Writing a Novel – What You Need To Know

Welcome to the world of the author. It’s a magical world of puppies and kitties and other creatures with eyes that’ll give you nightmares for years to come. I know they give me nightmares. In any case, you’re likely on this site reading this because you have a story in your head that you want to share with the world. And like many who are new to this world, you want to know how your work can achieve its full potential. In order to do that, you need to establish a foundation, a battle plan, a road map.

You see, a novel isn’t just a bunch of words telling a simple tale…well it could be, but then it would be a pretty boring waste of paper, and I’m certain that this isn’t what you’re trying to write. A novel is a window into new ideas, new avenues of philosophies and views, and the best ones stick with a person long after they have finished reading them. Now back to what I was saying, you want to write something that is thought provoking, engaging, and that could even push the world of literature and the world itself into a new age of enlightenment…or you just want to make some extra money for college and other living expenses (myself included, haha!)

To do any of these things, you have to write something that is good, very good, brilliant even. Very, very few authors write books solely on the fly, and an even fewer number of those authors write decent material worth reading. If you want to write a good book, you have to plan it out. Figure out what the intricate parts of the story are going to be, how characters are going to react, basically you are about to play “God”, and you’re going to have to know what you’re going to do in order to make your creations acceptable and palatable for your audience.

The first thing you need to do is break your story into parts. And in most cases there are four major parts to a novel that pushes it towards great recognition:

• Plot: Which covers the overall story, pace, and the ever-popular twist.
• Characters: Which covers back stories, development, and character flaws.
• Setting: Which deals with time, place, and attention to detail.
• Language: Which takes care of description of settings and dialogue.

These four parts are essential to the novel as a whole, since they work together much like a complex machine. A quick science lesson, a complex machine is a piece of equipment that is comprised of several simple machines, and without the multiple simple machines working together, the bigger machine simply cannot work. So all four parts of the novel need to move together and help each other along in order to make your novel shine its brightest; to you, to the publisher and to the reader.

Now the first thing that needs to be done is developing a plot, since without a good plot the rest of the novel is virtually useless. This isn’t saying that you can’t write a novel without a good plot, and not get it published, authors from John Milton to Ayn Rand to Lauren Conrad have written books that have become major successes, but the failings in these works is the lack of a substantial plot.

With John Milton, he put too much emphasis on describing in his work ‘Paradise Lost’. Ayn Rand, in ‘Atlas Shrugged’, allowed her message of pure capitalism take over what could’ve been a moving epic of social injustice and how to solve the problem. And with Lauren Conrad, what could’ve been a half-decent coming of age story in modern society was just a bland collection of episodes from “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills” in book form.

All of these are linked together, because they lack a meaningful and identifying story that the reader can put them in. If the novel does not have an emotional link with the reader, then the novel is not going to achieve that intimate relationship that is truly critical with the reader. And the chances of your novel having a lasting impact are severely weakened.

Components of a strong plot

Now how do you come up with a good plot? First thing is to come up with the obstacle, what is the problem that the protagonist is facing. Is it tangible or intangible? Is it something they can control or is it a force that is determining their fate for them? These are the basic questions one asks when they are brainstorming for their plot. Then you come up with the basic solution the protagonist will use to solve the problem, if they are to solve in the first place. Will they negotiate the solution, will they fight, will they accept their fate, or will they come up with a whole different path to achieve their goals?

Then of course you have to consider characters, will the protagonist have allies, will they have physical enemies, will they have a love interest, will they be poor or rich? These are just a few questions that will be considered when writing a book. Thankfully, these questions can be answered very quickly and early in the planning stage if you take the time to think the story through before you begin writing.

Pacing

Pacing in a story is important since if you did a chapter for every hour, of everyday, in a novel that is suppose to take place over a three year period, you are going to have a very, very, very long book. When I was writing my book, I actually set out to vary the time difference between chapters. For example chapters 3,4,5 take place immediately after another. While in chapters 6,7,8,9,12,13, months take place in between events occurring in these respective parts. Of course, depending on the story itself, pacing in the novel can change too, you could write a novel that takes place in one day, like James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, or you could write a novel that takes place in a year, the limitations are endless. But remember not to bog down readers with too much going on in order to keep the flow from being interrupted.

Twists and turns

Finally with plot twists, I have this to say. As a writer, they suck! They are the hardest thing to do in a novel out of everything. And you can end up beating yourself senseless trying to have a decent amount of twists and turns in order to keep the reader interested in the work. But it’s something that you have to deal with. And the older the audience, the worse this job is to do. However, there are some things that helped me out with this problem.

First, try to figure out which parts of the book are going to be the most important moments. I’d aim to pick out three, just so that if one doesn’t work you can use the other two to do the trick. Once that’s done you need to do what you can to delay giving away these points until absolutely necessary. Now I’d like to discuss the twists in my novel, but then I’d be giving away the reason for anyone to read the book. But, do give yourself the room to change these twists as you write the book, since you’ll probably come up with more ideas and concepts you’ll want to try out with the novel as you’re writing it.

Oh and before I forget, make sure to allow wiggle room as you write the book. In my case, what began as a single volume became a trilogy, and now it’s a five-part series. So needless to say, planning is very important, but be prepared for changes as they come.

I hope this has been a help in your journey and until next time, keep on writing! Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Images courtesy of Lidia Camcho and Fahad.com.