Tips for Writing a Good Book

In the previous posts I had been talking a lot about the Don'ts of book writing. Here are some Do's about the book writing.

1. The title and the story should be in sync. You cannot have a title like 'The Hardest Choice' and don't have a difficult choice anywhere in your plot. (Quite obvious but many don't follow it)

2. Try to keep the title of maximum four words. Personally I turn down those novels which have a long title like, 'I am a model undercover as a school's nerd.' It gives away quite a lot. Be creative in title. Do a bit of research over the internet and brain storm with friends for the title.

3. A Blurb should be strong enough to grab the attention. A good blurb can attract many readers similarly a bad one can drive them away. So it's quite essential to have a good, catchy and creative blurb for your book.

One of the golden rules for a good blurb is that you don't give away too much. Introduce the theme and leave it at the point where the reader feels curious to know more about your work. Also I would suggest that if your story is a conventional drama then  you should keep a creative summary. Having an opening line or a dialogue from the book definitely helps to make it better.

3. The MC(Main Charachter) should be seen from the beginning of your book i.e. from the first chapter itself. Keep in mind that there your book shouldn't start with a dialouge in the first paragraph itself. Give a bit intro to plot or something on the similar lines.

4. Out of all the books I read till now, most of them had overused character names. Please try being creative with your character names. Don't use the same old overused cliched names. You might think that they are good but honeslty they are too overused. We already have a lot of names that have an impact. So why not to use them?

5. Be consistent with your POVs. Refrain from changing them frequently. If you are a new writer, try writing in Third Person Limited. It is the easiest way to write.

6. Then there are the Casting Maniacs. Often I see the people casting unnecessary characters. Please your story is not a multi star cast movie. Casting should be of the main two characters and one or two supporting characters. There's no need of casting too many characters as they might turn out to be nightmare for you.

7. Grammar and punctuation errors should be rectified as soon as possible. This can be done by proof-reading the chapter every time. Grammar and punctuation show how much command do you have over English language. Editing can be done later on when your book is finally completed leaving no stuff behind.

8.  Over describing of feelings should be avoided. Nobody is interested in three page description of how somebody is feeling. It drags the story unnecessarily and makes it a bore. Unless and until you are writing a Cancer novel, emotional drag should be avoided. Use good words to make impact, not too many words.

9. Good usage of words and vocabulary doesn't hurt. Refer to a dictionary for good words but it should not be undecipherable at the same time. Refrain from using the chatting languages and slangs.

10. Avoid mixing of languages in your book. You can surely use a few words but don't overdo of those words inside the book. choose the language you want to write your book in and stick with it.

11. No need to add the past of the supporting characters if it does not have a link to the MC or the story. Refrain writing about the past of any character in a few initial chapters.  Stick as much to the story as you can, don't go too much with the past.

13. Try to keep the chapter length to maximum 2K words if posting online. If it is getting more than 2K, divide it.

14. If you write a long author's note, it's advisable to add it at the end of the chapter so that the reader get to read the chapter first.

15. Unnecessary twists and turns just to create spice should be avoided. Every twist in the story needs to have a good reason behind it.

17. Until and unless it is a teen fiction, try to have a justification for villain's behaviour. Nobody is born a villain, try being more realistic.

18.One of the most important things is that dialogues should be as realistic as possible.

19. You should have a proper ending for a novel, even if you are planning to have a sequel of the novel.

20. Lastly, don't promote suicide, self harm, domestic violence and rape. Try to keep negativity away from your book as far as possible.

Hope it helps. Keep writing.

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This post was co-authored : 

Hello everyone, I am Arpita Gupta who's lovingly called Appy Fizz by close ones. I am an 18 year old Indian citizen and a college student.

 The languages I know are English, Hindi and a bit of Japanese. I go by the username 'Sweetimagica' on Wattpad.