Writing a novel... authors have advice or tips for me?

Question

Still in early stages right now. I'm doing some character mapping working off a book called "the weekend novelist." It provides a step by step guide of how to grow your idea into a novel. Question is this. Some of the early exercises ask to write dreams for your characters, as well as their entire wardrobe in their closets. Also writing brief stories of their past leading up to the story. Is this necessary? Do you do this? I'm not 100% locked into the direction of the story yet and it seems like a lot of this stuff I would change as I discovered the characters/conflicts better. It seems to me that getting into outlining scenes and building off that would be more effective. Or are these exercises effective in keeping a direction so as to not give up when stuck? What are your steps to writing? On a side note have you been published and what did you write? I'll check out your book sometime. Any other information you want to throw in is also greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I love to write novels... what I do is:

1st: List all the characters, followed by a short explanation of what will they do on the book
2nd:Make a list of all the important scenes that I have already planned, on order of appearance
3rd:BEFORE writting a chapter, I make an introduction of it. What will happen, which characters will be involved on this, and what will they discover. From that, you can write your chapter

That always works for me. Good luck with ur book!!

Answer 2

Really, what you have to do is know your characters inside and out before you ever spread graphite. The prompts in your book are only forcing you to think about your characters as real, multidimensional people, not just propellant for your plot. If you already know more about your characters than you do your best friend, then you can skip over the questions. If not, complete every question, then think up some new ones. Characters aren't a means to an end, but if you know them well enough, they'll lead your story where it has to go.
My steps are a little unorthodox- I'm an occasional insomniac, and I spend my restless nights playing through a myriad of situations, common and uncommon, casting and recasting roles with different potential characters until I have a good feeling of who they are and why. Once I have my characters, the story comes naturally, snowballing into something too grand in scope for me to consider in its entirety. Then I make an offline wiki- one page as a summary of each chapter, but with relevant words or concepts highlighted and linked to separate articles and sub-articles and sub-sub-articles. I try to record at least twice as much information as I'll ever use. The reader may never know that Mr. Smith's uncle died in a train accident, but as a writer I can use this to understand Smith better. Once I have a very solid idea of what I'm going to write, I write my first page, and walk away from it. I go over that page when I come back, fix anything I don't agree with, and then use that page as a stylistic model for the rest of my book.
I've written the majority of three books, but I consider these as tools to hone my skill-- I've never submitted one for publication. However, I'm well on my way to completing a fourth that so far looks entirely publishable. I hope I've helped; best of luck.

Answer 3

I think the exercises are extremely valuable! Are they necessary? Well that all depends on how three dimensional you want your characters to be.

If your readers are to believe your characters are real and make an emotional investment in them, then YOU have to believe your characters are real.

Writing background stories, detailing their wardrobe, interviewing them... It's all part of a process that I call: "finding my character's voice".

This helps me take a two dimensional character (that always ends up sounding like myself...) and turn them into a real person. Someone that has their own:

1) Job
2) Habits...good and bad
3) Likes/Dislikes
4) Style of dress
5) Preferences in the way he or she decorates their house/apartment
6) Family
7) History
8) Emotional baggage
9) Sense of humor
10) ...the list goes on and on, but I think you get the point...

Before I ever sit down to write a piece of fiction I make sure that my characters are as real to me as my own best friend. Most of what you detail may never make it's way into the story, but the investment you make into "finding your characters voice" will shine through in your writing. It will permeate it's way into your dialog, thought process, and character actions. It may even make your story go in an entirely different direction (well defined characters have a way of doing their own thing) than you had anticipated!

So, don't be afraid to invest some time on your characters. It will be worth it in the end. I promise. :)

Happy writing!

Answer 4

I think these activities sound important and fun! No one has to see them but you and they will make the process much easier in the end. They will help you get a stronger sense of who your characters are, and knowing who they are and where they come from should help you to create conflicts to fit them instead of creating a character to fit a conflict. This will help you to make a more believable novel. After you've completed those activities, I would also recommend writing an eulogy for your character, this will help you to build his or her relationships and achievements.

