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Write A Novel And Get It Published: Starting out

by Nigel Watts

If you want to write a novel then you will need imagination, hard work and stamina. You’ll need to be endlessly curious about people and their behaviour. It’ll help if you are a reader as well as a writer. There is no absolute test for quality in writing, all you can do is work at the craft aspect and learn as much as you can about the art aspect.

If you already have an idea, then be grateful and go with it, but if you haven’t got an idea then seek one out. Train yourself to see the story potential in everything around you: keep a scrapbook of interesting cuttings, a notebook to jot things down as they occur to you and to make a record of your dreams.

Once you have a few ideas, examine each one to see if it will make a novel rather than a poem, a short story or a film. It may even be more suited to a factual book rather than fiction. Next do your research so that the background is accurate. Don’t start writing too soon, let the idea build until you can’t resist any longer, and then sit down to write.

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Write A Novel And Get It Published: Writing success takes luck, talent, hard work and stamina A plot needs a beginning, middle and end, and during the story, something must change. It needs at least two characters including the protagonist, who will need to experience conflict. It also needs an underlying theme to give it coherence. The classic plot shape is an eight-phase arc: stasis, trigger, quest, unexpected events, critical choice, climax, reversal and resolution. Most novels have one or more sub-plots.
Write A Novel And Get It Published: Plot Plot and character are equally important and inextricably intertwined. The key to holding a reader’s attention is to pose interesting questions and then delay giving the answers. There are two types of question: suspense questions look forwards for the answers and mystery questions look backwards.
Write A Novel And Get It Published: Character To create believable characters you need both empathy and sympathy, but do bear in mind that fictional characters are less complex than real people. Readers need to identify with characters so use both empathy and sympathy in their creation. Empathy is recognizing something of yourself in a character; sympathy is liking what you see in a character.
Write A Novel And Get It Published: Style Every writer has their own style which should make their work instantly recognizable. Style isn’t something that’s added to a work, it is the work, and finding your own style will be a journey of discovery.
Write A Novel And Get It Published: Theme At the very heart of your story is its theme. This is not the same as subject matter, which is the tangible reality of the story, something which changes with fashions in novel writing. Theme can be broken down into thread and thesis.
Write A Novel And Get It Published: Scenes A novel’s scenes anchor it in physical reality, although they can be imaginary. You need to understand them in detail, either through imagination or research if you are using a real setting.
Write A Novel And Get It Published: Editing The first stage of writing a novel is inspirational, when the ideas flow and you try to get them down without allowing your inner critic too much say. This is where the art of writing comes in, but the second stage is the craft of editing, where you shape and order your vision.
Write A Novel And Get It Published: Get help If you are going through a hard time with your writing, start by talking to friends and family, although they won’t want to know the details they will probably be interested and supportive. For support and help with the actual process of writing, try to meet other writers through Writers’ Groups, Writing Courses and Internet forums.
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Write A Play And Get It Performed: Dialogue As soon as you have two characters speaking, you have dialogue. Even if they are talking at cross-purposes or not listening to each other, it is still dialogue.
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Write Your Life Story And Get It Published: Getting help If you have reached the writer’s equivalent of the doldrums where you can’t find the enthusiasm to go on, or you have come up against the dreaded ‘writers block’ where the words won’t come then it is time to get some help.
Write Your Life Story And Get It Published: Make it interesting Most life stories will be interesting to family and friends, but if you want to attract a wider readership you will need to add readability.
Write Your Life Story And Get It Published: Writing about others The skills you have acquired writing your own life story can be used to help others write theirs. One good way is to interview them using a list of suitable questions.
Write Your Life Story And Get It Published: Get your story published Improve your chances of success with traditional publishers by only submitting to those which publish life stories and take unsolicited manuscripts. Check their website or contact them to find out what they require in a submission and who you should send it to. Few want a full manuscript, so only send a synopsis, one or two chapters and a covering letter.
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