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So You Want to be a Writer

February 4, 2010 by Ally Carter Leave a Comment

One of my favorite things in the world is getting emails from readers. I’m always struck by how cool you all are! But—and this is a big but—why do you say things like “I want to be a writer, but I know I never can”?

Fiddlesticks! That’s right. I said fiddlesticks (a very cool word that I’m personally trying to bring back into fashion).

You guys can totally be writers if that’s what you want to do, if that’s what you’re willing to work to become.

Simple as that. Easy as pie.

There’s no big mystery to how books are written. You don’t need to know someone who knows someone…

And saying that you can’t write a book because you can never be published is like saying you can’t do go jogging because you’ll never make the Olympic team.

Writers write. Period. And the ones who write long enough, and well enough, will eventually get published if that’s what they want.

But does that mean just anything can get published? Of course not. Published books have to be good just like Olympic track stars have to be fast.

But no one ever got fast by lounging on the couch talking about the medals they’d like to win someday.

So I’m going to break it down for you—demystify the process. I’ve already ranted about how a book gets published, so now I’m going to spend a few days on the important stuff: how a book gets written.

  1. Idea to Shelf: a book’s journey
  2. How Do You Write a Book
  3. Don’t Get it Right Get it Written
  4. Story Structure: acts and plot points
  5. Conflict: the scene’s the thing
  6. Show Don’t Tell
  7. Keeping Pace
  8. The Voice Factor

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