If you’ve considered blogging for buzz, then decided that it’s not for novelists, think again. You can and should be blogging to build a platform while you’re writing.

This article gives you some great ideas, 13 Blog Post Ideas for Novelists | Michael Hyatt. Consider blogging:

“Excerpts from Your Novel. This is probably the easiest. It has the added advantage of allowing us, your potential readers, to “sample the brew.” Just write a paragraph to set up the excerpt. Oh, and be sure to link to your book, so we can buy it (duh).”

This is a great idea. Remember to blog regularly. It will inspire your writing. You always write more when you know that you have readers.

Working on a novel?

If you are, take great care when naming your characters. You also need to take care with phone numbers, email addresses, business names…

You’re writing FICTION. This means that the names in your novel, and assorted info, like phone numbers, must be fictional too.

If they’re not, you could be in deep trouble.

It takes just moments to check that you’re not deliberately using the name of a real person or an organization.

Angela Hoy gives you a basic plan to follow, in this article Does that “Fictitious” Business Name in Your Novel Already Belong to Somebody Else? By Angela Hoy:

“1. Search Google for names you plan to use in your novel

2. If you plan to use email addresses in your book, register for those email addresses to ensure they aren’t already being used and so nobody else can acquire them in the future.

3. Search the U.S. trademark website for business names or fictional products you plan to mention in your novel.”

You should also include a disclaimer in your front matter, along the lines that any names, titles, organizations mentioned in your book do not refer to anyone. Include a disclaimer in your afterword too, if you have one.

Do you want to write a book? Perhaps you feel you could, but think that you need some training first. Yes, that may help, but in this article I’ll share a method that you can use immediately, even if you’e a completely new writer.

Over the years, I’ve written many books. I’ve come to know that starting and completing a novel or nonfiction book just means putting one word after another, and not stopping until the end.

Here’s my super-simple and easy method to help you to write a novel.

1. Brainstorm a Title

An inspirational title can act as the compass which guides you from beginning to end.

Start by selecting a genre: mystery, romance, science fiction — your choice. Not only do readers in a genre respond to an evocative title, booksellers have expectations of titles in a genre too — they want to know in which section of the store they should shelve YOUR book.

Let’s imagine that you’re writing a mystery.

Look at your bookshelf for inspiration, or check out the bestseller lists to get into the mood to brainstorm titles.

Mysteries will often include words like: “death”, “bones”, and “murder.”

The only criterion your novel’s title needs is that it should be mysterious.

Set a timer, and brainstorm titles for five minutes.

2. Brainstorm a Fantastic Situation, the Crazier the Better

All done? Excellent. Choose a title — any title from the ones you’ve brainstormed. Remember that you can always change your title later. Your publisher my decide to change it too, so you don’t need to obsess. A title just gets you moving forward.

Now you have your title, it’s time to brainstorm a fantastically crazy situation.

Mysteries usually involve a crime of some sort, often murder. So, who’s your victim? Why was he/ she murdered?

How was he/ she murdered? Where was he/ she murdered?

At this stage, you don’t need a complete plot, you just need enough material to become enthusiastic and inspired.

So there you have it. Brainstorm a title and a situation, and you’re well on the way to writing your book.

Get the help you need to write YOUR novel

Need inspiration and motivation while you’re writing a book? Angela Booth’s writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” at will help. This class is based on exclusive lessons she developed for her private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and to make more money writing. Have Angela at your side while you write your book.

If you’re stuck writing, her ebook “Top 70 Writing Tips To Help You To Write More” shows you how to end procrastination for good and write more.

Writing a novel is a journey, and it’s never a trouble-free one. Indeed, it can seem as if you’re plunging from one disaster into the next. You will get stuck. Usually, you’ll hit page 100 or Chapter Three, and the book’s problems will seem insurmountable. When you get past Chapter Three, you’ll get stuck again, several more times.

If you expect to get stuck, you’ll succeed in completing your novel. In this article, we’ll look at what you can do to leap over the wall, and rebuild your inspiration. The tips I’m giving you have helped me to complete my own novels and sell them. They work.

Here they are.

Give Every Major Character a Secret

Giving every character a secret helps to drive your book forward. The secret can be major (the innocent-seeming heroine is wanted by Interpol) to minor (the heroine is addicted to shopping for expensive shoes).

So when you get stuck, give a character a secret. You’ll need to do some rewriting. However, do not rewrite immediately, make some notes, and leave rewriting until you’ve completed the book.

Introduce a New Character

Just create a new character. This may be enough to get you past your block, and moving forward again.

Kill a Character

By the time you’ve reached page 100, your characters should be alive to you. If they aren’t, killing off a character may help.

Rewrite, in a Different Narrative Mode

Rewriting in a different narrative mode will often get you unstuck. If you’re writing in first person, rewrite a couple of chapters in third person — or write the next chapter in third person.

If you’re a new writer, writing in first person is instinctive. The danger however is that you’ll identify too closely with the “I” character. You’ll make life too easy for your character, and that’s disastrous. Change viewpoint, and make your character suffer.

Changing to another viewpoint will also help you increase suspense.

If you expect to get stuck when you’re writing a novel, you can write your way through the challenges. The above tips will help.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.

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