Reddit reviews Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)

You might be interested in Story Genius by Lisa Cron, which uses the evolutionary purpose of story to talk about how to write a novel. It's one of the only writing help books I would advocate.

Dear Mr./Mrs./Miss Jizzmonger69,

Despite your blatant reduction of proper words and characters, I offer my 2 cents:

• Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald
  
• Story Genius by Lisa Cron
  
  p.s. I do not attempt to insult, but rather to assist you in fortifying your forward momentum toward knowledge. In other words, you will find that despite your willingness to learn, if you do not put in the effort of basic spelling, punctuation, sentence craft –– that many people will not take you seriously.
  
  Bon chance, mon ami.

Start with the characters and their background first. A story isn’t about the plot, it’s about your characters: how they react to external events, and how those events change them internally. A good book has strong characters you can relate to, so if you start with the plot, you’re more likely to create something with little substance.

I’m in the planning phase for my first book, and I’ve found Lisa Cron’s Story Genius to be incredibly helpful. She recommends to first define your “what if” and the point you want your story to make, then create the characters that help you tell that story, and then you can focus on the plot. Since you’ve already defined your main character and their backstory, you’ll breeze through those parts!

In my case, I started with a rough idea of where I want my story to go, but it will become clearer to me once I finish developing the characters.

Hope that helps!