Answer 5

Honestly, there IS no "right" way to write a novel. Yes, knowing what your characters want most can definitely help. Writing short stories with your characters will give you background information that you wouldn't have otherwise bothered thinking of. It'll show you how your characters will react to different situations. For character-driven books, it's invaluable.

I like making my books as character-driven as possible, though I don't always succeed in it.

However, it's definitely not needed. Some writers prefer to focus on scenes and setting as the main thing that ties their story together, and that's perfectly fine if you like that method better. It'll be a different type of book that you end up with, I'd say, but not better or worse. Just different.

Yes, having well-developed characters will probably help you when you get stuck, just like having a well thought-out plot will. But, to be optimistic, you may not get stuck in the first place.

How I plan a novel is definitely different for each project, but in general, here's what works for me:

I start with only a vague idea. I can imagine the "essence" of my finished book very well, but can't pick out any details. Usually I'm constantly getting inspiration from different sources, and my new ideas will get blended into it. The central theme will change. If enough new things are introduced the thing that started it all might even be dropped completely.

Then I start thinking about what I want to be in the book. I don't have a rule for doing any one thing first - I actually start most parts of planning around the same time, and alternate between different areas. I write down characters, give them interests and personalities and names. (Sometimes I have one-lined characters to be expanded later, like, "Character who likes to ride bikes" - and sometimes these unspecific character ideas merge into each other, or seperate.) I write down possible scenes that I'd like to write, or scenes that I think would fit in well.

By this time, I'm usually pretty anxious to begin writing, but I make myself wait, because I know I'm not ready - if I started then, the book wouldn't be nearly as good as it could have been, and I might even loose inspiration halfway through. Instead, I work more on the planning stage. I flesh out the characters, finalize the theme and location.

I take my list of scenes and try to put them in order, thinking about what would logically come after what. If there are gaps in scenes that I need to fill (Uh, what DID happen on that annoying trip from London to Paris, anyway?), I fill them. I'll put an estimated word count by each scene, so I can see how long my novel might end up being... if it's looking too short, I'll add more.

I try to put at least one plot twist or unexpected event in, and if I can I'll do a double one. The idea with that is, even if they see the first one coming, the second one will be too well hidden behind the first. I normally do that by thinking of what I could do that would be least expected, that wouldn't completely break the rest of the book. (Note I said "completely" here. If a really great plot twist will partly break the rest of the book, I'll usually do it anyway and repair/adjust the rest of the book to adapt to it.)

By the time I start writing, I'll have been thinking up various ideas for so long that it usually goes really smoothly and quickly.

If you run into further writing questions, I'd recommend signing up at an online writing discussion forum:

Inkify - http://www.inkify.com/forums.php (Highly recommended by me, but then, I'm a bit biased being a member there myself. It's currently very small, but everyone's nice and we have some great conversations.)

NaNo Forums - http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/newbb/ (Another place I'm a part of, the forums of the National Novel Writing Month event. Very nice, very active community, the only problem being that you can only register during October or November.)

Forward Motion Writers' Community - http://www.fmwriters.com/community/dc/dcboard.php (Probably one of the best communities of serious and/or professional authors who are actively trying to get published. Not a member here personally, but I've heard great things about it.)

Also, it's not a forum, but also worth mentioning: if you write fantasy, sci-fi or horror, critters.org is a great place to get critiques of your work.

Answer 6

I agree. Those exercises sound like pedantic garbage. A few thoughts:
1. It's better to show than to tell.
2. Elaborate descriptions of scenery are a show-stopping bore.
3. Only women want to read about women's feeling and emotions.
4. Severely limit - to maybe one - the number of heads you intend to view and speak to the reader from.
5. When doing dialog, be careful to make it really clear who's saying what.

Answer 7

its weird but as a published writer , I find that my people ( I refer to them as my people not characters because they becomne like family) are people that I can describ to a tee. looks, cloths habits. They and their actions become very real to me. I have two books that I am working on now that I hate to finish because it will mean an end to my connection to them.
You have to make your stories your own. It is also weird that so many people but so much energy into classes that show them how to write taught by people who have never been pubhished authors.
Penny Babson
http://www.impressionsbypenny.com
http://www.pennyclarkbabson.net