Book Idea to First Draft — How to Start Writing a Book

If you’ve ever wanted to write a book but you’re not sure where to start, this video is for you. In it, we’ll chat about the process of going from book idea to first draft — without pulling your hair out!

SUMMARY

• Decide if you are a pantser, a plotter, or some sort of hybrid.

• If you are a plotter, structure your plot at the beginning of your book before you actually start writing it.

• If you are a pantser, you’re going to start writing, discover the plan along the way, and then make sure your plot is solid in the editing process.

• If you’re not sure, if you've never written a book before — or maybe you have and you're wanting to feel into a different process — the first thing is to decide what feels most like you and feels good to you. Go with your gut.

• If you still can't figure it out, you can always just start writing.

• If you start writing and find that you need to plot out your ideas, then get some things down on paper and start writing again. The most important thing here is just to start.

• If you are a pantser, you don't even have to start at the very beginning of your book. You could start in the middle or whatever scene pops into your head.

• Accept yourself and your own writing process — make the process work for you.

• If you get overwhelmed in this whole process, just start wherever you are.

• Don't expect your first draft to be perfect. Your book is never going to be perfect, but you can definitely polish it up and make it excellent. Make it the best representation of the story that you want to tell.

I would love to help you wherever you're at in the writing, publishing, editing, or marketing process!

To help you with this, I recently created The Author Clarity Workshop. It's a free workshop that will help you get clear and put a plan in place for your author life! If any part of your author journey seems overwhelming or confusing, this can help!