I am keen to write a novel ,please tell me how to start and the steps I need to take for writing.?

Answer 1

I'm going to assume you have your plot figured out, along with your major and minor characters, their backstories, and the key locations where the most important action in the story will take place. Does your story require any research? If you're writing in a different historical period, you'll want to make sure you've got all the details about clothing, food&drink, dwellings, culture, etc. right. If there are any subjects in your story that you don't know enough about, make sure you do the research. Otherwise your characters and your story will not seem realistic and your readers will be disappointed.

Do you need help with plot structure? I recommend Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress. Also, any of the how-to books by Jack Bickham are very helpful. Scene and Structure is my favorite. His books can also offer tips on improving your characters.

Have you decided on a writing schedule? Daily effort is the best. One hour at a time when you won't be disturbed, plus a word or page quota. When I'm in good shape for novel writing, I can crank out 5 pages in 90 minutes. That's just me, so don't measure yourself against that. My point is you need to decide how much you can do and how much time you need to do it. Start easy, something you know you can accomplish. Build up from there. It's just like working a muscle; the more you train your mind to write, the more it will cooperate and your quality and productivity will improve.

Now comes the hard part: making the commitment to follow through and COMPLETE THE MANUSCRIPT. How long will your book be? 200 pages? 300? 400? Choose your length target depending on the type of book you're writing. When I write an historical romance, my usual length goal is 400 pages. I have to make the plot fit into that length so that means making choices about how many characters I include, how many subplots, etc.

Go for it, and good luck!

Answer 2

Have you written other things like short stories? If not, starting a writing career with a novel is like wanting to start learning to play baseball only after you're in the major leagues. Novels are usually just longer and more detailed (and involved) versions of short stories. Once you're written many short stories, you can start thinking of a novel. So, practice writing to begin with. If you don't even know the steps to take for writing, how on earth are you going to write a novel?

Answer 3

First be dedicated

Second know that your work will probably never be published unless you self publish it. Roughly 90% of manuscripts are rejected.

Third, know what you are writing about.

Fourth, be differant and true to your style of writing

Fifth, find some layer that hasn't been touched recently... some conflict that you can add to, regardless of what it applies to.

Sixth, Rely on heavy artistic uses and allusions to classic literature.

Seventh, look for a book of publishing houses (I forget the name, but there are several) where you can find differant companies and what they are looking for... as for when u send in your manuscript.

Final, make sure your manuscript is double spaced and follows a standard of some form that you stick with.

Answer 4

Be prepared for a long proccess. It can take many years to write your first novel. After the first one you may be able to write faster but most people who want to write a novel never get the first one done.
I am in that position myself right now. If you want to chat with others who are too join
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/brandnewaspiringwriters/

Answer 5

Two ways: One is go take courses in creative writing and develop the rules of writing. The other way is to forget that and if you really have something of value to say then forget the rules and just start writing like mad and do not stop....Eventually all that chaos on paper will turn into something and then you spend years and years pasting it together into something readable.

Answer 6

First, find books on writing, plotting your novel, characters, setting.

Here’s a list of books I’m using: http://shalladeguzman.com/shallabooklist.php

Second, join a writers group (online and/or not, I post a list of them on my site)

Here’s a free online writers group you may like to try The ShalladeGuzman Writers Group.

We’ve been interviewing literary agents (you’ll need to query a literary agent who will sell your book to a publisher), editors (find out what they’re looking for), publicists (it’s never too soon to learn the business of writing), etc.

You can read the transcripts at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShalladeGuzman/

Good luck!

(I’m a television producer and writer.)

Answer 7

you start by sitting down and writing.

I'm not trying to be obvious, or insulting.