Your First Novel Read online

  If you feel you need guidance during the writing process, you might want to join a critique group. This is a group of writers who share and give each other feedback on works-in-progress. They are often geared toward writers of the same genre—science fiction, romance, fantasy, mystery. You can find groups through the Internet, bookstore bulletin boards, writers' associations, and colleges. But be careful—not all critique groups are helpful. If you join one and the members destroy the writing and tear down the author, rather than give constructive criticism and nurture the author, find a better group. Your critique group should inspire you to improve, not depress you into dropping your project. Listening to good advice is essential, but protect yourself and protect your process.

  STATE OF MIND

  Your state of mind will affect your writing. Here are some tips on how to hop over the most common stumbling blocks of attitude.

  • Own the job. Once you've started your novel, if a friend or family member tells people you are a writer, agree with him. Do not negate the statement by saying you've never been published, that you've just started, that you don't have an agent, or that you're not any good yet. If you keep telling people you're not really a writer, your subconscious will start believing it. This is the job you've always wanted. You are a writer.

  • Love your story with an open heart. You should be passionate about your novel without being closed-minded. You need to love your story and at the same time be open to advice about improving it. If you are too fixated on the writing exactly the way it is, you will suffocate it. Let it breathe.

  • Always write your best. If you hear a little voice inside your head say, "Mediocre is good enough. Look at all those mediocre writers out there who get books published. You could write that stuff with half your brain tied behind your back!" Do not listen to it! That's not the little angel on your shoulder, it's the little devil. Never listen to anyone or anything that tells you not to bother doing your best. You can't improve as a writer if you don't give it your all at each level of learning. That doesn't mean kick yourself when you don't write a perfect scene. Nothing's ever perfect. Your writing just needs to be your best. If you settle for a half-assed job, you'll start to think that's all you need to do and all you can do. Do not settle. Your emotional state will be healthier if you write your best every day. (And if your first draft isn't great, relax. You can always rewrite it!)

  • Don't take things the wrong way. Emphasize the positive and de-empha-size the negative. Things that go wrong are just little tests to see if you'll give up. Your best friend isn't crazy about chapter one. Your laptop has to go to the shop. You can't find your research notes. Everything will be all right. Don't let it get to you. When things go right, celebrate them. These are the true rewards of writing. Give more power to the good news and no power to the bad.

  • Don't judge others too harshly. It's good to be discriminating (especially when choosing what you read or write) but don't overdo it. Analyzing what's flawed in a piece of writing so you can avoid making the same mistake is fine, but spending hours complaining about various books and authors is not. Too much negativity will eventually rub off on you. You'll feel irritated and uneasy. When you hear yourself nagging about your least favorite novels or writers, switch gears and talk about your favorites.

  • Don't judge yourself too harshly. The same goes for bitching about yourself. Don't do it. You don't want to imprint your subconscious with insults. You can be kind to yourself because you're always doing your best.

  • Don't worry. Worrying about things you have no control over (literary trends, the speed of the U.S. mail, how agents respond to query letters) wastes energy and increases stress. Unless it's a problem you can do something about (writing, rewriting, research), don't fret about it. Again, giving something negative too much attention empowers it. Relax and keep writing.

  PROCRASTINATION_

  There are two kinds of procrastination: the good kind that works for you and the bad kind that works against you.

  The good kind of procrastination is the kind that cautions you to wait until your story is ready to be written. Not everyone has this mechanism. If there's a story you want to write and every time you sit down to start page 1 or try to work on the outline, something just doesn't feel right and you can't move forward, don't panic. It might be that the idea has to cook in your head a little longer before it's ready to be made into a novel, like bread that has to rise before it's baked.

  But if you keep putting off writing that outline or starting that research or sitting down to that first page of chapter one because you have to watch a rerun of Friends or read the sports page or clean your oven, it's probably the bad kind of procrastination. Most often this negative procrastination is brought on by the fear that your writing won't be good enough, a kind of writer's block. Don't use the word block, though—let's say stuckness.

  If you keep procrastinating or feel stuck, stop and look inside. If your instinct tells you that your story is still cooking, give yourself some time. If your instinct tells you that you can't start yet because you're going to fail, push through the hesitation and just begin writing. Write anything. No one has to see it. You can fix it later or even toss it. If you can't seem to start with chapter one, try starting with your favorite scene from the middle, or use a warm-up exercise to break the ice. The best remedy for the fear of writing is writing.

  RECOMMENDED READING

  Zen in the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury. A combination of anecdotes and advice from one of science fiction's most passionate authors, Zen is deeply inspiring in the "idea gathering" stage of writing.

  The Making of a Bestseller, by Brian Hill and Dee Power. While you fantasize your own rave review, you can hear about writing and selling bestsellers in the fifty interviews included in this book.

  Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. This book offers unique instruction on writing as a natural act.

