.:Starting A Novel Guide:.

~Getting Started~

I’m writing this with novels on the mind since I am almost at 30 novels. I have written over 20 additional novella length stories as well with a ton more books on the way. So you could say I know a thing or two about this more than the average person. And it’s about time I made a guide for it! So I hope this thing helps you.

• WHERE TO START: If you are feeling flustered as to where to start writing in your story, DON’T BE! Honestly you can begin anywhere. You can write out of order! I’d say write out whatever scenes you find yourself inspired with and just keep typing till you run out of inspiration. Then add to fill in the gaps and edit where/if you feel the need to. I have never ever EVER written a book in complete consecutive order. So in fact, I encourage it. Writing the scene you are inspired on instead of forcing yourself to write something you're not inspired for just yet will work to your benefit. Readers can tell when writing is forced and when you have a real passion in your words.
• THE FLOW: You have never written something long before, but want to? No problem! Write it out as a short story first and then separate the ideas into chapter breaks. Then go from there and elaborate. This always serves to work better than an outline. Outlines are great for informative text like this as well as essays but don't really work for stories. Books are all about excitement, action, emotion, and flow. They will be boring if you try to stick to a rigid idea of an outline. Plus, who really has all the ideas for a novel ahead of time? Every single plot device? If you claim to, you’re overthinking it. If you try to plan out every detail, your book will not go the way you want exactly and that's a promise. Once you get working on a project as large as the novel, it takes on a character of its own and wants to go in certain directions. If it’s headed towards as a bad direction then of course steer it back, but in general, go with the flow, id say!
• HOW TO BEGIN: Honestly, starting is the easiest thing ever! So no matter where you’re at is always best to write down your idea even if it’s as a drabble. You can always add and take away from it as you go on but at least now you have the thought recorded somewhere so you can hopefully bounce off of it later.
o Brainstorming: It totally doesn't hurt to hand write random ideas about your book before you get started! Whether its two pages or twenty, sometimes actually physically writing things down then looking at them as a big picture can help you get your ideas in order before you type it. However, be careful not to write out so much that you will feel discouraged to type up the good ideas later. Rule out the ideas you think won't work and then be sure to type up the rest. Paper can get lost or damaged so try to keep track of all your ideas on the computer. Text can easily be moved around and altered, unlike handwriting.
o Inspiration: If you don’t have any inspiration but still want to write a book, then you’re not really going to get anywhere. Your book is likely to be lifeless and sound more like an essay. But by all means, go at it anyway BECAUSE if you want to, you can always change it later by going back and adding in the life and depth once you are inspired.
o Focus: You need to stay focused on the project in a way that you understand. If you’re working on this and nineteen other projects at once, that's fine. But if you want to write a novel but can't seem to write more than a few paragraphs at a time, a short story may be best for you. No matter how fast you are, writing a novel takes a lot of time that not everybody has the attention span for. Some may take a little extra dedication but if you're capable and willing then you can totally make yourself do it!
o Dedication: You need to stick with this project through thick and thin, through writers’ block, plot holes that you discover, and any tedious editing or things you want to change. You can't just quit a novel 90% of the way through. You can do it! You just need to believe you can too.
o Organization: I’m a pretty chaotic lazy person who does what I want when I want. But I’m also super organized, OCD, and hyper, which helps me be able to get lots of type out fast and well done. Know what you’re doing. Know what your thoughts and ideas are for the book and don't lose things. Writing a book is fun but also serious. I don't want to say “it takes patience” because I am like the most impatient person ever, but YOU will take as long as your own brain works to process and record the information found in your mind as type, if that makes sense. Because I am impatient and I know what I’m doing I can get what I want done fast. I keep all my thoughts together on my files. You should do the same. Give each of your books its own file and folder on your computer.
o Time Management:
o Humility: Writing a novel requires a certain amount of humility, I think. There is a world of difference between confidence and pride. Have the former but not the latter. If you go into your first or even your second novel with an arrogant attitude thinking it is infallible, that you’ve got it all together, you’ll likely fail or get into some plot hole that you can't get yourself out of. Have a more humble attitude and be careful in what you type instead of just putting down whatever idea you have thinking it’s infallible.
• TITLE: Choose a title that fits with the unique message of your book. Try to avoid using anything in existence. Pick something that represents your story. Or in my case, actually, pick some words that sound cool together and work the title’s idea into the existing story idea. But always have a title before you put your book out there. People like to have a definite name to refer to things—that's how it’ll stick in your head. And I’m sure, if you’re proud of a book you poured so many hours of your life into, you will want people to remember it!
• CHARACTERS: Read my character creation guide and Mary sue guide for a longer more elaborate description of what to make and what not to make.
