literature

Writing a Novel

Deviation Actions

story's avatar
By
Published:
10.6K Views

Literature Text

Writing a novel is different for everyone. However, here are some things to think about during the journey of writing your novel.




STEP ONE - Prewriting
What message do you want to send the world?
It may sound like an obvious question, but the message of any literature can be very abstract or become lost in the literature. Keep the "message" or theme specific. Every event that occurs, every character added to the story, ask yourself whether or not it helps delivering the message you want to your readers.

Characters
Characters are vital to the book. You cannot have too many, nor too few. Choose characters that people can easily relate to. All people are different, so make sure there are a few good guys for people to have favorites of. Create your characters to be different from one another, but with a common theme.

In my opinion, the most important piece of a character is its name. Novels almost always have a hero and a villain. The hero has admirable qualities, the villain does not. If you want your character to be one of the greatest, memorable characters - give the character the perfect name.

After choosing the name that reflects the person you are creating, choose the person's physical traits. Brown or blonde, blue or green eyes. These small things do not have to be perfect. Do however spend more time on what type of clothes the character always wears, their posture, and their frame. Their frame says a lot about their inner character. If the man's frame is thin, yet muscular, the man is probably a strong underdog of a character.

The Plot
One really big mistake you can make is by having too much going on...talking a lot without ever saying anything. So, figure out what story you want to tell. There can be symbols, metaphors, and spiritual awakenings in characters - but no one cares about that at first. You have to hook the readers, the writing agents, and the publishers, with a cold, hard plot. Many writers achieve this by having the book include a mystery of some sort. Figure out what event can happen that will make the random person walking through a store want to read your book. Maybe your character is going to enter high school, go on a trip, find his lost parent, or solve a murder case.

The bubbling plot is like the stem to the flower. The flower is the great feeling and inspiration that a reader feels at the end of the book. The leaves are the characters, motifs, and symbols that support the flower along the way. But you have to start with a plot.

Motifs
Think of a repeating symbol, event, or thought that you can have in the story. Motifs are great for making the novel seem well-rounded and complete. They can also help foreshadow.

For example, you could have the beginning chapter with the main character walking and a new snowflake is falling. Then, throughout the book during an extremely difficult time for said character...snow piles up. At the crisis point of the story, the climax, a blizzard is taking place. At the end of the book, the character plays in the snow or the snow starts to melt.

This simple motif is a symbol for the main character having troubles accumulate and overcome.



STEP TWO - Writing
Now that you have just made a general outline of your story (yes, that's what I tricked you into doing if you did the above), it is time to write.
No matter how busy your schedule might be, you must find time to write. Take a little note pad with you anywhere you go. They're 99 cents at a CVS store. Anyways, the best time to write is when you have ideas. If you are a creative person, ideas come to you. Usually too many ideas come to you for you to remember, unless you write them down.

If you do not care to take paper with you anywhere you go, find some when you are inspired. For example, if I forget my mini notepad at work, I take the paper we use for receipts and scribble down my magnificent story concept. When you do this you can write little lines that remind you of your idea, such as, "girl who takes care of an elephant." That might not make much sense to you and I, but to the person who had a fantastic story played in her head, it is just the write sentence to trigger her previous, creative thoughts.

Find the right environment.
The perfect atmosphere for each writer is different. Some people like burrowing themselves in their room, with a blanket and pillows surrounding them on their bed. Others have to have a neat, tidy work place so as not to become distracted.

Take some paper and a pen with you throughout your house. Sit in each room and see how you feel about writing. Whichever room you feel most comfortable being in for a long period of writing, stay in. If nowhere in your house is good, look at parks, cafes, and the library.

If you cannot leave your house and no room reaches your standard, surround yourself with your favorite books, photos of people and clothing that remind you of the character that you have in mind. Grab some of your favorite tea, coffee, water, whatever. The happier, cozier you feel the more likely you will continue to write without stopping.

Find the right time.
Know what time of the day you are going to be free from errands, work, or school. Write yourself a note (on your hand if you have to), to remind yourself to write at that time of the day.

It might change each day, so plan ahead.

Find a reader.
You are going to want to stop writing and become distracted. Do not let yourself do this! Find a reader who will occasionally read the new sections of your novel. Talk with them about it and become inspired all over again.

Readers also help critique your grammar, spelling, and flow of the book. Find an honest reader, and they will be irreplaceable. A great reader will tell you what does not make sense, what parts are incredible, and what parts are kinda ugly and you should probably take them out.

Most importantly, readers will help you determine exactly what genre your novel is. You might know that your novel is fantasy because it contains centaurs and pixies, but you might have realized that it was also shock, horror, or romance.





STEP THREE - Other Tips
Don't drink too much caffeine and / or sugar.
Seriously. I spent many nights loading up on caffeine and sugar thinking it would help me. The only thing it helped me with was receiving a heinous head ache. The head ache and crash after the caffeine wears off make it harder to write.

Copyright every word.
Never post your work online without a copyright.

Keep writing.
If you stop writing, for more than two days, FORCE yourself to keep writing. That's the only way you will ever finish it before your death.
This is a work in progress. I'm going to eventually make it into a visual piece like most tutorials on deviantART are. :)

Copyright 2008 Cat Dewicki.
© 2008 - 2024 story
Comments48
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
SamuelGraphite's avatar
I am struggling with the message. I know that I have great ideas and much to say, but sometimes it feels like near impossible to nail it down.