  Page After Page: Discover the Confidence & Passion You Need to Start Writing & Keep Writing (No Matter What!), by Heather Sellers. If you start to feel stuck, here is an inspiring book that can help you get motivated again.

  CHAPTER TWO:

  beginning to write

  OUTLINING YOUR STORY_

  Not every novelist uses an outline. However, maybe one in a million beginning writers sits down and writes a perfectly structured book without one. There are methods, like the ones described below, that you can use to make the outlining process less intimidating.

  WHAT KIND OF BOOK ARE YOU OUTLINING?

  If you want to sell this book, you should know who your potential readers are. Is it mystery? Horror? Erotica? Below is a brief list of genres and what the categories mean. If you don't already know where your story falls, go to the bookstore or library and browse the shelves. Read a page each of ten fantasy novels and see if you still think you're writing fantasy. Find your favorite author and see in which section he is shelved, if you don't already know. Below are some of the most popular genres and their definitions.

  Armchair Mystery. Same as a general mystery novel but not as gritty. Sometimes called cozy. Less sex, less graphic violence, and milder language.

  Chick-Lit. Contemporary stories for women; although often centered on love and sex, are not traditional romances.

  Children's. Novels for children tend to be for readers seven to twelve years old.

  Erotica. Fiction centering on explicit sex.

  Fantasy. Set in a world other than our own. Magic, wizards, witches, spells, and fantastic beasts are often involved. Sometimes the author draws from ancient religions or philosophies.

  Historical Romance. A noncontemporary romance. Can range from prehistory to early twentieth century.

  Horror. Whether supernatural (vampires, ghosts) or real (psycho-killers, sadists) the antagonist terrorizes the other characters. Involves one or all of: blood, guts, torture devices, psychological terrorism, sweat, tears, and other bodily fluids.

  Legal Thriller. Like a sus
pense novel, only the plot centers on a trial.

  Literary. The writing itself is viewed as more sophisticated than commercial fiction. Themes are given more weight than plot. If you win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, you write literature.

  Mainstream. Fiction that has crossed out of a genre into popular readership. If an author of thrillers becomes so popular that everyone in the airport is reading her latest book, she has crossed out of suspense and is now a mainstream or commercial novelist. Perhaps last year her books were only in the suspense aisle at your local bookstore, but now she's on the big table when you first walk in. She might even have a cardboard stand just for her new novel.

  Military Thriller. Action, adventure, suspense set in world of military life.

  Mystery. Centers on the solving of a murder or some other crime.

  Romance. Centers on the relationship between two people who eventually fall in love. The sexual content ranges from the equivalent of a G movie rating to an X. Usually employs female point of view (POV).

  Science Fiction. Set in the future and in a reality of the author's creation. Always includes technology. Often includes other species, planets, weapons, vehicles, philosophies, and rituals.

  Suspense. Drama centering on a dark threat (biological, homicidal, political) and keeping us in suspense until the last page.

  Western. Adventures set in the American West, usually not contemporary.

  Young Adult. Written for readers approximately grades seven through twelve.

  The reason you might want to familiarize yourself with your genre before you start writing is to understand the length, number of chapters, POV, etc., your potential readers expect. You don't have to deliver what they're used to or comfortable with, but most book purchasers know what they want. They don't walk up to the cashier and say, "Surprise me."

  CARDING THE STORY

  In chapter one you read about listening for your idea and writing down notes about what you heard. Here is where those notes come into play. Take out that notebook of scribbling or that file folder filled with little scraps of paper. Take a package of 3 x 5 cards and copy each idea onto a card. Some will be broad: Mary finds proof and destroys it. Others will be very specific: John sees a thread caught on the windshield and slips it into the envelope with Dave's letter while Beth isn't looking Even though some cards will have only a detail written on them, not a full-blown scene, we're still going to call these scene cards. Copy all the ideas down. Don't judge them yet.

  If an idea is too long for a card, name it something that represents the whole and keep the longer version (the notebook page or slip of paper) for later when you write the actual scene. For now call it something brief like:

  John takes thread.

  Once you have all your notes on scene cards, count them. If you have only twenty or so, you will be able to lay them out with no trouble. If you have a plethora of cards (more than fifty, let's say), sort them chronologically into three piles before you lay them out: (1) things that happen near the beginning of the story, (2) things that happen near the end of the story, and (3) things that happen somewhere in between. If you're not sure what pile to put the cards in, don't fret. Put them anywhere. The fun of making scene cards is that you can keep rearranging the pieces until the puzzle looks good. Here are some examples of the seeds of ideas that grew into famous stories:

  • Toni Morrison came up with the idea for Paradise while researching ex-slaves who left plantations and started all-black communities after the Civil War.

  • Elmore Leonard created the character of Karen Sisco, from Out of Sight, after seeing a photograph of a beautiful woman armed with a 9mm handgun and an enormous shotgun.

