COPY PASTE FROM : http://www.helium.com/items/1121137-how-to-write-writing-tips-writing-novel-writing-techniques-cardinal-rules-first.
How to get started writing a book once you have a great idea
BY Harper GallagherHarper Gallagher pernah mengatakan "Every single person has one idea for a book in them and some people have a lot more than that." Sudah tentu setiap orang memiliki satu kisah yang layak untuk diceritakan pada orang lain walaupun belum tentu bagus dan menarik bagi orang lain. Yang menjadi permasalahan bagaimana menyampaikan kisah kita pada orang lain.
Pertama dan hal ini sangat penting, mencatat ide. Tidak perlu detail, tidak perlu karakter atau terlalu banyak deskripsi. Catatan ide berupa deskripsi singkat dan tidak mudah dilupakan. Sebaiknya kurang dari seratus kata namun cukup kuat untuk mengingatkan memori kita pada ide yang relevan dan tajam.
Now assuming you don't already have one what you really need is a space to write. For most people this will be at their computer where ever it happens to be placed in their home. But for those lucky enough to have a laptop the options are pretty much limitless. But remember that human beings tend to be easily distracted by anything bright, shiny or new that crosses their path and that distraction could spell a premature end to your burgeoning writing career. Just like studying for exams back in school you need to be able to concentrate on what you're trying to do so make sure you at least try to eliminate most of the things that you personally find distracting.
So far so good next you need to do something which few people are any good at. You need to set in place mechanisms to discipline yourself. Writing anything takes time and since time is a finite resource you really will need to put time aside for writing. For some that may be two hours each day while the kids are in school, or waking an hour earlier to write before going to work. Go with whatever works for you, but make sure you leave time to relax and live. Make sure that when you are in your writing time that you are actually working on your novel. Again eliminate those distractions for that period of time. Take the phone off the hook, turn off the television, put the dog in the hall and the kids can join him out there too if you like. Whatever it takes so that for that specific period of time you are a writer.
Right so you have your big idea, you have a place to write and you've taken the time that otherwise would have been used to watch reruns of your favorite show and put it to one side. Now how the hell do you start writing it all down?
Start by writing a chapter or two, any chapters, anywhere in the work. Personally when I start a new project I write the first three and the last three chapters or pages because I usually know where I'm starting and where I want to end up, it's the middle bit that causes the problems. This first foray isn't about anything but giving yourself he confidence to know that you can do this, that you will do this. Also it allows you to set yourself a benchmark for the minimum standard of writing you will accept from yourself. Finally actually having something written down probably will help you crystallize the outline of your idea that little bit more helping to lead you nicely to the next stage.
You have a starting, middle or ending point, but what next? Resist the urge to plunge in without forethought. Do you remember that novel you read once probably on holiday? The one that was unsatisfying, the one that seemed so uneven, with badly drawn characters and plot holes so large that the continent of Asia could have happily slide through them. Odds are that the writer of that piece of utter claptrap just plunged straight in. He may in fact have had the best thing since Harry Potter on his hands when he started but somewhere along the way that was lost. So plan, plan, plan and the plan a hell of a lot more. Your sanity and editor will thank you later.
Start with a plot outline of a page or so of what the overall story is about. Then see if it can be summarized in a sentence or at most two. That outline and the one sentence summary are what you keep in mind while you do the rest of your planning.
Now plan your characters and chapters. Names, ages, physical description, occupation are all of course vital but don't forget to include things like places of birth, accents, dress styles, most and least favorite foods, allergies. Do they sing in the shower? Are they left or right handed? Can they drive and what do they drive? What are the names of their partners, their children? How do they relate to the other characters? There will of course be the throw away characters who all you need for at most is a name and description, but for anyone important you really need a lot of detail from the start so you don't end up with headaches later after you've realized that their eye color has changed six times over the course of the story.
You really won't know how many characters you need until you start planning the novel chapter by chapter. Of course start with the stories central figure and the central figures in their life, those will be obvious right from the beginning, but who else do you need? That's where plotting out the chapters in detail starts to pay off. You don't need chapter names, numbers are fine, what you do need are a start and end to the chapter and perhaps three or four points in between for simpler chapters. For really complex chapters you may well end up with a start, end and a dozen major points in between.
The key to planning out characters and chapters is to find a method that works for you. Some people will use a chart with stickers and lots of arrows to show where people come in and go out and to also show to direction of flow in the story itself. Others will just have an A4 page with a single line per chapter and the barest facts that they personally need. You may indeed find a way of doing this that is utterly unique to you. Do what you feel comfortable with.
The second to last step in preparing to actually get down to some serious writing is pinpointing locations and deciding precisely how they appear and how to describe them. A location is anywhere you place a character so you can well imagine the diversity possible. Think of your favorite book and think of all the locales the hero finds themselves in. Cars, planes, trains, restaurants, theaters, schools, hospitals and all the rest. Make them consistent and if they're real world locations make sure you research them.
That leads nicely to the last step, research. Alright so you're thinking "But this is a fictional work surely I can make it up?" and yes a lot of it you can. But I can promise you that any truly amazing work of fiction you have ever read that really blew your mind away was also a thoroughly researched work. I will give two good examples.
First say you're male or have never had children and you have to describe various stages of a pregnancy that a character is going through. Do you know at what point the
child should start moving? Or what would make an expectant mother nervous? What about the logistics of a heavily pregnant woman getting into or out of a bath?
Second during the course of the story you are telling the hero arrives at a well know real world location, for example Waterloo tube station in London. If she is just passing through the barest description may well be enough but what if a key scene happens there? Could you describe it accurately? Convince a local person, someone who has seen that station everyday of their lives that you have been there? Do you know what it smells like? The sounds that are unique to it? Does your character murder someone in the toilets and if so do you know where the toilets are or what's near them?
You may laugh but the suspension of disbelief which any work of fiction relies on to captivate it's audience itself in turn relies on internal consistency and accuracy. Even a work set in its own universe needs to be consistent to that universe or the result may be so jarring as to ruin what you have poured your sweat into for your readers. Think about the way Ireland is portrayed in television the world over. Take it from a real Irishwoman, it's very rarely like that and when it's gotten wrong it can ruin the program for Irish viewers or at the very least lead to a lot of laughing at foolish (insert writers from country in question) who obviously have never set foot here. This applies just as strongly to written works and perhaps more so.
So four cardinal rules for writing a truly great book :
1: Start it, if you have an idea make use of it. You don't lose anything by trying.
2: Plan, plan, plan and then plan some more.
3: If you don't know something research it.
4: Finish it, don't give up. You can do this.
Finally remember not to panic and don't let yourself become downhearted when the enormity of the task which you are about to undertake hits you. There is little point in denying the simple fact that writing a novel is challenging in the extreme, but always remember that while it is difficult many others have already succeeded at it. So can you.
