How to Write a Manuscript from Beginning to End

If you have never done it before, writing a book can be pretty difficult. After all, there are so many different sources of information, so many different factors to consider, and so many different competing strategies. Should you write your manuscript all at once, or work on a synopsis and a few chapters to send in the publishers? Should you outlined and diagram everything before you do it, or just start working and count on inspiration to hit? Are you writing a book for your own pleasure, or are you doing it for financial gain? These questions and more need to be answered before you can start.

When I was first writing a manuscript, I went about it all wrong. I didn't think of strategy at all. I just assumed that I should start writing and see where it took me. For some people this might be a good strategy, but in my opinion it doesn't work for most people. Writing manuscripts is an extremely difficult and time-consuming task, and it requires a principled an organized approach. At the very least, you need to write a synopsis, a chapter by chapter guideline, character sketches, and many other notes that are relevant to the story you are creating.

Of course, some people need more tools for writing a manuscript. There are a number of different manuscript writing programs on the market. Although I have not tried any of them personally, I have heard from some of my friends that they give good results. Scriptwriting software can give you ideas when you are stuck, automatically format your manuscript in the correct style,, and help you to organize all of your different notes. Writers are not always the most together and on-task people, so this can be an invaluable resource.

Everyone writing a manuscript eventually gets to that big question: do you want to publish. Publishing a book can be very difficult, and there are many different approaches. The classical approach, of course, is to get an agent, and have them send your work off to different publishers. You don't necessarily have to finish writing a manuscript before you do this, as long as you have completed a few chapters and a synopsis.. you can also build up your credibility as a writer by publishing short stories in various national and local magazines before trying to publish a novel. Of course nowadays, more and more authors are self-publishing. When you self-publish a book, you get to control every aspect of production and editing. The disadvantage, of course, is that it is difficult to make any money at it. At least in the beginning, self-publishing is mostly a labor of love.

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JeffD is an attorney and freelance writer. He enjoys writing on general interest topics. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife Kristin. His homepage is www.dontcha.us/

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