50 Steps to Writing a Novel [CREATIVE WRITING #1]

A 50-step process to writing books, presented in the form of a physical deck of cards. One card is one step, complete with informative instructions and a support booklet.

Writing a novel is a massive undertaking. This deck of cards is your guide, teacher, action plan and progress tracker all at once.

50 Steps to Writing a Novel is an agile tool for aspiring and published authors. It teaches you all the steps you could be taking to turn your idea into a book, from planning your story and characters, to editing and publishing.

Each card in the deck is one step. Examples include "Outline", "Create Character Profiles", "Write the 10th Chapter", "Organize Beta Reader Feedback", "Design Your Book Cover", and many more!

Every card is informative with instructions printed for the step, and the box comes with a printed booklet to get you started.

THE FOUR PHASES OF WRITING

The steps cover the four phases of planning, writing, editing and publishing. Publishing is further divided into traditional publishing and self-publishing. The cards of each phase are color-coded:

• PLANNING (green): Define and prepare your story idea before you write a single word. Steps include outlining, research/world building, writing character profiles, defining genre & voice, using the Snowflake Method, and more.
• WRITING (blue): From the first chapter to last, track your progress as you do the bulk of the work. Bonus: Cards in the "Writing" phase have writing advice printed on them.
• EDITING (orange): Find beta readers, self-edit, kill your darlings, and more!
• TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING (red): Find agents and publishers, write a cover letter and synopsis, submit your work, and cross your fingers.
• SELF-PUBLISHING (purple): 10+ steps on the self-publishing process, including writing the blurb for your book, formatting your script, and obtaining an ISBN.

AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL

If you have a dream of becoming an author, or if you want to perfect your current process, this is the educational tool for you. The 50 Steps to Writing a Novel is a deck of cards that serves as your:

• Guide & Teacher: By learning and understanding the steps you could be taking you will be better equipped for the task of writing a novel.
• Action Plan: Follow the steps in order, or pick and choose the steps that resonate with you. You'll always know what steps remain and what you could be doing next.
• Progress Tracker: Remove cards as you complete them, or otherwise mark a task as "done". This is a fun way of tracking your progress, from planning to publishing!

PROGRESS TRACKING

Other than as an educational tool, you can use the cards to track your progress. Not only will you learn what it takes to write a novel, but the enormous task at hand becomes more manageable and enjoyable when divided into smaller, actionable tasks.

Every card has a white star in the top right corner — if you wish, you can use a permanent marker to color in the stars. A small detail perhaps, but still fun!

MARKETING & BOOKLET

Marketing is not an official step in the 50 step process, but there is a 51st bonus card for marketing. The printed booklet that comes with the cards also has a few pages with marketing ideas to kick-start your journey once you have a published books in your hand.

The cards are pretty self-explanatory, but the booklet also provides additional information.

PRINT ON DEMAND

50 Steps to Writing a Novel is sold as print-on-demand on this website, which means a copy is printed every time someone places an order. For that reason, expect 1-2 weeks for delivery in the US, and 2-6 weeks internationally. Import fees may apply.

ABOUT THE DESIGNER

My name is Johan and I'm an author, journalist and storyteller. I've always been a writer, and freelance as a creative writing editor and translator. Yes, writing is my passion!

The 50 Steps to Writing a Novel is my own exact process, but covers a lot of what most authors do. It's based on personal experience and the advice of other professional authors.

The steps are all-inclusive, covering every aspect of the writing process. Every author is unique, but by knowing what you could be doing you will be better equipped to find a process that works for you.

CREATIVE WRITING TOOLBOX

The Creative Writing Toolbox is a series of writing tools in the form of physical decks of cards. Other than the 50 Steps to Writing a Novel there's a deck called 86 Images & Questions Writing Prompts. In this tool for writers you draw an image and a question at random from the cards, study what you see in the image, answer the question, and start writing! This is a fun alternative to traditional writing prompts, with more than 600,000 combinations and millions of stories to tell!

More tools in the Creative Writing Toolbox are planned for the future, including Character Development Questions and World Building in Fiction. If you'd like to be informed when a new deck is released, feel free to drop me an e-mail: jozii89 [at] gmail.com.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?

The 50 Steps to Writing a Novel includes 51 cards and 1 booklet:

• 15 steps to planning your novel
• 9 milestones as you write your novel (from first chapter to last)
• 9 steps to editing
• 6 steps to traditional publishing
• 11 steps to self-publishing
• 1 bonus step for marketing
• 1 support booklet to get to know the cards and the process
• 1 small box to hold all components

Are you ready to turn your novel idea into reality? Then get the 50 Steps to Writing a Novel today!