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Write A Novel And Get It Published: Writing success takes luck, talent, hard work and stamina

by Nigel Watts

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.

To create believable characters you need empathy and sympathy. Characterization is external, visible attributes; character itself is internal and reflected through actions. Convey character through physical description, narrator’s statements, action, association with setting, revelation of thoughts, speech and other’s thoughts or comments.

Dialogue moves the story forwards, gives information, contributes to characterization and carries sub-text. Make dialogue significant and brief. A first person viewpoint uses ‘I’. A third person viewpoint uses ‘he’ or ‘she’. In god’s eye view the omniscient narrator tells the story.

The setting can be imaginary or real. Use all five senses to describe it. Choose words that are familiar, single, Saxon, short and concrete.

The first stage of writing is inspirational and the second stage is the craft of editing.

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Write A Novel And Get It Published: Starting out 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.
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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