Transcripts
1. Introduction: hi!: Hi. My name is else idols. I'm a graphic designer. Anonymous skill share teacher. You might have seen a few of my classes already. They're allowed graphic stuff next to that. I'm a professional writer, so this is a whole different ballgame. Have you always wanted to write a book? Did you try and did you get stuck? Well, I'm not saying that why? Tips and tricks will get you there entirely, but I'm sure you'll find some very useful insights that might just be the notch in the right direction that you need. I'm a published author on I Write in Dutch, which is my native language. I've written these books and many more boots on. I've done a lot of presentations for with for Children as well as for adults. Young adults. Andi, I've been asked a lot of questions. I love to talk about the process of writing, So that's how I've chosen the most common questions on bond. The tips that I found most useful and that I want to share with you. I'm going to run them by so hope on board and let's get started
2. Idea - time - perseverance: the first and most asked question. Can anybody right? Book? Technically, yes. If you can read and write, in theory, you're good to go. But in reality, no, of course, writing is more than just a technique of reading and writing. It's a mix off in my very humble view. Three basic things. A a good idea. Be time. See perseverance. For me, a good idea shows itself like a piece of footage. Shorris still right in front of the mind's eye, not even consciously. I feel what's coming next, and I also know one has led up to that specific moment. I'm writing around this minds photo, so to speak. Sometimes I know from the start where I'm headed, and sometimes things just happen as I go. The second thing you need for a story is time. I am a fast writer, even though I hardly ever ride during the day. I'm too busy with my daytime job there, talking about an average. I reckon that each book has taken me about 3 to 4 months to finish. But there are a lot of writers who wrote much more slowly on who can work years on a book. Others have more daytime and spent the same amount of time on it. It all depends on what you do the rest off your daily life. But bear in mind, writing takes time on the last. It takes perseverance to finish a book. It's hardly ever difficult to start, but continuing and finishing it can be much harder if you really want to finish that story . If you want to turn it into a book, you have to be firm and sometimes even force yourself to continue. So remember, on idea time and perseverance, that is what you need to get a book out.
3. The Tools: So I'm off last. What tools to use, Right? Well, apart from the big Three I just mentioned I'd say that computer is different. Still you need. In my home country, the Netherlands, hand written manuscripts are not or hardly ever accepted by publishers. As a rule of thumb, you can say that a digital manuscript is the preferred method there are also. There are also some tools that might be useful. Some writers use APS designed for writing, such as Scrivener for Mac, or why, Right for Windows, they have options to store background informations, you graphical info, a photo gallery and mood board and stuff like that. I did use discriminate for a while, but in the end, I prefer to write in pages on one. Sometime I export my documents as a word file. I work on a Mac, but not everyone does. And editing by external parties is mostly done with Microsoft Ward Mike's of word mops with Microsoft words on the control check option. Next to that, some sticking notes might come in, and the real ones or a note pat on on on my bed. I sometimes make notes using the note ability, app It's not free, but it's not very expensive, either. On question. Do I print what I write? No, I keep reading it on screen. Only one of done entirely. I make a print or I send it to a printer.
4. The egg timer works: I've started by a concept myself to continue or I haven't got any time. Ha that is so recognizable. This is a common state of mind. And let me tell you, writing is working. Consider it a job like any other job. Most of the times nicer though kind what you would do if you work in an office. What, you just sit down and stare out of the window away, waiting for the day to pass? No, you'd start anyway. Work inspires or leads to more actions simply because your minds doesn't have time to wonder. The same thing goes writing. Just start. Do it, Do it, Do it the best way, and this is really a great inside tip is to said an egg timer. Set the timer for an hour or so. Make a viral with yourself that you're only allowed to write during this hour. Shut of text messages Shut up from your mail. Put your iPhone in a drawer. Be sure to only go on the Internet. If you need to find story related information. Sit down behind your computer and begin to type. An hour is doable time and once you're rolling and there's nothing to distract you from this work. You'll be surprised how much you were able to do in that one hour. You might even want to continue after the time is up, even though you might not have been inspired in the first place. Ah, small variation is for those who can hardly find the time to write. Get out about an hour or so or 30 minutes earlier than you normally would, and use that time to write or the same time amount before you go to bed. It's not always a matter of finding time. It's often a matter off planning.
