Let’s start with WHY you want to write a book. Don’t bother. Any reason is good enough.
What KIND of book do you want to write? Spiritual, moral, novel, play etc. I am largely a spiritual book author and so, permit me to talk more from the angle of a spiritual book. Don’t worry, all the things I will say will be of help.
Are you a READER? If you hate reading and if you are not a reader, I can’t say you should not write but you may be far from being a good writer.
TO COMMENCE WRITING. Decide the kind of book you want to write and the TITLE or theme of the book. If you are a vast reader, I suggest you get at least three books on the same subject to refresh you. If you are not a vast reader, get more than three. You are not the first to write on that area and you won’t be the last. Your contribution is to that body of knowledge. It’s just right you get to see what others have said about it and how they said it. Paul travelled to Peter for 15 days to compare notes.
START. Once you start writing, close all books and sermons you have consulted to avoid pirating their works as much as possible. What you will learn from reading other books is not just what they write but also their style, language, formatting etc. Which you may adopt. I remember meeting a pastor in Winners after my second book. He said I should look at the formatting of Bishop Oyedepo’s books and adopt that formatting. Formatting comprises the font, line spacing, paragraphing etc.
ARE YOU WRITING YOUR BOOK on paper or typing with your phone or with a laptop? Anyone is good. I wrote my first three books on paper. If you are using paper, you will still need to type with your phone and eventually put it on a 💻 laptop.
WRITE OUT THE OUTLINE. Write out the topic of the book first and the areas you want to cover. Divide it into chapters. Even if it’s two or three chapters for starters. Do that. Even if it is one. As you develop the chapters, you will be able to expand them into more sub-topics and even chapters.
IF YOU ARE WRITING ON A PAPER, get two pens: red and black or blue. I will tell you what it is meant for. The complex issue with spiritual books is BIBLE PASSAGES. If you are conversant with your Bible, as you write, Bible passages would be running into your fingertips. Some, you may not know where it is in the Bible or even remember the full text. You can quickly write it down with the other pen- colour red as in this case. The reason is, you can easily trace it later on and fix it.
This will allow you to sustain the flow of inspiration. Even if you want to write out the full text, or you want to develop or expound that passage, you should still write the passage in red or a different colour. If you are typing on a phone or laptop, you can simply highlight it.
In the next series, let’s talk about REVISING, EDITING and probably WRITING MANY BOOKS.
Have any questions, drop them.
My biggest advice to a writer is to set a time-bound. Decide to put all things aside within a period of days or weeks to focus just on writing both day and night. Once that period is over, it is settled.
3 Comments
This is much appreciated sir. Thank you sir
Thank you sir, God will continue to bless you and your family and ministry.
Great impact thank you for your powerful advice sir .