Writing a book

trs200101

My mother passed away over a year ago, she was always talking about writing a book. Before she died she was considering telling her story about surviving domestic abuse and she was always going on about writing a book.

I can't get the thought out my head and I'm considering writing a book. I've already got a working title for it "mum's name surname: my story".

I just don't really know where to start. I know writing a book is hard and challenging and I'm going to keep it factual but I just don't know where to start.

Any advice?

Reply 1

waffelton

12

Original post by trs200101

My mother passed away over a year ago, she was always talking about writing a book. Before she died she was considering telling her story about surviving domestic abuse and she was always going on about writing a book.

I can't get the thought out my head and I'm considering writing a book. I've already got a working title for it "mum's name surname: my story".

I just don't really know where to start. I know writing a book is hard and challenging and I'm going to keep it factual but I just don't know where to start.

Any advice?

I’d recommend collecting as much information as possible. Document in Google docs / Word for easy access, and with nonfiction, the easiest way to go about it is to do it chronologically. As for actually writing it, I’d recommend reading as many similar books as possible to get a sense of writing style and such. If you haven’t ever written a story before, try practicing writing short snippets of writing, whether this be articles, short autobiographies, information, or fictional realism in the style you want to write in.

Then actually start writing it. Don’t edit in the first draft or your book will take *forever* to finish. Think about how you want to go about it, whether it be in a third person style, reporter style, articles style, etc. Reading will help you with this. To give you insight into length, most nonfiction books are around 50—80k words, which can take anywhere to a few months to a few years to write a first draft.

Just remember that your first draft WILL be messy. A lot of new writers spend too long trying to get it perfect, then getting caught up in the details. I have more writing tips on my insta: @waffel.writer if you have any questions or want to DM me :smile:

Reply 2

Lord Grey matter

3

Sorry for your loss, I know it is not easy dealing with such things.
My advise for you is to take some time to think about your intentions for writing the book. Consider whether you want to share your mother's story to raise awareness about domestic abuse, inspire others, or simply preserve her memory. Understanding your purpose will give your writing direction and depth.

Reply 3

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

19

Original post by trs200101

My mother passed away over a year ago, she was always talking about writing a book. Before she died she was considering telling her story about surviving domestic abuse and she was always going on about writing a book.

I can't get the thought out my head and I'm considering writing a book. I've already got a working title for it "mum's name surname: my story".

I just don't really know where to start. I know writing a book is hard and challenging and I'm going to keep it factual but I just don't know where to start.

Any advice?

Id recommend reading "About writing and how to publish" by cathy glass. Ive got the book (im thinking of writing a book as well) and found the book very useful.

Reply 4

michaelhw

17

Original post by trs200101

My mother passed away over a year ago, she was always talking about writing a book. Before she died she was considering telling her story about surviving domestic abuse and she was always going on about writing a book.

I can't get the thought out my head and I'm considering writing a book. I've already got a working title for it "mum's name surname: my story".

I just don't really know where to start. I know writing a book is hard and challenging and I'm going to keep it factual but I just don't know where to start.

Any advice?

If you end up self publishing at amazon, draft2digital or smashwords or something similar, you will find the actual publication process not at all difficult. A few clicks. What people who self-publish must expect is a lot of trouble with marketing. There are simply so many books these days. But considering the fact that you have a subject about which many would be interested, you might gain some some free traction from that. But, if you are satisfied with your product once it is written, it might be an idea to try a publishing company before you decide to self-publish, for the very reason that you are then not as helpless with regards to marketing. There is no shame in being rejected, both Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings were first rejected, and Samuel becket was rejected a double digit number of times before making it big. But when you tire of sucking up to publishers, you do have a direct line to the market in self publishing, which was not available in the past. But if you get advice from the publishers upon rejection concerning work needed on the text, you'd be very well adviced to follow it. Even if you decide to self publish. Comments from publishers, if they give any, are free feedback from professionals.

(edited 6 months ago)

Writing a book

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