure . The three-act structure is a near-universal storytelling framework. It’s the beginning, middle, and end we’re all used to and expect.

Yes, other structures exist (and you can read about them here), but most can boil down to three-acts.

By combining this structure with the characters who will be experiencing or suffering through your story, we get a flexible, easy framework to plan a novel.

Here’s what that looks like:

Step One: Who Are Your Characters?

Right off the bat, we’re more interested in characters than plot. Why? Because your characters’ arcs and goals should be intrinsically tied to the plot.

Why does your hero do what they do? How come the villain wants to stand in their way? Who needs to be standing at the protagonist’s side for them to be successful?

You can start planning your novel without knowing about your main cast of characters, but doing a little bit of thinking ahead of time will save you more time on the other side and help you make a stronger, more cohesive plot.

Mandatory Elements:

  • Who is your protagonist? What do they look like? What is their goal? Why do they want to achieve that goal? What flaw makes their journey difficult?
  • Who or what is your antagonist? How are they related to your protagonist? What is their goal? What motivates them?

For the Plotter-Oriented:

  • Let the previous questions inspire you to come up with important secondary/supporting characters you know will be in your book.
  • Use this character template with more than 100 traits to fill in to really bring your characters to life.
  • Interview your characters to get to know them better.

For the Panster-Oriented:

  • Fill out at least one or two words for the following for your main characters:
  • Appearance:
  • Physical mannerisms:
  • Motivations:
  • Background (ethnic, economic, religious, etc.):

planning writing a book

Step Two: The Story Beats

Now, armed with a bit more information about our main characters, we’re going to summarize the nine story beats of the three act structure.

Story beats are those moments, scenes, or sequence of events that all stories have. They’re essential for driving the plot forward and ensuring you don’t wander off too far that you risk alienating your readers.

Though basically all stories have these nine elements, your beats and mine will look completely different.

The following questions are meant to prompt you into thinking about the nine beats, thus generating a cohesive outline. Feel free to answer with as much detail as you’d like. I’ve also included the name of the story beat in parentheses after each question.

Mandatory Elements

  • What does normal look like for your protagonist? (Ordinary world/exposition)
  • What single event interrupts their normal? Who causes it? Why can’t they return to normal? (Inciting incident)
  • What does the protagonist need to push them away from their normal life towards their larger goal? Is it an internal or external force? Is this realistic? (First plot point)
  • What obstacles does your protagonist face during their journey? Which ones do they overcome and which do they fail to conquer? Who helps or hinders them? How are things made progressively worse, despite apparent victories? How does your antagonist fall into all this? (Rising action)
  • What is an event that is so devastating to your protagonist that it makes their goal more important than ever? How is this event more dangerous or threatening than anything that’s come before? What are the stakes? (Midpoint)
  • How does your protagonist prepare to achieve their goal? Are they truly prepared? Who is helping them? What experiences are they drawing on? (Second plot point)
  • Your protagonist is close to accomplishing their goal, but what happens to make it feel like all hope is lost? This should be one final obstacle that seems insurmountable unless the protagonist uses everything they’ve learned throughout the book. (Pre-climax)
  • How does your protagonist finally conquer that obstacle and finally achieve their goal? Who is impacted by this immediately in the scene? What’s the impact on your antagonist? (Climax)
  • What happens to your characters after the climax? How has the world changed? How have you wrapped up all your subplots? Are you setting up for a sequel? (Falling action/denouement)
  • Go deeper! Write a paragraph or five for each chapter. Most of these beats can be split up over multiple scenes, especially the inciting incident.
  • Set an outline deadline. Hardcore plotters can get lost in planning a novel, so give yourself a schedule to work with, including the day you’re going to start actually writing.
  • Get feedback. Let a writing friend look at your outline and offer suggestions on potential plot holes or weak ideas. This could save you from extensive reviews later.
  • Revisit and expand. Feel free to add to your basic outline as you write. This might seem like an exercise in tedium, but it allows you all the benefits of plotting—being able to view your story at a glance, notice inconsistencies and plot holes, see where you can shuffle scenes around—without spending days or weeks planning your book. You’ll thank yourself after your draft is done.

Some Post-Planning Tips

Is this a complete, immutable guide to planning a novel? No. But it gives you more than you need to start writing.

The purpose of this plan is to make sure the foundations are there for most writers: solid characters and a cohesive plot.

Books have more than that, though. So, if you’re looking for other elements of your craft you can plan or just learn more about, become a better author by understanding:

Conflict - I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again many times: a book without conflict is a textbook. You need to understand both external and internal conflict to make your book a favorite among your readers.

Worldbuilding - While it’s most important for fantasy and sci-fi writers, worldbuilding applies to all forms of fiction, even romcoms taking place at a tech startup in California. Become a worldbuilding expert here (and check out this fantasy-specific one ).

Themes - Themes are the messages behind your novel, the things that turn your words from a recounting of a tale to a memorable story. Learn about themes in this article .

Point of view - Finally, the perspective you tell your story from can have a huge impact on its quality. Does a character share just their journey and thoughts? Is an omniscient narrator relaying the tale to your readers? Figure out your best POV here .

And more info is being added multiple times a week here at DabbleU, so do yourself a favor and sign up for our newsletter . We don’t spam you or sell your information, and we usually make a joke or two in the newsletter, so I personally don’t see any downsides.

Doug Landsborough can’t get enough of writing. Whether freelancing as an editor, blog writer, or ghostwriter, Doug is a big fan of the power of words. In his spare time, he writes about monsters, angels, and demons under the name D. William Landsborough. When not obsessing about sympathetic villains and wondrous magic, Doug enjoys board games, horror movies, and spending time with his wife, Sarah.

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Home » Blog » How to Plan a Novel in 11 Simple Steps

How to Plan a Novel in 11 Simple Steps

planning writing a book

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Writing a novel is a long process that involves a lot of hard work and planning. Planning a novel is one of the first steps in the novel-writing process. As a new writer (or even if you are experienced), you must know how to plan a novel so that you can keep it organized.

Not all writers plan a novel. For example, Ann Patchett doesn’t plan at all. On the other hand, some writers prefer planning a novel as it keeps them organized. J. K. Rowling , for instance, plans a lot and she uses many tools and varied techniques to plan her novels. The same is the case with Sophie Hannah who is a big fan of planning her books.

As a new writer or even if you are an experienced novelist, planning your novel is a great idea to start with. The best thing about planning is that you don’t forget anything important about your story or characters. Additionally, when you plan your novel, it saves time, resources, and simplifies the writing process. You can finish your novel quickly as you know everything about it in advance.

There isn’t a single best way to plan a novel. And there isn’t a one-size fit all. You can plan your novel in several ways based on your preferences and likes. There is no set planning pattern that every writer must follow. This gives you a lot of space and flexibility.

How to Plan a Novel in 11-Steps

Here is a detailed yet simple guide on how to plan a novel in 11-steps that is perfect for fiction writers, first-time novelists, and any type of novel writers who are struggling to organize and synthesize their ideas. It will provide you with a complete roadmap to planning your novel at zero cost.

Step #1: One-Sentence Summary

The very first step to plan your novel is to write its summary in a single sentence. It is known as a one-sentence summary, hook, logline, or pitch. It describes your novel in one single sentence. You don’t have to mention characters or any other specific details rather write a single line to describe your novel’s idea.

Here is a one-sentence summary of To Kill a Mockingbird :

“An attorney who hopelessly strives to prove the innocence of a black man unjustly accused of rape, and a mysterious neighbor who saves her and her brother from being killed.”

