How to Write a Book: A Step-by-Step Guide for Total Beginners
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If you’ve always dreamed of writing a book but you aren’t entirely sure where to start or you feel like you’re lost, then I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone. Every successful author that you read books from once was also a beginner that was also unsure of how to transform their ideas into polished manuscripts. Writing a book might seem confusing and even overwhelming at first glance. However, with the right process, tools, consistency, and practice, it’s a completely achievable feat. As someone that was also once a beginner, I wrote and shelved many manuscripts myself. I eventually ended up publishing a book back in 2020. It was my debut sci-fantasy grimdark called Malware, and I’m currently working on several other projects now. Since then, I’ve developed lots of systems, tools, and have worked hard at figuring out the best methodology to craft books. So, for today’s post, I’ll be helping you learn how to write a book for complete beginners with step-by-step instructions.
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How to Write a Book: A Guide for Beginners
Step 1: Start with an Idea
When you write a book, you need to start first with a concept. This concept doesn’t need to be perfect or 100% fleshed out just yet. Think primarily on whether or not the idea sounds actually like something that you would want to read. You want to think about what sort of story you want to tell, who your main character/narrator is going to be, and what sort of challenges and transformations will be made in the actual story.
At the first stage, you want to just jot down a ton of ideas. Whatever it is that sparks your information should be written down first because you want to get as many thoughts down as possible. Don’t worry about them being “quality” ideas just yet.
Many beginners feel like at this stage that their concepts just aren’t “good enough,” but the truth is that your idea is more than likely good. If it matters to you, then it’s a good idea.
A good idea is to try and write out a quick elevator pitch for your story. If you can sell the idea in less than a minute or even in just a single sentence, then you likely have the makings of a winner.
Step 2: Create a Simple Outline
The next step to writing a book is to create a simple outline. Think of an outline like your roadmap to writing your book. A lot of beginners tend to think that outlines are restrictive, but it’s surprisingly great. I used to write books without much of an outline. Once I created an outlining system that worked, I realized that it sped up my writing process significantly.
A basic outline could just be a simple “beginning, middle, and end” structure where you lay out all the biggest details of your story. These major details are things like your main character concepts, the main conflicts they’ll face, and how the story is going to end. You don’t need to know literally everything, but it helps to know these foundational concepts first so that you can expand on this outline later.
Your simple outline at this stage can literally be as simple as a list of bullet points but you can also do something as detailed as chapter-by-chapter breakdowns. The key here is that you give yourself structure but leave room for change as you write.
A good resource that can help you with some of these elements in the planning stage is my Ultimate Writer’s Bundle. It includes three essential guides to help you structure, develop, and finish your book and breaks down some of the most important elements of story-writing.
Step 3: Set a Writing Schedule
Consistency in writing is something that a lot of beginner writers struggle with. Many people I’ve spoken to say that they just don’t feel that they’re ready to start or that they’re waiting for that perfect moment to write. However, this is actually the wrong approach to writing a book. The thing that you need to do is actually force yourself to write.
Now, how do you actually get yourself to write? There is some level of required intrinsic motivation required. But beyond that, setting goals and routines is another helpful method to achieving this. You want to try and choose realistic word count goals, pick days and times that are free and reasonable for you to write in, and you want to think about productivity techniques that work for you.
Some writers benefit from the Pomodoro Technique. This is where you write in focused, 25-minute bursts and then take quick 5 minute breaks until you hit an hour. That’s a single Pomodoro. You can adjust the timing on these as you like. I personally don’t use this method, but I’ve tried it before. It can be effective if you’re someone that needs frequent breaks while working but need that external pressure for focusing.
Step 4: Write Your First Draft (Without Editing)
While writing your first draft, it can feel tempting to start editing your story and fixing up all those little details and scene descriptions that you feel are lacking. However, that’s not the best approach when you’re writing your first book.
The first thing you need to focus on is actually getting your story written and done. Don’t worry about all those little nagging things as you’re writing. It’s fine to skip over chapters and come back to them later. It’s perfectly normal to just breeze through some scene descriptions. The idea of a first draft is to put your whole story down and then your next drafts are for the nitpicking and heavy fixes.
Writing and editing are two different skills and switching between the two of them could harm your momentum when working on that first draft. Give yourself that permission and ease of mind to write “badly.” Nobody else has to see your draft until it’s done and you feel ready. Remember this: You can’t edit a blank page.
In my Sprint to a Novel in 30 Days Guide, I created different methods for you to set a day-by-day system so you can complete your draft in just one month. It’s actually very doable to achieve writing a whole book in a month. I also think it’s a pretty neat challenge to try and achieve as well!
