Has anyone written a book with no previous training/background in writing?

[onefortheroadplease]

Just wondering how likely I would be able to complete a book with no prior experience of writing?

Has anyone attempted this?

[MaybeDoctor]

Well, you wrote 22 words there!

I have an unpublished short novel of about 60,000 words and am just finishing off a non-fiction book.

[Pollaidh]

Yes. I played around with writing as a teenager and then didn't write again until about 4 years ago. I do do a fair bit of non-fic published report, press release type writing for work. Wrote a few fanfics that went down well. Got an original idea, wrote it over 3 tortuous years. The full manuscript has just had a revise & resubmit (i.e. good news) from the first place that I submitted it to.

Write for yourself, because you love the experience of writing and have a story to tell. The first 2 years of writing and editing my book I was writing for me with no intention to publish. Then friends, followed by independent critique partners (other authors) on the web loved it, so I started polishing in earnest. Not there yet (and I'm not sure about this publisher), but it's looking positive. It has been 3 long years of working evenings, weekends, holidays on it, on top of my day job. When I got stuck in the first year I started reading writing craft books such as "The Anatomy of Story" and that helped a lot.

Good luck!

[icantthinkofanotherusername]

im writing one now, ive always loved to wright. Ive only been on it two months or so. jst finishing it now and then need to do al the spelling and grammer checking. then ill throw it on amazon kpd and see how it goes. Theres always possibilibtys. and my spelling is awful I now, no one needs to tell me.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

There's a lot more to editing than checking the grammar and spelling! Most published books undergo multiple drafts. There's a lot of craft to learn.
Do write your book - the only way to learn is to do it - but please don't just throw a first draft onto KDP. It's not fair on your readers or on the other KDP writers who work their socks off to polish their work and can do without having self published books given a bad name by people who don't know how much more there is to it.

[GetAHaircutCarl]

I wrote my first book with no training and no experience.

I had literally never written anything since stories at school.

It was published and I've written nine more since ( plus a bunch of other stuff).

[Molly333]

What is a kdp? What do you wirh it once you have written it?

[Zilla1]

Everyone writes their first novel for the first time. Some but probably not a majority have a background in 'writing work' as journos or technical writing.

I see many now study creative writing formally but even these write their first novel for the first time. Formal creative writing training are relatively recent creations.

I understand that in the past, most famous novelists just wrote, usually after living.

I suppose some shuffle into things writing short stories but many jump into full-length novels.

Having spent far too long not writing, I'm now more convinced that time spent worrying and not writing and improving tends to be wasted.

Good luck.

[Zilla1]

I expect KDP is kindle direct publishing. Shorthand for self-publishing through an amazon program. There are other routes for self-publishing though Amazon is the elephant in the room.

Traditional' publishing with an agent provides layers of editing and improvement (agent suggestions, development editing, copy editing, line editing) that generally leads to a better final product though as with everything there are costs and benefits to self and traditional publishing.

In my opinion, it takes effort for a self-published author to come close to that level of quality and polish. Some use paid for services (though sharks swim in those seas) and/or 'beta' readers. In my experience, most self-published authors don't achieve that which I think TheCountess is referring to. Some do and some who don't can still make healthy returns.

I think the main thing is to write something you are interested in and would want to read and try and finish then edit and learn and write a second novel and improve and try and sell and repeat.

Good luck.

[JBFletcherismyaunt]

Yes, I did and my book is about to be published by one of the big publishers.

[JBFletcherismyaunt]

Posted before I’d finished writing sorry. So go for it, OP, and good luck!!

[Tumbleweed101]

I’ve written several books and the only ‘training’ was doing lots of reading - including books about the craft - and writing because I enjoy it.

[PaperHead]

No training required, just read an awful lot in the genre you write in, and revise mercilessly for as long as it takes.

[namechanged984630]

@JBFletcherismyaunt I am a bestselling author. Excited to know who you are!

[JBFletcherismyaunt]

I’ll tell you who I am if you tell me who you are namechanged

[AgeBeforeBeauty]

Do you have to have an agent to get published, or can you approach publishers directly?

Also, can you submit work without illustrations? I can write (I think) but am rubbish at drawing ... new to this whole field.

[Hallion]

Almost no publishers will accept unagented manuscripts -- but I know nothing about writing for children.