Here is another example from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone :

“A boy wizard begins training and must battle for his life with the Dark Lord who murdered his parents.”

You might not have such specific details about the novel you are planning at this stage. You can write any details you have. You can throw in your idea and refine it later. Whatever your novel is, write its short summary so that you know what you are writing about.

Step #2: Genre

Ask yourself what type of novel you’ll write? The one-sentence summary will give you an idea of the novel genre such as non-fiction, romance, adventure, etc.

Defining the genre of the novel early in the planning stage helps you focus on the genre and it helps you select the right template (if you are using a novel writing software ). For example, Squibler offers you several novel writing templates based on the genre:

Graphical user interface, website  Description automatically generated

If you aren’t what type of novel you’ll write, it will get difficult to plan and write it. You need to identify (or pick) a genre based on your interest, story, plot, publisher expectations, reader expectations, etc.

Defining your novel genre helps you set the tone and voice of your novel. For example, if you are writing a romance novel, you’ll know your target audience, what language to use, what voice to use in the novel, and what your target readers expect.

It helps you meet (or even) exceed the expectations of your readers.

If you know what genre your novel will be, you are good to go. If not, you must rethink and revisit your plot and pitch – and choose a genre at this stage. Not doing so will create problems when you’ll start writing the novel or at the publishing stage.

Step #3: Story Description (Blurb)

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A blurb is a short description of your story in a few paragraphs. It is normally used for promotional purposes and it includes a strong hook to make it appealing for the readers.

At this stage, you must have a clear idea of the novel in your mind and it is a perfect time to write its blurb. Think of how you’ll tell about your novel to a friend or how you’ll explain your novel idea to someone else. That’s all you have to do.

Don’t overthink. The blurb is tentative and will be edited several times throughout the creative writing process so don’t hesitate, you can always tweak it.

Here is an example of a blurb with a strong opening and impeccable word selection:

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The idea of writing a short description at this stage is to fully understand the idea and story. Make sure you write an intro, middle, conflict-resolution, and ending. This description will keep you motivated and will be able to share it with your friends, readers, and colleagues so they know what you are writing about – and what to expect.

Here are a few things to consider when writing your novel’s blurb:

  • Keep it simple, short, and concise. Avoid adding too many details even if you have a lot of details to add
  • Add a hook (this is a must)
  • Write the main selling point of your story that will persuade readers to go ahead and read the novel.

Step #4: Characters

Let’s jump to the characters, the soul of your novel. You need to develop a complete list of characters. You need to create character profiles for all the characters in your story. Here is what a character profile includes:

  • Personality and traits
  • Any other necessary details.

Check out this character profile guide and template for character development and polishing:

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Depending on the novel genre and plot, you might have several characters including:

Protagonists

It is the main character of your novel who drives the story. The protagonist is usually the hero or the heroine of the novel who faces a conflict and looks for a resolution.

Think of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbits or Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series – they’re the protagonists and the entire novel or series revolve around them.

Antagonists

An antagonist is a villain in your story. He/she competes against your protagonist. You need to come up with the main antagonist in your novel and must develop his/her profile. Antagonists are equally important as they give meaning to your story and keep readers hooked.

Smaug in The Hobbit and Voldemort in Harry Potter are antagonists who oppose the main characters.

Power Players

These are the characters who either positively or negatively impact your novel and have the power to change the plot or add a twist. If you have any power players, define them, and create their profiles.

A mentor in a novel is a character who mostly (not always) guides the protagonist and acts as his/her mentor. In some cases, a mentor acts otherwise and opposes your main character.

However, it isn’t necessary to have a mentor in your novel but if you have any, develop their profile too.

Minor Characters

List all the minor characters and develop their character profiles too. These are the characters who act as supporting characters in your story. There could be a lot of minor characters in your novel depending on the plot and it is best to develop their profiles at this stage to avoid hiccups at a later stage.

Step #5: Plot

The events that happen to the characters in your novel develop the plot. You don’t have to necessarily have a full understanding of the plot at this stage as it mostly develops and evolves (in most cases). However, you must have a basic structure of the plot in your mind and you need to write it.

There are several ways to craft a novel plot such as three-act structure, five-act structure, or Freytag’s Pyramid. Here is how Freytag’s Pyramid works:

Diagram, timeline  Description automatically generated

In a simpler form, your plot must consist of the following:

  • Climax via increasing tension
  • Resolution of the conflict

Here is a simple way to plan your novel’s plot:

  • Plan the middle part first as it is easiest. You have to create conflict, tension, twist, climax, and move towards the resolution. There is a lot of scope in the middle part of the novel so it is best to plan its plot first with detailed specifications
  • Figure out the ending of the novel. The novel must end with conflict resolution
  • Plan the beginning. It is usually hard to write or even plan the beginning. You can skip it for now if you have no idea of where and how to begin the novel and how to write a catchy introduction that will keep readers hooked.

You can use a Squibler’s plot generator that comes with 500+ short story ideas that will do all the heavy lifting for you:

Graphical user interface, text, application  Description automatically generated

When planning your novel’s plot, you need to decide if it will be a part of a series or a standalone novel. If it is a standalone piece, you need to plot the ending accordingly.

In the case of a series, you need to plot for at least the next novel in the series. This will help you create a connection between the ending of this novel and the opening of the next novel in the series.

Step #6: Setting

The setting defines the when and where of your novel. Setting planning requires you to identify the place, time, environment, objects, ambiance, etc. where all or most of the events will take place:

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The place and time in the novel play a significant role in how it will be perceived by the readers. For example, places help you set the tone and mood of the story. Think of a couple sitting at a shore in the sunset as opposed to a teen standing at the edge of the world’s tallest skyscraper thinking of jumping with an intention of suicide.

These two places develop two opposing tones and moods.

The same is the case with time. It improves readability, comprehension, and sets the mood and tone of the novel. For example, a person living in 1698 vs. 2018.

Having a clear plan for your novel’s setting is essential. And there is a lot of scope here. You can create a whole new world (called worldbuilding) with your own structures, places, climate, environment, maps, and more. The Lord of the Rings , for example, has developed a whole new world. 

However, worldbuilding requires a lot of time, hard work, creativity, and research. If you can set your novel in an established world, it’ll work best.

Here are a few tips to plan the setting for your novel:

  • Figure out the place where the main characters spend the most time
  • Plan for the location, climate, environment, geography, resources, time, etc.
  • Plan the farthest place your main character can go
  • Ensure that the setting supports the plot.

Step #7: Voice and Style

Voice is your own that is derived from your personality, mood, character, traits, background, etc. As a writer, your voice separates you from other writers. Style is broader and adaptable. Some writers have a straightforward writing style with simple language, others have a sarcastic writing style, and so on.

Text, letter  Description automatically generated

As a writer, you have your unique writing style. The way you write the novel brings it to life – your unique writing style. However, style isn’t constant and should not be consistent across novels. You need to tweak your style based on the plot, genre, target readers, and other factors.

For example, the way you write science fiction will be much different than how you’ll write a romantic novel. Point of view (first, second, or third person) is another important variable. The first-person point of view isn’t as flexible while the third-person view gives you a lot of flexibility

Your target audience (readers) also impacts the voice and style. For example, if you are writing a romantic novel targeting teens, you’ll use different language and a soft style as opposed to writing a romance novel for adults.

You need to plan your novel’s voice and style early before you write the first line. You must have a clear understanding of the point of view that you’ll use and your target readers. Define an appropriate writing style accordingly.

