How do I start writing a novel?
I have a story line, I have the motivation, I have the passion, and I believe in myself… mostly. What do I do next? Where do I start? Should I work on character development first, or plot development? Naming characters, places, and things? Should there be an outline involved? Should I just brainstorm and then organize all the ideas? Is there some sort of professional formula that authors typically follow? I was never good at this part in school, though my finished product was always pretty darn good. I’ll ask how to get published later. :) Please be gentle- I’m not asking you to do my work for me, but even little tips would be appreciated.
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I’d just try working on all of the above in whatever order you can, working on the parts that flow when they are flowing.
Start with the characters. There’s tons of character trait charts online, I’ll find some for you. You need to know everything about the character. Come up with a setting, or settings. Brainstorm the little details and write them out.
Here is a site that explains the process for writing a novel in 100 days:
link
This site is pretty awesome.. Bunch of ways to brainstorm, charts, etc.. Here
You should definitely have an outline. It will keep you on track, and you’ll always know where you’re going.
Also, remember that every scene should involve a setback or some new challenge. That’s the hook that keeps people reading. Throwing in a twist for each portion of the book (one for the beginning, middle, and end) will help, too. Just don’t force anything. They’re guidelines, not strict rules.
It was a dark and stormy night…
Do it all at once – the characters will flow out of the plot and the plot out of the characters but if I had to choose which to develop first – I’d start with the major character, then develop the plot, then add more characters as you go along – but, again, after all is said and done it is the characters that will drive your plot…oh and congrats, this is amazing, very proud of you
Some novels are character-driven. Some are plot-driven. Some grow out of the setting. You will find advocates of every kind of approach from finely detailed plotting on room-size lengths of butcher paper to just taking off with what you’ve got and seeing where it leads you. There is no formula and no one right way. You do have to be able to define your main character and your central conflict. Then what?
I would say look to yourself for the answer. How do you prepare for a trip? Do you do reams of research about your destination and make detailed packing lists with an ensemble for every day and evening? Then do that. Do you pick a place on impulse and throw things into a bag three hours before you depart? Then do that.
How do you plan, organize, and write a term paper for school? How do you do your holiday shopping? How do you prepare to move into a new apartment? Do you talk it out with like-minded pals, do you start in the middle and work toward both ends, do you have a clear sight of the goal and then break the process down into little manageable chunks to get you from point A to point B? Whatever approach comes naturally to you, that is the way to do it.
And whatever approach you take, you’ll find lots of support for it along the way, from detailed techniques for breaking writer’s block to a cheering section right here on Fluther.
I think a GTD-ish approach could work here. Consider the broader message you want your novel to convey, then break it down to story arc, then the individual actions the characters have to take, then finally, how a character goes about getting those actions done.
So for example, your novel is a fantasy novel about the battle between good and evil, the story arc is the good guys destroying an evil object of power, the broader action is the main characters taking a ring to Mount Doom to throw it in a volcano, what’s the first step your main character has to take? Packing their stuff? Deciding how to get to Mount Doom? Getting help?
This might not work for every type of novel, but it could be helpful.
Oooh, this has made me very excited. There are some tasty morsels of info in this thread! Muahahahaha!
@Iconoclast : Thanks for spelling that out for me. Keeping it interesting was something of a concern for me. Seems simple enough- if your story is good, people will read it, but keeping them guessing each step of the way is really what immerses them into it. Great advice.
Yes! Everything you said. Or you could just sit down and start writing it!
”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
”Once upon a time…”
”It was a dark moonless night. Wolves howled and women shivered and huddled close to the man in her bed…”
@Jeruba – Great observation. So true… different inspirations demand different processes. some may be character; some may be plot; some may be a strong sense of place; or a strong undercurrent of music. Some are conceptual.
I think the trick is being able to listen to that original impulse and how it wants to proceed….
I agree, @Jeruba makes an excellent point. When I go to write, it’s almost like I can’t develop the plot without having my characters in order, but I can’t develop my characters without more details in the plot. I’m just sort of stuck, but I think I just need to brainstorm more. NOW- who wants to babysit my 2 year old so I have time to do this? :)
Different writers work in different ways. Some can’t write the first sentence unless they have an outline showing how everything will turn out; others find that knowing how it will end means they can’t start, and the point of writing the book is finding out how it all works out.
The one truth is that you have to get words on paper. Start writing. Try something. If it works, continue; if not, try something else.
Also, @ubersiren, don’t fall into the beginners’ trap of working the first part over and over and over before you can go on to the next. It is a truism that most first drafts begin too early, meaning that your real starting point ought to be much further into the story. You may well end up tossing out all the opening passages, maybe even entire chapters. So write them to get a good running start, but keep going, and don’t worry about working them over to perfection before you can move on. You’ll die somewhere in the middle and never reach the end.
Some novelists like to write the ending first just so that won’t happen and they have a clear sight of the goal. And some just pick a great scene that is very vivid to them, somewhere in the middle. Again, you don’t know now what will make it into your final draft. But if you don’t get going, darlin’, nothing will.
After you’ve written a good many words—I’m going to just pick a number and say 50,000*—all the advice will mean a lot more to you and you can begin to pick and choose which techniques and recommendations will help you. Right now they are all academic. Until you have drafted something, you can’t begin to see what you really need help with.
___
1667 words a day will get you there in a month. That’s the NaNoWriMo method, and it is one great way to get moving. You can follow Chris Baty’s approach even if you aren’t enrolled in the November exercise.
Write. Just write. Write garbage. Write off-topic. Write on topic. Write your characters into a dead-end, and have them yell all the horrible and wonderful things that they’ve always meant to say to each other. right there, in the cul de sac among the dustbins.
Just write.
exactly, treat it all like some kind of daydream- only you’re writing it down. editing comes later.
@ubersiren: how to go about it hdepends on your individual working technique. if you want to name people, places, etc., though, as you go along, write them down or you will get confused. (you might want to start a private Wiki where only you have the password.) though in my case I use my memory and a program called Scrivener and put all the notes in a separate text file.
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