5. Fanfiction: one of the things that I've learned a lot from is writing fan fiction on. For those of you who don't know what is fan fiction are stories about characters from TV, Siri's or movies or books are among and such. Check out fan fiction for a huge round of stories from very short to enormous about, for example, your TV heroes. Fan fiction has many perks, especially for the aspiring writer. You don't need to write an entire book to create something and put it on the Internet. You can write one short scene if you want to. Doesn't need to come from anywhere. Doesn't need to go anywhere. You can write an entire novel if you want to. Your heroes already have a face on the name Onda. A background family, a job. It's a teacher. In other words, there's a frame of reference, so we don't need to invent everything. You can just write whatever you want to write. So what? But whatever you want to write about him without losing time to come up with background info. There are a lot of different genres, so there's always something to fit your style or your taste. People usually comment on your story, which is great for your confidence and really boost your writing juices. You can quickly generate an audience because writers like to read about their specific heroes as well. On fan fiction is like a training pool for everyone who flies to right fan fiction on other online. For our writers for writers provide you with a safe place to put your stories out of the world. You can publish with an alias easily from the reactions and reviews of others. You will start to see the floors on good things in your own work. Easier. No one judges you, except if you're committing plagiarism so you can move freely. I would highly recommend joining online writer forms or real life writing groups and classes.
6. More tips: more rising tips? Uh, sure. Join writing competitions, check online and at your local newspaper or community house. If there are any writing competitions compel you to write within certain boundaries if not for the price, and do it for the practice. Are you able to write with a given amount of words or the theme within the given time? Even if theme doesn't appeal to you very much, you might want to consider joining because of the exercise. But in fact, if it doesn't appeal to you, you should. It will force you to look at this new topic in a different way. A well known online writing competition is the Nanowrimo. Write a novel of at least 50,000 words in a month time that is rather a lot in a short time and then read it out. Luck. The very best tip I can give you is having your finished piece read to you by a family member or friend. But by using your computer with a text to speech app, you can have any text read to you on my Mac. I have a voice called Kate for English texts who reads to me what I have written fan for Windows. There's a similar option for speech recognition. Overall, the computer voice is quite awful because of the dynamics Amber lack there off, but it is a lot easier to spot the typos and spelling errors. You do it almost instantly. In fact, it was a lot better than if a friend would read text. Well. Lost in this chapter is the ability to have speech to text the other way around. You can dictate your text on and have the computer type it for you. Sometimes it's quicker to dictate your text than to type it. I use this feature quite often when I'm replying. Emails for writing Personally, I find it less handy because I often make up sentences as I go. But you might just find this extreme useful, so give it a try.
7. What comes after the story is finished?: my story is finished. What's next? Well, in my home, country and agent is not compulsory. It might be different in your country. It might be the case for the sake of this class. I'm moving over to the publishing part here. First, go online and look for publishers. Onder what kind of books they bring to the world. You don't want to send your thriller to a cookbook publishing company on. If you've written a Children's book, it shouldn't end up in the mail off a publisher who makes the world maps. So make a list publishing houses that you think will fit your story. You can then send your story in Prince or by email. While the letter seems to be the preferred method that these days it can take a long time before you receive a reaction or not, even it'll don't be discouraged. It happens. Seconds doing. Send an entire book a publisher will know very quickly, often in lesson. 10 pages of a story has potential, so send a chapter that will show your work. But it won't give away the clue of the port, uh, at a short summary to create some kind of reference for the publishing and also include some information about yourself. If you want any writing comprehension competitions or end it on a shortest somewhere, do mention that. But don't mention that your friends and family say that your story is good because that is not criteria that a publisher will use. Friends and family are no the basis to go from. So why one chapter in or a few pages? Well, because that will be enough to trigger a publisher. If it's good, he or she will contact you and ask for the rest. You still prefer to send the entire manuscript. If you do, send it in print and you want to send Have it back. Include an envelope. Andi. Add enough stamps to be able to have it returned to you on one of the questions I also bet is how hard are typos and spelling and grammar errors judged, or the story and the way of writing are the most important things. The lest I oppose the better, of course. So being for a document without tables but basically a few mistakes, I'm not a problem. If the storyline is goat, and if it's written in a way that appeals to a publisher, the typos will never be a reason why manuscript is turned down
