Writing a book – where to start

Have you always wanted to write a book but don’t know where to start?

Although most aspects of writing can be taught, ideas generally can’t However, there are ways of coming up with ideas. The age old advice on writing what you know is a good place to start.

Have you ever had your heart broken? That’s a good place to begin for a romance novel.

Or maybe you went on the best holiday of your life and imagined what it would be like to live there. Now you can, maybe not physically, but through your main character when she or he moves there. Think about about what the reasons for the move could be. Does your character have a past? Will it be revealed during your story or just hinted at, and how will that affect their new life in this new place?

Writing what you know doesn’t mean writing about something boring or mundane. It just means starting from something you know and seeing it leads you.

For me; I’ve never been tricked into wearing a cursed bracelet, which allowed my boyfriend to control me. However, a real life experience with a controlling ex, led me to write about the experience in more of a magical/fantasy setting. My main female character became unable to do anything but obey when her boyfriend barked orders at her, effectively making her housebound and under his control In the same story I also did conflicting viewpoints from the boyfriend. I’ve never been a man either, but I felt I had enough knowledge of what a controlling boyfriend is like, to write from his viewpoint, before the character eventually developed a mind of his own and took over.

So it doesn’t always need to be writing what you know. You can write what somebody else knows, especially if you were the one on the receiving end of their behaviour.

Writing can be extremely therapeutic and great for venting all manner of things.