Step #8: Background Details

This includes any research or brainstorming or backstory that you have in your mind about your plot or characters. Plan and organize all the details and research that you have already done so that:

  • You don’t forget it
  • You can easily refer back to it.

Here is an example of how to chart the background details:

Martin Luther is a single father of two who is living in the suburbs of New York City. He has been struggling at his job, had a weird last year both financially and emotionally, her daughter is suffering from a last stage tumor, and the son, 14, is used to having bad company…

The more details you have, the better.

Step #9: Chapter Outline

By this step, you must have a much clearer idea of the novel as you have planned pretty much everything about it except chapters. It is time to write chapter headings and descriptions.

Here is how to do it:

  • Plan the total number of chapters your novel will have
  • Give a name to each chapter
  • Plan and write the description of each chapter with all important details such as conflict, climax, twist, etc.
  • Decide the point of view for each chapter and important scene in the novel
  • Overview chapter outline and see if something is missing
  • Check the timeline and ensure that all the scenes, actions, and chapters are chronologically arranged.

Distributing your novel and plot into chapters gives a complete look to the novel and you know what exactly to write in each chapter. Here is an example of a chapter outline with details:

A picture containing table  Description automatically generated

If you don’t have a lot of details about the plot and chapter details, it is the best time to plan it out. At least have a chapter outline for the most important chapters in your novel (e.g. conflict, climax, resolution, ending).

Step #10: Completion Time

When you plan to complete this novel? Do you have a turnaround time in mind?

One of the key aspects of planning a novel is to think about how and when you’ll start and finish the novel. Planning a novel isn’t the same as writing a novel . Having a plan doesn’t mean you’ll write and finish it.

To avoid delays, you need to create a detailed and step-by-step action plan on when you’ll finish writing it. Create a Gantt chart by allocating each section of the novel a specific completion time:

Chart  Description automatically generated

Check out these Gantt chart templates to get started.

Step #11: Start Writing

Finally, you are all set to start writing your novel.

Again, planning doesn’t mean you’ll start writing your novel and actually finish it. The number one reason why novelists don’t finish their novels is that they don’t have a plan. You are lucky if you have a plan and you know how to plan a novel.

What’s important is that you actually start writing your novel.

The best way to start with the writing process is to use a novel writing software . It will help you keep organized, you’ll be able to set writing goals, and you’ll be able to track your progress.

Start Planning Your Novel

I’m sure you’ll know the importance of planning your novel. Of course, you have the option to go without it but if you are writing a novel for the first time, it is strongly recommended to have a plan. It will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to start writing.

The 11-step guide on how to plan a novel is all you need to plan any novel in any genre. It is all about filling the blanks and you’ll have the plan ready in no time. It will help you a lot in your writing career.

The best thing about planning a novel is that you can always go back and edit anything anytime as per need. There aren’t any hard and fast rules.

Let’s brainstorm your next novel and start planning it.

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The Write Practice

Top 10 Book Planners: Can These Planners Help You Finish Your Book?

by Joe Bunting | 1 comment

Want to improve your writing productivity? Struggling to organize and plan your book and think a good book planner will help?

Top 10 Book Planners

Writing a book is a bit like going to war. It takes blood, sweat, and tears, often over the course of years to finish writing a book.

And when going to war, it's important to spend time planning for battle. As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

But how do you plan? What makes a good plan to write a book? And are there any materials that can help make it easier?

Good news: there are now plenty of practical and user-friendly planners, both physical and digital, specifically tailored for the needs of writers.

In this article, we’ve listed some of our favorite book planners, both physical and digital, created with authors and writers in mind so you can create a strong plan for your book that you can  actually  finish.

Top 5 Physical Book Planners

First, let's start with the physical planners that you can actually hold, write in, and have sitting next to you while you write your masterpiece.

1. The Write Plan Planner by The Write Practice

The Write Plan Planner Perfect Bound square

Yes, we're biased, but our favorite planner is  ours .

The Write Plan planner takes everything we've learned from helping thousands of writers finish their books and get published and combines it into a beautifully designed, extremely helpful daily planner.

Our hardcover 6.25 in x 9.25 inch planner features

  • book planning pages, weekly planner goal sheets and daily pages
  • Lay-flat smyth sewn durable binding with a ribbon bookmark

All of it designed to keep your to do lists, story structure, character work, and writing goals all in one place. If you have a busy schedule, this planner will help you keep your writing life organized and your book moving forward. 

Cost : $39 (free shipping in the U.S.)

Check it out and get your copy here

2. 52 Weeks of Writing: Author Journal and Planner by Mariëlle S. Smith

planning writing a book

52 Weeks of Writing is designed to help writers develop a sustainable writing practice by planning, tracking, reflecting on, and improving their progress and goals over an entire year.

It includes weekly thought-provoking quotes and prompts to keep writers writing and encourages them to unravel the truth about why they are not where they want to be.

Written by writing coach and author Mariëlle S. Smith, the journal is designed to help writers honor their own needs and desires and become the writer they were meant to be. It has dozens of five-star reviews and is available in paperback, eBook, and printable PDF formats. Volume II of the journal is also available.

Cost : $34.99

Check it out and get your copy here.

3. Your Words Count: A Writing and Editing Planner to Help You Finish Your Book by Lacey Impellizeri

Your Words Count book planner

It can be used at any time during the writing process and includes sections for character creation, story outlining, weekly reflection, and marketing and publishing advice—a good, grounded guide for aspiring authors.

Cost : 12.99

4. Writer´s Workbook: A Personal Planner with Tips, Checklists and Guidelines by Tanja Hanika

Writer's Workbook Book Planner

It provides clear guidelines, checklists, and planning structures for character development, plot structure, and marketing plans. There are also resources and instructions to use plot devices, narrative styles, and write a plot synopsis.

Cost : 14.53

5. The Ultimate Author Planner by Author Blueprints

Author Planner book planner

The planner guides authors through planning, writing, editing, publishing, sending their work to agents, and marketing their work. It includes features like daily planners, monthly goals, yearly goals, income and expense trackers, story idea prompts, character and plot development tools, and publishing and marketing checklists.

While it's not a physical book, you pay for the PDFs and print them out as you need them.

Cost : $8.87

Top 5 Digital Book Planners

Next up are our favorite digital book planners: software tools that allow you to create comprehensive plans and sometimes even help you write your book.

1. Scrivener

Scrivener is our favorite writing tool, and while it's mostly used as a word processor designed specifically for writing books, it also includes planning features like outlining, research, and note-taking. It's especially useful for writers who prefer a more structured approach to planning their stories.

Check it out out and get Scrivener here.

Or find our full review here.

Bonus: Scapple

Scapple is a mind-mapping tool designed by the creators of Scrivener that allows writers to brainstorm and organize their ideas visually sort of like a digital whiteboard. It's perfect for writers who prefer a more free-form approach to planning out their stories.

Check it out out and get Scapple here.

Dabble is our second-favorite writing tool behind Scrivener (and it's close!), a cloud-based writing software that includes planning tools like a timeline, storyboard, and character sheets. It's designed to help writers stay organized and focused on their writing goals. We like to think of it as “Scrivener Lite” because of it's similarity to Scrivener but with a simpler interface.

Check it out out and get Dabble here .

3. Campfire

Campfire is a story planning software that includes features like character sheets, world-building tools, and timelines to help writers plan out their stories in detail.

Check it out out and get Campfire here.

Plottr is a story planning software that allows writers to create visual timelines, story arcs, and character profiles. It's perfect for writers who prefer a more visual approach to planning out their stories.

Check it out out and get Plottr here.

