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Perhaps this is one of the situations where "build one to throw away" is good advice. Once you've spent four weeks writing a sketchy book-length ramble on your
by hugh 18y ago
Perhaps this is one of the situations where "build one to throw away" is good advice. Once you've spent four weeks writing a sketchy book-length ramble on your subject of choice, you'll have a much better idea of the size of the task ahead of you, and plenty of ideas on how a much better book on the same subject would be arranged and written.
Then, don't start rewriting your manuscript. Burn it and start all over again.
I've never written a book, but I plan to eventually, and this is the approach I plan to take.
- wigglywonk 18y agoI actually wrote some 150 pages of a first (technical) book before sending out proposals to 10-15 publishers to which I received a resounding ... nothing. I think maybe one rejection. After a year of feeling a little bummed about it, I tried again, this time pre-clearing topics with the publishers and got a proposal accepted. But the advice that stuck with me is to just write. Sure, plan out what you're going to write ( topics + sub-topics for non-fiction, storyboard for fiction), but otherwise, just let the words flow. You're going to butcher the crap out of it later on when you start editing it anyway, so don't _start_ by worrying about it.
- wigglywonk 18y agoI still have those 5 chapters of that first "book" I never wrote. I like to go back and look at them every once in a while -- they're not great :-P.