Step 5: Revise and Edit
Once that first draft is completed, you are more than welcome to take a break before you begin revising and editing. Fresh eyes can help you spot plot holes, issues with pacing, and other inconsistencies that might harm your story. You want to try and begin with the big-picture edits like making sure the plot makes sense and ensuring that your characters are dynamic and interesting.
After you’ve made big edits, you can do the more line-edit stuff like improving dialogue and checking your grammar. It helps sometimes to get another set of eyes, which is where you can try and hire an editor. This will cost some money, but it helps to get another set of eyes.
You can also use a tool like ProWriting Aid which has some great features like instant manuscript feedback. It helps you to see where you can improve your story if you want some quick help there. You can try ProWriting Aid by clicking here.
Don’t be afraid to cut scenes, chapters, or even entire arcs if you feel like they’re not clicking with you at this point in the process. It’s completely normal to do so!
Step 6: Get Feedback
Something that I think is really important for a lot of beginner writers is to get feedback. It might seem intimidating or almost scary to try and hand over something like this to another person for feedback. However, you need to break through the ice a bit and seek out people who can give you proper critique and opinions. You may not have realized certain issues that existed with your story the way someone else might. Beta readers are valuable at this stage.
I always recommend that you try and get people you don’t personally know too well as beta readers to give you that feedback. It can be definitely easier to ask someone like a parent or a friend or a sibling to help you out, but they’re more likely biased and may not want to give you that harsh feedback out of fear of hurting your feelings.
Step 7: Keep Learning and Growing
Writing is not an innate talent that people are just born with. It’s actually something that requires a lot of practice and is a craft that you improve with time. You will look back at your old writings and cringe a bit, and you will get better every day. But it requires dedication and it requires a lot of patience because you’re sitting there typing up tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of words. That’s not a small task, and it’s a big achievement. However, the end result of seeing a book in your hands is definitely worth it. Trust me on that!
I recommend you check out some of my writing workbooks and resources where I include tons of pro instructions and detailed worksheets that you can try. It can sometimes help you out to just have a system where you can learn and break things down step-by-step. Plus, my workbooks are built off of years of learning and systems that work for writers all over.
Step 8: Consider Your Publishing Path
As a beginner, you don’t need to decide right away whether or not you’re going to pursue traditional publishing or self-publishing. However, it helps to know what each path entails and what each path means for you as a writer.
Traditional publishing will require you more often than not to get a literary agent (you have to send query letters which could take time) and then you can approach a publisher. This may take a long time and you’re likely to get rejected your first couple of tries.
Self-publishing gives you full creative control and it’s much faster, but you’ll have to do more of the heavy lifting yourself. You’ll need to get an editor, a cover designer, formatting, marketing, etc…
Marketing-wise, a lot of traditional publishers require authors to do their own marketing anyways, so you’ll likely have to market no matter what path you pick. If you sign up for my newsletter below, I’ll send over a free copy of my marketing checklist in case you’re interested in seeing the flow of marketing for a book launch!
Neither path is the correct path. It really depends on your goals. If you want to learn more about self-publishing, you can check out this post here.
Conclusion
If you want to know how to write a book as a beginner, you should understand that it’s about progress and not perfection. You start with an idea and you go from there. The first draft will always be messy no matter what, but completing that first draft is the first step towards writing success.
It may feel intimidating to stare at a blank page with no words on it, but your story still deserves to be written. Don’t wait for permission! Just grab your favorite writing software (check this post out to learn about my favorites) and get writing.
FAQs
Start small: Begin with a clear idea and write down a one-sentence summary of your story. From there, expand into an outline.
While some writers prefer to “discovery write,” beginners often find an outline incredibly helpful. It acts as a roadmap, keeping you focused and preventing writer’s block.
It depends on your schedule, goals, and genre. A beginner writing 500 words a day could finish a 60,000-word draft in about four months. With a structured system, it’s possible to finish even faster. The Write a Novel in 30 Days Guide will walk you through completing a draft in just one month if that’s a goal you find you want to achieve.
Every beginner feels this way. The secret is that your first draft doesn’t need to be good. You can always edit and improve later. Writing is a skill, and the more you practice, the better you’ll become.
It depends on the genre and age-group. The average novel is around 80K to 100K words. A story is officially considered a novel at 50K words. Some books could be around 200K words, but that’s more epic fantasy and sci-fi.
Probably best to start with a standalone. Thinking of a series as a beginner might overwhelm you and might make you lose your motivation faster than you think. If you’re really thinking of writing a series, try to write a standalone that has series potential. This is the standard for traditional publishers and debut authors as well.
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