kinjalkishor –
I have focused mainly on Fantasy Genre and USA Market, so there is more information on Fantasy Genre and USA Market.
Book List is after the Writing Advice. After that Publishers, Editors and Agents List is given.
Preparing Manuscript is given in Writing Advice.
How to Write a Novel –
The best method in my opinion is given by Stephen King (from his Wikipedia page).
Writing Advice –
Stephen King
King’s formula for learning to write well is: “Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can’t expect to become a good writer.” He sets out each day with a quota of 2000 words and will not stop writing until it is met. He also has a simple definition for talent in writing: “If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn’t bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”
Valuable Advice by some other very famous writers –
Terry Brooks
TORN: Any advice for aspiring writers?
TB: My standard ten word formula for success as a writer goes like this – Read, Read, Read; Outline, Outline, Outline; Write, Write, Write; Repeat. I have a writer friend who says that on a scale of one to one hundred, talent ranks about 63. Number one is luck. Number two is perseverance. You have to work hard, be patient, and want it bad enough to keep sticking your head in the ringer.
Terry Pratchett
So to writers I say, you’re going to have to read a lot — Lots of continously in fact. So many books that you’re going to overflow. You’ve got to hook into the popular culture of the 20th century. You’ve got to keep your mind open to all sorts of influences. You’ve got to sit down for hours at a time in front of the computer. And you must make grammar, punctuation and spelling a part of your life.
– How do you write?
“How do I write? God, this is embarrassing. Look, I just do it. It’s pictures in the head and memories and thinking about things and it all comes together. It’s something I do.”
“1) Watch everything, read everything, and especially read outside your subject — you should be importing, not recycling.
2) Use a wordprocessor… why do I feel this is not unnecessary advice here? It makes everything mutable. It’s better for the ego. And you can play games when all else fails.
3) Write. For more than three years I wrote more than 400 words every day. I mean, every calendar day. If for some reason, in those pre-portable days, I couldn’t get to a keyboard, I wrote hard the previous night and caught up the following day, and if it ever seemed that it was easy to do the average I upped the average. I also did a hell of a lot of editing afterwards but the point was there was something there to edit. I had a more than full-time job as well. I hate to say this, but most of the successful (well, okay… rich) authors I know seem to put ‘application’ around the top of the list of How-to-do-its. Tough but true.”
“Application? Well, it means… application. The single-minded ability to knuckle down and get on with it, as they say in Unseen University library.”
Some more Advice by me –
Apply the 80/20 rule in life. Do the most important 20% things which will mainly change your life for better in your 80% time and rest 20% things in 80% time (so you can fulfill your hobbies, but your main goal will be also completed in time without you being burnt out). Apart from this put sufficient time for Entertainment to recharge your batteries. For Example if you write full time and decided to work 10 hours, put 8 hours for reading and writing (70:30 Reading:Writing in beginning and then change it to 40:60 Reading:Writing), 2 hours for other hobbies like playing chess, solving maths, and rest of all time for Entertainment and Family. A total working time of 6-8 hours is good, healthy and sufficient.
Very valuable books for using your time efficiently and living happily.
Eat That Frog – Brain Tracy
Your Time Starts Now – Vijay Aggrawal
You may read these Self Help and Motivational Books also –
The six best friends of fiction writer are what, which, how, where, when, why.
Just ask your self this, in order –
who – did what – why he did – what happened – did what (why) – what happened – and so on and you will get scenes and backstory rolling vanquishing your block.
Just keep asking yourself questions until satisfaction or end of chain. Though a chain really never ends like why was my hero playing and not meditating, in a society of ascetics, that itself will demand a lot more of thought.
And please also note to take care of other events that follow your current action. That chain also is infinite. After thinking a lot just think at which point you should start the story(where the hero is thrown in and things change) and where to end(the conflict resolved. Be it a character(Star Wars 4 5 6), event(Lord of Rings), setting(Guliver travels) or idea centric(Sherlock holmes) story.
Use Wikipedia Efficiently –
Use Wikipedia to got list of writers in your required Genre,
Then Go to Those authors respective pages one by one,
And for each author read their pages and
visit links of their written Novels etc.
Each page of Novel has very good plot outline summary and info on that novel.
