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The novel is the toughest both to write and to get sold in today's market. Short stories may be the way to build your craft. Of course you can self-publish whatever you complete, so if its your dream to write but not necessarily earn a bushel of money; you have options..

The first suggestion is a simple one. Write the way you talk. We always talk of writers having their own voice. A great way to get a story out is to sit and tell it into an audio recorder like Voice Memo function on an ipod, then try transcribing what you've said, from the play back, type it out. The second thing I want to suggest is break it into chunks. I wrote a whole novel in the form of emails. I emailed each chapter to myself, one at a time. When I had about 20 or so emails of five or so pages, I had a novel of over 100 pages.

This is very interesting and I'm looking forward to more of these kind of insights. Could be a very awesome thread.

First question: when you suggest the use of one's own voice. Isn't it a given that novelistic language is usually different than spoken? Authors use words in a paragraph that we rarely use in real life--because they sound too formal or have too-many-syllables. Example: 'subsequently'. Never used aloud; often used in writing.

Or, are you suggesting that the newbie use voice-recording just to get through the first stage --the 'outlining' stage perhaps--and then densify and polish up the language later on?

Another concern: isn't it very commonly said by people that 'their own voice sounds weird when played back to them' and 'they hate the sound of their voice'? I remember trying to do recordings for class speech prep and found exactly that. I think its a valid audiological phenomenon, that because hearing our own voice from someplace outside the usual resonance we receive as it passes through our throat and nose; can be disorienting.

I like suggestion #2. There's a good software for that actually, it saves everything into separate files organized by chapter; but when you view the work on the screen it presents it as one unified piece. Nifty trick. PM me for the name.

There are templates you can download free from Createspace, too. Yes, both the ways you mention are good. If you just get the words out, you can polish later. But if that's hard to do, consider this one: tell it from the point of view of a character who is like you and has your level of English skill. Look at "Twilight". Many say it's not well written, but Stephanie Meyer tells it from the point of view of a young girl who probably wouldn't tell her story in the most brilliant way (teenagers are rarely able to speak like a 45 year old English Prof from local University are they?). So she gets away with it. That book also proves that success is not about "good" or "bad" but a story that people connect with. So you can get away with a lot if a character who is like yourself is telling the story. But remember chapters are your bite-sized chunks to break it down and make it easier, too.

That book also proves that success is not about "good" or "bad" but a story that people connect with.

Yes, but only if "good" is defined by "sales" ..to a special interest audience segment :)

Yep I completely agree with that!