The final step in your book! Writing.
If you pretty much know the whole story of your book then that makes it easier. One thing I do when writing a book is, I write down the major events that I want to happen. So on a notepad I'll write,
• Kimberly catches her boyfriend cheating on her.
• Josh plans revenge in Kimberly for dumping him.
• Ezra knows of Joshes plans and tries to keep Kimberly safe.
You know, the important events. Of Course not like that. My events have more meaning. So what my notepad actually looks like is,
• Renae tells Wes she has to feed her imaginary dog sparkles.
• Wes anonymously gives Renae a pet dog named Sparkles so he won't have to be imaginary anymore.
It helps because, you don't want to forget an important event and your whole story is thrown off. In between those major events, I add small insignificant events. Even if I don't write them down because they just come to me.
Don't start your book off with,
My eyelids flew open as the beeping of my alarm clock filled the room. Groaning, I look over to curtains which were wide open. Obviously mum had been here. Jonah walked past my door only wearing boxers while brushing his teeth and studying last minute for a test.
Too many books start off like that. If you do, do that, add some kind of mystery. For ex.
I knew I was awake. But I couldn't move. I want sure if it was because of fear or because I just couldn't. I felt a pair of strong arms pick me up and carry me. I could feel my heart beating faster because I knew for a fact, that lived alone, and nobody has a key to my apartment. Everything was silent all around me. Who was breaking into my apartment and taking me wherever they were taking me?
And I can not stress enough how much the word said is over used.
"Hi" I said.
"What are you doing?" He said.
"Nothing. Did you know Fredrick was going dating Ellie? It came to a total surprise to me." I said.
Like seriously? There are whole bunch of words that could be used other than said. For ex.
"Hey." I greeted along with a smile.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Nothing. Do you want to go to to the fair today? I heard it's really fun." I suggested.
See? And you don't always have to state who saying what. Just as long as you make it clear at the beginning of the dialog. And you could say what they are doing when they say whatever they are saying.
Don't add too much detail to a story. Nobody wants to know what your makeup process is. You could put in what your makeup process is once, but but every time the girl gets dressed. Like seriously I've read enough books that repeat the process and I can't stand it.
Don't reveal too much about characters in the first chapter. Go little, by little. Nobody wants to read a full 3,000 word chapter about the characters life and childhood. Especially if it's not even what the book is going to be about. And please, stuck to your word. If you say someone eyes are grey, don't say that for like ten or fifteen chapters, then talk about how that persons eyes are green or blue. It bugs me so much.
Make the first chapter of the book interesting. Don't talk about something really boring for twenty pages. Cause the first chapter is what hooks readers.
And I beg of you, don't leave off on cliff hangers. Sure, they seem really fun and stuff, in fact, I've done it with my book 'Gone'. But it gets really hard to update all the time. So if you leave off on a cliff hanger and you don't update for months, than you'll be losing readers. I've read books like that and it's no walk in the park. If books are like that, then I remove them from my library . Final. I don't even look back.
I hope you found these tips helpful! Thank you!
Alex♡