A Guide On How To Write A Novel

By Rebecca Bennett


Many people love novels and wish they could tell their beautiful stories using one of their own. Very few have managed to write novels which makes the process to appear daunting. It is not the absence of stories that cause many people to fail to write. The reality is that very few people know how to write a novel. Here are simple steps that will ensure that you have your book in the shortest time possible.

Write a single sentence that captures your idea. This summary should be fifteen words or less. It must capture your intentions and the imagination of your readers. This sentence is so important that it will sell your idea to publishers, book stores and review committees throughout its lifetime. The names of characters and scenes in the story line should not be included. Such a sentence is what you find on major book reviews.

Expand the sentence into a paragraph that captures the main occurrences in your plot. Describe the setup of the story, the major disaster and triumph as well as the ending. Take the Three-Acts structure where Act One captures the introductory disaster, Act Two offers the second disaster midway while Act Three is the ending of your story. Five sentences are enough to summarize the book.

Your novel will be anchored on characters. Since you have an idea of your story line, it is time to develop your characters. Give them names beginning with the main characters. The minor ones will be developed during actual writing. The story of each character should be summarized into a single sentence. Give each of them a goal, motivation, conflict and epiphany.

Your summary paragraph and sentence are not cast on stone. The process of developing the plot and the characters will teach you something new. Be ready to make the changes since this is an indication that scenes and characters are revealing something new. The development of the plot reveals new things that will energize your story.

It will take several days to a week to develop these characters, scenes and story line. It is time to provide a summary to your work. It is a lot of fun to dismantle a story line and engage individual characters as you attempt to connect them. But with the one page summary and a view of individual characters and scenes, you are ready to produce your first draft.

With details of each character and scene, it is time to tie them down. This is another discovery phase. You will create other characters and scenes that did not exist. Try as much as possible to stick to your original design. The demanding nature of this phase will require a working routine. This includes a time and place where you can concentrate for longer hours.

Novels are as a result of focus and dedication to a course. You will be required to set a completing date that will guide your writing exercise. Create an outline and plan of action to guide your daily activities. A lot of reading is required to gain facts about occurrences and scenes. Research must be conducted even by fiction writers. This will enable them to produce a plausible story. The time taken to complete the book depends on amount of time dedicated. Six months to one year should be enough.




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