So, you want to write a novel, but you don't know where to start. What should your novel be about? How should you begin? How can you find the perseverance to keep going? And how do you finally end the novel? These questions can sometimes be so daunting that a potential writer never begins. Here are my first few suggestions for beginning, continuing, and finishing a novel, and some links for further help in the process. I will post part II of this series next week.
1. Read Read Read!! Many people think that they can write a novel even if they've never picked up a book for fun. I'm here to tell you that it just won't happen--if you don't enjoy reading, then you won't be a successful, perseverant, or, dare I say it, even a good writer. It just can't happen. Also, if you don't read, then you will never get an instinctual sense for basic pacing, dialogue, description, and figurative language. If you love to read, but have felt "too busy" to indulge in it, then start again NOW, particularly if you want to start your own novel.
2. Write what you love. Do you love intellectual mystery novels? Horror? Genre fiction? Literary fiction? Complicated Jamesian sentences? Terse Hemingwayesque sentences? The writing that you love is a good indication of the kind of writing that you would be most successful at doing. Some people hesitate to write the kind of novels that they love, though, because they deem certain kinds of writing as less "important" than others. Don't fall into this trap. A well-written, thoughtful science fiction novel is far and away more interesting than an unimaginative and flaccid bit of gritty realism. It isn't the kind of book that you write that matters--it's the quality of the material and the quality of care that you have put into it. Write out of your
3. Don't be afraid of imitation--at first. Many people are afraid to read because they don't want to be "influenced" by other writers. This is nonsense. Influence, particularly in the early stages of writing, is absolutely necessary. Imitate the sentences, the paragraphs, the plot movements, of your favorite writers. Study the way that they put together their plots. Study the ways that they construct their characters. Then, when you feel that you understand how they've done it, do it in your own way. How can you improve upon your master's work? How can you add something interesting and new to the mix? Imitation is the first step to innovation.
4. Read like a writer. Study your favorite books on the sentence level. Circle the best, most exciting, touching, moving, or beautiful passages in a novel and study that scene--what kinds of sentences does the writer use? What kinds of adjectives and adverbs? How does the writer move from sentence to sentence (logically or associatively)? How does the author convey information about characters (through exposition or through action)? Work at your reading.
Stay tuned for part II next week!
Here are some more resources for the dedicated writer:
Post your prose and poetry for review (not for the thin-skinned!) at the Alsop Review Gazebo.
Writing Related Articles and News.
Check out the latest bestsellers in Literary Fiction
Check out Science Fiction writing workshop
