*Note: if you see a grammatical mistake or an error of another sort, please point it out so I can fix it.

Hello everyone! This book is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. About three years ago, I made a book similar to this that I never finished, but now I'm much more experienced as a writer and I'm here to help newbies make their stories better. This book is a basic guide. I'm by no means an infallible expert on how to write novels. However, I have written and edited three novels (with a fourth one on the way), a novella, and numerous short stories and poems. I've also hosted two book clubs, been a part of five, and edited other books in the past. This book is meant to help new writers avoid this when they're writing:

If you're not a nerd like me, the basic idea is that you don't want to fall into pitfalls when you're writing. I didn't know a lot of what I'm about to share in this book when I first started out - I had to learn it all either through experience, harsh critics, or other writing books (which I will quote from time-to-time). I want the process to be a little less painful for those reading this book.

I also want to point out that not everyone will agree with my advice. One thing that's incredibly common in the realm of fictional writing is different schools of thought. There are people who may totally disagree with me on the philosophy of revising one's draft, or even on whether exclamation marks should be used in writing. If you disagree with me, let me know your thoughts in a nice way!

Lastly, PLEASE ask me questions. I have a basic outline of topics I'll be working through that's listed below, but there's undoubtedly something I'll forget, maybe I'll just totally miss something, or maybe you have a miscellaneous question that doesn't fit into any of the parts of this book. I love answering questions, so please drop your questions anywhere on a chapter, and I'll get to them as soon as possible!

My Outline:

- How to Brainstorm 

Keeping a Journal

Collecting Ideas

Training Your Mind

Doing your research

Writer's instincts

- Setting 

Where and when?

Worldbuilding basics

- Plot

Planners vs. Pantsers + Quiz

One Way to Plot

What's in a scene?

Pacing the book

Beginnings

Endings

Plot Holes/Loose Ends

- Characters 

The Basics of Character Development

Exploring Your Characters (include quiz)

Backstory and Motives

Dialogue

Character Arcs

Point of View

Juggling Multiple Points of View

A Unique Voice

The Mary Sue/The Negative Nancy

A Basic Guide to Villains

- Conflict

What is conflict?

Types of conflict

Resolving Conflict

Climax and Conflict

- Themes 

Theme Overview

How to communicate themes well

The Endgame of the book

- Description

Show, Don't Tell

Mood and Tone

Inserting Emotion

Choosing Details

The White Box

Cutting Clichés

Purple Prose

- Revising your draft

The First Draft

Rewriting Your Draft

Adding, Rewriting, and Cutting Scenes

Large edits

Rookie Mistakes

- Writer's Block 9-1-1

Type 1: Simple Burnout

Type 2: Brainfog

Type 3: The Iron Wall

Type 4: The Overflowing Toilet

- Improving Your Writing 

Writing Habits

Taking Criticism

Giving Criticism

Alpha/Beta-Readers

Applying Criticism

- Publishing on Wattpad

Crafting a Title

Synopsis

Cover Art

Tags

Word Count

Update Schedule

- Promoting Your Work

Getting New Readers

Message Boards

Being Classy

Book Clubs 101

Entering Awards

Hosting Awards

Getting Your Book Reviewed

Applying for a genre reading list

The Wattys