They say that everyone has at least one book inside them if only you sit down and write it.  Getting started is often the hardest part, but that doesn’t make writing a novel easy.  If you’re intimidated by the idea of writing a book you shouldn’t be.  Here are 3 tips to help you write your first novel, you may even find writing easier than you think and just a little bit therapeutic.

Start with an Idea

Every great novel was once an idea in an author’s head.  While this probably sounds pretty self-evident you would be surprised how many writers struggle with coming up with an idea for a book.  Sit down and brainstorm a few ideas, write them down and flesh out a bit of an outline.  Do you want your book based around a character or a situation?  Do you want to write fiction or do you want to write non-fiction?  All of these are questions you should ask yourself before you sit down at a keyboard.

Your Audience

Who do you want to read your book?  Do you want to write something for a very specific audience or appeal to a wider market?  Will your book stand alone or do you want it to be part of a series of books?  Are you building a series after a character a la Harry Potter?  Sometimes it can be easier to get a publishing deal if you have an outline for a series rather than just one book.

Create an Outline

Creating an outline lays out a road map for your novel.  You can make your outline as detailed or as broad as you like.  Your outline should contain an introduction that tells readers what the book is about, a conclusion that ties everything up and in between you should outline your chapters.  Outlining your book beforehand helps to prevent things like writer’s block and stops you from drifting off topic.  That doesn’t mean your outline is written in stone and you can’t make changes when you feel like it, but a good outline will help you get your book done quicker and make sure that you don’t forget or overlook any of the important details.

The task of writing a novel may seem intimidating but you can breakdown the task into smaller manageable chunks.  These 3 tips can help you to organize your thoughts and get your novel from the idea stage to a published work.