5. Aeon Timeline

Aeon Timeline is a timeline software that allows writers to plan out the events of their stories in detail. It includes features like date and time ranges, relationships between events, and custom metadata to help writers keep track of all the details of their stories.

Check it out out and get Aeon Timeline here.

Plan Your Best Book, Faster

No plan is perfect. But by spending time planning, you can ensure that you actually  finish  the book your working on.

However, the most important thing is to  write  your book. So grab one of these planners (or several), but don't let it distract you from writing your book.

And if you want to learn more about write a book, check out one of our guides here:

  • How to Write a Novel: The Complete 20-Step Process
  • How to Write a Book Using an Outline

Good luck, and happy writing!

Do you use any of these planners? Which is your favorite?  Let us know in the comments !

For today's practice, write a scene where a character's plan goes catastrophically amiss. Set the timer for fifteen minutes and write.

When finished, share your plan-gone-wrong scene in the Pro Practice Workshop here (if you’re not a member yet, you can join here ). And leave feedback for a few other writers too. Good luck and have fun as you write!

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Dec 06, 2023

How to Outline a Novel in 9 Easy Steps

This post is written by author and editor Kirsten Bakis . She’s an award-winning novelist with 25 years experience as a writing coach, developmental editor, and teacher.

Here’s the most important thing about novel outlines: If you write one, it will change before your last draft is done — probably a lot. This is because, whether you think of yourself as a plotter, pantser, or neither, your book is going to evolve as you write it. And that’s a good thing. 

There are things you can’t know until you’ve drafted your novel — and you’ll learn even more when you revise. To quote George Saunders, “An artist works outside the realm of strict logic.” A book has to change and grow as you move through the process of creation.

Most of all, as you create your outline, don’t worry about things like whether your ideas are “good enough” to write about. This will get you stuck before you start. Award-winning author Nicholson Baker’s novel The Mezzanine is literally about a man going out to buy shoelaces on his office lunch break. If that plot can work, yours can too. 

You’re going to find out a lot more about your ideas as you write. So don’t judge them, or yourself, at this stage. Many working writers I know actually prefer to outline after they have a draft, and it will be just as useful — or even more so.

So what’s a pre-drafting outline actually for? To get you started and give you a structure to hang your words on. In this post, I’ll share the key steps I've found most useful for outlining novels before writing the first draft.

How to outline a novel:

1. Choose your main character

2. give your main character a big problem, 3. find a catalyst that sparks action, 4. set obstacles on their path, 5. define their biggest ordeal, 6. figure out a resolution, 7. pinpoint the character’s arc, 8. connect the end to the start of the story, 9. put your outline together  .

💡 Writing nonfiction? Follow these 3 steps to outline a nonfiction book instead.

wy8XPuPiC74 Video Thumb

At the heart of almost every story is a main character who goes on a journey from Point A to Point B. This journey can be emotional, physical, or both. Your protagonist might travel to new lands; learn, change and grow as a person; or do all of those things.

For this first outline, choose one main character. Remember, this can always change later. You can even add multiple main characters, each with their own journey, after you’re done with this. But right now, start with one. 

📝 To Do : Write down your main character’s name. If you struggle to find one, take this character's name generator for a spin. If you have lots of characters in mind and don’t know which one should be the protagonist, don’t freak out! Just choose one for now and go through this ten-minute outlining exercise to see what you get.

For this pre-draft outline, you just need their name. But to further develop your characters and keep track of their unique traits, download and print the free character profile template below.

FREE RESOURCE

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

You might already know a million problems your main character will face, or you might be coming up with all of this from scratch. Either way is fine! For this outline, choose one Big Problem. Or, if you prefer, choose a Big Goal. 

These are two sides of the same coin: Their Big Problem is that they need to reach their Big Goal — and there are obstacles in the way. (Of course there are obstacles, because that’s your story! More on that below.)

Take Daniel Woodrell’s novel Winter’s Bone . The protagonist, Ree, learns that if her dad doesn’t show up for his court date, her family will lose their home.  

Problem : Her family could lose the house. 

Goal : Save their home by getting her father to show up in court.

Ree and her siblings in Winter's Bone

Ideally, your problem should have stakes that are high for the main character. For example, Ree’s family is so poor that their house is basically all they have. If they lose it, they lose everything.

On the other hand, maybe your main character’s problem is smaller — maybe they can’t comfortably wear their shoes until they have new shoelaces. That can work, too. The most important thing is that it matters to the character .

📝 To Do : Write down your main character’s main problem. Don’t get hung up on whether you’ve chosen the best one. Choose one and go. You can change this later. You can even give them a random problem to get yourself started. 

In most stories, there is usually a catalyst (or inciting incident ) which sparks a series of actions. To find yours, answer this question: When does your character first realize they have this Big Problem (or Big Goal)? Does someone visit them and tell them they’re going to lose their house? Does their shoelace break? 

📝 To Do : Describe this moment in one sentence. You can try Pixar writer Emma Coats’s formula: “Once upon a time there was _____. Every day _____. One day_____.” Your catalyst is the “one day” event — the occurrence that launches the story.

What’s the first action your character takes to move forward after the Catalyst? In Winter’s Bone , the deputy tells Bree she needs to find her dad or lose her house in Chapter Three — that’s the catalyst. In Chapter Five, she sets out on the first leg of her journey, to visit the uncle who might know his whereabouts — that’s her first action.

Still of Ree in action in Winter's Bone

The Mezzanine is actually told slightly out of chronological order (a discussion for another post!) but we still see the same catalyst/action progression: At the start of Chapter Two, the narrator discovers his shoelace is broken; a few pages later he attempts to solve his problem by tying its two halves together.

Remember that your character’s first action won’t solve the Big Problem — otherwise the story would be over. It may be an attempt that will fail, or an action that will cause the next step to be revealed. 

📝 To Do : Write one sentence to describe this action. We often like characters who are trying their best to get what they want. Having a protagonist who is active and determined — even if they make mistakes! — is a good way to keep readers engaged.

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Golden Age Hollywood director Billy Wilder famously described plot as: “Get your character up a tree. Throw rocks at them. Get them down.”

In Winter’s Bone , Ree’s family will lose her house if her dad doesn’t make his court date — that’s the tree she’s up. But she hasn’t seen him for ages, and no one knows — or maybe, no one wants to say — where he is. And: The more people she asks, the more she gets told to leave it alone and not try to find him — or else. These are the rocks that get thrown at her — the obstacles she faces on her journey.

Ree’s father, played by John Hawkes in Winter's Bone

📝 To Do : Write down three to five “rocks” for your main character. Bonus: Make them go from bad, to worse, to even worse. Don’t worry if you don’t immediately know what these should be. Make some up! Writing is truly just making stuff up, then changing it when you revise. Might as well start now. 

This is a key plot point in almost every story. It’s the moment when things look dark and hopeless. Your narrator has a goal, and there’s at least one scene where it appears there is absolutely no way they can ever, ever reach it. In the 12 stages of The Hero’s Journey , this is the one called The Ordeal. In film, this stage is often referred to as the “All is Lost” moment.

Think back to the last book you read. Was there at least one point, somewhere in the second half, where the main character seemed about to give up? It could have been a life-or-death situation; or it could have been a scene where they just felt discouraged and like they weren’t going to solve their problem/reach their goal. 

If your character is up a tree having rocks thrown at them, this plot point is the biggest rock of all.

📝 To Do : In one sentence, what is the “all is lost” moment in your story. You know the drill by now! Don’t overthink this — just throw down one idea, any idea, even if it’s a terrible one. This will give you something to revise later. I cannot overstate the mystical, magical power of giving yourself something to revise, no matter what it is. 

