How to Write a Novel
November 24, 2008 · Written by Melissa Donovan
It starts with a declaration. You make it to yourself or maybe to someone else. You say, “I’m going to write a novel,” and add it to your lifelong to do list. For years, it sits there, tucked between “plant a tree” and “jump out of an airplane.” You go about your life. Then one day, your novel’s number comes up.
You’re nervous, excited, and just a little bit scared. What if the plot sucks? What if it’s a big hit? You start dreaming about agents and publishers. You try not to think about Oprah, but sometimes you wonder what it would be like, sitting in the chair next to her, talking about how yes, it’s true, you wrote the first draft in 30 days.
You don’t really know how to write a novel because you’ve never done it before. But you’re not going to let that stop you.
No time for idle dreams, you get focused and concentrate on your characters. They’re starting to take form, one by one. They’ve got names and personalities, talents and obstacles that they need to overcome. They’re interacting, forming relationships and you feel like some kind of puppetmaster tweaking their strings until they take shape and start to come alive.
At first, there’s no plot. Just a bunch of half-baked scenes and situations. Your mind dances with outlines, note cards and brainstorming sessions and you can imagine it all coming together so you start to plan and scheme but then you realize that you’re not planning a novel at all. You’re just planning ways to plan your novel. You’ve been here before. Mind mapping and plotting, preparing and researching, writing up character sketches and building worlds where nothing ends up happening.
You’ve got a bottom drawer full of them and there just isn’t room for one more, so you decide to take a different approach.
You’re not going to get caught up in the plotting. The little devil on your shoulder whispers in your ear, “but plotting out a storyline is so much fun,” and you smack him upside the head because you already know that if you plan it out then writing it is no fun at all. You remember what that’s like, how twenty pages in you get struck by an even better plan and then you’re off, leaving one novel idea abandoned for another newer, shinier one.
Well, not this time.
This time will be different. No planning, no brainstorming, and no outlines.
When the time comes, you just sit down and write. You figure that’s exactly how to write a novel. And you’re right.
The words come at a maddening pace and you type furiously trying to keep up. Characters appear out of nowhere and a world starts to form. This thing comes from inside you but it has a life of its own. There’s no thinking or spelling, no fact-checking or punctuation. It just comes pouring out. A thousand words. Two thousand. Five thousand. Ten.
It’s a mess and you know it but you don’t care. First person and third person, perspectives intertwined in a linguistic orgy. Your characters’ names are changing from page to page and you don’t bother going back to make corrections. They’ve already lived in more cities than you care to count. Each one has more personalities than a psychotherapist’s dream patient. Your starring couple had eight kids back on page one but now there’s only two. What happened to the other six? You don’t care. You’re busy.
You’re writing a novel.
Continued in part two of How to Write a Novel
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HI Melissa: I guess that’s why an activity like Nanowrimo is so effective, you don’t have time to second guess yourself and restart a different novel every time a better plot idea worms itself into your head. It’s do or die
Oh how depressing. I’ve planted a tree, written a novel, and jumped from 14000 feet. It’s time to die, isn’t it?
Wendy
Can’t wait for the rest.
@Marelisa, Definitely no second guessing
It’s also an awful lot of fun. I mean there are bumps in the road to be sure, but it’s a valuable learning experience.
@Wendy, Oh, the lifelong to do list has a lot more than that! That’s just three out of hundreds of wishes
@ppp (Pashon), It’ll be coming up shortly…
omg this just reminded me that I’ve been working on one for the past 11 months!! (unfortunately, I’ve only got 5 pages down)
Haha, it’s so true. My main two families have children whose names have changed, and two kids that don’t even do anything in the story…they basically just exist in my head.
4 days and 24,000 words to go. Definitely doable…..xD
Good luck!
@Melissa - do or die, huh. Oh gosh, so little time so much angst. And let’s not talk about my pathetic word count. But hey, there’s almost 5 days left and I’m not cooking or hosting this year. I am tempted to panic but I keep hearing the phrase “embrace the process.” Scary, huh.
