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Maybe you've been wanting to write a book for a long time, but you didn't know where to start. Here are some ways to come up with a story.

Daydream. Just let your mind wander as you drive to work or wait in line and see where it takes you.

Think about the movies, books, and tv shows you love. Ask yourself what you like about them and try to build something of your own with these elements.

Start with your message. Not all books have a powerful takeaway, but sometimes it's good to ask yourself, "How do I want to make the reader feel?" and work from there.

Look up writing prompts. A simple initial idea can grow into a full-length novel in the right circumstances.

If you've ever considered writing a book but thought you couldn't, let me convince you otherwise.

Writing isn't a talent you're born with. It is a skill you can develop at any age.

There is no magical moment when you become a "writer". You are a writer as soon as you decide to be one.

You can be a writer even as a full-time employee, mother, husband, etc. Writing 15-30 minutes a day can get you farther than you'd think.

There is no such thing as a "failed" book. You learn from every project, especially the ones that go poorly. Don't be afraid of failure.

Do your research. It's painfully obvious when an author uses the first verse they found without bothering to learn the context or anything.

Write them as actual people. This shouldn't have to be said, but I'm going to because so many people write token Muslim or Christian characters. Like, that's not the only facet of their personality!

Let them doubt. Some seem to think religious people are so sure about everything that they've never even considered being wrong. Truthfully, most of us have questions about our faith and don't have all the answers. Allow your characters to have genuine conversations with others about their faith and doubts.

Avoid stereotypes. Please, please don't fall into the trap of writing with the familiar brush strokes Hollywood often uses to represent people of faith. Christians do not all think God hates gay people. Muslims do not all think the West needs to be destroyed. Characters that perpetuate stereotypes are damaging and reduce people to a single, misrepresented (or just flat out wrong) idea.

Don't use well known prayers all the time. It's not very creative/realistic to have a character clutch a crucifix and spout the Lord's Prayer as monsters close in. 99% of prayers (at least for me) are more like a conversation with God. "Hey God, I'm about to get eaten by a cyclops. I could really use your help right now," is SO much more realistic and more entertaining.

Don't always assume they'll wear a hijab, kippah, veil, or other religious covering. Not everyone is traditional. And if your character does wear one, please research WHY they wear it.

Get to know someone of faith. It's hard to represent people with whom you have no contact or experience. Build friendships with all kinds of people. Ask about their faith. Most of the time they'll be excited to tell you about their experiences!

If you're stuck and not sure how to write the next chapter, try editing the previous one. It'll give you ideas on where to take the story or lead to small changes that will open a door for creativity.

"Releasing something to the public is an act of humility, vulnerability, and faith/risk. However, it is pride and fear that keeps us from sharing the creativity inside of us. The fear of rejection and comparison can cripple our creativity and make us feel like the work of our hands is not good enough. It will never be good enough. 

But here is a secret to breakthrough: Understand that you are creating from journey, rather than destination. Don’t release your creativity like someone who has arrived but rather someone who is on a journey. Humble yourself and put yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable to critics. The risk will be worth it."

This is super hard for me to remember as a writer. I want my story to seem 100% realistic with no plot holes and no "convenient coincidences".

But then I remember this is a book I'm writing. Sure I want my characters to struggle to reach their goals, and I want the pace to rise and fall. That doesn't mean I should keep the chapter long scene of my MC searching the library and internet for answers (the details were annoyingly specific). Or the three scenes where I had him wait outside an alley for something interesting to happen (yeah, it was bad).

With books, people expect a certain amount of challenge for the characters and a degree of patient story development. But they also expect the plot to progress WAY faster than in real life. They expect to see the highlights (whether successes or failures) of the journey, and not every monotonous detail between.

Writing a novel is no easy task. It can take years of chipping away one word at a time like a captive slowly mining a tunnel through the stone foundations of his prison. 

So how long should this take?

I have good news for you. It’s entirely up to you. Some even better news: it won’t take as long as you think.

