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I wanna be an author, any guidelines?
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Write about something that disturbs you. The passion makes it a good place to begin
Exactly :p , I've a diary about my life. There had been many drastic incidents because I've lived in many places in Pak and abroad having an army background. And I write it and it soothes me alot.Accident Survival
Attack Survival
My Father in hard areas
Earthquake 2005 Abbottabad that changed me alot
Attacks on Army Public School Pesh and echoes of my dead teachers and friends
My hush hush lovestory
I've Day Diary too and some crazy people keep a Dream Diary also (lovely). But I was asking about becoming a Novelist. I wish to express my real time experiences, people's true tales (I've read several hundreds of them in Sarguzisht Digest it's awsome really, do read it's true tales portion if you get it somewhere) some fiction added too to make a novel out of it on a single beautiful intricately patterned story based upon my pure feelings.
Well Ahsen i used to keep diary, but do not anymore. i want to be novelist myself and writing it too. I think the trick is just start writing randomly. What ever plot of scrap of plot you have just write down paragraphs or dialogues.
Things will align themselves slowly. Just stop thinking about writing and write.
It worked for me. Good luck :)
That's good, you should keep it on. Highly recommended. You will love future reads of it too. Don't miss your moments you spend, hold them up. :)I even tried to make something, it came out as a few surprisingly good plot(s). I was feeling it could have become a good novel if it was improved. But then I couldn't work on it in meagre time I had then.... Studies.
Please call me Muhammad :)
Muhammad . Time is a problem every student has. am waiting desperately for summer myself. :)
There is this book by Stephen King "On Writing: A memoir". It is a must read for any one who aspires to become a writer. You should definitely read that, and read as much as you can. Read french's, and russians, read the contemporary fiction, find the patterns and anomalies. The more you read, the better. And write short stories first, as much of them as you can. Then slowly build up your stamina, and expand them to novellas. It takes more then just a talent to become a writer. I hope you will find the above mentioned book very useful.
“So many books, so little time.” ~Frank Zappa
:P I'm asking about starter's tips friend except reading which I hunt and do right from start.
If you just want to write a book just for the sake of writing it and publishing it with your name on the title, I guess you can start right away then. But I will recommend that you take your time and work as much as you can on yourself, discuss your ideas and then write a kickass book. I dont get what you mean by starter's tips ...
Nah you are right we should take it. But by starter's tips I mean the process involved from setting and writing to publishing. The practical approach.
Well, as I said Short stories are the key. They are tricky but linear, you will learn a lot while you practice and improve your skills. Share with your friends, ask someones advice and see what inspires you and how. Writing a novel right at an earlier stage will be premature, and won't bring the best out of you. Plus publishing is the last stage, you can self publish yourself on internet, and I guess its not much difficult if one is willing to spend some bucks. Think about writing for now, that will be a fairly good approach for a starter.
Thank you, Muhammad, for starting this thread. This is helping me too. :)
@abubakar Thanks friend; But publishing not properly no matter how good your novel will not take half the fame it deserves. And I'm not wanting to have a trial and error; Experience of others would give me edge over my starting-all-on-my-own. I have feelings, I have been writing, I have a pace, I need now directions for a good start of a novel. First impression is last impression. I had written for my college magazine too and it acquired good acclaim. How about learning well with good directions and avoiding as much mistakes as possible instead walking in the dark and thinking if only I had heard abubakar before. :PPublishers in UK and US are better for South Asian literature in English (if one's lucky enough) and receives greater acclaim as quoted by Jibran. Hoping for best.
@Sadia welcome :)
@Muhammad, I hope you will do good brother.
Thanks, I feel like you are thinking I don't wanna follow what others are saying. Nah, actually I was asking what I thought was important too. I would definitely go through your recommended books.
publicity is more important than publishing now a days. it's hard to get into the flood... you have already written so many short stories.. sorted out few good ones and go for publication and also introduce it as an add on social media. make your page or website. spread your work on internet. Take the help of your good friends. And keep maintain the curiosity for next publication. go for it. best of luck.
MuhammadThis is what I've learnt along the way, and am still learning:
Read. Read. Read.
Write. Write. Write.
Rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite.
Don't be in a hurry to publish.
Let the words simmer and sizzle.
Send it to several people to read.
Have it professionally edited.
Then start the process of publication.
Be open to constructive criticism, and even if it stings, learn from it.
Don't give up.
Hello everyone, just wanted to share few blogposts on this topic that you all might find interesting:"Making That Commitment to Your Book," A Guest Post from Lauren Carr
http://www.mustreadmysteries.com/2015...
The Only Way You Will Ever Create Something Wonderful
http://positivewriter.com/the-only-wa...
Dear Editor… | So You Think You Can Write Acquisitions
http://sold.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com...
Hope you enjoy reading them and find them useful too, thanks! :-)
Hello Muhammad,The only advice I'll give you is write every day. Every single day. Without a stop, without a pause. Even if you don't have anything to write, stare at a blank page -- I promise The Muse will visit you.
I am also a doctor, and gave up writing during medical college. How I regret it. Now, I'm writing again. I have had my short story published in The Iowa Review. My novel is ready to start being queried.
Advice No. 2: Read as much as you can. Everything from the newspaper to fiction to non fiction. You need to learn about the world and how it works.
Advice No. 3. Understand the techniques of writing. How to use POV, character development, dialog writing. The forum that helped me understand was absolutewriters.com. Its a great resource.
Best of luck.
I wanted to be an author since childhood (like many goodreaders), though not as a professional. Have been an obsessive reader since grade 3 and I feel like there's a good storyteller in me.
Although I don't find much time since medicines does not give me enough room to write. But I wish to write a novel before I die :P .
I would like hand-me-down good guidelines here how to start, proceed and publish? So that potential young authors of Pakistan may find this, fashion and flourish.
Regards