FREE RESOURCE

Hero's Journey Template

Plot your character's journey with our step-by-step template.

How is your character going to get out of this situation? This is one of those questions you might not really answer until you’ve written your draft, but come up with something to start with. 

Here’s a trick: Make a quick list of your character’s wants vs needs . Often after “All is Lost,” is the moment the character realizes they truly won’t get what they want — but that they will get what they need instead. In The Wizard of Oz , this is the moment Dorothy realizes the Wizard won’t get her back home, after she’s worked so hard — but she’s had the power to do it all along with the ruby slippers, she just didn’t know it.

Bestselling author Caroline Leavitt discusses wants vs needs during a Reedsy Live . Leavitt uses the example of Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby thinking that if he can just have money and get into Gatsby’s world, he’ll find happiness. The “All is Lost” moment is when Gatsby is murdered. By the end, Nick realizes that world is actually empty — and he walks away. He’s found his solution, but it isn’t what he thought it was going to be at the start of the story.

Nick in The great gatsby, looking disillusioned

So when you think of how your character will get out of their darkest moment, ask them if there’s something they need to understand about themselves — understanding it might be their way out. 

📝 To Do : Write one to three sentences about how your character gets out of the “All is Lost Moment” and begins to solve their problem. This could be one of your hardest plot points to figure out ahead of time, so again, no pressuring yourself to make it perfect. You can even leave this blank if you need to for now.

The character’s arc refers to the transformation of the protagonist from the start to the end of the story. It highlights the evolution of the character as a result of the challenges and experiences they face. Identifying and outlining this arc is a crucial aspect of developing your story.

Here’s a simple, incredibly useful exercise from Rachael Herron’s Fast-Draft Your Memoir that also works for novels. 

📝 To Do : In your main character’s voice, fill in these blanks: 

I started out _______.

I ended up _______. 

Bonus: Do that three more times — quickly. This will give you more information about your character’s journey. Be specific. If they started out sad and they ended up happy, what made that difference? A new job, a new love, a new sense of self-acceptance?  

Tana French’s literary thriller In the Woods begins and ends with a description of the main character experiencing the same patch of woods — first in a seemingly perfect summer when he's a kid; then twenty years later, when he’s grown up. You could see these parallel first and last scenes as “bookends.”

The narrator's situation in the last scene is very different from the first, in every way, from his age, to the landscape’s appearance, to the weather, to his mood and actions. These physical changes reflect the journey he went on over the course of the book. 

Screengrab from Boyhood, same character as a kid and teenager laying together on the grass

You don’t have to set your first and last scenes in the same location, but this is a great thought exercise to show yourself how much the main character changes, and how. Or, instead of using a location, try an object — say, a doll that the narrator plays with as a child on page one, that we see on the shelf in their own kid’s room on the last page. 

📝 To Do : Make it visual. Look at your fill-in-the-blanks exercise and quickly describe two bookend scenes that would show your character’s transformation. You don’t have to use these exact images in your novel. This is to give you a visual A-to-B journey to track as you write. But you’ll find they’ll help you create a strong beginning and ending.

Congratulations: You just created nine key plot points for your novel! Take a minute to celebrate. 

The final step is to create your outline. I love to do this with sticky notes which can then be arranged (and rearranged) on a wall, table, or trifold board. You could also use index cards or just type your notes into a document. It’s key to keep your scene descriptions short, though — one reason why sticky notes or cards are helpful. 

📝 To Do : Get your pack of sticky notes, and quickly jot down one sentence to describe each of these key plot points:

  • Opening : You can use the first “bookend” you just created.
  • Catalyst : Put your Catalyst moment here.
  • Action : Put your character’s first action towards their Big Goal here. 
  • Rocks 1 through 3 : The scenes where your character encounters the obstacles or “rocks” you described above. This step should create three separate scenes.
  • The Big Rock : This is the all-is-lost scene you came up with above.
  • Resolution : The Solution you came up with above. 
  • Last scene : For this, use the closing bookend scene you created.

You now have a map of nine key scenes. Choose a spot that works for you — like a section of wall near where you write, a bulletin board, or a table — and arrange them in order. Behold your novel outline! You did it! 

💡 You can easily create these nine steps in Reedsy's writing app , where you can also write and format your manuscript. 

Screengrab of the Reedsy's writing app outlining feature

FREE OUTLINING APP

The Reedsy Book Editor

Use the Boards feature to plan, organize, or research anything.

You can add other scenes later if you choose, such as act breaks, depending on which story structure model you’d like to use — but you don’t need to. You can start your draft right now using these plot points as guideposts. 

The most important thing is to remember that when you start writing, your story will change. You may find your initial outline ideas don’t quite fit, and that’s okay — it’s a good thing. It means you’re on the unpredictable, creative journey of writing a novel. Remember what George Saunders said about working outside the realm of logic.

When you’re done with your draft, sit down with this template and do the exercises again, using what you’ve written, and you’ll be amazed at how your understanding of the plot points — and your story as a whole — has evolved and grown. Now go write that draft! 

Photo of author and editor Kirsten Bakis

3 responses

Bhakti Mahambre says:

12/06/2018 – 08:19

An informative article along with useful story development aids, I heartily thank Reedsy for their efforts to put this together! #mewriting

Robintvale says:

08/05/2019 – 12:28

Whew so much to read on here I'm at the Premise right now and didn't even have to look at the links to finish it. :D I must be getting somewhere then! (Trying to fix a mostly written book that has a few hick ups. [Merryn] must [steal the book of P. with the trapped god] to [bring it back to the elder adapts back home in Dentree.] or else [Her and everyone else will disappear as the crazed and corrupted god will restart the world.]

kwesi Baah says:

08/02/2020 – 04:30

Reedsy is and I think will be the best thing that has happened to my writing career . thank you so much in so many ways .........i Love Reedsy

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NovelChick is the perfect cross between an online plotting tool and a step-by-step written course on characters, worldbuilding, and plot outlines.

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Forget about not knowing where to start, getting stuck in the middle, or doing massive rewrites later. With this story-planning tool in your hands, your chances of completing your novel will quadruple. 

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How to plan your novel in ten steps

How to create atmospheric settings, jessica bull: 'use all five senses to immerse your readers in your historical settings', by jennifer kerslake, 25th feb 2020.

Every author will ultimately develop their own approach to planning and writing a novel and there's certainly no one-size-fits-all solution. Nor is there a consensus among the professionals.

Ann Patchett will develop a novel in her head for months – ‘the happiest time’ in her writing process – before she must finally ‘reach up and pluck the butterfly from the air’ ( The Getaway Car ).

Stephen King famously doesn’t like to know what’s going to happen at the end of his books and went so far as to say that plotting is incompatible with ‘the spontaneity of real creation’ ( On Writing ).

I think it’s particularly important for debut writers to spend time thinking about their characters and developing an outline before setting pen to paper. A plan provides a roadmap – a clear route forwards, making it less likely you will get lost along the way.

If you’re wondering how to plan your own novel, here are ten steps to get you started:

1. What’s at the heart of your novel?

Start by asking yourself what story you’re trying to tell. This could be a one-line pitch or a question you’re trying to answer. For example, Romeo and Juliet could be pitched as ‘the tragic story of star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families.’ Or Great Expectations as ‘the tale of an orphan boy who receives wealth and status, only to realise that happiness must be found in friendship and love.’

