How to Plan A Book: Golden Nuggets

I once watched a really interesting interview with a band on how they write the songs for their number one album. The lead singer said “It is a combination of golden nuggets.” He would carry a notebook with him at all times and when he thought of a lyric he would write it down in his notebook. I thought this was such a good idea that I started carrying a notebook with me. It means no matter where I am or what I am doing if a good idea comes to me I can make a note of it.

What is the point of writing your ideas down?

An idea is like a key that unlocks a door within your mind. One idea gives birth to another idea and that idea gives birth to another idea and so on. By writing down an idea you can free it from your mind and be secure in the fact that you have it written down. This stops the idea from eating away at you and disrupting your thoughts, as we tend to dwell on the ideas rather than building upon them.

Many of your ideas you will never use, but every now and again you will come up with an absolutely amazing idea. This is called a “Golden Nugget”. It may only be a line of dialogue, a description of a character, a location, a book title or something that happens in one of the scenes, but it will be an idea that will go on to make your novel a best seller.

The one mistake many writers make is that the moment they think of a “Golden Nugget” idea, they instantly start writing the novel. This is a bad thing to do. I know it is a bad thing to do, as it is the one bad habit’s I used to have. You cannot base your entire novel on a single great idea. You want to have three or four amazing ideas in a single story and this is to be supported by a hundred good ideas that you have written down in your notebook. Not every idea you write down will be amazing, but some will be good ideas that can add depths to a character, a back story or a scene in a book. This is why we have a notebook. You want to spend at least a month with the notebook by your side. Write down every single idea, thought, character, location, plot, scene, back story and dialogue that comes to mind. This will give you a well of knowledge to work with when you come to the planning stage.

Here are a few key points to remember.

·          Buy A Notebook

·          Keep the Notebook at hand at all times

·          Write down everything that comes to mind, big or small.

Author Promotion

Part of our "No Story Left Untold" campaign is about helping authors promote their work. This can be done through our new facebook page and our twitter page. Please feel free to tell us about your book, blog, reviews, interviews, giveaways or free books on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Story-Left-Untold/146233685468860#!/pages/No-Story-Left-Untold/146233685468860

Twitter works slightly different. On twitter send a tweet to @nostoryuntold with a brief description of your book and the buy link, or your blog, interview, review, giveaway and free book. If it fits with the theme of the day we will retweet it. We expect to have a big following in a week or two, which means if our pass it on idea works then authors will be able to help authors promote each others work. This means getting your book out to more people.

No Story Left Untold

Several months back I had an idea. We had just finished, Keepers of the Gateway to Hell, and had started promoting the book. I helped Simon out with the promotion, using the ideas I will put in this blog series, but when we started going out and about I realised how many war Veterans there really are. I wasn’t even aware of one quarter of the conflicts that these men and women served in.

I want to help these people tell their stories. I don’t think any story should go unheard. Some of the heroic deeds I have heard about are amazing and most sound like fiction, but the sad thing is these stories are true and about real people. I decided to do a detailed how to “BLOG” on planning, writing, publishing and promoting your book. I will give advice on traditional publishing and indie publishing. It really is a simple process.

I know many people wanted to tell their stories. Not just war vets, but I have spoke to teachers, nurses, doctors, fire fighters, carers, people with disabilities, people dealing with suicide, charities, upcoming authors trying to break it in the writing world. There are thousands of people from all walks of life that have a story to tell. Most seem to think that doing a book is beyond them. Many have been knocked back by traditional publishers and given up.

I was published for several years, under a different pen name, my publisher signed four of my books, rejected several others. These other books I put out myself. Over the next two years my Indie books outsold my published books by about twenty times. Publishers and agents get it wrong all the time. So, I am going to do a blog series on planning, writing, publishing and promoting your book, but more than this I will help authors today to promote their work on facebook and twitter, which is where I promote Simon and me. It is how we both had U.S bestsellers on kindle.

The blogs will appear over the next week. They will be online very quickly. For authors wishing to promote their work you can find us at.

@nostoryuntold

http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Story-Left-Untold/146233685468860

For twitter promotion do a promo for your book on twitter and send it to us, an example being “@nostoryuntold The Legend of the Hermit Master, a fun magical adventure, now only 99c, LINK HERE” if your book fits the theme of the day, we will retweet it to all our followers and help spread the word, and in turn have them retweet it. We have other promotion opportunities, but will explain them over the coming days on facebook. Please follow us and spread the word.