Favorite 5: My favorite tips for writing your first book

It's hard to imagine that I'm actually writing my first book. I've been holding off on it for a long time, and a bit apprehensive about writing my first book. I'm sure a lot of people are a bit nervous to write their first book. Writing a book, that you're willing to share with others, is a huge step, but it doesn't have to be. I've learned a few tips that have helped me learn to be more at ease with my writing, and hopefully, other people will find them useful.

Tip 1: Ignore the people who say you can't do it.

This is huge. It's why I've been apprehensive about writing stuff. I've had people read some of the stuff I've written and they hated it. I stopped and told myself, maybe writing wasn't my forte, but as time dragged on, I realized I love writing, and I can't let a few people who didn't like my work stop me. There's other people in the world that may enjoy what I write.

Tip 2: Allow the writing to flow as it does

Writing is like a river if you don't allow it to flow and find something to stop the flow, it's going to get backed up. When I'm writing, especially my first draft or just free writing in my book a bit, I don't worry about editing, I let the story unfold in my mind. Especially when it comes to dialogue, people don't usually edit what they're saying in midsentence.

When allowing your writing to flow, never force it. Forcing it leads to a mess. I've noticed if I force myself to write, I don't feel the emotions that my characters are feeling anymore, then in a sense, I lose that spark. 

Tip 3: When going back over your writing ask your self if you'd read what you'd written and how you'd actually want the book to go if you were reading it. 

After you allow your writing to flow, and you're ready to work out the kinks a little bit, I ask my self two important questions. The first question is if I walked into somewhere like Barnes & Noble or any book store if I read a page or two before buying the book if I'd actually read it. If I think I'd actually read it, I leave it be, if there's some reason that I didn't enjoy what I wrote, I either scrap it or ask myself the second question. If I was a reader, which way would I want my reading to go. That gives me a basis if I'd want to scrap it or not. Just be remember, you can go in the opposite direction that you'd want to go to. There are many books I've read and they didn't go the way I wanted them to, but they were awesome.  

Tip 4: Find a writer buddy

I haven't asked for help from my writer buddy yet, but he's there if I need him. I have him because, I do have a problem with dialogue, as I'm not the best at it. He's been in the shoes of writing dialogue and has written a few books. It's my safety net for writing.

Tip 5: Forget the rules of writing

The rules you were taught to follow when writing a story in grade school are useless now. The same goes for all the books that you read to help you learn to write stories. It was a tough lesson for me, I read books, and heard so many rules of writing, that it turned me away for a while. As long as your story's grammatically correct and flows how you want it to, leave it be.