Cynthia and I did a guest post swap, and you can check out her article on character development over on my blog, True Knights.

When we look up into the night sky, we see a black void full of glittering stars. When we start writing a book… we have the whole black void thing, and that’s about it. Obviously, this is the hard part about writing.

But it doesn’t need to be hard. There are simple steps you can take to ensure your writing journey is a happy one, in which you do not get sucked into space and sort of… float around.

First off, you need to think what sort of storyline you want to write. Do not chase the market and write what is currently trending. Follow your heart, because if you don’t love it, nobody will like it.

Once you have a simple concept, you have to figure out what kinds of characters would be the best to carry out the story. Feel free to picture established characters; we all draw inspiration from somewhere; the important part is crafting inspiration into our own creations, rather than carbon copies.

At this point, you will begin what I call a tempering period. Simply put, you will go from the story to the characters, back and forth, developing each until the other needs to pick up the pace. Just like steel sharpens steel, your characters and your storyline will sharpen one another.

So you’ve got that, but let’s be clear; you haven’t even started the first draft of the book yet! What you have done is lay out the foundation, making the next step even easier.

And why do I say ‘even’ easier? Because the first draft always needs to be revisited, whether it be for spelling errors, adding new ideas, correcting certain flaws. Whatever. Keep it fresh in your mind that you will be back, no matter how good you do.

So! No pressure. As a writer, your first duty is like the first step I mentioned; follow your heart. Write what you want to, and if it gets boring or complicated, throw in some plot twists to spice things up. Don’t worry overly much about terms, names, one-liners; enjoy writing the story, and come later to smooth everything out.

Cover to cover seems like such a daunting task, but you’ll be surprised at how fast it flys by, and you’ll miss it once it’s all over… for a day, and then you’ll realize with editing and the new era of self-promotion, your book isn’t ‘leaving home’ anytime soon!

My name is Steven M. Vincent. As a kid, all I ever wanted to do was immerse myself in video games. They were 16-bit and not much for plot, but that prompted me to create my own stories. I guess you could say that’s where my storytelling began.

I started writing in mid 2009, and I’ll always remember the feeling of satisfaction I had when the story was completed. Still, it was only the beginning. I had a lot to learn; editing, how to contact agents, how to sell myself. And I’m still learning. I hope I always will be, because that’s what gives life meaning.

Agents didn’t work out, and that’s how I discovered the wonders of Kindle. The ease of self-publishing was very inviting, and though I knew it would be challenging, I took that path. Now my only goal is to bring my stories to the world, and pass on what I’ve learned along the way.