@Joey, LOL, you better get to it. At this rate, you won’t be finished for another hundred years
@Via, Yes, 24k words in four days should be doable. Wait, it’s five days if we count today! Yay, it’s like NaNo just got an extension, heheh. Ah, the secret characters - they make it so much more interesting, don’t you think?
@Deb, Panic is tempting indeed. Once the Thanksgiving feast is over, I’m locking down for the final sprint. I’ve found that 5k per day is reasonable if I do one session in the morning and another in the evening so hopefully we’ll hit it out of the park in the final hours. It’s been an interesting journey and I might even do it again next year but I have to admit, i’ll be just a little relieved to get back to my regular routine
Oprah! Ha. Too funny. I totally think about how I could get Oprah’s stamp of approval. Pam would love me.
“Each one has more personalities than a psychotherapist’s dream patient. ” –Hilarious! See, now that was a good joke.
That was a funny post. Good luck with Nano! Get it done!
Wow, what an inspiring post Melissa! I loved reading every word! You rock! (Sorry for all the exclamation points but your words excited me!) LOL
*smiles*
Michele
Hi Melissa - Well done you - getting the first draft down in 30 days. I know where you’re coming from when you say, part way through, you get tired of what you’re writing, as you’ve thought of a better idea.
I’ve done that so many times and I’m really trying not to this time round. It’s so bloody difficult though - those folk who manage to see a novel through to completion deserve a medal.
@screenwritingforhollywood, Oprah rocks in so many ways. I know a lot of people who don’t care for her and I can’t wrap my head around it, especially since she uses her wealth and power to spread goodwill all around the world.
@Michele! Thanks! Nothing wrong with a few exclamation marks!
I’m glad you enjoyed this little frolic through my novel writing experience, hehehee.
@Cath, Now I have three days left and 15 k words to write. I’m pretty sure I can handle that. There have been several days this month I’ve done 5 k. The closer I get, the more exciting it becomes. And more than once I’ve thought about abandoning it either because I come up with some other story idea or I’m simply too overwhelmed with work and other tasks but I am sticking to it dammit! Hehe.
@Melissa
I did NaNoWriMo last year, I got to 39,000 words. All my writing was disjointed short stories all over the place, more like a 6 month supply of blog posts.
But it taught me a few valuable things:
- I am NOT a novelist (nor do I really want to be one). And that’s okay.
- My preferred writing style is short stories.
- I’m good at writing humor.
- I want to write kids books.
So, even though I didn’t complete the NaNu-Nanu challenge, the net result was still a positive one (but for different reasons). It’s helped me focus my writing on what I really want to do.
@Friar, I think the best thing about NaNo is all the things you learn about yourself as a writer. Actually, before it started I figured that if I’m not meant to be a novelist, then this is when I would find out for sure. Now I’m thinking that I can get through a first draft but the rest (revision, submission, etc.) remains to be seen. Mine’s turning out to be a young adult novel (I think) so that’s kind of a kid’s book, eh?
This might be the start of a novel about writing a novel. Hmm.
I already got my speech for Oprah planned out.
Turns to Oprah, an intent look in my eyes. “Oprah, I was just looking out of the window and the characters just jumped out of me fully formed. It’s as if they always existed in my mind. Was it hard writing a novel? No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t hard at all.”
Wishful thinking.
I’m currently working on a short story that just sprung out of nowhere. No outline, nothing. I just started writing it. Problem now is that I don’t know where to go from there anymore.
Do tell us more about your novel soon. I love YAs.
@SRS, Now there’s an idea. Hm.
@Kate, I can only imagine how many writers already know exactly what they’ll say to Oprah when the day comes
I always imagine promoting NaNoWriMo and talking about how I wrote the first draft in 30 days, hehehee. My story sprang out of nowhere too and there have been some points in the plot where I got a little stuck but I found you just have to make something happen so you can move forward, keeping in mind that it’s a first draft and you’ll have a chance to go back and change it later. Good luck to you!
Keep Going! You’ve got me so excited that I can hardly wait for part two!! You also maked me thing that I really need to look at participating in NaNoWriMo next year!
Hi Jenny, I’m planning on posting part two this week
and you should definitely participate in NaNo next year. It’s quite an experience!