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.
Begin by writing a summary of your story. This summary should be a single sentence that is less than fifteen words. This sentence will be used to sell your book once it is completed. It will be valuable as you seek to convince editors, committees and book stores to stock your title. It must not contain the names of characters. An example is what would be found on reviews by major news outlets.
Follow up the sentence by expanding it into a summary paragraph. This paragraph is a brief of the main occurrences and characters in your story. It captures the triumphs and disasters in three acts where the first introduces the main disaster, the second captures two other disasters while the third is the triumphant act and the ending. This should not exceed five sentences.
Characters are the drivers of your story. The summary sentence and paragraph provide an idea of what is expected of you. It is time to grow them by assigning names and attributes. This should only be done for the main characters. Minor characters will emerge during the actual drafting. Use a single sentence to describe each character. Each of them should have a motivation, goal, personal conflict and epiphany.
In the process of drafting your plot and characters, you will encounter the need to change your summary sentence or paragraph. This is acceptable and an indication that the development process is teaching you something. There does not exist a perfect summary. So many other things will become clearer as the story develops.
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.
Writing a novel requires dedication and focus. You must be committed to work on your goals till the end. Split the goals into fragments that make them manageable. Pick an end date which could be six months to one year depending on the time available. You will need to research on some facts even in situations where you are writing fiction.
Begin by writing a summary of your story. This summary should be a single sentence that is less than fifteen words. This sentence will be used to sell your book once it is completed. It will be valuable as you seek to convince editors, committees and book stores to stock your title. It must not contain the names of characters. An example is what would be found on reviews by major news outlets.
Follow up the sentence by expanding it into a summary paragraph. This paragraph is a brief of the main occurrences and characters in your story. It captures the triumphs and disasters in three acts where the first introduces the main disaster, the second captures two other disasters while the third is the triumphant act and the ending. This should not exceed five sentences.
Characters are the drivers of your story. The summary sentence and paragraph provide an idea of what is expected of you. It is time to grow them by assigning names and attributes. This should only be done for the main characters. Minor characters will emerge during the actual drafting. Use a single sentence to describe each character. Each of them should have a motivation, goal, personal conflict and epiphany.
In the process of drafting your plot and characters, you will encounter the need to change your summary sentence or paragraph. This is acceptable and an indication that the development process is teaching you something. There does not exist a perfect summary. So many other things will become clearer as the story develops.
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.
Writing a novel requires dedication and focus. You must be committed to work on your goals till the end. Split the goals into fragments that make them manageable. Pick an end date which could be six months to one year depending on the time available. You will need to research on some facts even in situations where you are writing fiction.
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