Go to the Amazon Best Sellers page and find your genre in the lefthand sidebar: If you want your book to succeed, you'll have to contend with these bestsellers. You should also conduct market research on Amazon to determine the most popular books in your genre. How long are they and how many chapters do they have? What does the story structure look like? What are the major themes? Perhaps most importantly, do you think you can produce a book with similar elements? Find out what people are reading Again, if you're writing the book you like to read, you already have a leg up! Reading books in your genre is by far the best way to learn how to write in that genre yourself.īut if not, you'll want to select a couple of representative titles and analyze them. Once you've found your big idea, the next step is to research your genre.

Research by reading books by other writers (And if you're still uninspired even after trying these tools, you may want to reconsider whether you really want to write a book after all.)Ģ. If you're grasping at straws, consider using creative writing prompts or a plot generator to get the ball rolling! You might stumble upon an interesting concept or story element that sparks a “big idea” for your book. In all likelihood, you'll want to write a book in a similar vein. Think about the kinds of books you love to read, as well as books that have made a significant impact on you. On the other hand, if you lack ideas, these questions should steer you in a firmer direction. For example, if you have several different ideas for a book, but only one that you're truly passionate about and feel you can pull off, then voilà - there's your premise! Your answers to these questions will help you narrow it down to your best options.

Will I be able to carry out this idea effectively?.

Who will want to read about this story/subject?.

What do I feel is important to write about?.

Either way, you can settle on a “big book idea” by asking yourself a few simple questions: You may already know what you want to write about, or you may be at a total loss. If you don't have that, you'll never get past the first page of your draft.

The one thing you absolutely need to write a book is, of course, an idea.

Now and Then by NOT A BOOK