How I Write Novels, Part One
Outside of story related inquiries, the most frequent request I receive is for advice on how to write a novel. Honestly, I have no idea how most people go about the process, and what works seems to be different for everyone, but I am happy to share my methods.
Outline!
The Academy was the first novel I published, not the first one I wrote. I actually made two failed attempts before that, and both helped me learn a great deal about how to write something as long and involved as a novel.
On my first attempt, I literally just sat down and started writing, based on whatever I wanted to write about, not worrying about scripting, writing in order, or anything like that. I wrote almost two hundred pages before I realized that all I had done was two hundred pages worth of setting. That was not a happy moment.
My second attempt failed due to a number of bizarre artistic decisions I made before I started, but that's another story.
The main difference with The Academy that allowed me to finish it successfully? Something I learned in junior high. An outline.
I use super detailed outlines - I start with a paragraph or two synopsis of the overall plot arc for the book, and then do a chapter by chapter break down, listing all of the events, characters, scenes, concepts, and plot movement that must take place within the chapter. I will also use a few words to 'tag' the chapter, so I can keep track of the overall flow for the reader, making sure that appropriate amounts of romance, humor and action are present, carefully arranged through out the text.
I know most writers don't bother with anything this complicated, but for me, it's the only way to keep track of the many factors that go into a successful novel.
The Beginning Actually is a Pretty Good Place to Start
Some of the writers that I know personally like to write their books in no particular order, writing whatever scene is the most interesting to them at the moment, and then arranging and filling in the blanks later. I simply cannot work this way. I will write all the fun stuff, then never fill in the gaps with the grunt work - setting, lengthy descriptions, etc.
I start from the start. The first word I write is the first word in my book, and I finish with the last. While I will make major changes in the editing process, sometimes cutting or adding whole sections in revision, initially I just plug on through. I don't let myself skip a section because it is difficult, or because I don't feel like writing it that day.
When I write something I don't like that much, I often highlight it and then leave it in place, to be fixed in the editing phase, once the novel is completed. My philosophy is that even a bad chapter is a completed chapter, and every completed chapter is one step closer to a finished novel. Who cares if the dialog in one chapter is awful, or the lighting or the weather is inconsistent? That can all be fixed later, and it is much easier for me to work with bad text than no text at all.
One Idea is Not Enough
Not for me, anyway. When I get stuck on a difficult place in a novel, one of the best things I can do is briefly switch to writing something else, until I get a good flow going, then return to the original text refreshed. I always have more than one project in production, and often as many as four or five.
Why? Any number of reasons. Some of them might fail - I have written twice as many novels as I actually published. Some of them might not attract a good public response. You never know what will please readers, so I find it best to work with as many ideas, in as many different genres and formats as you can.
If you are always working on 'your novel', the project often becomes monumental and difficult to finish. It puts too much pressure on the idea, the book, and the writer, in my opinion. It is better, for me at least, to have a constantly expanding repertoire and toolbox. It isn't as if painters only work with one color, or in one style, for their entire careers.
Plus, you might be a truly great romance author and never know it, if you never write anything other than detective fiction. If you have the inclination, why not indulge yourself?
Write What You Read
Simple, right? This one eluded me for years, and almost ruined my writing career.
I spent more than a decade writing highly technical, extremely experimental poetry - I even got a degree in it. Some of it got published, and some people liked it quite a bit.
But not me. Because I don't really read that kind of stuff.
When I'm reading for fun, I read comic books, science fiction, nonfiction, manga, fantasy - not exactly high literature. But when I put pen to paper, I tried to create art, instead of something I would enjoy. The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but if you don't enjoy the art you are making, then what is the point? And if you enjoy what you are doing, why worry about the artistic validity?
If you aren't happy writing - if you wouldn't rather sit down and write for hours, rather than watch TV, read, or play video games - then it will be very difficult to complete a novel. I certainly couldn't do it if I didn't love the process. But I could only get to a place where I actually wanted to write as a recreational activity when my subject matter was entertaining to me.
None of this, of course, is meant to be definitive. There are probably as many different ways to write as their are writers, and any method that gets results is valid. But I would urge any of you thinking about writing a novel of your own to start the process by trying to entertain yourself. Cheers!
