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Ask HN: I'm writing my first book ever, on HTML5, do you have any advice?
I signed the contract last week.
I'm shooting for ~500 pages, give or take, with the largest part being Canvas at ~150 pages. The book will be in full color.
I've never written anything of this scale before and certainly never authored a book.
Do you have any advice in general? Or anything you'd wish was in an HTML5 book that might not be present in others so far, etc?
Also, do you have any pet peeves about technical books, or things you wish authors did more or less of?
Thanks!
- brandoncordell 14y agoI know this isn't something you can just "turn on" but... personally I love it when technicals books read with a nice "flow". For example I hate it when books read like "here's an explanation of this. Here's how you do this. Here's the next thing. Here's how you do the next thing". They read like a step by step manual. I like technical books that read like a novel, even though you're instructing the user. If you can incorporate a "story" at the same time, you have my attention for the length of the book. A book that I can think of off the top of my head that I enjoyed reading, and how it read, was The Well Grounded Rubyist. I wish I could better explain what I'm thinking at the moment. Once I get done with my nights work I'll try to come back to this.
- bawllz 14y agoTotally agree. To expand on this idea, perhaps you could select a couple of sample problems, and work through their solutions. Example being a simple canvas game, explaining the various elements as they are introduced, concluding with a working game.
- jnorthrop 14y agoI just finished up my first book and while it is much shorter than yours will be (18k words) I'll share what helped me: 1. Write how you want to write. In other words write in your own style. If you are funny, that's fantastic, but if you prefer to present things in a straight-forward methodical fashion then do that. You will be spending a ton of time writing and re-writing: It will come much easier if it is in your own voice. 2. Don't be afraid to jump around. You do not need to start writing with chapter 1, then on to chapter 2, etc. Write whatever you are inspired to write at the moment. You can always go back and fill in the hard stuff later. You should do everything you can to make the process enjoyable, so, with that in mind, procrastinating frustrating parts is OK. 3. Write on a schedule and stick to it. If you don't feel like writing but it is the time you've scheduled, do it. I found on a number of occasions that even if I didn't feel like writing, once I started my mood shifted. Although sometimes I just failed to produce anything. That's just off the top of my head. I'll come back and add more if I can think of worthwhile stuff to add. I will say though that the act of writing and completing a book was tremendously empowering and fun.