o Main Character: Your star should be a likeable unique individual who grows or changes in some way throughout the story. This shows passage of time and story/personification depth. There are lots of common misconceptions of main characters, with two of the main ones being that they have to be “a strong person” or have some direct connection to you. Both of these are completely false and in fact I would highly advise against them. Human fallibility and weakness is realistic and also can make for great plot tie-ins and growth. One of the main points of writing, I believe, is also to expound on the life of someone different from you. Choose a main character whose personal perspective and experiences you can write and develop well.
o Secondary Characters: Whether its friends or family of the main, every good book has a fantastic supporting cast! Dynamics of groups that develop over time and relationships are fun and interesting to write. What does everyone think of everyone else? What’s their history? How does it affect them today? Things to think about!
o Minor Characters: Be sure to know the difference between a MINOR character and EXTRA character. No matter how small their role, every character should have a point for existing. If you just threw them in there and never really made use of them, take them out! Or you’ll likely end up with a Mary sue, if they keep hanging around your story.
o Mary sues: I have a guide up that lists characteristics of a sue so I will not go into detail here but I will say this: if you have a Mary sue, either rewrite the character to be better or take them out. It’s USUALLY best to just take them out of the story, especially if you feel that the Mary sue IS the story. If that's the case, it’s a very bad case. You definitely need to take her out. Once you do, the story should be able to grow on its own and the other characters should take on the roles they need to.
o Antagonists: Make sure you have good villains. They need to have reasons to be antagonists. Don't ever go with some cliché unreasonable take over the world type thing. Always have a background in your mind to how this villain got to be who they were and why they have made these choices and have these goals. Think about it. Real people choose to be who they are because they think they are making the best decisions for themselves in that moment. Nobody will walk around seriously thinking they are the “bad guy” because they think they are doing what’s right. Just a big thing to consider in general and keep in mind. Reveal bits of them over time.
o Alignment: Not every character is good or evil and lots are in between. Alignment makes for interesting plot devices in general and can lead the story places you never could have imagined.
o Dynamic vs. Static: If we as a reader do not discover new things about the characters throughout your story...then what's the point of them being in there at all? If the characters do not change throughout the story then they are static characters. It’s usually impossible for every character
o Bios: It would be good to make bios for your characters, whether beforehand or during your story, to keep track of all of their information.
• SETTING: Even if you leave it vague in your story, have a set place and time for your story in your mind. Especially if you intend there to be multiple books then you should probably have some kind of year set or some way you can keep track of what is happening when. I do highly recommend describing place to place detail over the generalized place on earth. Describe what the characters see in their surroundings. Use their senses to appeal to your reader’s senses. Make them see your book as vividly as a movie in your mind. How is your character impacted by what’s around them? How does it influence them? Or do they influence it?
• PLANNING: Know at least the general direction of your novel and what it means to accomplish before you start writing. Know the setting and the characters. That's all you really need to know before diving in.
o Me: I don't plan much more than I said above. I mean, I know my universe’s timeline ahead of time based on my other books and my current ideas but that's pretty much it. I always say, just dive right in. Go. Start. Don’t wait for anything. If you’re inspired, the literal worst thing you can do is hold yourself back by trying to plan things. It doesn't work the way you think it will. That's usually the case—that you will become discouraged and lose your inspiration FAST if you try to plan. It’s also a colossal waste of time to try and plan every detail.
o Other People: They usually try to plan the story out and never actually get to writing it, or if they do, they quit early on or it doesn't work the way they anticipated. Even worse, they spend so much time planning that they keep wasting time rewriting and reworking the plan. If you do these things, you’re not going to finish the book. You have to just go with it. Once you have the actual typed text of the book, even if its only parts of it, you’ll find encouragement in the fact that you at least have something to go off of in making your book better.
• FLUIDITY: A big part of the novel is the fluidity of it. Before you declare it finished, your ideas may change. Depending on said ideas, you may constantly be taking text out and writing stuff in, maybe even moving some parts. Of course the more books you write, the less you see yourself doing this but it’s still a thing to keep in mind. Try not to edit if you don't have to. Make sure your book has a definite date at which point it’s finished or else you’ll never be done.
• DON’T PACE YOURSELF: If you want to freaking write ten thousand words in one day then go for it!! I would encourage you to write and write if you are inspired and not stop for anything. Edit it later if you want. But you can't exactly control when you get inspired usually and I wouldn’t want you to stifle inspiration because you think you have written too much. Omit stuff you don't like later. There’s always something to be learned by it and who knows, maybe you’ve gotten some new ideas from that. Don’t think you can plan on having inspiration either. Sometimes you know when you will be inspired but if you’re wrong, it’ll lead to disappointment. Bottom line is, type when you’re inspired, even if it’s bad, because it’s better to have the text now and change it later if you want to.