How do I get start on my novel?

Question

I believe I have a great idea for a book, but I'm having great difficulty in getting it down on paper. I am sure there must be some kind of formula or set procedure, the begining, middle & end thing. Can anyone give me a few tips or hints. I'll give you a mention should It get published. Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, you need to establish the following things.

Characters - not just their lives in the novel but their lives before - if you write this down and keep it safe, it will become handy later on when you're trying to 'round' out your characters.

Location - Research is key to get the elements correct and believable, ideally choose somewhere you have visited because then you can include street names and attractions.

Blurb - 'The story of a young time traveller and his journey through the ages' - a short one line summary to keep you focused.

Beginning - State what you expect to gain from the beginning of your novel, such as introducing the characters and roughly how many chapters this will take, then you can break it down further - 'Introduce Kevin the young time traveller and how he discovered the machine, Kevins parents, girlfriend are briefly met. By the end of chapter four Kevin has entered the time machine and said goodbye to his loved ones'

Middle - ACTION - the key word, this is where you want to keep the audience - 'Chapter 4-6 Kevin travels back to *** AD -meets with *** and just escape to the time machine before **** - Chapter 7-9 Kevin meets with a girl in *** AD falls in love and trys to tempt the girl to the time machine - Chapter 10 - 15 Kevin attempts to change history by ***** and **** happens

Ending - This is the part where you bring all the parts of the story together, climax and reach finale - Chapter 15 - 20 Kevin learns that changing history was wrong because **** he goes back to *** AD and makes ammends, Kevin realises that time travel is lonely and makes plan to return home. Chapter 20 - 22 Kevin returns home to his friends and family and recounts his journey.

Obviously I have only added the chapter numbers as an idea, it may be longer or shorter. The middle of the story will contain the largest number of chapters. The start of the story the fewest (ideally under 5).

Once you have got this down, you can go one further and outline each single chapter stating what you wish to achieve at this point. It is a guideline only and remember writing is an art form, so you will change your mind as you go along.

I hope this helps and good luck

Answer 2

spirits right, if you have great idea then sit down at your computer open up your writing program and set down basic outline of what will be happening in the book and let it rip. after you have reached the end of the book then go back and beef up each section individually, adding thought patterns and dialog to your characters, adding detailed descriptions of places in the novel. feel in all the empty places thoroughly, then sit back read the whole darn thing an then decide if it needs more then find a friend that reads more than anyone you know and let them read the rough draft and see what they think of your work thus far.. and then go back and start fixing, changing and adding whatever you need to to bring the book to its final draft.. then find an honest publisher lol and give me a mention :)

Answer 3

Congratulations! You now have joined the 15 Million Club! The 15 million writers in the world who are trying the same thing you are trying to do: WRITE A BOOK.

For beginners like yourself, you're going to end up having problems getting it right.

And the best solution is to use an OUTLINE.

I'm sure that you remember when you were growing up--that your teacher in English or Reading class asked you to brainstorm on certain exercises?

Try to come up with as much information as you can on your own--and writing it down on paper?

Outlining is the same thing.

You start out from the beginning--writing everything in chapterized formats (or not--it's up to you), and build yourself up from there.

BUT YOU MUST NOT SKIMP ON THE IMPORTANT THINGS.

Many beginners will get impatient and just want to "jump to the important parts" of the book. (Like one answerer wanted.)

You MUST NOT.

Sure, it's going to be a big pain in the *** to start from the beginning, but YOU HAVE TO.

If you want a well-written novel, you're going to have to buckle down and become that much more dedicated with your writing.

YOU are going to have to become a storyteller. And no one wants that storyteller to start from the middle, now would we?

I certainly wouldn't.

When you start off your outlining, think of the beginning, middle, and end, as having their own beginning, middle, and end.

A story within a story. It's not that difficult to imagine. And it is one of the easiest methods I know--because it's worked well enough for me.

Good luck fellow writer!

Answer 4

you have a long way to go before the publisher lol.

just write what you have got in your head, I have two books on the burner, and none published, but it helps me to leave the stuff for a while, I also write little file index cards for each person, with questions, and how I will answer them. It sort of focus my mind, but I don't do this until I have at least 60 pages down.

The process of re-reading the work, slows down my work, and allows me to edit it, and usually I start to add a lot more work into the text, so by the time I have finished the cards, its about 120 pages long, and I have fresh ideas about how to double it.

Well that's my method, for whats its worth, I have a hammock in the back garden, and write when I have the house to myself - I unplug the phone, set the mobile to silent, and sit under a big parasol with a pitcher of soft drinks and some nice snack, like dried mango...

I winter, I sit by the window, with my legs propped up, and the lap-top in my lap. But I have to work to pay the bills, so I don't get the time to do this much, hence the two unfinished books.

Answer 5

Hi,
if you are in the right frame of mind it should all come out flowing.
You need to write down a rouch guide then fill all the missing parts afterwords.
Make sure you are in a relaxing place, with no distractions, and it should all just come to you.
Good Luck, and do you have a title for the book yet?

