How would you go about writing a book?

Question

Let's say you have an idea for a book, title and even how you want your book cover to look but you have never written a book. What steps would you take in getting your book written and published? Would you just do it or would you use software? Any other suggestions?Let's say you want to include stories from the public,how would you go about doing that?
Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

A friend of mine is doing a thing where she's writing a novel in a month. She spends three hours a day writing. She sat down and outlined her whole book, one chapter per page. She had different "subjects" assigned to different colored post it notes, and put that color post it on the page for a chapter in which that subject would be addressed. It worked really well for her and gave her a starting point and a point of reference for when she thought she might be getting off task. For starters, decide what you want to write about, then make a detailed plot outline. That will help get you started and keep you on the "write track." Good luck!