my first book

by marlene henry
19th March 2012

I want to know how to start a book in the best way possible please can i have some more advice

Replies

As a complete novice, I found it useful to read how other writers start their novels. I read anything by any one; King, Rowling, Kafka, Reeve, Buchan, Orwell, and a few others. The main thing I found is that all these books start with something that needs explaining, and leaves the reader wondering what it is. Whether its where they are, what they are doing or the situation the character finds them self in the writer always leaves out some details to bait the reader to read on.

Did that help...?

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Adam
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Adam Turner
19/03/2012

Do you have a story?

When I first started I went out and bought a couple of teach-yourself-to-write books, one of them being Write Away by Elizabeth George. I read that, ignored about half of it, jotted a few notes down about the main characters and the plot and generally procrastinated for about four months. Then one day I just sat down with my laptop and started to write. I didn’t know what I was doing or what was going to happen that morning , I had no plan for the scene or indeed anything and I was amazed when words started to appear on my computer screen.

What I wrote was mostly crap although some of those words still exist in my book to this day. Since then I’ve learnt lots, I’ve read lots, I’ve visited lots of forums like this and day by day my writing has improved.

The hardest bit is taking that initial plunge but once you’ve done that is just gets easier and easier

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Phil
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Phil Rogers
19/03/2012

Try a writing course. They will guide you to the best way to start your book, given its genre. Also have a look at the writing advice in this website. If you truly know your subject, that first line will just fall out your pen (or out your keyboard!)

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Susannah J.
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19/03/2012