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Tips for writing your first book

“Write like you’re a death row inmate. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of the cliff on your last breath and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves”

— Alan Watts


I put together a list of tips I wish I had when I was writing my first book.


1. Write your introduction last.


2. Don’t sweat the small stuff when you’re writing. Save the perfectionism for the editing process.


3. You will fall more in love with your book the more you write. Its shape will change constantly and chapters will continuously take on new names — this is all natural.


4. Kill your darlings, even when it hurts. It won’t hurt at the end. At the end, you will be so in love with the final shape of your book that you will forget the aches of surgery.


5. Take lots of time off from your book. I know it sounds counter-productive, but the more fixated you get and the more glued you are to your book, the less you will understand it. You actually have to zoom out to get a bigger picture.


6. Realise that as you write, your book will take on a new form and as it does, be flexible with and adaptive to the natural flows and ebbs. Writing a book seems like a fixed procedure at first; research, write and edit. But nobody tells you that your book will take on a life of its own, much like having a student — you can tell the child where to look, but not what to see.


7. Love your book. Make sure that your book knows that you live for it.


8. Don’t get strung up on the business side of things. The pressure of selling can take a toll on a writer and you could subsequently lose sight of the real reason why you started writing in the first place.


9. Screw a minimum word count. Write only what is necessary. No fluff. The word count works around your material, not the other way around.


10. If you’re not sure about the genre of your book, do research on existing literature in the field. The books that resemble yours are the best indicators for which genre your book will fall into.


11. Know exactly what is already out there. Put yourself in the shoes of a reader: imagine you are walking through a packed bookstore, what books grab your attention? Which ones are you most likely to spend money on? You have to justify the price of your book.


12. Delight. Whether your book is informational or autobiographical — it has to move. Your book must solve a problem and comprehensively answer questions, but it can only do this if people are actually willing to read it in the first place. A book which is not relatable will remain sitting on bookshelves gathering dust. The best (and probably) only way to get through to people is to delight them.


13. Use a second pair of eyes whenever you can.


And lastly


14. Have courage on this lonesome journey. Your book will slowly become your friend, your everything. After you spend enough time dedicating your life to something, it ends up becoming an extension of you and that’s exactly what your book is. Don’t see it as anything less. It has to reflect you.

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