Outline!
The Academy was the first novel I published, not the first one I wrote. I actually made two failed attempts before that, and both helped me learn a great deal about how to write something as long and involved as a novel.
On my first attempt, I literally just sat down and started writing, based on whatever I wanted to write about, not worrying about scripting, writing in order, or anything like that. I wrote almost two hundred pages before I realized that all I had done was two hundred pages worth of setting. That was not a happy moment.
My second attempt failed due to a number of bizarre artistic decisions I made before I started, but that's another story.
The main difference with The Academy that allowed me to finish it successfully? Something I learned in junior high. An outline.
I use super detailed outlines - I start with a paragraph or two synopsis of the overall plot arc for the book, and then do a chapter by chapter break down, listing all of the events, characters, scenes, concepts, and plot movement that must take place within the chapter. I will also use a few words to 'tag' the chapter, so I can keep track of the overall flow for the reader, making sure that appropriate amounts of romance, humor and action are present, carefully arranged through out the text.
I know most writers don't bother with anything this complicated, but for me, it's the only way to keep track of the many factors that go into a successful novel.
The Beginning Actually is a Pretty Good Place to Start
Some of the writers that I know personally like to write their books in no particular order, writing whatever scene is the most interesting to them at the moment, and then arranging and filling in the blanks later. I simply cannot work this way. I will write all the fun stuff, then never fill in the gaps with the grunt work - setting, lengthy descriptions, etc.
I start from the start. The first word I write is the first word in my book, and I finish with the last. While I will make major changes in the editing process, sometimes cutting or adding whole sections in revision, initially I just plug on through. I don't let myself skip a section because it is difficult, or because I don't feel like writing it that day.
When I write something I don't like that much, I often highlight it and then leave it in place, to be fixed in the editing phase, once the novel is completed. My philosophy is that even a bad chapter is a completed chapter, and every completed chapter is one step closer to a finished novel. Who cares if the dialog in one chapter is awful, or the lighting or the weather is inconsistent? That can all be fixed later, and it is much easier for me to work with bad text than no text at all.
One Idea is Not Enough
Not for me, anyway. When I get stuck on a difficult place in a novel, one of the best things I can do is briefly switch to writing something else, until I get a good flow going, then return to the original text refreshed. I always have more than one project in production, and often as many as four or five.
Why? Any number of reasons. Some of them might fail - I have written twice as many novels as I actually published. Some of them might not attract a good public response. You never know what will please readers, so I find it best to work with as many ideas, in as many different genres and formats as you can.
If you are always working on 'your novel', the project often becomes monumental and difficult to finish. It puts too much pressure on the idea, the book, and the writer, in my opinion. It is better, for me at least, to have a constantly expanding repertoire and toolbox. It isn't as if painters only work with one color, or in one style, for their entire careers.
Plus, you might be a truly great romance author and never know it, if you never write anything other than detective fiction. If you have the inclination, why not indulge yourself?
Write What You Read
Simple, right? This one eluded me for years, and almost ruined my writing career.
I spent more than a decade writing highly technical, extremely experimental poetry - I even got a degree in it. Some of it got published, and some people liked it quite a bit.
But not me. Because I don't really read that kind of stuff.
When I'm reading for fun, I read comic books, science fiction, nonfiction, manga, fantasy - not exactly high literature. But when I put pen to paper, I tried to create art, instead of something I would enjoy. The two aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but if you don't enjoy the art you are making, then what is the point? And if you enjoy what you are doing, why worry about the artistic validity?
If you aren't happy writing - if you wouldn't rather sit down and write for hours, rather than watch TV, read, or play video games - then it will be very difficult to complete a novel. I certainly couldn't do it if I didn't love the process. But I could only get to a place where I actually wanted to write as a recreational activity when my subject matter was entertaining to me.
None of this, of course, is meant to be definitive. There are probably as many different ways to write as their are writers, and any method that gets results is valid. But I would urge any of you thinking about writing a novel of your own to start the process by trying to entertain yourself. Cheers!
No comments have been added yet.
