There are millions of great stories out there, but getting them into book form and published is another matter altogether. So how to write a novel? There is no one right way, but there are many tips and tricks authors use to help them along. Here are 12 tips to help you write a novel.
1. Know how you work, but don't let it rule you
Do you like to get all your work done bright and early in the morning, or do you prefer staying up all night working? Do you find that you do best in a loud setting, or is quiet important to you? When it comes to being productive, everyone has likes and dislikes. Knowing what kind of environment you like to work in is the first step in creating that environment.
But be careful: Don't let the lack of a good place to write be an excuse not to write. Sometimes it's impossible to have the perfect writing conditions. You can't let that stop you! Writers are tough people who have taught themselves how to work everywhere and anywhere. If you have a novel in you that needs to get out, do it no matter where and when you work.
That said, there is one thing that no writer likes: distractions. Some distractions are unavoidable, especially if you have small children or roommates. But you can reduce the number of distractions in your life by putting your phone on airplane mode or "do not disturb" mode.
2. Set aside time
One of the hardest things to do for unpublished writers is making time to work. Most of you have a job that supports you and takes up a good chunk of your week. You have to squeeze your writing time in between your other obligations, and let's face it: Sometimes you're just too tired, or it's hard to get motivated to do something when there's not a deadline or a boss at the end of it.
But you have a good idea, you love creative writing, and that book idea has just got to come out. So what to do?
The answer is simpler than you might think: You rearrange your way of thinking. In her TEDTalk, Laura Vanderkam provides numerous tips to take control of your free time. The most important ones for writers: Give yourself permission to raise the priority level of your writing time. Make it as important as the time you spend at work. With that frame of mind, it'll be much easier to make time for your writing.
Another trick for setting aside time is to learn to write in small chunks. Sure, we'd all love to have long stretches of empty and uninterrupted hours to do our work, but that's just not the reality for many people. Instead, we have 30 minutes here and 45 minutes there. Use those! Thirty minutes is plenty of time to play around with a story idea or to perfect plot points. If you have a long commute on a subway or a train, that's a great opportunity for writing.
3. Set daily goals
Successful writers know that it's important to set a goal every day you sit down to write. Setting daily goals has two advantages. First, it stops you from thinking about the novel as a whole, which can be overwhelming. Second, having a set task means you know when you're done.
What kind of goal you choose to set for yourself depends entirely on you. Many writers prefer to set their daily goal as a word count. In that case, 1,600 words a day is usually standard. However, if word count doesn't seem like a good goal to you, don't worry! There are other types of goals you can set. For example, research is a huge part of a writer's work and requires a lot of time. Or you might be more comfortable with writing out a scene, regardless of word count.
if a character is not believable, you need to know. Having that feedback helps you identify areas of improvement.
6. Participate in NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit that hosts National Novel Writing Month. Every November, they challenge everyone to set a goal of writing 50,000 words by the end of the month. Think of it as a FitBit for writers.
The idea behind NaNoWriMo is that setting an ambitious challenge is a good way to get people writing. And once you've done something for 30 days, you can turn it into a habit.
You can participate in NaNoWriMo as much or as little as you'd like. There are communities to join and word trackers to use, but you don't have to use them if you don't want to.
7. Have a dedicated editor
When it's just you and your keyboard (or your pen, if that's how you roll), it can be hard to keep yourself accountable. It's hard to reach goals without deadlines, and it's even harder to know if what you're writing makes sense to others.
If you're serious about getting your book published, even if you decide to self-publish, then you need to hire an editor. Selecting the right kind of editor is an important step. First, they need to specialize in the genre of your book. A young adult editor won't be able to help you with your hard sci-fi book. Second, they need to be someone you connect with. Communication is a massive part of the editing process, and it won't work if you and your editor don't mesh.
bouncing around in your head. Write the parts of the story you really want to get to first. Doing this will help you in a couple of ways. First, the act of writing makes it easier to write. To use a couple of clichés, it gets the juices flowing. It oils the gears. Second, you'll never know exactly how your character acts until you get them down on the page. Now that you have something, you know your character a little better, and you have a better sense of what kind of event or scene will work best with them.
the world. That vision might involve breaking some rules of syntax or grammar. You might even need to address the reader directly, as the author. No matter, remember that some of the most influential artistic movements broke the rules in a major way. As the author of your book, you have final editorial say.
Follow the 12 tips above, and you'll find yourself deep in your story in no time.