10 Tips to Write a Novel
2.
Live What You Write
In order to be able to hold on for several months or years, one must be passionate about the adventure (one more reason to write the story you want to tell rather than the one the readers want) and live it not only during the writing process, but also outside of it.
It’s not about being constantly daydreaming but rather keeping in mind the protagonists and the adventure even during “real life”. Sometimes we find inspiration in a discussion or an event from the day-to-day life, we can use the behavior from real people to give more credibility to the characters, use a landscape as a model… It may even happen (though arguably more seldom) that we learn things during the writing process that we can then apply in our life.
I personally observed quite a bit the mechanics behind comical situations (both as an observer and a participant): interactions between people, timing, attitudes… And thanks to this I was able to create group dynamics towards the end of the story, when there are more characters.
I could also mention the last sentences from the last chapter, which came to me right after watching Ang Lee’s beautiful “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”; just as the final credits rolled, the emotions I felt inspired me the last paragraph of my book.
So try to blur as much as possible the border between real life and story told, without losing touch with either side. Take the best from each world, constantly; you will enrich both your life and your tale.
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!