where to start

[icey]

this is totally non bdsm related and i didnt have a clue where to post,or even if its the right place to ask at all,but there are a lot of you here who write and i wondered if anyone has experience of writing actual books or have any sort of knowledge about it.

it sounds crazy i know but ive been thinking of doing it for a long long time,part because its something ive always wanted to do and part therapy my cpn suggested i look into it.
its only for myself im not looking to be the next jane austen but it still needs to be right.

but where do i begin? i know what i want to write and have a vague idea but my grammar is terrible,my confidence isnt so great and i need a kick start basically lol i think if i could get started in the right direction and with some help along the way i will probably be ok.

any suggestions?

[tydnchaynz{NSXX}]

For the "kick start" icey, i would suggest brainstorming. Sit down with a pen and a piece of paper and write whatever comes to your mind, no matter how unrelated it seems. When you are through, you will be suprised at what ideas might come from it.

As for confidence, i have read many of your posts and you seem to be very confident while writing in the forums. Why would this other form of writing cause you problems??

And grammar is why there are editors! *chuckles* or have someone you trust read what you have written and they can often help spot grammatical errors that you have missed because you are so close to your work!

i do hope that you find a way to do this icey, and i look forward to your book.

[fetishdj]

Look into joining a writer's group (though you may have problems if you are writing BDSM related stuff as there are none that I know of) or start one yourself. A writer's group gives mutual support to writers, advice and information. You can also get someone to proofread/line edit.crit anything you write.

I've had some experience of editing (not professionally in that I got paid for it in any way but a book currently in print was heavily edited by me... even got an acknowledgement for it ) so I would be willing to read through it for you and tidy up the grammar.

As for publishing, there are a lot of small publishing companies out there who may be interested in publishing it, Failing that there are also PoD (Print on Demand) publishers who allow you to print anything and will even help you market it. www.lulu.com is one that I know of. If you want any actual copies to sell yourself, you have to pay Lulu to print them but they will ship to Amazon and similar website customers on your behalf and pay you the profit once they have taken out their cut (which can be quite a lot).

[Isabella King]

If you're just writing for yourself, editing won't be a problem for you - as tydnchaynz says, your posts are well written. But, contrary to popular belief, editors aren't there to correct your grammar and spelling mistakes.

The single, most important piece of advice I could give you, is to go away and read as much as you can in the genre you want to write. But don't just read the story, study the sentence structure, the grammar used, the pace of the story and how places and people are described.

Oh, and if you decide you would like to be published - be prepared for rejection. I don't know of a published writer who couldn't paper their walls with their rejection letters.

Good luck, Icy

[Venom]

I agree with the earlier posts in here, so I just want to quote two advices H.P. Lovecraft once gave for technique/organisation:

I. Work out a rough plan with the scenes in chronological order
II. Work out a rough plan how the scenes shall appear in your story (flashbacks etc.)

Orientate by these two plans, but don't be a slave to them: feel free to change them anytime you think it's necessary.
Sometimes I'm worried about writing "non-fitting" passages, it really impedes me. So write without consideration of mistakes, bad grammar or even sense - you can always delete it.

[icey]

its not for publishing or anything like that although writing a book is something i wanted to do from being about 10 ive always been an avid reader lol

its for me, it was an idea me and my cpn was kicking around, im not interested in counselling it isnt for me and we got talking about things and we both thought it would be ideal for me,my own sort of life story therapy lol

but i have to get it right, i started and spent a lot of time on it but then got really frustrated as it didnt come out right either chronologically or descriptive it sounded forced no matter how much i played around with it so i deleted it,which was pretty stupid.

i did think about a writing group or course, but then dismissed that idea, i dont really know how those work but its not something other people would be comfortable with and i dont think id be very comfortable either tbh

im not confident at all ty, you'd be surprised at just how un-confidant i am!
ever noticed how my posts are always edited , thats cos im forever changing and re-wording them, always worried ive said something that could be taken the wrong way, offensive or people thinking im stupid lol

[Alex Bragi]

Hi icey, you may find this post helpful and interesting.

[icey]

thankyou Alex,

i havnt had time to look through it properly but im definately going to get back to it, it looks like an informative thread.