Answer 6

'Some day I think I'll write a novel.' Many people express this wish but do no more. They don't have the burning desire to write which marks really committed writers.

'Everyone has a book in them' is a frequently stated belief. It may be true, but it's the getting it out that matters. It's not easy, it can be hard work and often disappointing, and luck plays a critical part, but it is possible. With persistence, knowledge of your new world, and belief in yourself, you can succeed. The rewards, the delight in achievement, make all the effort worth while.

'Everyone has a certain amount of talent. Nurture it and keep practising. "Use it or lose it".' (Susan Sallis)
Behaving like a Professional

Many people want to become novelists, but there is a crucial difference between most of them and you. You, have made a start, shown a positive interest.

'Never think of yourself as an amateur - once you put pen to paper you're a writer.' (Anita Burgh)
One definition of professionals is people who are paid for what they do. To get to that position they first have to show certain attitudes, apply standards which distinguish them from the amateur (in the sense of one who does not want to be paid, which does not imply worse in any way).

(I look for) 'evidence that the author has a professional attitude.' (Carole Blake)
Checklist

Professionalism involves:

Attitudes - Taking your work seriously.
Self-discipline - You don't have a boss to supervise or tell you what to do.
Determination - The will to succeed despite setbacks.
Time and energy - You can always find some if you really want to.
Commitment - Putting your writing as a top priority.

1. Make sure you know the world you are writing about.

This is one of the first places that people get strung up. You need to know what your fantasy world is like. If you can’t describe what the vegetation and trees are like in your world, you will have a hard time crafting a story that is very lifelike.

A good way to go about this is to take the time to think about your fantasy world. What is the landscape like there? What sort of creatures inhabit it? Are there any extremely different terrain features from the real world that would help make this world stand out? Think about yourself as a world builder when you are writing your fantasy novel.

2. What political factions are there?

A great way to bring more intrigue and plot lines into your fantasy story is to introduce opposing political or religious factions. Some questions to ask are: Who is the ruler of the land? Do people like him/her? Are there people who want to rule the land? What is the relation of this country to that of the other countries surrounding it?

3. Know your characters.

Often in writing text there is the section regarding the characters of the book. They often want you to write a character sketch of the person. This often doesn’t work that well for every writer. In some cases it is better to get a few chapters under your belt and see how the characters react to situations. Then go back and make notes about your characters.

In a fantasy novel, there are plenty of times where the characters have varying physical or mental qualities that are not found in the real world. This sort of attribute needs to be well thought out in order for it to become convincing to the reader. A good course of action is to have a hindrance added to a special quality that would seem to give the character an advantage over others in the story. This lends to the character being a bit more believable and is a great opportunity to add sub-plots into the story.

4. Magic

If you have any sort of magic system introduced to your fantasy world you need to do your homework here. First, think about the magic system and how it affects the world and how it affects the individual. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when introducing magic into your fantasy writing.

What are the qualities of the magic system? Can anyone have magical abilities? What about animals and humanoids? How does the average person in the world react to magic?

5. Read the classics.

It is a great idea to have read the classics before venturing out and writing your own fantasy novel. The biggest reason for this, is that you will know what sort of things have written about in the past and it will save you from becoming a poor repeat. In addition, by reading the works of those such as Tolkien, Wiess & Hickman, and more, you will come to appreciate just how tightly woven the characters and world come together and how they react with and against each other.

Writing a fantasy novel has its great advantages- you can make anything up- however, you have to be more calculated with your writing to make it believable. Click on the link provided to learn more on how to better your writing.

http://www.creativewritingfortherestofus.blogspot.com

Answer 7

Planning is the key to writing books. Six months research, and six months writing it is considered the ideal length of time. Characters-write an individual personal history of each character. Time, place, and location essential. Plot, essential too. Write a resume' of each chapter in 5000 words, and 10 chapters only for a novel. First chapter, first words are known as the "hook" because you need to hook your readers and publishers attention immediately. Read some of Dickens novels for examples. Go on a creative writing course at your local college if possible, as I did so, and within a year I had my first book published. Do not send manuscripts to publishers-approach a literary agent-Writers & Artists Year book freely available in local reference library for addresses etc. OK

Answer 8

OK, think of what you want the book to be about. Then, in your head, think about what should happen in the story. Write all of this down and then think about the little bits that could make the story interesting and captivating. Finally start the book.

Answer 9

The formula is simple; write.

If you need a kick start, sign up for NaNoWriMo 2007(http://www.nanowrimo.org/). The goal is to write 50,000 in 30 days, and you may well have the bare bones of a novel at the end of it.

Good luck!

Answer 10

first make sure you have a connection between the starting climax and the ending.be sure to know whether you want a series.then put all the main scenes [which influence the end]in you mind and jot them down.after that put your scenes in a sequence and add a little humour.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT YOUR OWN BOOK FULL OF FUN IS FINISHED

if you get it published tell me i want to read it.
my e-mail:[e-mail]

ALL THE VERY BEST WISHES AND GOOD LUCK