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Starting off writing a book is easy and finishing is both a relief and a triumph, but there’s a long stretch in the middle where you can’t see either shore and you’re not even sure you’re heading the right way.

Begin by brainstorming title ideas. Come up with at least five and preferably twenty or more potential titles that encapsulate your subject. Begin with the rising action, the part of the story where events build. Then describe the climax, where the story reaches its most dramatic or interesting point.

Choose just the most important things that happen to the main character. Choose a realistic time frame that you can stick to. Provide enough detail to arouse your reader’s interest, but do not retell the whole story. There will be no point in your reader buying the book if they already know how it ends, or which character commits the crime, and so on.

All professional writers get paid to write their books. They sell their books via proposals before they write the books. Proposals take relatively little time to go through; thus proposed reviewers are usually happy to take them. A manuscript, however, may take up to 20 hours to read closely and review, and many academics will not accept manuscripts for this reason.

Comment on the evidence that supports the research. Comments are closed, but you can leave a trackback. Comment on parts of particular interest, and point out anything that seems to give the book literary merit. Relate the book to larger issues.

All of us carry at least one novel around in our heads or our hearts. All the people you’ve told about your book will now ask you about it when they see you, their faces full of hope that you will succeed where they did not. At the end of the day, if you don’t have an absolutely killer book proposal, you can forget it. Your book concept will see only the publisher’s shredder.