How To Write Your First Book (And Finish It)

So, you've got an amazing idea swirling in your head. A world waiting to be explored, characters itching to tell their stories, a plot twist that will leave readers breathless. You dream of connecting with readers, getting feedback, and building your own community.

But then, reality hits. Writing a book, whether it's a sprawling epic or a concise novella, can feel like climbing Mount Everest in flip-flops. The blank page looms, inspiration wanes, and the finish line seems impossibly far away.

Don't despair! Every published author was once where you are now. The secret isn't magic; it's a combination of planning, perseverance, and practical strategies. And that’s what we’re here to teach today!

1. The Concept

Before you even open a document, solidify your concept.

What's Your Core Idea? Can you summarize your story in one or two sentences? (e.g., "A reluctant hero must unite warring factions to save his kingdom from an ancient evil.") In screenwriting, this would be called your "logline."

Next up, you need to know your genre. Are you writing fantasy, sci-fi, romance, or thriller? Understanding your genre helps you meet reader expectations and use appropriate tropes.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to work on your characters. Characters are the beating heart of any story and you can’t know what story you’re trying to tell until you know who you’re telling it about.

Ask yourself what they want? What they’re willing to do to get it? What their flaws are and—perhaps most importantly—how you can drive your characters into fun, meaningful conflicts.

You’ll also want to be working on your setting at this stage, deciding where your story takes place and—if you’re writing fantasy or sci-fi—what the rules of your world are.

2. The Plan

Read any writing advice and sooner or later you’ll come across the notion of ‘plotters’ (people who plan their story ahead) and ‘pantsers’ (people who ‘fly by the seat of their pants’, writing their story as it comes to them).

A lot has been made of this distinction, but in practice no book is all plot or all pants. There are always details you know you’re working towards, even if you don’t actively write them down, and there are always touches that only get worked out on the page.

Because this topic varies so much from writer to writer, we’re not going to tell you how much you should or shouldn’t plan, or what you should be planning for that matter. Some writers plan their character arcs, others plan their scenes. Some just design their world and throw their characters into it to see what happens.

Our advice on this stage is simply to experiment. To try a few things and find the method that makes it easiest for you to get butt in chair—which, as any writer knows, is always the real challenge of finishing a book.

2. The Writing Phase

This is where the rubber meets the road and consistency will be your best friend. For many writers, goals are the true key to motivation, but it’s important to make those goals realistic.

A lot of people try for 1000 words a day, although this varies a lot depending on how fast a writer you are, how much you like to self edit, and how many hours you have to spare. The exact number itself doesn’t matter too much, so long as you stick to it. The words will build up so long as you keep writing them.

If you struggle to maintain motivation with daily word counts, then it might be worth trying weekly word counts instead—particularly if you're a binge and bust style of writer. While weekly word counts still keep you accountable, they also allow you to skip the days when your motivation is at a 0 and make up for them when it’s at a 10.

A note on first drafts: they don’t have to be clean. The aim of a first draft will depend a lot on what kind of a writer you are. For some it’s about finding their story entirely while for others it’s about getting into the trenches and working out the details that just don’t occur from the planning stage.

Just always make sure to keep in mind that any revisions you do will be better once you have the whole draft in hand and can clearly understand the scope of your book.

If you’re planning on writing a long-running webnovel with no end in sight, then we recommend splitting it up into arcs. That way you have natural break points to do revisions.

3. Pushing Through The Pain

Writing can be a lot like exercise. At first you feel motivated, and then the exhaustion quickly sets in.

Just like with exercise, however, if you push through the pain, it will eventually get easier. You can train your writing brain the same way you train a muscle, building up the strength to work in longer, more productive bursts.

There’s no one simple key to maintaining motivation, but the biggest step you can take is simply learning not to beat yourself up. You’ll probably fail to hit your goals occasionally—it happens to all of us—but you can succeed and the more often you do so, the closer you get to the finish line. Before you know it, you’ll have a finished manuscript and it’ll be time to think about editing and publication.