An aspiring writer always wishes to find some writing tips that can help him write a book, but it is really difficult to find the perfect guide among multiples of those available online. We at Damick Publications not only help the authors in publishing but also extend our help to the aspiring authors in fulfilling their dreams. Therefore, here we have a few writing tips for you which are personally designed taking into consideration, the Indian self-publishing industry and therefore we assure you these writing tips would help you produce the best book.
Tip 01: Before you start writing a novel you should understand the difference between a short story, a novelette, a novella and a novel. The only way to understand the difference between these is the number of words in the script.
Short Story – Up to 7500 words,
Novelette – 7500 – 17500 words,
Novella – 17500 – 40000 words,
Novel – More than 40000 words (Wiki reference).
So you should make up your mind about what you want to write.
Tip 02: The following things make a perfect novel: 1. Story. 2. Narration. 3. Grammar.
The first two things must be there in a writer while the third one need not be. You should have a story that should be gripping and you should be able to narrate it in such a way that it keeps the reader engaged. Grammar can be corrected by hiring professional services from the editors, either provided by the publisher or self hired on a freelance basis. But you can always self check your paragraph’s grammatical mistakes online through reverso.com
Tip 03: How to improve narration?
1. Read more and more. Suppose you want to write about romance, then you should read the books of the romance genre. This way you will get to learn that how different authors wrote the same scene differently.
2. It is inbuilt in many of us as we have been writing our exam papers and you all try your best to convince your teacher with your answer to the question. Try writing the same scene in two or three different ways and analyse which one is better.
* avoid reading debut authors as they might not be accurate and well experienced.
Tip 04: How to find a perfect story?
1. Many of you have it around you. All you need to do is just start searching it in every character you meet throughout the day.
2. It can be a story of your family member/relative/friend/colleague or someone known to you (In this case you need to know the whole story and assure the person that you will keep his identity secret if he is not willing to share his identity openly.
3. Read books of a similar genre you want to write. Break the stories into pieces and write your own story (Not recommended. better use your imagination and write it down.)
Note: You can always re-create a scene from a novel but do not copy exact words. The writer may sue you for this if he owns the copyright.
Tip 05: What should be the ideal word count of a script?
40,000 – 60,000
75000 max (not recommend).
Keeping the word count limited will help in the following ways:
1. It will not let the reader wait for the end of the story.
2. They will not stop reading the book in between.
3. It will be cost-effective for the Publisher and he will keep the MRP low
4. Book size will be perfect and easy to carry.
Note: A single page of a novel normally consists of 300 words
Tip 06: While writing, avoid using short forms like ‘U’ for you, ‘r’ for are. These short forms will hamper the reader’s flow and will also spoil the alignment of the book. At times readers may give negative reviews for this.
Tip 07: Avoid using too much Hindi in an English novel. Do it only to bring life to a conversation, including Shayari or a dialogue.
If you use Hindi line then just after that line, translate it into English as your readers might not know Hindi.
Ex. Usne kaha ki hamari zindagi ki dor khuda ke haath me hai (He said that the control of our life is in the hands of God.)
Tip 08: Use of numbers in the script.
1. When you want to show counting for up to two digits, use the English words for them (Ex. Twenty-eight for 28).
2. When it is counting for more than two digits, use the numbers (Ex. Use 300 for 300).
3. When you want to include the date and time, include them in numbers, but in an IST format (23/01/1991 – 00:15 IST).
Tip 09: What should be the font name, size and line spacing while we are writing a book in Microsoft Word file?
Font – Times New Roman
Heading Size – 14, Bold
Normal Font Size – 12.
Conversation, Shayari, Poetry and dialogue Size – 12, Italic. Line spacing – 1.15.
Tip 10: What should be a chapter length?
It generally depends on the size of the script, like if the script has a total number of word counts of 50,000 then there can be 20 chapters of 2500 each. Generally a chapter length should be between 1500-2500 words.
Tip 11: Book titles should always be unique.
Suppose there is a famous book called Turtle Hammer and you also keep the same name.
Now what will happen is when people will search for your book named Turtle Hammer on Google, they will end up buying the famous one as it has more data on the Internet as compared to yours.
Apart from that, those who are looking for the famous Turtle Hammer book if by mistake end up buying your book, then they will return the book and the returns always work as losses to the publisher and he may simply un-publish your book because of that.
Therefore, always look whether your title has already been taken or is it available for you.
Tip 12: How to get rid of Writer’s Block?
It’s just like an illness that practically has no medicinal treatment. It’s like a child who needs to be pampered to do or not to do something. In other words, we need to prepare ourselves psychologically to start writing. When you feel you can’t write, try the following:
1. Take long/short breaks, as needed.
2. Go out and have your favourite food.
3. Try some chocolates as the stress busters.
4. Don’t think that you can’t write. Otherwise, writer’s block is prone to carry forward for more time.
5. Go shopping or outings.
6. Read some writing tips online.
Whatever you do or wherever you go. Leave your thoughts about writing at home and then go. The idea is to give a break to your mind. When you think, I am not able to write (due to any reason) i.e writer’s block.
Tip 13: Write a maximum of 1000 words with a minimum of 500 words in a day. Write less, but write well.
Tip 14: What is a prologue and why it is important?
The prologue is an introductory section of your work. It should tell the insight of the story; it should build interest in the reader’s mind and in the end leave him with few questions.
Remember, those questions will let him turn to the next page and read the story.
After the brief description on the back cover of the book, the second most important part is the prologue. You can use any part of your story (which is interesting) as a prologue.
Note: always decide/write the prologue after completion of the script.
Tip 15: What is a Synopsis and what should be the length of the synopsis?
A synopsis is the summary of your manuscript. Ideally, it is written to let the publisher know about the story of the book in just one or two pages.
It should be error-free and interesting so that it can help the publisher in making a good decision and selecting your script.
While you have gone through our writing tips, we believe you are now well equipped and ready to go. Good Luck! Write well.
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