You will find that working through your first writing endeavor will be tough if you do not plan accordingly. There are several pitfalls that may frustrate you or make you feel helpless when trying to write. All of these tips surround the idea of planning. Make sure not to plan forever, though. The writing needs to end at some point. Here are some top tips that I have gathered from professionals:
Figure out what you are going to write about
It seems silly to say that one should decide what the nature of their writing will be but it does happen. One may come up with an idea of a story based on some interesting premise but neglects to decide whether it is a mystery or comedy or science fiction. A premise does not a story make. I come up with great ideas all the time. Here is a real premise: a person is running away from someone who claims to be their psychiatrist in a spy-chase type of thriller but we don’t know whether the alleged psychiatrist is real and trying to help this mentally-ill protagonist or if they are part of a larger conspiracy. Will it be a mystery or just action? Will the psychiatrist be real or a liar? Well, let’s hold off on those questions for a later tip.
Decide how long your writing piece is going to be
Knowing how long your book will be can help set writing goals and prepare an outline. Depending on what avenue you are going to try to publish, you might find that you want to follow a standard length for the reading level for which you intend to write. For example, you probably will not be writing a 50,000 word children’s book. Nothing needs to be set in stone but it can be helpful to think about this before you make an outline.
Do some preliminary research on your subject
Reading about the topic can provide some material for your outline. Let’s say I am looking to write a spy thriller and am looking for something to add substance to my story. Reading about past military operations might be insightful for helping build out that story. I might stumble upon Operation Mincemeat, for example. During World War II, British Intelligence used the body of a dead vagrant to deceive the German forces by dressing it up with a British Officer’s uniform and placing fake identification and plans to route the German forces to a different position. It worked and was a victory for the Allies. Knowing history is good to help ensure that one does not repeat it, but it can also be helpful to ensure your story moves from point A to point B. Make sure not to spend too much time researching, though, as some people might use it as a reason to not actually get to the work of writing.
Write an outline for your entire piece
One of the biggest mistakes one can make is to skip the step of making an outline. Some find it helpful to start at the end and work their way backwards, especially if they are writing a mystery or something where the facts have to add up. Either way you do it, you should make sure to have an outline. This can head off several potential future issues when you have the main story points planned out. One thing it can help with is the pacing of the story. Without it, you can find that your story is very slow in some places and very fast in others where it might not make sense because certain situations may feel like they should take a certain amount of time. Let’s make an example of a courtroom drama where half the story takes place during the event of a convenience store robbery and the other half takes place in a trial. It probably doesn’t make sense that the 3 minute robbery and the multiple-day trial take the same amount of read time in the book. Another thing that an outline can resolve is writer’s block and dead ends. The reason that these might happen is that the writer will write a story over the course of several hours during different days and they are likely to forget all of the details from Day 1. Stream of consciousness writing does not usually have a better result compared to planned writing. I might write a story of a UFO conspiracy theorist that finally ends up getting abducted by aliens. The Ufologist Mary is taken during the UFO convention in Vegas and then she is flown to the alien planet and then she is put on an alien dating show and then – No “and then!” That’s is where I end because I didn’t really know what the ending was going to be like or what kind of goals I wanted for the character. When I finally finish the book, it is disjointed, there are chapters that don’t have purpose, and there are likely to be details that don’t add up. Having an outline keeps is like having a GPS to your destination. You may be creative during the writing but knowing where your turns are and where your destination is can be peace of mind.
Make a list of your characters and props
Another part of planning is to make your list of characters and the items that will be important in the story. Having a list of characters to reference keeps you on the ball when recalling details later in the story. You don’t have to try to remember details of “Did I say that her hair was red, or brown?” or “I mentioned that gun on the wall with the name of Chekhov on it, so I better use it.” You don’t want to say that Autumn had blonde hair and then call them “fiery locks” somewhere else in the story. If you have enough characters then the list would help keep the names straight. Try not to have the name of four frequent characters to be John, Jack, Jacob, and Jonathan because it will confuse the reader. A list makes it obvious to see similar names. My personal opinion would be to not repeat letters of names unless there is some purpose to it. In regards to that gun, readers do not like to have something called out unless it has some purpose. Take this example: A man walks into a pawn shop looking anxious and hopeful. He looks around and finds a pocket watch that has an inscription “To my dear son, Tom.” and looks at the price. Disappointed, he puts it down and walks out, never to be seen again. What happened there? Was the watch important? I bet it doesn’t feel so good not to know. If you call out an item in such an obvious manner, keep track of it. If you didn’t need it later in the story, then maybe there was no need to mention it as if it were so important. Keeping track of characters and props help not only identifies when something is important but it also helps keep track of specific details so you don’t end up trying to use that skeleton key to open up a car door.
Create a work environment
I’ve heard different routines that some of the most famous writers use. One common method is to set a regular routine of writing: wake up, have coffee, go to their desk, and start writing from 10AM to 3PM. Even if they don’t feel like writing, they try anyways. When the time is up, they stop writing. They insist that stopping helps avoid burnout and the regular routine helps with writer’s block. This is a guide of tips before writing your first page, so the work environment is the key here. Find a place to write where you will not be bothered. Make sure it is fairly comfortable, imagining a place where you would work every day. Presumably this place has a flat surface for your computer, pad of paper, or typewriter. Get yourself set up well enough, but don’t allow too much procrastination creating your work space because the work space is not the “ultimate writer’s work space”.
Crack your knuckles
You’re ready to write your story (or article, contract, technical documentation, how-to guide, biography, or whatever). Now you have to actually do it.