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Here are a few things you need to write a book:
Coffee, if you are typing in the morning; wine, if you are typing in the evening. I suppose you can interchange those items as you please.
Most of us are keyboard savvy. There are some who still like the feel of pen and paper but they end up hiring someone to type it all up on a computer. If they are self-publishing, they have to pay that person ahead of publication. If you believe you are not good enough to put it all down on the computer, try it first. By the time you have completed a few hundred pages--you will be. My brain-to-fingertip-to keyboard ratio is instantaneous. I can type almost as fast as I can think. That’s not necessary but it sure is helpful. It should not be a deterrent however. If you can’t manage speedy typing, consider dictating then type up your dictation to get a little more comfortable with word-processing and typing. Being proficient at the typing part will be very helpful in the editing stage--the editing stage that you do before a professional editor touches it. You have to edit your manuscript to perfection before you give it to anyone. And yes, I know many famous authors used feather quill pens and inkwells. What century are you living in? Not theirs.
Many people are proficient at using a computer but not necessarily word-processing (except the basics). There are many software programs available to help you learn to type or to type a little better. My kids taught themselves to type when they were very young with our first computer and they used Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing (not sure if it’s still around but you can Google it and find that and many others). They learned in one weekend and they had fun learning. They were slow to begin with but they are now speedy like me.
You’ll need a good dictionary sitting next to you as well as the one built into your word processor and access to research on line. You should be looking everything up. Everything. It may be fiction but your facts need to be correct and you need to use the write words and spel them coractly. (If that last sentence didn’t elicit a gasp, you failed my little test and you will definitely need an editor.) It would be nice if you were an English major but most of us are not. Doesn’t mean we don’t have great stories to tell in a clever way. Even if we are borderline illiterate we can tell a story. It can be fixed later. If, however, you can manage to put sentences together, that’s a plus.
My grandmother had a fourth grade education but told tremendous stories and I was too shortsighted to write them all down. I have been dredging my memory and making notes for potential stories based on her life. If you have seniors in your life they are a great resource for writing material.
On a shelving unit fairly near my computer I have stacks of books to assist in the writing process. The one I keep next to my coffee (or wine) is The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. It is considered the writer’s bible. It’s slim and easy to use and before writing I usually read it cover to cover. Every time. And I refer to it as I write. I use my word-processing grammar check and spell check of course, but I want to understand how putting words together works and this book wraps it up rather well. There are many liberties I take in my writing. Like fragments. Love fragmented sentences. Use them a lot. Why? Just my style. It’s how I talk. I’m a fragmented talker and I write the way I talk. Sometimes I do it for effect; sometimes I do it because it’s natural for me.
I like to write at my comfort level but please don’t think that means you can let it all hang out. You can’t. On my shelves I have other volumes I grab and study a particular way to do something and I end up reading about a topic for an hour or two when that happens. Believe it or not, that’s still the writing process. You write and write and write then you look things up and research and read and read then read some more and it goes on and on that way. I like to sit here and write until my sitz bones hurt, and then I come back after a break and edit and review and research again.
If you haven’t taken writing classes or brushed up on your English in a while, it wouldn’t hurt to do so now. You need not suspend your writing but by the time you’ve finished your masterpiece you will have probably had time to tuck away a few courses at your local community college to help you out a bit. And you will meet other writers and networking in the writing community is great fun and quite helpful.
Also next to my computer is a simple note pad to scribble all sorts of things I want to remember. (I have a problem with remembering my characters’ names. Not a good idea to use your murderer’s name sweetly kissing the victim instead of her husband’s name. I have actually caught that in novels.) I also zip to the bottom of my pages and quickly type notes if something comes up that I can’t take the time to jot on a notepad. It’s faster for me to type it at the bottom of my pages. My brain-to-fingers-to-pen-to-paper ratio is slow, slow, slow. I can barely sign my name anymore because of my unnatural attachment to all things computer. More next Sunday.
www.sharonstrawhandgarner.com
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