2. Are you writing a particular genre or for a certain kind of reader?

It’s good to nail down the genre from the start as this could affect decisions about language, style, voice and plot. Readers will have different expectations of romance than of horror or crime fiction – and you don’t want to disappoint them!

3. Write the cover blurb.

You should have a strong sense of the shape of the story you want to tell before starting to write. Try to explain what happens in a few paragraphs. Think about how you would describe the story to a friend, or what you’d expect to see on the back cover of a book. Give your story a beginning, middle and end, and make sure to outline the main source of conflict and how this is resolved.

4. Get to know your characters.

Start by making a list of major and minor characters. For each one, note down their name, age, family history, physical appearance, political and religious beliefs, traits and quirks. What does your protagonist carry around with them in their handbag/pockets? What drink would your antagonist order in a bar? How did each spend their last birthday? What will they regret on their death beds? Then outline what their roles are in the book. What do they want and why do they want it? What’s stopping them from achieving their aims? What will they learn during the novel? Plotting will be much easier if you have a clear understanding of your characters, their perspectives and the journey you want to take them on.

5. Where is your novel set?

Make some general notes on the time and place, including the weather, landscape, architecture, interiors and smells, and think about what these reveal about character. Drawing a map might help to picture the locale and understand the distance between locations, and floor plans can be useful if you’re setting quite a bit of the main action in a house. E.g. it might be crucial that a character wouldn’t be able to hear a scream in the house from the bottom of the garden, so a suburban terrace wouldn’t do…

6. Do your research.

If you’ve given your character a job you don’t know much about or you’re writing about a place you’ve never been to, you might need to do some research before starting to write. Reading autobiographies, watching period dramas, taking a research trip or interviewing a friendly police office could all help to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and themes of your novel.

Make sure you are sufficiently informed to make key decisions about the story, but don’t get carried away – you can always supplement your knowledge as you write.

7. How will you structure your story?

Does it span one day or several years? Are you going to write it in first person or third? Will your narrator recall events from the future or is the story unravelling in the present? Do you need more than one voice?

Once you have a rough idea of the structure you can begin plotting out the events, e.g. what happens and when does it happen? If you’re working with a three-act structure you will want to set out the main conflict and what’s at stake in the beginning, use the middle to complicate the story and develop tension, and build towards an exciting climax before resolving any loose ends.

8. Write a chapter plan.

Once you have a good understanding of the narrative spine, you can start to plan what happens in each chapter and break down the action scene by scene. Include the big events – birth, death, sex and violence – as well as subtler anxieties and realisations, and don’t forget to track your flashbacks and sub plots through the book.

You’ll need to decide whose point of view the scenes are told from and how much is revealed in each one. What’s left unsaid? What will propel the reader to read on?

A detailed chapter plan will help to ensure enough happens in your story and that the flow and pacing of events works well. (Remember short scenes of action and dialogue tend to increase the pace while longer descriptive passages can slow the narrative down.) A thorough understanding of plot is particularly important for crime novels that seek to deceive the reader through misdirection and red herrings.

As an exercise, I’d encourage you to reread a favourite novel and note down what happens, chapter by chapter. How long are the scenes? How many scenes occur in each chapter? How are the flashbacks spaced? What’s the balance of dialogue, description and narrative?

9. Create a timeline.

Putting your scenes in chronological order, even if that’s not the way they will be told to the reader, can help to flag any issues you need to address before starting to write the novel. You might find that there’s a key scene missing or that you need to reorder the sequence or that your ages are askew. For example, if a character remembers watching the moon landing as a young child, you can’t consign them to a retirement home in 2020…

10. Don’t over plan!

It can be tempting to keep making notes but take care that this doesn’t become a form of procrastination. Your outline doesn’t have to be perfect before you begin to write. You can change your mind and revisit your ideas later, unpicking threads and weaving others into the fabric of the narrative. Or think about your novel as a piece of clay you can mould and re-form if you don’t like the shape it’s taking.

You don’t have to start with the opening either; one benefit of having a plan is that you can dive straight into a scene with lots of action or even write the end first.

And if you’re not a great planner, I don’t think you should force it. It can be freeing to write when you don’t know what comes next, to see what happens and where your characters take you. So, push on and write the next sentence, the next scene, the next chapter. Enjoy the process of bringing your story to life!

And for an extra eleventh tip...! Sign up for our Starting to Write Your Novel online course. From honing your idea to planning, creating vivid characters and writing a great first chapter, our six-week course will show you how. And with all teaching videos, resources, tasks and a student forum hosted on our online learning platform, you can take part at times to suit you, from wherever you are in the world.

thefussylibrarian

Planning a book series: What to keep in mind

Posted on January 19, 2022 at 11:34 AM by Guest Author

Are you thinking about writing a series instead of a standalone novel? Learn about the benefits, discover helpful steps for planning a book series, and more.

Table of Contents 

The benefits of writing a book series  .

5 Steps for Planning a Book Series  

Practical Tips for Promoting Your Series  

Takeaway  

Maybe it’s been your lifelong dream to write a fantasy, YA, sci-fi, or mystery series. Or perhaps you just realized you could expand on your standalone novel .

Either way, you’re thinking about creating a sequence of books and want to be sure the project will serve you well in the long run.

After all, just planning a book series requires more time and effort than outlining a single story. 

The good news is there are many advantages to developing a trilogy (3 books), tetralogy (4 books), pentalogy (5 books), or even longer series. 

Here are just a few...  

It makes character development and world building easier. 

As mentioned above, planning a book series takes a lot of work. But once you map it out and write the first book, character development and world building become much easier.

That’s because the first book serves as the foundation. So, when you get to the second, you’ll already be familiar with who the characters are and where the story is set. You won’t need to start all over again.   

It’s a great way to grow your fan base. 

As an author, you want to expand your following and turn casual readers into loyal fans. Fortunately, that’s something that a book series can help you achieve.

When you have multiple books in a series, readers are more likely to get invested. So, they’ll follow you on social media and sign up for your newsletter to stay up to date, eagerly awaiting the release of the next installment.  

It allows you to continue writing about the characters you love.

Writing a series can also be beneficial if you’re the type of writer who grows attached to the characters you create. Instead of leaving them behind and starting from scratch, you can revisit them in each book.

Moreover, you can take a deeper dive into their backstories, motivations, challenges, and more as the series goes on. 

It enables you to make the most of your marketing budget.

Another advantage of creating a book series is that you can market it in a more cost-effective manner. Instead of allocating marketing dollars to multiple unrelated titles, you can promote the first book in the series.

If readers enjoy it, they’ll likely purchase the other titles without any additional marketing effort on your part. 

It can help boost book sales. 

Finally, one of the biggest benefits of creating a book series is that it can result in increased book sales. For starters, there’s the simple fact that more books means more opportunities for sales.

However, writing a series is especially effective for selling multiple books to one reader. As noted above, readers who like the first book are more likely to purchase the rest in the series — often in bulk. 

Ultimately, selling books in a series is typically easier than selling multiple standalone titles.  

5 Steps for Planning a Book Series

When it comes to planning a book series, there are many approaches you can take. What’s important is that you do enough preparation that you don’t write yourself into a corner or give up halfway through.

To help you along the way, we put together five general steps for planning your series.   

1) Make sure the overarching premise is sufficient. 

No matter what type of series you choose to create (we’ll define them in the next section), it’s important that you start with a central idea or overarching premise that allows for multiple titles. This is probably the most crucial step in planning a book series.

If your idea isn’t sufficient, you’ll likely have trouble coming up with enough content for more than one book. So, make sure the central idea leaves room to explore different settings, conflicts, characters, and more. 

