5 Tips for Writing a Novel
Many people dream of writing a novel but don’t know how to begin. Here are 5 tips for writing a novel that will help get you going.
Novel Writing Tip #1:
In one sentence, state what your story is about. This sentence will help you stay focused on your novel as you write and it will help you stay on track when you get frustrated halfway through your novel. Here’s an example. “A man travels 35 years back in time to prevent his wife’s murder.”
Novel Writing Tip #2:
Draft an outline. It doesn’t have to include every detail of your story, but it should give you some idea as to where your story is heading. Think of an outline as the skeleton of your novel. You’ll flesh it out as you write.
Novel Writing Tip #3:
Save your research until the very end. Over researching can kill your novel before you even begin writing it. Don’t get caught up in researching every detail of your novel either. When you come to a part that requires more research, mark it and keep writing. You can come back later to fill in the blanks. This will save you time because you will be looking for answers to specific questions instead researching everything about a subject only to leave most of it out of your novel.
Novel Writing Tip #4:
Set a schedule. Get out a calendar and set a realistic deadline for yourself. Decide in advance how many words you’re going write in a day. Pick any number for starters, say 500 and go from there. After a couple of days you can adjust this up or down as you see fit. For example, if you average 500 words per day you will have completed a 75,000-word novel in less than 3 months. Allow for the unexpected when you set your schedule and remember to be flexible.
Novel Writing Tip #5:
Write fast. The faster you write, the better you write. Don’t think while you’re writing. By writing fast you quiet your inner critic. The part of your mind that tells you, “That’s not good enough,” “That’s the wrong word,” or “That stinks. You can do better than that.” When you write fast your writing will be more conversational and easier to read. The easier your writing is to read, the more your readers will enjoy reading it.
This isn’t all you need to know to write a novel. You need to understand dialogue, setting, point-of-view, conflict, editing, etc. But by following these 5 tips for writing a novel you get writing, you get started and that’s half the battle. You’ll pick up the other details as you work through your novel.
I’d be glad to buy a copy of your novel when you’re finished with it, as long as you autograph it for me. 
Happy Writing!
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3 Responses to “5 Tips for Writing a Novel”
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#1: If you can state what the story is about in one sentence, you’ll end up with an empty story … like most of Hollywood. The information within the great documentary Zeitgeist cannot possibly be summed-up in one sentence, but yet it’s one of the most important films ever made. The plot of EVANGELION or GUNDAM can’t properly be summed up in one sentence, but those are two of the greatest stories of our time.
#2: Outlines can be good. But if you feel yourself veering from the “box”, do it! Have fun! Write outlines for the new tangents. And if you find something more interesting than any of your outlines, delete scenes/chapters/lines/sentences/words/paragraphs/ et cetera, from earlier in your story, … delete anything that contradicts with the more interesting plan!
#3: Research whenever you have a question! Make your novel informative! Fill sentences with information! Write the tangents! Yeah, delete the tangents when you’ve found the ending, but write the tangents anyway! Write the tangents as your way of learning the info, but write them and learn!
#4: Words per day? Deadlines? No! Follow your heart! If your heart’s not into writing one day, then don’t write something that day! If you write for the sake of filling pages, then you won’t provide the reader with a rich experience. The story is finished when you’re finished exploring it, and that can’t be determined by a deadline.
#5: What … kind of suggestion is “don’t think?” The best book I ever read was THE BIGGEST SECRET by David Icke. You know why that book is so addictive? Because a lot of thought went into every sentence!!! THINK WHILE YOU WRITE!!! Write as slow or as fast as it takes to properly think your point, in a novel or an informational book! A great novel teaches!
Alan, thanks for commenting.
#1: I agree that most of what comes out of Hollywood is “empty,” but I also think that if you cannot state your story in one sentence, you don’t know what your story is about. Here are 3 examples …
Those are one sentence descriptions of NYTimes Bestsellers: COMPULSION, by Jonathan Kellerman, THE APPEAL, by John Grisham and CHANGE OF HEART, by Jodi Picoult. Currently 1,2 and 3 respectively.
As for Zeitgeist, is that by Todd Wiggins or by Bruce Sterling?
