Do you need to take a course in college to be a writer to make a novel?

Question

And if so, what are the planning stages or steps in making a novel? Like first make the characters then the world then bla bla blah. Thanks in advance and happy holidays!

Answer 1

No, you don't need to take a course to write a novel. I'm working on a book at the moment. I can tell you tips that I have learned from the writing process.

1. Write an outline.
-whether or not you stick to it is up to you, but it gives you something to start with. You'll be more likely to finish if you have a rough plan.

2. Create all your major character sketches.
-it really helps to have your characters thought out before you begin because how they interact and their characteristics really help to drive the plot

3. Make a decision that you are going to sit down, shut everything else out, and WRITE for a certain amount of time or a certain length each day.

4. Shut off your inner editor until you complete the first draft. If you are just in the first draft phase do not keep worrying about perfecting the first chapter. You will never move on if you keep going back over what you've already written each day.

These are just a few tips I've picked up from my own experience. I hope this helps.

Good luck!!

Answer 2

Creative Writing or English are the main stays for college courses. I have a Liberal Arts and Sciences Associate's Degree. There's no preference on if you need courses or not. For the planning stages, you need a good concept for your storyline and you need to pick a genre. Therefore you need action, conflict, suspense, a good pace, good hooks and chapter cliffhangers, a great plot. Use backstory sparingly and do not over describe. You do need to pick great character names with good meanings, and a character sketch. Use your phone book, your alumni book from high school/college, an atlas, get Writer's Digest Character Source Book 2006 edition, and check out babynames.com and ancestry.net for first and last names. (I had two websites that went belly-up.) You got to make the characters believable and the dialogue good. If you don't know what the subject you're writing about, research, research, research! It helps in the long run. Good luck. Contact me if you have more questions. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

being a professor of writing at the college level, writing and advanced writing courses are imperative to becoming a writer in any genre.
when writing a novel, i stress that the generic plot has to be laid out before any other component of structure is attacked. this doesn't need to be a lengthy process, just a sketch of who, what, when, where, how, and why.
who is the story about
what is the essential theme, tone, story line
when is the story taking place and is it nb to the development of the piece of writing
where does the story take place and does the location have any relevance to the unfolding story
how does the action flow (sequence of events in chronological order)
why is the purpose for telling the story
once you've developed a response to each of the above questions, you have a rough idea of the format you are going to follow as you write your story. along the way, this format will undoubtedly change (many times). you'll need to tweek and adjust certain sections of your writing as you discover the need to revise.
i've actually have many students successful write a book and have it published. DON'T GIVE UP!

Answer 4

No, but since you do seem to have some questions on the basic formatting of a novel and how to get started I would recommend that you take some type of course in order to develop those skills. Even if you do take a course and learn the "craft" of creating a novel, you will still need to be a good writer in order for the novel to be a success.

Answer 5

Unfortunately there aren't many colleges that offer courses in storytelling. Some creative writing courses do but most focus on the extrinsics of the story and examine language, code, and text. This used to not be the case. In the early 20th century through the 50s, storytelling was a requisite course for writers just as much as art was for painters or music for musicians. This became lost in the 60s and the loss of the craft of storytelling has been severe for the past two generations who have never learned how to tell a story. But they can tell you about gender identity, psychology of characters, and other facts that are looking at a story from the outside. But these facts won't tell you how to create a story. But there is still one medium that focuses on storytelling: film schools. If you can take a class at a film school on storytelling you will be far ahead of your peers as you maximize your talent and craft.

If you can't attend, browse CalArts course curiculla in Los Angeles for some textbooks. I recommend Robert McKee's "Story". You can buy it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060391685/epact

He also has seminars you can attend.

Please note that even though these might use the word "screenwriting", the craft of storytelling is identical for novels.

Most novelists, though, subconsciously learn how to craft a story by reading. They then mimic the universal and ancient form of storytelling (there is really only one form, the quest) -- they do not learn this from school because, again, schools don't teach storytelling -- not even in most creative writing courses. Stephen King said in his book, On Writing, that the number one method to learn how to tell a story, and how he learned, was by reading. And he said he still reads all the time to keep fresh.

Additionally, there are many sites that have story tutorials and message boards where you can bounce ideas with other storytellers. I write tutorials on http://www.storyentertainment.com . Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.

So, read and maximise your talent by taking a storytelling course and talk to other storytellers.

Answer 6

You don't have to, but strong language skills help, and college level English classes can't hurt. There are also many books written outlining the basic steps of writing a novel. I suggest one called Writing and Selling Your first novel. It is very informative and helps from the beginning to the end.

Answer 7

No, I don't think you've to take a course in college. What matter is wheher u r talented or not.
I guess the first and most imporant part of writting a novel is having a plot. the main story, and then u can develope the charecters and the subplots and so on.
happy holidays for u too.
Good luck.

Answer 8

True story:
Two men were talking in a diner. One of them told the other: "Do you see that boy ?
Yes. Why ?
He says that he can write a novel in fifteen days.
That's ridiculous. How old is he ?
Fourteen.
And what is his name ?
Victor Hugo
Note. The novel mentioned above was "Burg Jargal," the first book written by Victor Hugo
Another anecdote.
A young man asked Mozart how could he compose a symphony.
Mozart said: "You are too young for that. Why don't you compose ballads first ?
"But professor, you composed symphonies when you were 12 years of age".
"Yes", answered Mozart. "But I did not ask how to do it"

Answer 9

No, but it wouldn't hurt either and there are also courses you can do at home but they will all start with "Write what you know".
This is sound advice as you can then write in any format such as fantasy, horror, sci-fi, etc just change the settings. Good Luck and Happy Christmas.

Answer 10

No, you don't need a course in college, though it wouldn't hurt any. You need a good story, strong characters and a belief in yourself that you can do it. Once started you need to finish.