Use this shortcut method to know others work first in your genre,
then other genre’s you like,
And then left out Genre’s too for extensive knowledge.
Even save the pages in your hard disk for your own use as home library and reference in one folder in seperate folders by topic, nut do not go on naming every folder, just name the groups and then use automatic renaming of windows. As you can search your local hardrive anytime for important files without needing to be connected to the internet all the time, saving internet charges.
Also This is great for getting lots of ideas and very good for total beginner too.
Use Scrivener –
Use Scrivener for writing novels. It is the best book writing software with all features. Its features and ease of use are best. It is really very useful.
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
It is not expensive (40USD). But if you want free software yWriter is the best (very primitive compared to Scrivener). Search “yWriter spacejock” in Google.
Preparing Manuscript –
Sample Manuscript – Robert J. Sawyer – http://www.sfwriter.com/mschklst.htm
Final manuscript is generally required in MS Word or RTF format. (MS Word and Libre Office both can save in doc, docx, rtf)
Free Open Source Libre office (Available on Windows, Linux and MacOSX. Coming soon on Android (mobiles)) can also save in MS Word doc and docx format or rtf format, so you can use it.
You just need a computer (A computer is a must desktop or laptop (preferrable). For laptop use external keyboard and mouse plugged to it for prolonged use at home for health reasons, prefer LED monitor). You can as easily install Linux Mint (free) and use Libre Office (free, installs with Linux Mint) and start writing. Linux Mint can play Videos, Songs and do most of things Windows can and is as easy to use while being completely free.
Also you will need a Internet 3G or Broadband Connection (saves time) for information, which is a must.
Scrivener is available for Windows and MacOSX. Scrivener for Linux is also coming soon (public beta is available).
If you use MS Word or Libre Office you will need to manage your project yourself by Different word files.
In Scrivener it is very easy. After you have finished your project, you can compile it directly (save finally and completely) to any popular format including RTF and MS Word format.
Writing Advice on Internet –
Search in Google with following Keywords for writing advice
Advice on Novel Writing – Crawford Killian
Brent Weeks Writing Advice
Fantasy World Maps
Holly Lisle
Horror Writers Association
Mystery Novels – Ron Lovell
Orson Scott Card Writing Class
Randy Ingermanson Advanced Fiction Writing Blog
Robert J Sawyer Blog
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA)
Writing SF (On the writing of speculative ficiton – Robert A. Heinlein, Dialog – Isaac Asimov)
Best Books on Writing Novels –
For downloading my files from scribd, login in scribd, upload a file and then you can download the file by clicking on “Download pdf”. It is free this way, no need for premium membership.
Book List –
38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes – Jack M Bickham
A Guide to Writing Novels and Getting Published – Bob Mayer
Becoming a Better Writer Course – Holy Lisle
Beginnings Middles and Ends – Nancy Kress
Characters and Viewpoint Elements of Fiction Writing – Orson Scott Card
Copyediting and Proofreading for Dummies
Fantasy – Holly Lisle
Fantsy – Inspired Author (A pdf made from some website long time ago. Since I do not remember the website name, here is the pdf I made from web pages.) –https://www.scribd.com/embeds/239461187/content
Feudal Dictionary
How to Write a Damn Good Novel – James N Frey
How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy – Orson Scott Card
Literary Terms – Robert Harris
On Writing – Stephen King
Plot Elements of Fiction Writing – Ansen Dibell
Scrivener for Dummies
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers 2e – Browne Renni Dave King
Gold – The Final Science Fiction Collection – Isaac Asimov
Stein on Writing – Sol Stein
The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells – Ben Bova
The Writers Dictionary of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Mythology – Jeff Colburn
Worldbuliding Faq (A pdf made by me from some website I forgot) –https://www.scribd.com/embeds/313225496/content
