Three Ways to Build Your Novel's Foundation

The “Now What?” Months are here! In 2014, we’ll be bringing you advice from authors who published their NaNo-novels, editors, agents, and more to help you polish November’s first draft until it gleams. Author Melissa Landers provides a blueprint for laying the structure for your final draft:

Greetings, fellow Wrimos! I’m Melissa Landers, and I understand your post-November angst. Four years ago, I had just come down from the high of finishing my very first novel. The elation had faded a bit, but I still felt like a rock star… until I read my manuscript and realized what a hot mess it was.

I had faith that there was a great story buried beneath those 50,000 hastily-written words, but I didn’t know how to unearth it. No one had ever taught me to write fiction, let alone edit it. So I spent the next year and a half in a constant state of revision, gleaning what I could from self-editing texts and critique partners. I rewrote—not revised, but actually rewrote—Alienated five times before it sold. But in the sage words of Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

To save you a heap of suffering, here are the editing steps I wish I’d taken:

Step 1: Inspect your foundation.

All too often, writers discover at the query stage that their story doesn’t have a strong enough hook, or that the stakes are too low. Let’s address those issues now, versus three rewrites from now. Sum up your plot in one sentence.

For example, here’s mine:

Valedictorian Cara Sweeney gets more than she bargains for when she agrees to host the first interplanetary exchange student.

Now ask yourself the following questions: Is this idea original and compelling? How can I make it stand out from the competition? Feel free to gather input from friends. Ask them if this is the kind of story they’d like to read—and tell them not to BS you, because they probably will.

Once you nail down a killer one-liner, write a back cover blurb for your story. (Read the backs of your favorite novels for examples.) If you can’t craft an enticing blurb, then it probably means something is wrong with the story. Is the conflict deep enough? Are the stakes high enough? What does your protagonist stand to lose if she doesn’t reach her goal? The higher the stakes, the greater the tension.

To demonstrate, read the following scenarios and tell me which is more interesting:

A librarian must shelve 100 books in ten minutes, or she loses her job.
A librarian must shelve 100 books in ten minutes, or she loses her hands.

See what I mean? It’s all about the stakes. Take this opportunity to raise them.

Step 2: Learn the rules of your genre.

Failing to follow this step cost me five months of work. I had no idea there were “rules” within the world of young adult literature—for example: during my first manuscript critique, I learned that I wasn’t supposed to write from adult points of view. Oopsie. If I had been aware of that rule in the beginning, it would have saved me from completely rewriting the manuscript from my teen protagonists’ point of view.

If you write romance, you’ll find the rules within some sub-genres quite restrictive—category lines even specify word count. (A great resource is On Writing Romance, by Leigh Michaels.)

To discover what’s expected within your type of fiction, try connecting with similar writers on the NaNoWriMo forums. Ask questions. Search for online articles. You might have to do some digging, but take the time to research your genre.

And don’t whine to me about how bestsellers break the rules. You’re not a bestseller—yet. Don’t give agents and editors an excuse to reject you, because trust me, they’ll be looking for a reason.

Step 3: Hunker down for a rewrite.

That sounds scary, I know. But if you love your characters as much as I love mine, then you owe them as many rewrites as it takes. You’ve come this far—don’t half-ass it now. If you’re a plotter, make a list of scenes you can salvage from your first draft and then fill in the holes. If you’re a pantser, feel free to jump right in.

Either way, I suggest starting with a brand-new Word document. The clean white space will help you craft new material, and you can copy and paste any usable text from the first draft. While you’re rewriting, make sure the pace stays tight.

My golden rule of editing is anything that doesn’t advance the plot or deepen characterization gets cut. No matter how clever the lines may be or how long I spent crafting them, each must move the story forward or I hit delete.

Now’s the perfect time to get your hands on a copy of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Browne and King, which will teach you how to spot the most common newbie mistakes, like telling vs. showing.

Most importantly, don’t give up. If I had quit after my second rewrite—or my fourth—I wouldn’t be able to see Alienated on the shelves when it launches next month. My characters were worth the effort… and so are yours!

Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. A proud sci-fi geek, she isn’t afraid to wear her Princess Leia costume in public—just ask her husband and three kids. She lives just outside Cincinnati and writes adult contemporary romance as Macy Beckett.

Top photo by Flickr user brianbutko.