8. Dealing with criticism: dealing with criticism Out of 100 good reviews, One back review can linger on on Wreak havoc with your confidence like nothing else. For all of you out there who are brave enough to publish a story, don't let it get you just like food and clothes and movie. There is no account for taste. There's a beautiful saying in Dutch. There is not a chef in the world who can cook to everyone's liking. And that's a fact. If the majority off the comments are positive, you should bear in mind that that's what Matt is on the other side. Constructive criticism can be very helpful in improving your story. Don't forget that a publisher will not automatically say Ah yeah, amen to what you send it Is their job to be precise on deliver critic. It is their job to pick out flaws and errors because if they don't book review was Will. I once met a man who had written a spy story from he sent it off to a publisher. Good news. They were interested. But he went. He went to talk to them. He was appalled by how much she hired to change and how much he had to add. For instance, the story was not large enough for a book. He turned down the offer and he published the story himself, using on online publish on them on site. And it's such a shame he would have had national exposure on the book. There would would have been, I'm sure, a lot better than what he had produced up to that moment. The book that he published himself turn out to be very expensive, and it sold only 10 copies in total. I honestly believe that if you had Bean open to the idea ideas and suggestions and the criticism of the publisher, it could have been a hit. So is wise lesson here accepted and deal with it? That's the best way.
9. There is no perfect way: there is no perfect way. So you've heard my side of the story, and now you're trying to come up with this scene like I do, and right around it, absolutely no need to. There is no one perfect way or method to write. I've spoken to many writers and hardly ever do they follow the same pop. So let me give you some ways of work that work right after extensive background research. First writer Synopsys as a starting point, right, whatever comes up, which is what I do most of the time, right according to a rough, pre made plan, right with photos or images as guidelines, Right, two or three or even more stories at the same time. Write in another language in your own rightful various types of readers. Different ages, different genders, right, using keywords, right, using chapter names as guiding words, you sticking notes with Klopp names and plot lines and names, right chapters in any given order and rearrange them afterwards, etcetera. In other words, there are many ways to get to the final results, however, a vital information that goes for every way vital information should always be correct. For example, his sword. Nell's. Make sure you've got your facts checked. Generally, a library or a professional historic institute can be very helpful on is usually more accurate than some Internet websites. So when you write, feel free to shape the world to your plan. After all, you're the writer. There are no rules on how to begin and how to start and how to end, but keep an eye open for facts and figures.
10. Book word count: okay, We were just almost reached the last bit. How many words do I have to write and how many pages are in a book? I shall answer that by showing some of my books. It is different for the audience. You're targeting Children's books somewhere between 12 thousands and 20,000 words. Depending on their age, 2000 can be for little Children. This is romantic comedy that's between 45,000 and 55,000 words on the tuna is somewhere between 80 to 100,000 words. So it's not the number of pages, but the number of words that will define the size off the book. And, of course, in Children's books, there are always, always illustrations. Do you have any saying who makes the illustrations or what you want to recover? Sometimes I must. Can you make him yourself? Yes, generally there is room for input. But if your book is going to be one in a series of many, it might just have to look like the other books for my Children's books. I asked for a certain illustrator who had already done a lot for the publisher. While that turned out to be a bull's eye. It's a great and illustrator Andi. He's doing into a good friend right now. I think he made them always beautiful drawings that fit my story perfectly.
11. Wrapping it up: So time's up. I've reached the end of what I can tell you for now. Well, there's a whole of war to talk about, but this will be it for the time being. I hope this inspired you enough to get the egg timer out on. Start writing again to find an online writing grope to gather your guts and set your story to a publishing company. Don't be disappointed when you get a no go. You might have to send it out many times before one says yes, but then, if you have any questions that leave them below Andi, I will try to answer them. In the meantime, happy writing, Good luck, and thanks for watching.
Els Ruiters, Graphic Designer from The Netherlands
