Beginner’s Guide to Writing a Novel

Most people who tell me that they would love to write a novel complain that they wouldn’t know how to begin. Here is a beginner’s guide to writing a novel.

1. Decide on a genre. The most obvious answer to the question of what genre you should write in is the same answer to the question: What do you read? The genre you are most familiar with may very well be the best starting point. Do you read romances, thrillers, mysteries, westerns, or something else entirely? Decide on a genre for your book and take the next step.

2. Choose a setting. Where and when will your novel take place? Your setting may be as vital to your novel as the main character himself. You can choose the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is to set your novel in today’s world in the area in which you live. The hard way is to set your novel in a time period and a place in which you know little or nothing about. Of course, a good deal of research can cure that shortcoming rather quickly. Or you could do as popular authors such as Stephen King and Scott Turow do, and create a world of your own.

3. Create your characters. Draft character sketches that detail your character’s personality traits, occupation and education, and personal history. Develop your characters using traits from people you know or met, even from characters you’ve seen in movies and on television. Use actors to get a picture of these characters in your head. Or clip pictures out of magazines for inspiration.

4. Decide on scenes and structure. Some novelists use outlines, others don’t. I use a very simple system when writing, wherein I jot down just a sentence or even a few words about what each chapter will be about. For instance, Chapter Eleven of my current novel is labeled simply “Storm.” And from that single word, I’ll conjure two thousand more.

5. Develop the plot. Once you decide on all of the above, you’ll want to flesh out your plot. You might try picturing your beginning and end, and only then consider how your protagonist gets from one to the other. What do your characters want? How will each character attempt to get what they want (while keeping in tune with their respective characteristics)? What forces are working against them?

6. Study dialogue. Dialogue can pull you into a story like few other elements can. You want your dialogue to be crisp and realistic. You want your dialogue to be appropriate for the place and time period in which your novel takes place. Spend time listening to how characters speak in movies to write good dialogue for your novels.

Hope you enjoyed this beginners guide to writing a novel.