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[jonshon]

This is a question that plagues writers and would-be writers all the time. My first part of my response would be: what do you like to write? You have to stimulate your imagination or find a live subject that interests you. Then, decide if you want to write novels, or biographies, or anthologies. Anthologies are books with different short-stories based on a central subject of the book.

Once you figure that out, a little research into that interest is in order. And also, let your imagination be your guide, especially in the fiction area. Then, start writing. Plan about 30-minutes to an hour a day of writing, or roughly 5-10 pages a day; whatever works for you.

Take about 6-8 months to write your book; then put it away for 3-4 months to allow yourself time to get over it. Maybe write on something else during that time.

After that 3-4 month interval has passed, pull out your manuscript off of the computer, or the tablet you wrote it on; then check for spelling and/or sentence and punctuation errors. Once you make these notes, make your corrections and find a local critique group-in your neighborhood or online to get a second pair of eyes to give it a once-over.

Then, go through it again and polish those fine points, and while you do this, send out queries to agents. Use a book called the Writer's Market or go to http://www.writersmarket.com, and look up an agent who would be able to represent your type of writing.

And just follow that person's advice. They can assist you in getting published at that point. The normal time to do all of this is about 1-3 years, realistically.
Source(s):
part of this information comes from excerpts of The Novelist's Boot Camp, written by Todd A. Stone

[TWERvin]

Jonshon,

Some solid advice, but I have a few concerns with what you've proposed for writers who've never attempted to write a novel before:

Take about 6-8 months to write your book; then put it away for 3-4 months to allow yourself time to get over it. Maybe write on something else during that time.

After that 3-4 month interval has passed, pull out your manuscript off of the computer, or the tablet you wrote it on; then check for spelling and/or sentence and punctuation errors. Once you make these notes, make your corrections and find a local critique group-in your neighborhood or online to get a second pair of eyes to give it a once-over.

Spell checking and a grammar check is all that's necssary before handing the first draft over to someone else to read? There is a lot one could look at, such as plot lines, and holes, consistency, character development, dialogue, etc. If you don't those are the things the crit partner will point out, which the author could have repaired himself. Plus, it will make for a very difficult read for the crit partner--an unnecessarily difficult read.

Then, go through it again and polish those fine points, and while you do this, send out queries to agents. Use a book called the Writer's Market or go to http://www.writersmarket.com, and look up an agent who would be able to represent your type of writing.

And just follow that person's advice. They can assist you in getting published at that point. The normal time to do all of this is about 1-3 years, realistically.
Source(s):
part of this information comes from excerpts of The Novelist's Boot Camp, written by Todd A. Stone

I strongly suspect that it will take a little more work than polish to get what is essentially a second draft ready for submission to agents and/or editors. And your advice kind of skips over the essential parts/process of finding an agent to represent one's work, making it seemingly sound like the easy part. It is not really all that easy. Some authors would tell you that finding a publisher is easier than finding an agent.

Just tossing in my two cents. Thanks for taking the time to post and help out those writers trying to get that first novel under their belt.

Terry