  • Linda Bingham came up with the idea for the novel Born on the Island after losing a house to Hurricane Alicia in 1983.

  As I started writing the novel A Certain Slant of Light, I wondered what it would be like to be a ghost and to be seen by a human being for the first time after having been invisible for over a century. This idea lead to a question—if someone can see her, how is he doing it? Why can only one person see her? Next I thought, perhaps the young man who can see her is like her, akin to her. Maybe he's a ghost, only he's walking around in a human body. This lead to the idea that, having this peculiar thing in common, the two would probably be very drawn to one another—perhaps would even fall in love. But what can they do? He's in flesh and she's a spirit. This led to the idea that they should find her a body. Now I had two ghosts hiding in bodies. What could make this situation worse? The homes of these two borrowed bodies should be so different from each other that a union would be nearly impossible.

  Around this point, as I was getting to know these two troubled families, another idea came to me—the ghosts should realize at some point that they must give back the bodies. And this lead to another problem: How to lure back the souls that had abandoned the bodies? The two teens left their flesh behind because they were unhappy. What could call them back? And the next idea sprang from the last—what would it feel like if the male ghost was able to give back the boy's body before the female ghost could give back hers?

  It is in this way—through a series of questions and possible answers—that one simple idea grew into a novel.

  No matter how simple your idea, look at it for a while. Ask questions while jotting down notes—where might this story happen? Who might be affected? What year is it? What does the main character want? What does he fear? What could go wrong? What would be even worse? Soon you will have enough notes to start filling in scene cards.

  ORGANIZING THE CARDS

  If you ended up with only twenty to thirty cards you can use a kitchen table, but if you have three stacks of cards, find an open place on the floor or the dining room table. (A bed, even a king size, is not recommended. The first time you lean on the mattress to reach a card in the far corner, and they all slide together, you'll find out why.) Lay out the scene cards in order. Make your best guess. Nothing's permanent here. This is the easiest stage of the process in which to shift things around. So feel free.

  Once you have them laid down in what you think might be the correct chronological order, read them through and see what you think. Remember, we're not done yet. This arrangement does not mean you have to write your story in chronological order. This is just a way of sorting the plot points.

  It's possible that at this point you'll feel confused. Your cards won't read well. They might not even sound like they're from the same story. In

  this case, your novel might not be ready to be carded yet. Using the story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, notice how an idea goes from vague to ready to outline.

  NOT ENOUGH SCENES TO OUTLINE

  • two families are feuding

  • Boy and Girl from each fall in love

  • secret wedding to Boy

  • some kind of cool swordplay

  • Boy has a friend who teases him

  READY TO OUTLINE

  • two families are feuding

  • Boy and Girl from each fall in love

  • Girl's folks pick fiance for her

  • secret wedding to Boy

  • families brawl

  • Boy's pal killed by Girl's cousin

  • Boy kills Girl's cousin

  • wedding night in hiding

  • Boy banished

  • Girl's other wedding set up

  • Girl pretends to be dead to avoid it

  • Boy believes her dead, kills self

  • Girl finds Boy dead, kills self

  • families step back from feuding

  FILLING IN THE GAPS

  Not every scene from the finished play is carded in the longer list above, but there is enough to start with. The rest can be filled in. The shorter list is not ready to be an outline yet. If your scene cards are this sparse in

  number and content, don't panic. Go back to listening for ideas. If the story is meant to be a novel, more scenes will come to you.

 
To fill in the gaps in your outline, think about what makes great story-telling. You have someone with a problem. You have a setting in time and space. (What year? What part of the world?) You have something working against this person.

  What makes us love reading something? You'll hear more about plot and structure in chapter four, but for now think of it this way: Readers need three things to keep them turning the pages—believability, heart, and tension.

  In the case of Romeo and Juliet, little details help to fill in the gaps in the scenes from the above list, paving the way for a successful outline. For example:

  • When one of Girl's cousins kills Boy's best friend, it should start innocently so the violence is more of a shock. (Shakespeare fleshed out this scene so Mercutio, who is not even blood to Romeo's family, teases Juliet's cousin into a sword fight. It is Romeo's attempt to break up the fight that inadvertently causes the fatal wound.)

  • The Boy and Girl should each have a confidant, but one of these should betray them to make it more heartbreaking. (In the play, Romeo has the faithful Friar, and Juliet the nurse who betrays her by changing sides and urging the girl to marry the wrong man.)

  • There should be a hope that the Boy and Girl will end up happily together that gets dashed at the last minute by a twist of fate. (Shakespeare has the Friar's message of the "fake death" miss Romeo, who left as soon as he heard of Juliet's funeral from someone else.)

  All three of these added scene cards provide heart or intimacy (we feel for the characters), believability (actions have realistic motivations), and tension (the brass ring is just out of reach).