Tips for Writing Your First Novel
Onix Octarina
08:04
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I hope you enjoy this
tips for writing your first novel and don’t forget to write your book!
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Maybe you’ve always
dreamed of writing but never thought you had the talent. Maybe you’ve
started a few stories already only to find yourself three chapters in with no
idea what to do next. You’re not alone. Until a few years ago I didn’t think I
could ever write a book. I certainly didn’t think I’d write something that
would be read by hundreds of thousands of people on Wattpad, and reach the #1
spot in its category.
I may be only at the
beginning of my writing life, but I’ve picked up a few things that might help
you if you’re thinking of setting out on your own literary journey.
A lot of these types of
blog posts boil down to the same few tips that are repeated in every corner of
the internet, but hopefully, you’ll find one or two things a bit different on
this list.
To write convincing characters, the heart of any good story, you need to know them inside-out, to the point that you can carry on unscripted conversations between them in your head. Don’t concern yourself too much with what they look like, aside from any key traits that might affect their personality, but get to know their voice.
Write letters or journal entries from their point of view. Know
their dreams; their insecurities; their phobias and especially their flaws.
Know what they want at the beginning of the story and how they plan on going
about getting it. Do this not only for your main character but secondary
characters, too. If you know them well enough, they’ll react naturally (but
often surprisingly) to any situation you throw at them.
2. Read Widely
Maybe you’re set on writing YA Fantasy, but that shouldn’t mean
you limit yourself to only reading YA Fantasy. Yes, it’s important
to keep up with what’s happening in your genre, but if you close your ears to
new voices and experiences, you’ll never develop an original voice of your own.
As a new writer, think of yourself as a farmer tending a field. At first it’s
new and exciting. You plant the seed of an idea and rejoice as it begins
to sprout. But you quickly realize your field is surrounded by fences. You want
to expand, but the fences hold you back in every direction, and soon the crop
begins to wither. Reading is how you move those fences and give yourself room
to grow. My advice is to read the classics above all else – to stand on the
shoulders of giants, as they say. Hemingway, Austen, and Dickens will each give
you acres of fertile land to sow. Tolstoy and Melville will clear a path to the
horizon and beyond. Faulkner and Joyce will teach you how to cultivate ground
that to most would seem impassable, while the likes of Tolkien and Asimov will
take you to new lands entirely. Reading the classics as well as contemporary
fiction will show you what’s been done, what’s possible, and will give you the
space and the confidence to try something new.
3. Write poetry
I’m sure I’ll meet some argument on this one, but it’s my firm
belief that nobody can write great prose without an appreciation of poetry.
Poetry challenges your brain to rearrange each line again and again to achieve
its greatest clarity and effect. It teaches you to listen to the rhythm of the
words as one sentence flows into the next, how a simple pause can heighten
tension, how the choice between two words that have the same meaning can dramatically
change the outcome.
Writing poetry is a great way to warm up and stretch your
vocabulary before a writing session. It doesn’t have to be something
publishable, or even especially meaningful. Maybe you delete it immediately
afterward and it’s never seen by another human being, but in my opinion
there’s no better way to bring your writing to life than to read and write a
little poetry.
4. To plot or not to plot
That is one of the biggest questions among new writers. Do you
plan out the story in advance, and if you do, how much detail should you go
into? For me, the answer is very minimal plotting, but it really depends on
your genre and the sort of story you’re telling. Something like a murder
mystery, with multiple suspects, alibis to keep track of, and red herrings
swimming around, may need to be plotted extremely carefully so that all the
clues come together in just the right way. However, I find that if I put all my
energy into planning the story, and I know exactly what’s going to happen and when there’s
no enjoyment left in writing it. I need to be surprised as I go. I need to
write my characters into a corner, with no clear way out, and then puzzle over
it for hours or days as I try to think of a way to pull them through it. I find
this produces the most exciting and unexpected twists and turns in a story.
If you’re writing speculative fiction, you will need to do some
planning before you begin writing, but I think the most effective way to spend
your time is to concentrate on world building and character development, and
let the plot take care of itself for the most part. If you’ve created a rich,
living, breathing world, and well-rounded characters with a purpose, turn them
loose on that world and see what happens.
5. Start with a bang
Please, I beg you, don’t begin with your main character waking
up and going about a typical day at school before you get to the interesting
stuff. Readers these days have a lot of other things competing for their
attention so if you don’t hook them within the first few pages (if not the
first few lines!) you will have lost them forever.
Another danger among new writers, especially those of fantasy
and science fiction, is the urge to dump all their meticulously planned world
building on the reader in the first chapter. Don’t underestimate your audience.
They don’t need to understand everything in the beginning. Let them see the
world through the eyes of your character in a realistic way. If you’ve created
an interesting character and world, they’ll stick with you to uncover the
secrets and mysteries little by little.
6. Come to your senses
A lot of writers imagine their story playing out as a movie in
their heads (or perhaps these days it’s an HBO or Netflix series), and so
they’re very in touch with how a scene might look and sound. But don’t forget
that books are a very different medium. If your writing is good enough you can
get inside a reader’s head in a way that makes movies jealous, and you can tap
into all of their senses. Smell, taste, and touch are all open to you to help
immerse your reader in the story. Let us feel the weight of iron shackles
around our wrists, and the heat on our downturned faces as we pass each torch
that lights the corridor. Let us hear the echo of screams and the rattle of
chains through the stone walls, and breathe the stale air that’s so thick with
ancient rust and the stench of rats that it seeps down our throats and spreads
over the roofs of our mouths until we taste it
You get the idea! Just remember that, like all things, you can
overdo it. Keep it relevant to your character and their frame of mind.
7. Write bravely
My last and most important piece of advice is to write without
fear. Understand that all rules are merely conventions, and they can and should
be bent, broken and twisted to serve your story. Be unexpected. I mean this not
just in terms of the plot, but with your writing style, too. Take a chance.
Experiment. Stand out. Think a scene would be better without any punctuation?
Go for it. Deliberate spelling or grammatical errors in a scene from the point
of view of someone mentally handicapped? Why not? Repetition of a word,
sentence or idea? Who’s going to stop you?
Readers will forgive almost anything as long as you keep them
entertained, so don’t be afraid of making ‘mistakes’.
From Wattpadres author
Josh Townley
Source : Farah Oomerbhoy -
http://www.goodreads.com