Let’s do some calculations.

We’ll start by assuming you only have 15 minutes of free time a day. The average person can write 40 words per minute (wpm), but that doesn’t account for staring blankly at the screen or deleting entire paragraphs that sound “off”. So let’s be conservative and say 250 words per hour (not fast by any means, but still respectable). Divide that by 60 minutes we get about 4 wpm. Multiply by 15 and we get 60 words a day. That doesn’t sound like much. Well, let’s think about this in terms of years and novels.

60 words a day * 365 days a year = about 22,000 words. Let’s multiply by 6/7 so we can account for taking one day off per week (which is good for avoiding burnout). We get ~18,750 words per year. We know the average book length is about 50-70k words. This means...

It would take about 3 years of writing 4 words a minute for 15 minutes 6 days a week to write the average novel (56,250 words).

“Three years??” you may be thinking.

First of all, that’s really not bad. Some people take 10 years. Some take longer. Secondly, 4 words per minute? That’s super easy. “Caleb sprinted down the hall. His heart pounded with every step.” That was 11 words. I rewrote it three times with different variations, and it took less than a minute. 

So let’s increase our speed to just 12 wpm. Remember, the average person can type 3-4 times that speed. 

So 12 wpm * 15 minutes * 365 days * 6/7 (for our day off) gives us 56,250 words in one year. To sum up, 15 minutes of writing a day at 12 words per minute will allow a writer to finish the average book in a year and we get a day off. Now we’re talking. 

What if we decided to get up just thirty minutes earlier and write 45 minutes a day? Well, that would mean three times as much writing time, so three books in a year. 

What about editing? 

Good point. Much of writing is re-writing. We’ve done a lot of numbers stuff, but stay with me for one last calculation. If we allow the same amount of time for editing as we did for writing, we could just divide our total in half to get writing and editing time. So 12 wpm * 60 minutes a day * 365 days in a year * 6/7 days for a break / 2 to account for editing = 131,400‬ words. So...

If you spend 1 hour a day either writing or editing at a leisurely pace six days a week, you can write and edit two books a year (or one large one).

You can do the math on your own to match your personal pace. For example, I write about 1300 words an hour. I’m pretty busy, so I’ll say I only have half an hour. 1300 / 2 * 365 * 6/7 (I’m not giving up my day off!) means 203,357 words a year... I could write my first draft, rewrite it once, then edit it after that. All in a year. At half an hour a day. 

I understand not everyone works like this. Some people need to write once a week for six hours in a row. Some people only write once a month, but they spend the whole weekend pumping out pages. I’m not saying you have to do it this way. I just want you to see how powerful small increments can be. 

Writing a novel is difficult, but it helps to break it down. 

Try the "2 random pictures" method - simple and super effective.

Find a random image generator (preferably for writing).

Get a picture and download it.

Get a second image.

Find a unique way to fit both of these visuals into a scene.

You'll more than likely have a story rolling in your head by this point to explain these images being together. Take a second to let the idea grow.

This is another thing seasoned writers expect newbies to understand but rarely bother to explain.

Passive Voice: "Caleb was hit by the car."

Active Voice: "The car hit Caleb."

Passive voice is where something happens ("was hit") to your noun/subject (Caleb, in our case). Active voice is where the noun (we switched it to the car in the second sentence) takes action ("hit Caleb").

See if you can tell which examples are active/passive.

"Veronica passed John the ball, which he dunked."

"John was passed the basketball before he dunked."

"Evan was nearly struck by the speeding bullet."

The word "was" is often a good indicator of passive voice.

Another example:

Passive: "Caleb was running as fast as he could."

Active: "Caleb ran as fast as he could."

People always advise new writers to "show, not tell". What does that mean?

Telling: "Caleb was angry with Emily for hogging the blankets."

Showing: "Caleb shivered and clutched the cloak tighter around his shoulders. He glared at Emily, who lay bundled in blankets next to him."