It’s been said time and time again that ‘everyone has one good book in them’. Now, whether you believe this is true or not, you’re a big book fan – you’d love to see more people get their stories down on paper! We need more new authors with big ideas in the publishing scene, and there are a lot of indie publishers out there right now that are building brilliant backlogs of talent.
But could you join them? Do you have a good book inside you somewhere? If you’re an avid reader with a lot of perspective on what makes a good story, there’s a strong chance there’s a narrative swimming around in the back of your head. Whether or not you’ve thought about writing your own book before now, consider this an official sign you should give it a go!
Of course, you may need some inspiration to really get going, or a bit more confidence in what you have to say before you’re willing to share it with the world. If either of these things are the case, we’ve got a few ideas for experimenting with creating a novel in the list down below. Feel free to make use of them and see where they take you!
Half Baked Idea? Just Write the Baked Bits
If you want to write your own story, writing is better than not writing at all. Even if the idea is only half baked at the moment, and many pieces are missing from the overall narrative arc, get something down on paper.
Once those elements have been created, and are staring back at you from a computer screen, you can start to form the story properly. You know what plot points you do have, and you’re much more likely to be able to feel out what’s missing as well.
If you can do that, you can then work out how much more you’ll need to get from point A to point B to point C and so on. And don’t think any scenes you do write have to end up in the final draft; you can delete, change, and rearrange as much as you see fit.
Start Using Writing Prompts
This is great practice for getting the creative cogs whirring! If you’re really stuck on a certain plot point, or you simply have no ideas at all, load up a writing prompt generator ASAP.
Create Your Own Books
It doesn’t matter how long your narrative is or how well edited it might be. If you’ve put something together, and you want to see what it would look like when bound together as a real novel, look up a quality book printing service and send in your manuscript.
Experimenting with the actual process of having a book printed and put together can bring out a lot of passion. If you’ve been writing without much thought for what may happen next, and that block seems to be holding you back, this is a good way to overcome the hurdle.
After all, you may find a lot of inspiration in actually holding your creation in your hands. It might be the final spark you need to knuckle down and make some real progress. It’s also just quite cool to have a ‘copy’ of your work in progress sitting on your bookshelf!
Read as Diversely as You Can
Reading diversely means picking up as many new titles as look interesting to you, no matter who wrote them and if you’ve heard of them, or what the book is actually about. Of course, you don’t have to read anything you really won’t enjoy, but be sure to give a few titles outside of your genre of choice a go.
When you read in this way, you open yourself up to improving your own writing skills tenfold. A good writer (if such a thing exists) is also a good reader.
Let yourself discover how other creatives make their stories come to life, what devices they use, and how they craft characters to feel real, relatable, and interesting enough to follow along with.
Submit to Lit Mags
There are a great many lit mags out there that accept all kinds of writing, from nonfiction and fiction to essays, memoir pieces, and poetry. Whatever it is you like to write, whatever style of writing you favor, there will be a lit mag with an open submission period that’s the perfect fit for you.
If you get accepted, great! Your piece will be published in some way or another, and allowed to find a home in the hearts of that magazine’s readership. This can bring some new fans your way, or a bit of constructive criticism, but either way, it can be a great boost to your writing.
If you don’t get accepted, it’s OK. That’s just one lit mag out of thousands in circulation right now, and you can take the piece elsewhere if you really think it’s got something. In doing so, you can teach yourself a great lesson about perseverance that will be more than essential to trying to get your actual book in front of a publisher’s eyes.
Let’s Get That Great Book Out in the Open!
So, have you got a good book in you? It’s more likely than you think. Most people who put no emphasis on their literary skills have massive imaginations, and being able to get all that vivid imagery out into the open shouldn’t be just for the few.
It’s the kind of thing we all have the right to do, whether we want to be published or we’re just looking to have fun.
Getting your debut novel out into the open should be an enjoyable thing. It should also be something you’re excited to get into, and that’s what a good bit of experimenting will help with. Build your confidence, sharpen your skills, and read as much as you can along the way. It’ll all help in the end!
MindOwl Founder – My own struggles in life have led me to this path of understanding the human condition. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy before completing a master’s degree in psychology at Regent’s University London. I then completed a postgraduate diploma in philosophical counselling before being trained in ACT (Acceptance and commitment therapy).
I’ve spent the last eight years studying the encounter of meditative practices with modern psychology.