10 Tips to Write a Novel
9.
Find Someone to Talk With
Unfortunately not everyone can meet somebody as passionate about the story they’re creating as they are themselves. And yet it’s one of the most important elements to reach the end of the writing process, as having that first reader means an added responsibility; someone is waiting for the next chapter, don’t dawdle!
It’s also an opportunity to discuss the scenario: to explain (and thus clarify for yourself) your ideas, to ask for an opinion, to show your drawings and all the content the novel is based on… And it’s a chance to place your tale in a bigger world than what the book introduces: you can imagine the characters’ behaviors in situations they’ll never face in your story, discuss the buildings’ architecture, talk about the cause that led to your story and the consequences that will follow it… And it becomes easier to continue writing.
I had a friend with whom I discussed every aspect of the adventure and who was the first to read the new chapters. We would talk about the coming scenes, picture the behavior of the characters in situations we imagined, etc. It made Galadria more “real” and helped me hold on on the long run, because the world I was creating was bigger than was I was writing. Moreover having an external perspective on some decisions was always a good thing, and on a purely practical level, he helped me a lot with boring tasks (such as designing the layout of the book).
So don’t hesitate to talk about your book to people around you when you have a few chapters ready; someone may find that interesting and – if you’re working seriously – may well decide to invest more time and give you a hand…
2 Comments
Lillian Moore
I thought it was interesting that you say writing a novel is an adventure not and ordeal. I can see how writing can be a fun process. Writing down your own thoughts and displaying them on paper can make you feel somewhat naked and exposed to the reader. This for me has made my writing more of an ordeal than an adventure. The stress of feeling like my story needs to make complete sense right from the beginning makes the writing process so much slower. As I read through your article, I liked your first tip the best. Write the story you want to tell rather than the story the readers want. I feel obligated to my readers sometimes and that gets me in a tough spot. I really appreciate your tips. I am already improving my writing. Thank you.
David Gay-Perret
And thank you for having taken the time to read all this and leave a comment!
I actually haven’t experience the “feeling naked” you mention since I didn’t think of publishing until two and a half year after having completed the story! Which means I mostly wrote it for myself, so no stress there.
As for having a story that makes sense right from the start: it’s only my opinion, and my story actually didn’t follow this tip when I started (I built up and tried to find explanations as I went), but with hindsight I believe it actually saves a lot of time and headaches. And so I think you get back the time invested in planning and thinking forward a bit when, at the end, everything falls nicely into place.
In any case I wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavor!