“The Secret of Writing Your Book when You're Stuck! --An Expert's How to Write a Book Step-by-Step Guide”
You've been writing your book for a while and now you've hit a dry spot. You're stuck, stymied, or stalled. Here's how to get writing your book back on track!
by Steve Manning
You're well into the writing of your book. Perhaps as much as 40,000 or 50,000 words. And now, things have dried up. The story is not going anywhere? Do you have to throw it all out and start again? Can you salvage your extensive efforts so far? Is this just a sign that you're writing the wrong book and that there's no way out? Don't worry, here are a few solutions that you can use to recover, and get back on track for success with writing your book.
No matter where you are in the writing of your book, first paragraph, half way through, or just can't seem to sum up for the final chapter, if you can't seem to write any more the problem you're facing is the same. Without trying to sound glib, you just don't know what comes next!
Your problem with writing your book had its seed some time ago when you started the process. You likely assumed you're quite capable of writing a book, thought the idea of creating an outline was more work than it was worth, and plunged in, pen (or keyboard) in hand to start the book-writing process. The longer you've been mulling over the idea for you book, the more likely you've been able to get perhaps quite a few pages into the project, before facing the inevitable wall.
Now for the bad news. While there are those who will tell you they simply start writing and keep going wherever the story takes them (Stephen King and James Clavell are just two), for us lesser mortals we need a bit more help. And if you've reached a dry spot in your writing, you need that same help regardless of how good a writer you think you are.
Your outline, your blue print, whatever you want to call it, must be created if you want the writing of your book to be as easy as possible. And that outline had better be much more extensive than just a few lines on the back of an envelope. The more exhaustive the outline, the easier the writing will be. I'm always advising authors that the time they spend on the outline will be more than paid back when it comes time to write your book.
For every hour you spend on your outline, you'll save several hours during the writing process. The outline of your book is actually where the creation of your book takes places. Ideally, you want to know what happens on every page of your book. When you're writing your book, realize that's not the time to be coming up with new ideas, innovative plot twists, or new character introductions. That all happens during the outline process. The writing of your book should really be a painfully boring process, where all you're doing is fleshing out the story that appears before you in the outline.
Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! It’s free, no charge, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just email me at Free CD, Please, or CD_please@writeabooknow.com and make sure you include your name, your mailing address and your telephone number in the email. Now, back to the article…
Do you see how having an extensive outline can greatly reduce any problems you might have with not having something to write next in your book? It actually eliminates the problem.
So what do you do if you're in that situation now? Here are a couple of solutions. First, don't think you have to throw out everything you're produced so far. You don't. but you may be in for some challenging word weaving. The first solution is to create the outline for the part of the book that has yet to be produced. Perhaps you need an outline for only the second half of the book. Or the last few chapters. Make it happen. Remember that your time is incredibly well spent by doing this. A carpenter can build a house without a building plan, but there will be no end of problems if she takes this route.
You may find that what you've already written must be reconciled with the new partial outline. Make the adjustments, and try to keep as much of the original material as you can.
Another strategy many authors like is the creation of a short story, starting where your book writing efforts have ended and finishing where you want the book to finish. Then you take that short story and build upon it, layer by layer, until you have what you need for the completion of your book.
Between you and me, that's exactly the same as the creation of an outline, but authors like it better if I call it a short story, rather than an outline or blueprint.
While we're on the topic of strategies, and if you haven't already done so, feel free to
subscribe to my FREE on-line course, "How To Write A Book On
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Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! It’s free, no charge, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just email me at Free CD, Please, or CD_please@writeabooknow.com and make sure you include your name, your mailing address and your telephone number in the email.
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