How would you begin writing your novel?

Question

I have experience writing and publishing pieces on the net, but I am just a little curious on how you would begin writing a book. How would you format it? Are there any websites out for that? If I wanted to write 20 pages per chapter approximately how many words would that be? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Well, first i would recommend having an idea. Just one idea can start you off. Then i would start to develop characters. And before you know it, you'll have bits and pieces of your story in your mind. At least that's how i start. Most of the time i'll write down an interesting dream i had, and that becomes the idea. It doesn't work for everyone, but by the looks of it, writing is already your passion.

Answer 2

Get an account with lulu.com. Its a self publishing site. On the website are several book templates for microsoft word. Each template is formatted to be the same size as a book, and contains automatic page numbers etc.

A standard sized book chapter, with 20 pages per would probably contain about 7,000 words (350 words per page).

Answer 3

That is a long chapter! Twenty pages?! I'm impressed! I think that is approximately forty pages in a normal novel! Of course, I could be wrong. I write books too, have not published any, but I usually go for eight to ten pages. I don't think I could ever make a chapter twenty pages! Hey, good luck! Sorry I wasn't much, well any really - sorry I wasn't any help. =D

Answer 4

Write an outline and a first chapter. You can shop that, and it will give you an idea of where to go.

Then you need an agent.

Answer 5

A chapter can be one sentence or 50 pages. There is no rule.

Once the point is made and the chapter feels complete then it is time to move on.

The shortest chapter I have written is 189 words and the longest is 4100 in the same project.

When the chapter feels complete, then it is.

Answer 6

I woke up, unsure of my surroundings. It was pitch black. "Hello?" I asked. "Is anybody out there, Hello!?" No answer. I started to panic. Was I in h**l?

Answer 7

Eh, it really depends what type of book it is. You'd definitely need a hook, something that just grabs people's attention no matter what.

Or you could always go for the generic Once upon a time or A long time ago or something

And for the 20 pages/Ch thing, that depends on what font you use. You can always change the font so it's like, gigantic, and thus write less if you really need to.

And there really is no format besides Chapters. Add a table of contents and if you really wish, the names of Chapters, and you're pretty good to go. I'd suggest you get with a publishing company - which once again, depends on what type of book you're reading (for example: houghton mifflin for a textbook)

Hope this helped!

Answer 8

when i wrote my book, i started by the main charatcer saying smething. then you just explain the charaacters, and introduce the story.

Answer 9

It's 1:30 a.m. & I don't feel like lecturing.  The best advice I can give is to go to Resolved Questions & find ones similar to yours.  They've been asked dozens of times & answered w/ only a few variations.

Some personal info on my writing habits:  I approach each piece differently depending on whether it's a ss or a novel or sometimes just on subject matter.

Answer 10

Just worry about getting the story out, not about chapters and formatting. Those are all things you take care of when you edit.

But for when you do edit... I think 20 pages is approximately 20,000 words? Microsoft Word has a wordcount feature that you can use to find out. And I have some info on my forum about how to format a novel:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 11

I would begin with 'Once upon a time...'

Good luck!

Answer 12

You do not base chapters on a number of words or pages. A chapter should tell a sub-story, and end either when it is complete, or when a cliff-hanger or compelling event reaches a crescendo, compelling the reader to begin the following chapter.