This is going to be a series on how to think up and write bestselling books and stories!

Beginners’ frustrations:

We start out with such enthusiasm and great gusto.  

• And after a few chapters we run out of ideas of what to say next. Our imagination had petered out. Such a blow to our fanciful ambition of becoming a famous writer! 
• Or, after a while our facts get muddled and we can’t remember the background details we had first included in our story. This happens because we didn’t write often enough and didn’t keep sequence records of our facts. 

These are only some of the reasons why we lose interest and discontinue writing the story we once were so excited about.  

In your comments, you can tell us why you discontinued writing your story(s). What was it that stopped you, and why you became discouraged? 

Talking from experience:

I’ve started many a story, only to fade out after a few chapters. This gave me a great respect for those authors who wrote great stuff, and actually got their books published and become well-known authors. Such nerves of steel and wild imaginations they must have had, when they started out!! 

But having tried my hand at it, I’ve learnt a few things. What to do and what not to do. And I suppose I’m still learning more, as I strive to write up more stories.  

Keep in mind: Different types of stories need different ways of putting the plot together. And each author has their own pet way of doing it. In due cause I will discuss them. 

If you have never attempted writing before, 

And have no idea how to put things together… First collect your facts and put them in order. 

Why put things in order?

You will need all your wits about you as you write. You can’t afford to look silly when readers see your facts don’t ‘marry-up’ or line up correctly.  

• Such as time scheduling: The wrong clue or item in the wrong place in the plot… that is who did what and when, etc. 
• The logical flow of the story: Order of how and when the events occurred, etc. 
• Without personal maps and diagrams to work from, your scenes will not sound plausible. You need visual diagrams, etc to plot your way around and within your story. I make pencil drawings where everything is placed in the scenes. 
• Personality hiccups: You need to get the characters to suit the part they play. Having to remember why someone acts and does things they do. How they look, talk, and their behaviour patterns. So you write up a character profile of each person in the story. 
• Muddling up relationships: Who was married to who, and how they were related (genealogy pedigree chart) or how they are connected in some way to others. And where they fit in the the sequence of the plot. 

Tip: Keep and slot all these facts and ideas in a folder or file, according to a time-line frame. 

There is so much on this topic, 

That I’ll have to continue writing lots more blogs on this topic.  

I’ll use the same icon image for each of these blogs, as above, so you can follow the series easily.  

The icon image depicts flying books, like they are flying off the shelves in the bookstores. And how people feel when they read your exciting books… they feel so uplifted they want to read more and more of your books.