Advice for a First Time Author

Journaling is not easy to make interesting, because it's nonfiction and based on day-to-day existence. However, if your journal is telling a story with a goal, it can read better. what are the long term goals, and how did the day's events contribute to the journey? What mysteries arise on your quest, and what do you discover in seeking the answers? And leave in the embarrassing moments. Or include flights of fancy, if you have a bit of Walter Mitty in you.

After all, it's probably not sentence structure that's killing you so much as your material.

 

Hi all

I am starting to plan my memoir and would appreciate some advice.

My plan is to have a think about what audience would likely read my book? I want to be able to blend my writing style to suit my audience whilst also reflecting my own character.

So the book will be a reflection and recount of my life so far, which has had a number of experiences that will have tested in the toughest of wills. The loss of a close loved one by suicide, alcoholism, more bereavement etc etc! As much as this sounds like depressing reading it also has wild times with a lot of laughter along the way. Plus a happy ending...........

Who should I be considering and what tips should I be learning from?

Please excuse any innocent mistakes as I said it is a new venture and I am on a steep learning curve!!

 

I wouldn't try to discourage you from this project, but, for what my opinion is worth, I think most would-be autobiographers vastly over-estimate the interest among the public in their (the writers') lives, unless they are famous in some other way or have some sort of hook ("I died and went to heaven, and here's what it''s like..."). Writing your life story could be useful and productive to you, but I wouldn't worry much about what your audience will expect; I doubt if it will be large enough to matter.

 

I mostly agree with stevesh, with the corollary that the one thing that could get public interest into the life of a non-public figure is exceptional writing. I'd say that you aren't trying to sell your story, really, you're trying to sell your writing.

With that in mind, I think it's probably important that you write in whatever style you think will really make your words shine. What style will allow you to make the story something special, something that stands out from all the OTHER lives touched by suicide, alcoholism, etc.

Think of Frank McCourt, for example. He wasn't famous (before getting published!) but he won the damn Pulitzer because the WAY he told his story was so compelling. And he told his story in his own style, in a way that was lifted from the milieu he was writing about.

 

Thanks to you both! Comments taken on board. It is mainly for me but I still want to see how it is viewed by others. If anything the end goal is to inspire others who may be having a tough time.

 

If you have an engaging style and can hook a reader, I think you can carry am autobiography. There are plenty of examples of autobiographical books by non-famous people that do well. I wouldn't let that discourage you.

 

Thankyou Steerpike, I'm really enjoying the process so I won't get discouraged! I've read some fantastic ones myself so am pretty inspired.

 

A piece of advice I give to most would-be memoirists: Consider whether you might be better served writing a novel, albeit one heavily influenced by your experiences. This gives you some flexibility and leeway to change the timing of events, add or combine characters (i.e. people/friends/authorities/victims, etc), disguise the identity of people involved, and avoid a criticism that your recollection of some event is inaccurate.

 

I like this advice a lot.

I'd also agree with the others - what needs to shine is your writing and the way you tell the story. If your story has universal themes, it'll be popular even if you're not "famous."

 

Hi everyone I'm very new to this site and would like to say hello and ask for a little advice.
I absolutely love reading and would love to be able to write a novel or short stories. Its an ambition of mine. I just don't know how to go about it or where to start. Is it just a case of putting pen to paper and as they say just starting. Sit down and start...
I'm looking for advice on how to get started, courses I should do if any, websites to look at for advice or check in to regularly. Anything really? Just advice from people with more experience than me.
Should I be writing down all my ideas all the time, any where that's good for ideas, research I should be doing?
Thank you..
Jellytots..

 

Yeah it kind of is as simple as just start writing. It won't necessarily be good at first, but the more you write, and the more ideas you get about writing from things you read, the better you'll get. You sound like you're worrying about it a little. Just relax and let the words flow. Writing is something we humans do naturally, like walking and talking. Nobody can teach it to you, and you only get better as you go.

 

Hi, @jellytots, and welcome to the forum! Please check out our New Member Quick Start Guide - it'll get you going around here.

As to your questions, well, all that is what this forum is for. Your questions have been discussed endlessly here. Just read through any threads with titles that interest you and I'm sure you'll find our members' best thinking on the subject. It's impossible to summarize it all in one post here. One thing to remember, though, is that there is no one answer that applies to all writers; different writers have different ways of doing things. Learning to write is a kind of exploration of yourself, to find out what your concerns are and what works for you. I hope this forum helps you do that.

Participate and have fun!

 

Thanks for that, very good points...

 

The forum looks great..I had no idea about it only I saw a post from a writer on FB saying she found the writing forums brilliant. I'll look back over the different threads..thank you

 

Just follow a convention - if you get good at that, you'll find you get good at a lot of other things too:

The convention is:

Take your characters on a journey where they change.

 

Hi Guys,

I read the rules and was a little conflicted as to whether I should post this or not, but In the end decided that if I get the responses here I would continue to eventual submission to be critiqued. I'm sorry if I've broken any rules.

Yesterday, for the first time ever, I attempted to write a beginning of a story that's been rolling around my head for a good long while. A friend of mine had written 1000 words and asked me to read it so I thought i'd repay the favour.

It took me around 30-40 minutes, and I haven't touched it since I finished it.

Writing is something that i've wanted to do for a few years now but have never actually attempted at all until now.

I guess the reason i'm posting this is that i'm worried that it's just a complete waste of time so I thought i'd ask a community I know isn't completely brutal to have a quick look and maybe someone could tell me if it's worth me expanding on the idea.

Anyway, Thank you to anyone that reads.

 

Hi, welcome to the forum. It's odd seeing MrGinger. Stick around, get to know the community and meet the minimum requirements. It's against the rules to try to go around those requirements but it's not really hard to meet them.

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

No problem, Sorry!

Daniel.

 

Hey there, Mr Ginger.

Looks like our other Ginger already pointed out our requirements for posting work for critique here in the forum. Here's the New Member Quick Start that will lead you to more detailed information on that and the rest of the forum.

Enjoy.

Wrey

 

No apology needed. We'd love you to stay and get that critique you want in a couple weeks. As for, should you continue, yes, absolutely don't go by your first attempt. Writing is a skill that takes time to acquire.

 

Writing isn't a waste of time if you enjoy writing. If you like writing you like writing nothing more to be said. Obviously you must like it a little though considering you came on here looking for some answers. Anyways welcome to the forums

 

As advice I wish I had for much longer than I have had it, don't get attached to those 1,000 words you put down in 30-40 minutes. It's simply not natural for a well-told story to be told from scratch at that pace.

 

Hi all,

Yes I am new here. I was just wondering the best course of action.

I've started writing an introduction/prologue of sorts, it's very short and about 550 words. However, I have no one to peer assess it, and am not sure if I should follow my gut and keep on writing and worry about editing and improving my prologue after I've written the next section (as it may cause the next chapter to fall apart a bit).. or if I should try and get advice as I go.

My thoughts are it's best to just keep going.

Many thanks,

Joe.

 

If it's your first time writing? Yeah, I'd suggest you just keep going. Have fun, play with your setting and characters, write some big, dramatic scenes...explore! You can fine-tune later.

 

Welcome, Joe!

Some people write their stories from start to finish before they go back to what they've written to edit and revise. Others edit and revise as they go. (Personally I do most of my editing after the first draft is finished.)

If you're new to writing I agree with @BayView's advice, to just keep writing and see where it gets you. When you are a bit more confident in the process and have explored writing a little, you can try to experiment with different processes to find the way that suits you best.

Good luck!