How can you start writing a book if you don’t know where to start?

My process for writing books is completely different to my approach to writing articles. Rather than waiting for a title or a great first sentence to come to me, I plan everything in advance in some detail.

If it’s a complicated project, with lots of cross-referencing between chapters or sections, my plan will initially look like the illustration above. However, if it’s more straightforward I work on the outline first.

I do this by listing the chapters or sections I want to include. Once I’ve done that, I can start “filling in” the chapters. I don’t have to wait for a great opening sentence, because I can start anywhere. That’s the beauty of the outlining process: you have the big picture in front of you all the time. Moreover, to some extent each chapter is self-contained.

The software I use at various stages has been covered in a previous article. However, all you really need is a decent word processor. (See my article about Outlining with Word. The screenshots are outdated but the basic process is still the same.)

Many writers even use index cards, but if that seems a bit too old-fashioned for you, consider using a digital set of index cards such as AZZ Cardfile.

One thing I find very useful to have is a list of topics or chapter headings. I can then tick them off as they are completed. A more sophisticated version of this is to have the chapters listed in a spreadsheet, because then you can have extra columns of information, as shown in the screenshot below:

One last thing. If you have been thinking about writing a book, but are not sure where to begin, drafting an outline list of possible chapters is a good way of starting. You can always add or delete chapter titles later, and change their order. The important thing is to start writing!