Hey there! First of all, I want to say that it’s really admirable that you’re finally writing a book despite any self-doubts you may have. I’m a published author (who happened to get a degree in creative writing), so I’d be happy to help you begin your creative writing journey. Although, I’d argue that you already have. Here’s what you can do with those ideas you have written down:
Narrow Them Down
The first step is to sit down with your list of ideas and narrow them down. I’m not sure how many ideas you have, but it sounds like a lot. You should narrow your list down to your top three favorite ideas. I recommend writing down potential plot points to have a ‘roadmap’ for your top three ideas. That way, you can really conceptualize each potential story!
The most successful writers aren’t the ones who wrote what they thought other people wanted to them to write — they chose the ideas that resonated with them. You should always go with the idea that really speaks to you.
Don’t Overthink It
Please don’t expect everything to go smoothly! One of the fun parts (and not so fun parts) of being a storyteller is that things are messy. Let the words that pop into your head fall onto the page. You won’t finish your book if you’re constantly overthinking everything. Let there be typos and errors because you can go back and fix those later!
Set a Time to Write Every Day
I’m sure you have other responsibilities besides writing a book, so it’s best to set aside time to write each day. No excuses! Even if you feel that you hadn’t made much progress on a given day, the fact that you sat down to write is enough progress. You’ll find that making your writing a habit will benefit you greatly in the long run.
Stay True to Your Characters
One of the biggest mistakes writers make is that they don’t ask the following question: What does this character want? You should never write according to what you want to happen in the story, but write according to what your characters want.
There Needs to be Conflict
The number one driving force in every story is conflict. If there’s no conflict, there’s no story. External conflict (things that are outwardly occurring in the story) is great, but readers love to see a character’s internal conflict as well. Your protagonist (the main character who changes throughout the story) should always have an internal conflict that motivates them to continue throughout the plot.