2) Decide what kind of series you want to write.  

Before you do anything else, it’s worth deciding what kind of series you want to write. That way, you can structure it accordingly.

There are essentially three main types of book series you can write:

Dynamic Series – Dubbed a “dynamic series” by author Kristen Kieffer, this type applies to most modern book series. In this series, readers follow along with a character or group as they embark on adventures and work to achieve a goal. As a result, there’s greater emphasis on character development over the series. Example: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.  

Static Series – This type of series also follows the same character or group, focusing on individual events rather than an overarching story. The characters don’t undergo any major transformation and instead remain static. Example: Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  

Anthology Series – Unlike the other two types, an anthology series doesn’t contain the same character or group in every title. Instead, the books in the series are connected by a theme or setting. As with those in a static series, the books in an anthology can usually be read in any order. Example: Goosebumps by R. L. Stine.

3) Settle on plot points for each book.

One of the most highly recommended strategies for planning a series is to create a general outline for your series, then a rough outline of what events will take place in each book.

Even if you want to write a dynamic series, with each title building on the previous one, every book should still function as a standalone novel. That is, it should have its own plot that’s resolved by the end. 

Doing this will also give you a good idea of how many books you need to tell your story in its entirety. 

4) Develop your characters and setting(s). 

When planning a book series, it’s critical to flesh out your characters and setting(s) . You should craft a robust profile for characters, including their personality, appearance, challenges, desires, etc.

Additionally, you should develop a character arc, especially if you plan to write a dynamic series. You want to have an idea of how they transform by the end of the series. 

As for setting(s), the more work you put into crafting your fictional world, the greater the chances of readers getting absorbed in it. So, consider the atmosphere you want to create. Lay the groundwork by deciding on reality or fiction, and go from there. 

5) Organize your notes.

Before you begin writing your series, make sure to organize all of your notes and ideas about the series. Store them in a folder and reference them when writing. This will ensure you don’t introduce any plot holes or inconsistencies.  

Once you finish the first couple of books, you’ll want to promote your series to readers.

As mentioned previously, once they read the first book, they’ll be more likely to get the rest. So, in that sense, it’s not quite as difficult as marketing multiple unrelated titles. 

That said, there are some things you can do to improve your efforts...

Ensure the covers have a consistent look and feel. 

Creating book covers that have a consistent look and feel is a must. Otherwise, readers will have a hard time recognizing that each book belongs to the same series.

So, before you promote your series, make sure that every cover features similar colors, artwork, and fonts. Doing so will give your series a branded look.  

Create a book marketing funnel. 

With a book marketing funnel, you bring readers in with a “lead magnet” (i.e., a giveaway of value) and follow it up with a “tripwire” (i.e., a low-dollar offer).

A great way to do this with a series is to offer the first book for free and reduce the pricing of the second. This removes any hesitation readers may have about buying your series, as they’ll be getting an irresistible deal.

Then once they’ve read the first two books, they’ll be much more likely to purchase the rest. 

Feature the series in the “From the Publisher” section on Amazon. 

There are many ways to use the “From the Publisher” section on your book’s Amazon sales page — one of which is to feature an entire series.

When readers land on the sales page of one of your books, they’ll see there are other titles available that connect to the one they’re viewing.

This is valuable real estate, and using it to highlight your series can go a long way toward encouraging readers to check out the other titles.

There are a lot of benefits to creating a book series. So, if you have a great idea for one, feel it would suit your genre, and can make the necessary commitment, it’s well worth the effort.

If you need help planning a book series, simply refer to the steps above. And don’t forget to apply the tips provided when the time comes to promote it!

(Want to put your first two books in front of readers and encourage them to read the whole series? Offer a giveaway for the first book and promote it in our free ebook newsletter . Then promote the second at a reduced price in our bargain ebook newsletter . Create a book marketing funnel that delivers results!) 

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How to Use Milanote as a Creative Writer

I f you’re the type of writer who plans their books or short stories ahead of time, make sure you check out Milanote, a versatile app that helps organize projects.

Here’s everything you need to know about Milanote’s tools for creative writers. See what’s available and try out the features that interest you the most.

What Is Milanote?

Milanote is a platform for planning projects. It's available online, but also as a desktop app , browser extension , and mobile app for Android and iOS .

You can work on your project from any device without missing a beat. And the platform has tools for more than writers. It’s great for designers, marketers, business owners, and more.

In other words, you can use Milanote to organize your whole career as an author, even combine it with other apps to boost your skills and prospects. For instance, practice creative writing on Story Shack’s Taleforge , while managing your book, publication, and marketing campaign.

1. Create a New Board

Milanote is a prime example of why creative writing apps are useful . After signing up as a writer, you gain access to your workspace. It’s a clean-cut grid surrounded by planning tools—plenty of room for your imagination to take shape.

To start a project, click on Board on the left-hand panel and drag your new addition into your grid. Double-click on the new board’s name to change it.

You can also connect boards with arrows and create a map. To do this, select a board. Then, click and drag the white dot that appears in the top-right corner.

Once set, bend the arrow, choose a different color, give it a label, change its thickness, or make it dashed. Play around with your options and make your book’s plan inspiring.

2. Choose a Creative Writing Template

Double-click on your new board to open it. You can start planning from scratch, but Milanote offers templates, too, specifically for writers.

If you don’t like your initial selection, click on More templates > Writing . You’ll get several options to choose from.

Novel Mood Board

You may just want to get a feel for your story. There’s a template that lets you create a mood board with pictures, videos, text, and files.

Brainstorming

You can then expand your mood board into a plan. Milanote starts you off with boxes and arrows that you fill in as necessary to help you specify what your story is about and where you’re going with it.

A big part of creative writing is doing research. Whether you need to know the history of a place, how to pilot a plane, or how to defend against a sword maneuver, note-taking is essential.

Milanote’s research template helps you keep everything in one place, complete with images, links, file uploads, and neat text boxes.

World-Building

To give your story texture and a convincing setting, it's important to give your fictional universe the attention it deserves. World-building apps on Android and iOS are handy, but sometimes you need a grander view of your book.

Try the world-building template on Milanote, where you can elaborate on your narrative’s places, people, history, maps, and anything else you want to add.

With this template, you can organize your whole novel on one board. You start with your inspiration, structure, and characters, not to mention a to-do list, images, and embedded boards. Make changes as you see fit.

Story Outline

The best plots take a lot of thought and planning, which Milanote’s outline template can help with. You can break down every milestone in your narrative and embellish it with text, images, and files.

Another app to consider as a creative writer is Novelist and its book planning tools , also available on both your browser and mobile device.

If you like following established structures, Milanote provides the space to lay out the best possible storyline. Just like the story outline template, the map asks for your narrative’s key moments, but it focuses on more generic concepts, such as the premise, stakes, core conflict, resolution, and lesson.

Three-Act Structure

A well-known layout for any story is the three-act structure. Milanote has a template specifically for this purpose. You get the three acts broken down with text, arrows, and other visuals to make your life as a creative writer easier and more exciting.

Character Profile

If you want to plan each character in depth, go for this template on Milanote. You could even connect the boards on your main grid and organize your cast’s relations.

The template’s default sections include the character’s picture, profile, backstory, characteristics, quirks, flaws, and arc.

Character Relationship Map

If you’d rather use your main grid to plan your overall project, not just your characters, use the relationship map template for a board dedicated to visualizing your full cast.

It lets you add everyone’s names and pictures. You can then connect them with arrows and labels. This is invaluable for a complex plot that completely depends on its characters.

