How to Write a Novel
When it comes to writing a novel, there are two fields of thought. The first field of novel writing is the planner, the person who gets every detail of their book figured out in their head. The second type of novel writing is the see what happens approach, where you simply start writing, and let the story come to you as the piece goes on. Both styles have their own benefits, and it is worth understanding each approach before you tackle the challenge of writing a novel.Plan, Plan, Plan
When tackling a novel, one approach that I often recommend is the planner approach. Similar to the style described in our "treat your novel like a baby" article, the planner is someone who will let the novel grow before it ever sees a single page written. You outline the setting of the story, and build out details on each of the characters involved. You then start tracking out the scenes of the book, figuring out a rough idea of what will happen, when it will happen, and why it does. Taking this approach, you will often be content figuring out where your story ends and the ultimate message that it carries. Once everything has been completed, writing the story is simply a matter of sitting down and connecting the dots and embellishing the pieces involved.
The major criticism of this strategy is that it can possibly make your story seem artificial. When every detail is planned, you might not naturally let the characters decide upon the events that happen to them and the ways they react to them. In addition, the story might race to its completion as you know what is happening, and the character might not organically reach the same position you forced them to take.
Wait and See
On the other extreme of writing a novel, you have the wait and see approach. In this situation, the writer will often come up with an idea for what they'd like to write a story on. Maybe it's a person dealing with depression, or an estranged family. Whatever the case may be, this strategy's planning often ends with coming up with the idea. Then, it's a matter of sitting down and writing out the story as it comes to you, and seeing where it ends up. In this approach, the story happens as it comes to you, with you deciding at each crossroads where the character goes or what they decide to do.
The challenge with this approach to novel writing is that sometimes, it's hard to see the forest for the trees when writing at ground level. With this approach, I have often heard about the 20,000 word effect. Writing a novel at ground level, you will reach 20,000 words before you stop and ask yourself where this is going. The story has purely been about the character's journey, but you don't know where the character is travelling to, or what will constitute a completion of that journey.
The Middle Ground
To say these approaches are the only options is a bit of a misnomer, as most people fall somewhere in between these two practices. Many people won't plan out every detail of their novel, but they will think about a few things before they start writing. You might flesh out the setting and the characters before you write. Or you might decide upon the rough idea that will make up the ending, but not how the character will get there. This middle ground will likely be dictated by your personality, and how eager you are to simply write the story. As you work on writing novels, you will see what works best for you and find that place.
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