I have never written a childs book before so this was very new to me. I have always liked English and felt writing was always a strong point of mine. But I needed to do some research on this, how to actually begin writing a book, so I took to the web to search for good sources for help, for example: blogs, websites on writing books, or even YouTube videos.

I found a few great blog posts on this, as seen above, I found this one on MasterClass.com – ‘How to start writing a book’. This was a quick 6 minute read on some tips on how to start writing a book for the first time. I got some real help from this. These are the tips that was discussed:

1. Choose a word your want to spend a lot of time in. – This was a nice notion for me because I really like the idea of creating a world and spending time in it for example, a world where superheroes exist. This blog stated that it is important that the author picks a world that will keep them immersed and interested for hours, days or even years because the author is spending the most time there.
2. Find a story idea within this world that you want to immerse in. – This made sense since the world will contain the storyline of the book. ‘The novel must contain a storyline that is complexing from start, middle and end’. This was important for me to understand because I must keep the readers attention throughout the whole book.
3. Assemble a cast of characters. – ‘Now that you have a world and a story, figure out who the key figures in this story are. Your main character is obviously the most important among these. A strong main character will have a rich and detailed life that you, as the author, will know about—from personal backstory to character traits to greatest successes and failures. The more you understand your characters, the more you will have to say about them to an audience’. This was a very helpful snippet from the blog, however I am unsure if I want to have a main character, I want my book to be inclusive and since I am. imaging a team I want them to be of the same importance.
4. Plan your ending. – I was quite shocked at this tip, because I always thought you should start from the beginning but after reading the blog it made sense. ‘Think ahead to the readers experience, The part of the novel that will linger the most is usually the ending, so make it a fantastic one!’. This was really helpful advice and has made me want to create a shocking and fun ending to my book already.
5. Break the story into acts. – I liked this tip because I enjoy breaking things into sections to make it easier to get through. So a story should be the same thing. This will help me create a book quicker. ‘Classic stories follow a three-act structure, with each act ending on a significant moment in the overall plot. If you pace your narrative to develop progressively throughout the novel, you’ll end up with a book that’s consistently good from beginning to end.’ This segment was from the blog and was very helpful in understanding the tip.
6. Start writing before you get cold feet. – ‘Planning is great and essential even but the author shouldn’t let meticulous planning put off the actual writing.’ This was encouraging because even though I do like planning I am eager to get writing and get the plot developed.

Was this blog review helpful?

• Yes. I loved reading this blog and learning from the tips given. I really think it has helped me become prepared to write this story and has given me the confidence to just go for it. I think that the tips were very helpful and it was a great insight to another writers experience with writing stories.

What I learned:

• To start writing before I get cold feet
• To create a solid cast of characters
• To plan an exciting ending for the readers
• To break the story into acts (3 main acts)
• To just go for it and not be afraid of it