3. Customize Your Template

Milanote provides a range of tools for writers to customize their boards. Here’s what you can do with them.

Edit the Template’s Details

Before clicking Use this template for the one you want, you can also tick the Keep example content box. Otherwise, Milanote will leave your template with blank fields.

Either way, you need to add your own content. So, go ahead and type in your text, upload images or files, and edit any other details the template comes with.

Add Relevant Boards

Your template might already contain its own boards, which you can rename and edit as normal. This gives your plan useful layers.

If something’s missing, the Board button is available here, too. Click and drag your new item into a pre-existing box or the background grid. And adjust the board’s details.

Add Other Features to Your Template

The sidebar offers several elements you can add to your project. We’ve already mentioned boards, images, videos, uploads, arrows, to-do lists, and links, but there’s a lot more.

You can also have different text boxes, columns, maps, sketches, audio files, and even color schemes. Depending on what kind of book you’re writing, your Milanote plan can reflect it completely.

Delete Items as Necessary

Anything you don’t like, you can easily remove. Just click and drag the item to the Trash icon.

Alternatively, right-click on the item and choose Delete from the menu. You’ll see many more available actions, including cutting or duplicating the item, changing its color, and converting it into a template.

The best way to really get to know Milanote’s capabilities is to try it out yourself for various projects.

4. Share, Export, or View Your Book's Plan as a Presentation

While inside a board, you can share it with people you want as editors. A read-only link is also available, which you can customize with enabled comments, downloads, passwords, and other features.

Your next option is to export the board. Choose between a PDF or PNG file, a linear document in a Word, markdown, or plain text format, or a ZIP file.

Finally, you can view your board as a full-screen presentation. Scroll through the whole plan and click on items to zoom in on them.

Master Milanote to Perfect Your Creative Writing

Milanote is easy to use and very versatile, so take advantage of its templates and tools. You can write, organize, and share your book with the help of this multifunctional app.

In the end, instead of a mess of papers and sticky notes, you can have a neat plan for your book on your computer and smartphone. This change can boost your confidence and productivity as a creative writer.

Even if it doesn’t suit you, don’t give up on digital tools. There are many services out there tailored to the creative writing process.

How to Use Milanote as a Creative Writer

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Georgia widow writes a children’s book on grief and loss

“so you could see the beauty you hadn’t before.”.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A Georgia mother has turned her grief into purpose. She is sharing her experience on social media and most recently has written a book, helping parents have difficult conversations about grief and loss with their children.

This was the life Julie Moran always dreamed of; a loving husband, and a growing family.

“I felt like I had the perfect life,” said mother, author, and social media influencer, Julie Moran.

It was perfect until her wonderful, larger-than-life husband Charles died in a car crash and Julie was left with a newborn and a twenty-two-month-old baby.

“She knew something was going on,” said Moran.

Talking to her babies as they grew, about death and loss, felt, well, there weren’t words.

“Slowly but surely I told her he is not going to come back from his work trip, he is going to stay in Heaven,” said Moran, “It was hard for her to grasp that concept because it was hard to grasp myself. I kept thinking he was going to come back from his work trip.”

Julie’s daughter came up with an analogy of her own.

“She was asking where the snowmen went when they melted and the more she talked about it the more I realized, ‘I don’t think she is talking about a snowman,’” said Moran.

Julie used her daughter’s conversation that night, to write a children’s book about grief and loss. The book is about a melting snowman and a little girl who finds joy again.

She also went to social media, sharing her grief journey, and gaining hundreds of thousands of followers along the way.

“I just started sharing my experience not thinking anything of it and apparently, a lot of people felt the same way,” said Moran.

Julie never thought she would find love again...

“I am a mom with two babies and a lot of baggage now, who is going to come into this? No one is going to take this on,” said Moran.

...but love came anyway.

“We actually met at a wedding. It was my best friend’s wedding,” said Moran.

She is happily married and pregnant with her third baby! There is life and joy beyond grief, Julie is proof of it.

“It has just been through such a tumultuous and terrible time in my life where I never thought anything was going to go right ever again, that I have been given blessing after blessing the past few months. It is truly a miracle,” said Moran.

Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.

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    Planning your writing space; Planning your plan; Planning your actual novel; That looks like a lot of planning, but it's really as much (or little) as you make it. And you'll notice only one item on the list, albeit the largest item, is planning your novel itself. Trust me, it's all part of the process. So let's get that process started.

  17. How to Plan a Novel in 11 Simple Steps

    Writing a novel is a long process that involves a lot of hard work and planning. Planning a novel is one of the first steps in the novel-writing process. As a new writer (or even if you are experienced), you must know how to plan a novel so that you can keep it organized. Not all writers plan a novel. For example, Ann Patchett doesn't plan at all. On the...

  18. Top 10 Book Planners: Can These Planners Help You Finish Your Book?

    What makes a good plan to write a book? And are there any materials that can help make it easier? Good news: there are now plenty of practical and user-friendly planners, both physical and digital, specifically tailored for the needs of writers.

  19. How to Outline a Novel in 9 Easy Steps

    Choose a spot that works for you — like a section of wall near where you write, a bulletin board, or a table — and arrange them in order. Behold your novel outline! You did it! 💡 You can easily create these nine steps in Reedsy's writing app, where you can also write and format your manuscript.

  20. NovelChick

    With this planning tool in your hands, your chances of completing your novel quadruple. ... If you want to write a popular book that sells well—then NovelChick is precisely for you. ... NovelChick is a novel planning tool, not writing software. We focus on giving you the best tools to plot your stories with success.

  21. How to plan your novel in ten steps

    3. Write the cover blurb. You should have a strong sense of the shape of the story you want to tell before starting to write. Try to explain what happens in a few paragraphs. Think about how you would describe the story to a friend, or what you'd expect to see on the back cover of a book. Give your story a beginning, middle and end, and make ...

  22. Planning a book series: What to keep in mind

    As noted above, readers who like the first book are more likely to purchase the rest in the series — often in bulk. Ultimately, selling books in a series is typically easier than selling multiple standalone titles. 5 Steps for Planning a Book Series. When it comes to planning a book series, there are many approaches you can take.

  23. How to Use Milanote as a Creative Writer

    Play around with your options and make your book's plan inspiring. 2. Choose a Creative Writing Template . Double-click on your new board to open it. You can start planning from scratch, but ...

  24. 2024 AT A GLANCE Plan. Write. Remember. WeeklyMonthly Appointment Book

    Jot down reminders, appointment times and deadlines within the AT-A-GLANCE Plan. Write. Remember. Weekly/Monthly Appointment Book Planner. Unruled daily blocks are ideal for flexible scheduling. Boasts 2 pages per week with unruled daily blocks. Includes 2 pages per month with unruled daily blocks and notes space.

  25. Takeaways from Fani Willis' stunning testimony in Georgia

    The Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and 14 of his allies took a stunning turn Thursday when two top prosecutors testified under oath about their romantic relationship at a ...

  26. Georgia widow writes a children's book on grief and loss

    Julie used her daughter's conversation that night, to write a children's book about grief and loss. The book is about a melting snowman and a little girl who finds joy again. She also went to social media, sharing her grief journey, and gaining hundreds of thousands of followers along the way.

  27. 2024 AT A GLANCE Plan. Write. Remember. WeeklyMonthly Appointment Book

    Stay on top of your schedule using the AT A GLANCE Plan. Write. Remember. WeeklyMonthly Appointment Book Planner. Weekly and monthly spreads give you ample space to plan appointments events meetings and deadlines.