Writing a book

safcforever

Striker
has anyone done this?

I’ve been writing one as a side project for around 4 years. Mainly because I pick it up do some then put it down for weeks/months.

What’s a realistic length words wise?
When do you know it’s done?
Is there someone you can get to go over it and tidy it up?
 


Is there someone you can get to go over it and tidy it up?
Proof reader will tidy it ready for print.My mate who is an interesting guy was looking into getting a book ghost-written,he contacted wensley Clarkson and was quoted £30k'ish for a book and help getting it into print.
 
has anyone done this?

I’ve been writing one as a side project for around 4 years. Mainly because I pick it up do some then put it down for weeks/months.

What’s a realistic length words wise?
When do you know it’s done?
Is there someone you can get to go over it and tidy it up?
Number of words depends on the genre if it's fiction but as a general rule, mine are around 80k words. Fantasy and Science Fiction would be upwards of 100k and Young Adult around 50-60k.
The answer to your second question is that it's never done. I'd quite happily rewrite all of my novels despite them being very popular.
My last novel took me 307 hours in total and 187 hours of that was editing.
The final edit. (How long does it take to write a novel Part 6)
You can pay someone to edit your book but there are many types of edit, structural, copy edit etc. It's worth working out what you want before you spend any money and definitely only spend money on someone who has been recommended. Make sure it's as good as you can make it before paying someone. Don't waste money on something you could do yourself.
When I finish a first draft I always leave it a couple of months before going back to read it and then start my editing process.
Once I've 'finished' I give it to a team of critiquers who will give me feedback and I edit it all again.
I'll try and think of some good websites but for now, have a look at New Writing North.
Home - New Writing North
Follow as many writers as you can on social media and read up as much as you can on the process.
Join a writing group if you can and look out for writing festivals. The next Sunderland Creative Writing Festival is due to be in March next year.
http://sunderlandwritingfestival.co.uk

Thats a very high level overview but if you have any questions, shout up. There's quite a few writers lurking about on here, much better ones than me, and I've always found the writing community to be very helpful.
 
I was going to offer to read it for you, a few on here did the same for @Lexingtongue
It’s a crime story loosely based on true events.
I’ve been on and off writing it for 5 years. I’ve still got at least a few months to wrap it up.

I'm not particularly good at giving advice on this front but I wrote these tips a few years back when I was writing at a higher standard and more regularly than I do now. Maybe they'll be helpful. David Anderson's Blog - My alternative tips for prospective self-publishers - August 19, 2013 04:36
I’m really struggling with the start. The meaty and the ending part of the book I found relatively easy because as I say it’s based on a true story so it pretty much writes itself. However I can’t think why the story started.
 
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