Evangelion and Gundam are Graphic Novels. They rely on pictures as much, if not more, than they do words. Plus, they’re serialized. If you were to pick one specific title I think that you could tell me what it’s about in one sentence …
#2: I use an outline to get started. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I stick to it once I begin to write. Sometimes the characters seem to take over and I just go with the flow. Deleting is part of editing. That is done after the story is completed, not during. I don’t know about you, but when I try to edit when I’m writing things just don’t flow.
#3. To each his own. I still think that over researching can kill your novel and waste a lot of time.
#4. I think that if you ask any professional, published author, they they’ll tell you that they write even when their “heart’s not in it,” or when they don’t feel like it. The single best advice that author Heather Sellers gives to beginning writers is, “Butt in Chair.” And Flannery O’Connor said, “I don’t know if the muse is going to show up or not on any given day, but by golly, I’m going to be at my desk from 8 to 12 every morning in case she does.”
You may not need a deadline, but you got to write … every day. If you want to write better.
#5. Someone once said that “editing is the real work of writing, it’s the difference between good and outstanding.” I think that it is more accurate to say that THE BIGGEST SECRET is so addictive because Mr. Icke put a lot of thought into editing every sentence, not in writing every sentence.
If a novel can teach that’s great, but more importantly I think novels should entertain. THE BIGGEST SECRET by David Icke is a Nonfiction, Political book about International Security, not a novel.
Thanks Alan for giving me an opportunity to clarify myself … My apologies for being unclear.
["if you cannot state your story in one sentence, you don’t know what your story is about."]
Let me use the example of BANANA CHAN.
BANANA CHAN is two volumes long — it’s a self-published story that I wrote, which I also sell from my web-site. Of course I know what it’s about. It’s a serialized epic akin to, but not in any way like, GUNDAM and EVANGELION. I was referring to the TV versions, not the graphic novel versions. The TV versions came first, and contain a lot more content. The TV versions contain way more depth, and single episodes cannot be properly represented in one sentence, nor can single sessions of my story.
To simply say any sentence about the plot of BANANA CHAN, or GUNDAM, or EVANGELION, would neglect the spectrum of personalities and experiences that makes those works fascinating and unique.
There is a “false flag” tactical operation early in GUNDAM, but that is not the subject of the episode in which that event happens. Nor is the subject of the episode the inter-relationships between the characters who experience that event, and/or as a result of that event. Each episode of any good anime focuses on the most important things that hapenned to and within the primary characters and setting of the series within roughly twenty-two minutes worth of scenes.
You cannot properly represent any good example of the anime form within one sentence, but that form of television is by far more rewarding and more intelligent than even the most intelligent and rewarding of North American TV shows.
And I was referring to a documentary film called Zeitgeist that is online at http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com — It exposes the lies we’ve all been brought up to believe as truths; however, to simply say “This film exposes the lies we’ve all been brought up to believe as truths.” … would be an injustice. No single sentence description can represent the huge scope of the film, nor can any single sentence point specifically at any of the many specific points that are made in the film while also representing the entire film as a whole. Many small facts make up one important point, and none of the small facts represent all of them. But the only way to possibly make that one point is to say no less than all the facts which that film presents. Same with good animes. Once you know the point, it’s in your heart and you know it as wisdom. Wisdom isn’t words; it’s wisdom. Sometimes, the only way to communicate a single element of wisdom is to write an entire TV series or film, or book, but that same piece of wisdom cannot possibly be communicated in any shorter amount of time. The purpose of creating art — including films, serials, books — should be to communicate wisdom. But this “rule” that books, films, serials, have to be explainable in one sentence, BLOCKS people from even being motivated to create art that contains even a shred of wisdom.
People are like this, and things look these ways, and here’s my vast knowledge of these different kinds of people, and here’s how this type of person does this type of job, oh and he’s funny … she’s strange. Shit, that’s not wisdom. That’s a bestseller. They’re called bestsellers because a lot of people buy them, not because they have a shred of wisdom.
YOU SAID:
“I think that if you ask any professional, published author,”
Oooooo.. Ooooo … Ooooo… them’s fighting words. I’ve gotten paid for writing. I’ve written materials that have been presented to audiences. I can ask myself and come up with the same answer I gave, and I do in fact fall under that category of “any” which you so arrogantly typed.
I agree with you that it’s addicting because of how he edited every sentence. God, I love that book, and you should totally read it. You are in a cube maaaaan … and you can’t even see it. Read the book, and escape. That’s all I’m saying, maaan.