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I Don’t Know What to Write About
People often say to me, “Well, what would I write about? I don’t know what to write about. How can I write a book when I don’t know what to write about?” Well, the answer to that depends on your answer to a deeper question, which is, “Why do you want to write your book?”
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7 Steps to Manuscript
Over recent weeks I’ve been talking about the obstacles that stop people from actually getting their book written. But I thought today I’d have a bit of a change of pace, and I’ll start talking about the actual process of writing your book. And yes, there is actually a process.
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There Are Lots of Books on My Topic Already
I recently had a conversation with someone, and not for the first time I’ve heard this, but I recently had a conversation with somebody who said, “I want to write a book, and I have a lot of information on my subject area, but there’s a lot of books on this subject already, and so…
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Topic vs. Subject
A topic is not the same as a subject. A subject is much, much bigger and wider and it can be defined as your general area of expertise. But it’s way too big in general to write a book on. Within that subject, you need to choose topics. And it’s a topic that you use…
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Building the Table of Contents
Sometimes people are surprised when I suggest that you do a table of contents so early in the process, but actually, it becomes a very useful tool for getting your book done. Because it’s kind of an outline almost, and a very simple form of what’s going to be in your book. So it’s very…
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Writing the Fat Outline
In today’s episode, I’m focusing on what is known as the “fat outline”. A fat outline is really an extrapolation of your table of contents. Here’s how to get started.
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The Myth of the First Draft
It’s a common misconception of new authors that the first draft is the first draft. It’s not. OK, I know that’s counter-intuitive, but believing that the first iteration of your manuscript is a draft ready to go to the editor can lead to disappointment and frustration.
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Stories Must Have a Point
Unless you are writing a memoir, which is essentially all about stories, you can’t tell stories for the sake of stories. To be effective, there needs to be a point to them.
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The Book Spreadsheet Method
I first discovered the power of the spreadsheet method when I began writing fiction.
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Use Your Existing Materials
Writing is hard work — make sure you squeeze the most value out of everything you’ve written.