How to Write A Novel

Posted on July 29th, 2009 by Marck

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Some people consider the novel as the height of a writer’s literary achievement. Writers are often known for their novels, and many would-be writers aspire to write their first full novel and cement their legacies in literary history. Here’s how you can get started with writing your first novel.

Start With an Outline

Some writers have the tendency to write the story off the top of their head, as if they’re guided only by their inspiration. Writing a novel requires more dedication and discipline than a quick poem or story; you will have to rely on notes or an outline to keep your story coherent. From your outline you need to describe the following:

Settings act as a backdrop to many stories, so make sure that they are clear. Think of the setting as the “frame” to your story.
Characters are often fleshed out, given a personality, and their roles in the story should be clearly defined. It sometimes helps to give your characters a short background story so that you know where to involve them in the narrative.

Plot Devices

The bulk of the novel is the plot. Plots can be driven in many ways depending on the writer’s preference, but here are three useful plot devices and literary techniques you can use for your novel:

Chekov’s gun. The Russian playwright Anton Chekov once wrote that any setting, character, or object in a play or a novel should always have something to do with the plot. If the novel can stand without a certain side story, a character, or a chapter, you’re better off skipping it or deleting it altogether.
MacGuffin. The MacGuffin is the motivation to a plot. MacGuffins are quite difficult to write, especially if you’re following the “show-not-tell” tradition in fiction. MacGuffins should be able to capture the reader’s attention and drive the plot of the story.
Red herring. Sometimes you may feel the need to divert the plot, or to add elements to the story to provide surprising twists, or to add color and depth to the novel. Make sure that the “red herrings” that you’re using do not take over the novel.

Revise

A prudent attitude to take in writing is to step back from your work and treat your manuscripts as drafts. Do not hesitate to correct your own work before the final draft is submitted to an editor. Study the manuscript carefully and look for errors in grammar and spelling. Look and read through your story and tighten up your narrative. It can get very frustrating to revise, but you need to do so to make your novel worth your time writing, and worth the reader’s effort reading.

There’s no sure-fire way to write a novel, but it pays not to ignore the technicalities of writing one. With these steps and a lot of discipline and commitment, you can make your way slowly but surely to the path of the next Great American Novel.