So You Want to Write a Novel by Elizabeth Alsobrooks

 

So you’ve decided to write a novel. If you have already started, you are beginning to realize it’s not quite as easy as you might have thought. Or, you haven’t started and are wondering how to begin. Either way, there are some rather basic steps that are sure to help. Writing is a craft and every craftsperson needs some tools. They can’t all be provided or explained in a single blog, but some basic building blocks can be discussed. All stories need some basic characteristics to be successful. This blog briefly discusses the basics and then focuses on the portion least covered: the sagging middle.

Before you begin writing any novel, you need to understand genre. Why is that important? Well, unless you are writing for your own personal enjoyment and have no intention of publishing your work or sharing it with others, you need to consider your audience. The reason that’s an important first step is that every genre has a certain amount of structure and rules that readers expect from a book written in that genre. Some even have pretty straightforward formulas. Reading a book or two about that genre’s structure is a good idea.

For example, romance has some pretty serious rules and the readership is so sure about what they like and expect in their reading that the genre itself has many subgenres that appeal to particular audiences, from torrid exotica to sweet inspirational and everything in between.

Whatever genre you choose it’s a good idea to become well read in that particular genre and analyze what about certain books make them bestsellers. Whether it’s an intricate plot, unique writing style, in-depth characters or any combination of these traits, the most popular writers are consistent in delivering what their audience wants and expects. Figuring this out is what reading like a writer is all about. Literature majors often write an entire thesis on a particular writer’s style or storytelling technique.

Once you have decided on a genre you need to discover if you’re an in-depth plotter or what they call a pantser, someone who writes by the seat of their pants. But even if you’re a pantser, you need a basic understanding of story. Otherwise, you will run into trouble sooner rather than later.

One of the most common problems pantsers face is a sagging middle. A successful story is actually more than a series of events. It’s more than just a beginning, middle and end. Tension must rise, characters must have goals and motivation in order to grow, and conflict has to exist so characters have something to overcome.

The most common reasons for a sagging middle, the point where most readers would become bored and stop reading (death to a writer), are that too much was revealed too soon about the characters, a subplot or secondary character has taken over and the plot is wandering without purpose, which basically means there is too little structure. For a plotter this is sometimes avoided, but a pantser has to become more focused at this time.

Some ways to avoid a sagging middle are to add interesting plot twists, introduce an unexpected character that adds a complication, reveal some change in the main character’s motivation, increase the consequences for the character if they fail to achieve their goal, or change the setting. Whatever you do, you have to increase the tension and change is the easiest way. Change who, what where, when or why.

The beginning is where you introduce an inciting event. It’s what they call starting in the middle of things, pulling the reader in by making them wonder what’s coming next. It's that what’s coming next that writers sometimes lose track of.

They forget to add an important ingredient: complication. What is being complicated? The main character’s achievement of their goal is being threatened. The writer must make sure the reader never loses sight of the goal or the consequences of the main character failing to achieve that goal.

Even if you’re a pantser you need to decide on the exciting beginning (inciting incident), the complication, the climax and the resolution. You need an exciting beginning to suck your readers into your story, to make them care about your character and what is going to happen to them. You need to add interest by adding complications, plot twists. You need a climax, that moment where it appears all is lost and there’s no way the character will achieve their goal. Then, you need a resolution, even if that resolution isn’t as complete as an ever after (unless it’s a romance in which case you better have that couple achieve their HEA).

Pantsers must remember that aimless exploration can get your plot lost. Plotters should remember that their outline must include enough foreshadowing and complications to keep up the pace and make their story a page-turner. Whatever you decide to include, never forget the golden rule that every single scene and event MUST move the story forward.

So let’s get your story started!