Writing Fiction for Dummies – Randy Ingermanson
Writing Fiction for Love and Money Mugging the Muse – Holly Lisle
Writing Popular Fiction – Dean Koontz
Write Now – Neil Thompson
You need to have good vocabulary and knowledge of grammar (developed by extensive reading, listening (speaking is bonus, since you mainly need writing skills) and solving exercises in grammar books)
English Vocabulary –
Norman Lewis Word Power made easy
Mini Oxford English Dictionary (The Minimum)
Concise Oxford English Dictionary (The Maximum)
English Grammar –
English Grammar in Use
English Grammar for Dummies 2nd Ed
English Grammar Workbook for Dummies 2nd Ed
High School English Grammar and its Key – Wren and Martin
The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need – Susan Thurman
The Elements of Style 4th Ed – Strunk and White
More Info on Wikipedia –
Search Wikipedia by appending Wikipedia in front of these keywords while searching in google like :Fantasy Creatures Wikipedia”
Fantasy Creatures
Fantasy Places Dictionary
Fantasy World
Fantasy
Fiction
Gods
Legend Stories
List of Fictional Swords
Literature
Science Fiction Concepts
Science Fiction Creatures
Science Fiction Planets
Science Fiction
For common tropes and cliches see tvtropes – http://tvtropes.org
Publishers, Editors and Agents List –
ralan.com (free) – http://www.ralan.com/
duotrope.com
Writers Market
My Current Book List –
2015 Guide to Literary Agents – Chuck Sambuchino
21 Days to a Novel notes
38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes – Jack M Bickham
A Guide to Writing Novels and Getting Published – Bob Mayer
Advice on Novel Writing – Crawford Killian
Becoming a Better Writer Course – Holy Lisle
Beginnings Middles and Ends – Nancy Kress
Characters and Viewpoint Elements of Fiction Writing – Orson Scott Card
Copyediting and Proofreading for Dummies
Creative Writing Exercises For Dummies – Maggie Hamand
Creative Writing For Dummies – Maggie Hamand
Dialogue – Gloria Kempton
Dialogue for Writers – Sammie Justesen
Fantasy – Holly Lisle
Fantsy – Inspired Author
Feudal Dictionary
First Draft in 30 Days – Karen Wiesner
First Draft in 30 Days Worksheets – Karen Wiesner
Horror Novels
How to Craft a Great Story – Chris Sykes
How to Grow a Novel – Sol Stein
How to Land and Keep a Literary Agent – Noah Lukeman
How to Tell a Story – Peter Rubie
How to Write a Damn Good Novel – James N Frey
How to Write Dazzling Dialogue – James Scott Bell
How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy – Orson Scott Card
Literary Terms
Mystery Novels – Ron Lovell
No Plot No Problem – Chris Baty
Notes On Writing Weird Fiction – H P Lovecraft
On Writing – Stephen King
On Writing Robert J Sawyer
On Writing Well 30th Ed – William Zinsser
Orson Scott Card Writing Class
Plot Elements of Fiction Writing – Ansen Dibell
Randy Ingermanson
Scrivener for Dummies
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers 2e – Browne Renni Dave King
sfwa
SS Gold – The Final Science Fiction Collection – Isaac Asimov
Stein on Writing – Sol Stein
Story Genius – Lisa Cron
The Complete Handbook Of Novel Writing – Editors of Writers Digest
The Craft and Business of Writing – Writers Digest
The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells – Ben Bova
The Elements of Style 2011 Ed
The Hidden Tools of Comedy – Steve Kaplan
The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing – Evan Marshall
The Snowflake Method – Randy Ingermanson
The Writer’s Journey – Christopher Vogler
The Writers Dictionary
Wired for Story – Lisa Cron
Worldbuliding Faq
Write First – Jeffery A Carver
Writing Deep Scenes – Martha Alderson
Writing Fiction for Dummies – Randy Ingermanson
Writing Fiction for Love and Money Mugging the Muse – Holly Lisle
Writing Popular Fiction – Dean Koontz
Writing SF
The Breakout Novelist – Donald Maass
The Fire in Fiction – Donald Maass
Writing 21st Century fiction – Donald Mass
Writing the Breakout Novel – Donald Mass
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook – Donald Maass
Plot and Structure – James Scott Bell
Write Your Novel From the Middle – James Scott Bell
Cohesive Story Building – Karen Wiesner
First Draft in 30 Days – Karen Wiesner
Beginnings Middles and Ends – Nancy Kress
Characters Emotion and Viewpoint – Nancy Kress
Dynamic Characters – Nancy Kress
Crafting Novels and Short Stories – Writers Digest
Write Your Novel in 30 Days – Writers Digest