What's the most important part about writing a novel?

Question

IN other words, what is a key componet that you must do in order to get published-

so far all the answers are good but they are missing one key element-
the answer is so simple it almost bites.

Answer 1

Uhm, to write it. Maybe that sounds trite, but there are a lot of people going around saying, "I have this great idea for a novel..." but that is all it ever becomes..just an idea, because they never sit down day in day out and actually write it.

Answer 2

The most important part is to write what you feel needs to be said.
If you try to follow the market, you'll always miss the trend. By the time you see something trendy, it's too late to write it. Besides, why would you go to all that trouble just to write something popular? Write what you feel like writing. If all you want to do is earn fame and money, law school is a lot easier (and more secure) than writing a book.

Answer 3

Be willing to be rejected again and again and make revisions as you see fit. Take what they say into consideration but someone out there will love what you have written, even if it's a small publishing firm. I write children's stories and I sent one into a publisher and they rejected it. I don't have much time lately but I plan to add a bit more and test it out in the kindergarten class I volunteer with.

Answer 4

Having read stuff written by slush pile readers (the people who go through unsolicited manuscripts at a publishing house), make sure your grammar/spelling is correct and make the beginning good. They toss 80% of manuscripts within the first chapter.

Answer 5

I've been published three times, and am working on my fourth. Let me see if I can tackle this.

1) Have a well-considered idea. I've read plenty of manuscripts that start out strongly, and then meander about with no sense of direction. With this in mind, it's just as important to know how your novel ends as how it begins.

My first novel started with a great idea. But I just fiddled around with it because I had not thought through the plot. Then, one day, it came out of the blue. In a feverish three-hour period, I worked out all the narrative elements, fleshed out my characters, and outlined the entire book.

After that, it took me less than two months to write my first draft.

2) Take Lots Of Notes. I never simply sit down to write a novel. I take notes. Lots of notes. For my first novel, I filled up four spiral bound notebooks with notes. Not deep thoughts, mind you, but snippets of dialog. Notiions that would hit me in the middle of the day. A scene or two. Thoughts about setting or weird character tics. You'll be surprised how many ideas present themselves in the course of a day. But if you fail to write them down, you will have forgotten them by the time you actually sit down to work.

3) Take Your Time. Writing a novel is a "get rich slow" scheme. My first novel took five years from inception to acceptance. In that time, I wrote eight drafts. And every single draft was significantly different than the one before it. Probably the greatest single mistake would-be novelists make is knocking out one draft, rushing through two sets of corrections, and then hauliing it off to a writer's conference to peddle. Instead, let it marinate. Write a draft, shove it into a desk drawer for six months, and haul it out again to edit with fresh eyes.

4) Be professional above all. If you've ever been to a writer's conference, you can almost smell the desperation in the air. The Tin Foil Hat Brigade seems to be especially well-represented. Yet, all these people seem intent on filling the role of afflicted misunderstood writers, rather than pay attention to the expectation of professional behavior on your part. When I sold my first book at a writer's conference (By that, I mean that I got an agent interested), I was in business casual attire and never forgot that the sale of my book was a business transaction. I networked at the conference, and presented myself as a person who would be easy to collaborate with.

That means a lot to agents and publishers. Trust me. Because the poor people in publishing have to deal with sloppy writing, missed deadlines, and enormous egos every day of the week. Demonstrating that you're not one of the bleating herd of dabblers is a huge step forward in being taken seriously.

Answer 6

Being inspired and being your self.

That way the novel will write itself, and you won't have to 'work' it out, mentally. Let your intuition guide you there.

Look out for the stories you have been carrying within you, stories that you have lived, expereinced and cherished within for years, for those are the very stories that are worthy of being told and retold.

Ask yourself do you have such a story within you, waiting to be told? You have probably become writer because you know you have story to speak off, and when you find the courage to let it out, you will become an inspiring writer.

Use your life as an inspiration to write.

Answer 7

properly i does no longer say i'm getting afraid. generally in basic terms excited for the scene, in line with risk a sprint frightened because of the fact i intend to make it proper. yet i do no longer possibly care if it comes out proper the 1st time, i comprehend the words are not set in stone and that i can pass back and alter scenes if I understand they do no longer sound very good or some thing. BQ: in case you have been to ask your fashionable character to sleepover at your place, what could you do? in all risk in basic terms communicate and watch movies. BQ2: in case you have been to run over your villains puppy canines or cat (shall we in basic terms say they have one), what could be their reaction? He'd in all risk get truly mad and tell me off for destroying his dinner. He could then call for i'm getting him a clean one. BQ3: You and fave character are at a buffet, what may be the 1st concern that they had grab to devour. She'd in all risk artwork her way down so it could rely on what's closest. BQ4: in case you have been to work out one in each of you characters around on the line, what could you say to them? hi. i could desire to ask how they have been doing out of politeness, yet i assume i could already comprehend. BQ5: there's a protection rigidity going to attack you and your character, out of those weapons which might you opt for for to combat against them (You get one each and each): A sword, 2 daggers, a collection, a cape that enables you to fly, a crucifix, a shelter, a paranormal pendant, a e book, a quill, a working laptop or pc, a puppy, yet another character to connect you (from yours or a broadcast e book) or a plant. She could desire the sword, i could in all risk desire the flying cape. a minimum of if all else fails flying could be exciting.

Answer 8

Getting to the plot quickly.
Having a plot.
Revising your work for grammar and rhythm.
Cutting out anything that wastes the reader's time and doesn't have a relation to the plot.

Answer 9

i am writing a novel too and the most important part is to wright it from the heart with expression!

Answer 10

A beginning, a middle, a conflict, resolution of conflict and an end