I have an idea - but do no have any writing experience or confidence to do so. I'm a programmer in my day job. How can I start? Where do I look?
Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#2Start by writing every damn day. storyfix.com is a fine place to learn more.
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#3Start by writing every damn day. storyfix.com is a fine place to learn more.
I do try and write as often as I can. I need to be more regular.
I'll check out storyfix - Thanks - it looks like what I need (This blog is about getting real with your writing dream)
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#4I'm not a writer, so take my words with a grain of salt, but this is what I'd do:
1. Make tangible progress most days per week.
2. Write more than necessary, and edit later.
3. Try to have as much fun as possible
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#5I would start by reading, not so much for source material, but for getting a feel for what structure and style works. See how other authors handle pacing, character development, exposition, etc.
(About me: English major turned programmer)
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#6I have the same ambition. Though I haven't written a novel (other than timelines, outlines, descriptions, and other notes), I have set some goals for myself:
If writing stories is like any other difficult skill, the important thing is just do it. Practice, practice, and practice some more. Knowing this, I've focused on completing short stories. Once I feel ready, I try my hand at a novel.
This also might be relevant to your interests. It's a snippet of Ira Glass talking about the difficulty of being a beginner getting into story-writing for the first time: http://vimeo.com/24715531
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#7Start by writing every damn day. storyfix.com is a fine place to learn more.
I kind of disagree. OP needs to start by reading. Read the classics of the genre. Read trashy pulp. Read what gets published online and in magazines. Definitely read things that aren't SF. Consume ideas, themes, thoughts, motifs, tropes, find out what's been done, whose style you like, whose style you don't, and what's been done to death.
Then write, but don't write in a vacuum. Maybe join a writers' group. Maybe take some classes. I might not necessarily start thinking about 'book' right now. Books are hideously difficult to do properly, and publishing is a competitive field, and editors have wastebaskets and know how to use them (for putting almost everything they receive into). Start thinking about short stories, and if you can manage to get published in the short form, then worry about the long form.
Also be careful about rights. If you put a story online, technically it's published. Doesn't matter where - facebook, livejournal, your personal site. That can affect whether a market is willing to pick it up afterwards.
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#8Do you want to write a sci-fi book, or do you want to have written a sci-fi book? Serious question, big difference.
If it's the former, just start writing. Just start. Pen and paper, laptop, typewriter, sketchpad with outlines on, anything and everything. Write because that's what you want to do. Cross bits out and throw them away and redo them and change things and add things and cut them out again, because what you want is the act of writing it and doing this is what you want to do. When you find bits that don't go as well as you'd like, you'll know what technique needs improving.
If the latter, save yourself the bother.
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#9The important thing is to first wait for inspiration. You have to watch a lot of tv to "get ideas."
Also, when you sit down to write, you might notice that you are hungry, or thirsty. You might also notice that your books are in the wrong order. You really have to completely stop what you are writing and go and put the books in the write order and go get a snack.
Also, first log on, and browse the web for a while to get the juices flowing. Check out Facebook, HN, twitter, Google News, Tech Crunch. Just get the juices flowing.
If, by the end of the day, you haven't started writing, well, no problem, you can wait till the weekend.
If you have a trip planned, just do it the next weekend.
At parties, it is important to let people know you are a writer and are working on a project.
Those are the main ways people that I know write books.
Re: Ask HN: I want to write a Sci-fi book. Where do I start?
#10Check out the Writing Excuses podcast (http://www.writingexcuses.com/).
They're all published and commercially successful genre fiction authors, and the podcast is consistently high on quality and low on BS, unlike at many other sites offering writing tips, tricks, strategies and advice.
All the episodes are ~15 minutes long, and most have a writing prompt or exercise at the end that can be completed in roughly the same amount of time.
Block out 30-45 minutes of time in the morning to listen to an episode and write on the prompt.