How to get started on a novel?

Question

I'm trying to write a novel, but when ever I try to start writing, I can think of anything.

Answer 1

Start with a black and white marble notebook. They work the best because they don't fall apart. Start brainstorming. About anything that interests you. Write ideas, thoughts, draw pictures if you want ... just keep your thoughts flowing. Fill it with ideas.

When you have a lot of different disjointed thoughts in there, sit down and read through them with some different color highlighters. Highlight different ideas that particularly interest you. See if any of them hook together in any way.

Try writing some short stories or even fragments with those ideas. Just very loose thoughts written quickly and freely. Don't worry about it making sense, just write.

Then sift through those stories and fragments for something that lends itself to a longer work. There is the idea for a novel.

Start with your homework. Character studies, outline and research. Use your other thoughts to see if you come up with other ideas for backstories. Really focus on your character studies. Flesh out your characters and make them living beings with pasts. Give them dreams, wishes, thoughts, as well as characteristics. Know as much about them as you know about your closest friends. These people will become your closest friends as you write. Their lives will become your story as well as your backstories and subplots.

The next step is to figure the beginning middle and end. That sounds silly, but it is harder than you think. The beginning represents a conflict. Something happens that starts this story in motion. The middle is what your characters do regarding that conflict - how they behave, what they do etc. The ending is how they manage to resolve it.

Try a story curve. Draw a rainbow. On one end put the beginning - the conflict. On the other end the ending - the resolution. At the top, put the climax - when something happens that leads to the resolution. Then pencil in events in the middle. That is how you build your story.

Then comes the hardest part of all. A kick butt first sentence and five solid first pages that literally pull your reader into the story. That first sentence is the hardest one to get on paper. Make it count. Imagine that a publisher is giving you ONE sentence to impress him. Use it as best you can.

Then, as a writer, I advise you to treat writing as a job. Give yourself regular "office hours" - certain hours a day to write. The same time every day preferably. Write during those hours, then save and shut the computer down. Walk away for the day. This is how you learn to become a disciplined writer. All great writers have their "office hours". Some manage a couple hundred words a day, others a couple thousand. The pace depends on what is comfortable for you. Pushing it will only hurt the work. Savor the experience of writing.

So start brainstorming. And good luck. Pax - C

Answer 2

Then do something else. It is one thing to get stuck in the middle of a novel, but it is quite something else to not have some idea of what to start. Try writing short stories first. After you have had a number of them published, you will have a much better skill level, and you'll be getting the idea of how to organize, brainstorm, and structure a book. When you do, decide what kind of novel--mystery, American, romance, thriller, inspirational, western, etc. They all have basics that are the same, of course, but there are some specifics about each that makes them quite different from one another.

Answer 3

Its commonplace for this to occur while writing a novel. You could draw your inspiration from listening to your favorite music, looking outside or go people watching. You watch Tv for some help but avoid borderline or fullblown plagiarism. With strong creativity and insightful thinking your novel could be a success. Try reading your favorite books and think about why that book is your favorite. Examine the settings,moods,characters and overall flow.
Happy Writing

Answer 4

When I'm starting to write something, I look for inspiration. I don't expect myself to come up with something amazing and brand-new. I think about old stories I heard as a kid about family members, experiences from my own life, dreams I've had, things I've seen on the news or read about in books. I also like to start out my stories with some kind of dialogue, it gets the characters front and center.

Answer 5

I'm writing what is called a character driven novel. To do one this way, start by describing your main character. Everything from what he looks like, to what kind of work he does, and personality traits like does he get mad easily. Then do the same thing for the antagonist character. Do more characters as you think of them. Usually a plot will suggest itself as you make the characters.

Answer 6

i can relay to u what some other writer's use to get inspiration.

one option is to start a story w/ someone being threatened. Jack Bickham says "good fiction starts with--and deals with--someone's response to a threat"

ray bradbury says he just lists a series of nouns, and once he's done brainstorming, he picks one out of the list and sees where it takes him. ex: The Ravine, The Skeleton, The Carnival. All of these eventually became titles and inspiration for some of his most famous stories.

David Morrell (man who created Rambo) has a written conversation w/ himself. that's how he eliminates writer's block.

Answer 7

It's tough to just sit down and write something. Carry a voice recorder or a notepad. You'll have couple or several ideas per day. Record them or write them down.
When you sit down to write, you can use them to write one scene. Later on, you can connect different scenes and make them into one story. Of course, it will take many many rewrites to complete a well flowing story.

Answer 8

Try start from your surrounding. Eg. from your family, friends or even news u saw at tv or newspaper. Thank you.

Answer 9

ok, that was the same as me, i had wat i wanted to write but didn't know how, or wat to write, ok wat i did.
choose a style
Horror Fantasy,
Fantasy,
Horror,
Si Fi
then watch some movies, Anime on that style then u shouldget what u wan't.