Novel Writing novels for dummies

But everything I write is autobiographical to a some extent. Starting small seems obvious.

 

I have trouble with short stories. I often find I need more length to develop the idea. Novella or novel are a more comfortable length for me to work with.

 

This was the same for me initially. I didn't think that 5k words versus the 350k I usually got was enough to do much of anything. But I was deeply wrong. I really enjoy writing short stories these days. They're good "experimental pieces" to try just about anything on. For example, I wasn't comfortable with third-person POV narration, so I wrote a flash piece and experimented with it.

Novels take effort and are a huge time investment. If you aren't comfortable with your writing skills but you want to write a really good novel that reads just like the ones you loved, then don't do it. I only did it because I was fine with my hundreds of hours resulting in something of sub-par quality that has no place or value in the real world.

And some of my short stories are actually close to being good. "My Oddly Big Sister" is my favorite short story to-date. If I ever query to magazines or publishers or whatever, that's the first thing in-line. But not now. I gotta keep working on my skills. I'm not "there" yet.

 

5k I have found about covers any background I may need for the idea and part of the beginning hook. I think it boils down to what level of effort, and time investment works for the person doing the writing.

 

How different that is from me… most of my stories are under 1,500 words, and my poems are usually 32 lines or under (the longest, not counting translations, was 48)

 

Poetry is one form I avoid. I would class my poetry somewhere between bad and Vorgon.

 

I have written two poems in my life. They came out of me spontaneously. I thought they were pretty good. I don't think I could do it if I had to actually try to write poetry.

 

I have forms I avoid, too. Novels. Free verse. Irregular meters (such as certain Ancient Greek kinds). When I try these, they just fall apart. So I generally stick to flash fiction, and poems with easily discernible rhyme/meter/form.

 

No one told me nine-year-old children couldn't write novels, so I wrote one. I wrote a second novel when I was ten. My first short story was published when I was fourteen. I've written steadily for sixty years: short stories, feature articles, scientific papers, a revenge novel, several better novels, a dozen partial novels, and some terrible poetry. A handful of good public school teachers guided me early on, but after I graduated from high school, I mostly learned by writing and reading, then writing and reading some more. That is not a path for everyone, but neither is a narrow lane of tight-assed academic instruction. If I'd have set about learning to write that way, I'd have tossed my antique typewriter through the window, jumped out after it, and no doubt gone on to a life of cattle rustling.

 

My problem with poems is that I don't understand their rhythm. Sure, I get what meter is and how it helps to structure how the poem sounds by controlling the stressed and unstressed syllables, but I still don't get it despite this. Poetry is a form of writing that is completely beyond me. I've read poems but I don't particularly enjoy them so maybe that's my real problem.

One form of poetry that I did write once (and whether its poetry is debatable) is the lyrics of a song I made up. I followed a typical Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus structure and wrote it over a period of 3 days. I didn't follow a meter and I have no idea if I was supposed to follow one. The only reason I wrote it in the first place was to accompany a short story. I liked it a little back when I wrote but now that I look at it again...? I have mixed feelings.

I think I will stick to short stories and novels for now.

 

I remember when I started writing.
In my room - the colourful poster with the animals and toys in rows.
One of them I made a bargain with. It wasn't the cat, as it happens, but the 'duh'-'duh'-dog.
I was staring into its four-colour perma-gurn, when there was an electric thump. Behind my eyes. Like an obsidian plinth landing endways.
My fingers left my gumline, all by themselves, and made a fist: round my lovely red crayon with the paper torn off, and the toothmark.
Presently, below the poster, a crude rendition began to form: of the 'dog'-'dave' sign.
A shaky and distended gut, limbless, with a neck stretching up, and... terminating.
Un-dog-like, un-dave-like - a wretched pictogram, with its last waxy vertebrae glistening bare, where my head ought to be.
==
"Oh look Norman, come and see!"
By the time they found me, I was no longer their child.

 

What if you're completely disinterested in the medium of short stories? Some of us don't like to read them and have no desire to write them. I've tried my hand at it with varied results, but at some point, I had to contend that it's simply not my bag.

I would propose that a dozen false starts at novels years ago and coming back to the task with some good research under my belt brought me to the point where I needed to be for my first novel as well or better than would have a bunch of short stories I would have mostly detested writing.

I wish I could have skipped the era of unfinished tripe (as well as the decade during which I wrote nothing,) but the truth is, I learned a lot about myself and about writing from those false starts, and doing research the second time around (blogs, videos, writing manuals) and finding a writing community seems to have done the trick. I cobbled together a strategy from the advice I found and banged out a novel. Is it Pulitzer worthy? Doubtful, but I'm very proud of it, and so far, it's had extremely positive feedback.

I'm absolutely willing to believe that short stories are a great way to hone your skills, but -- and I say this with great respect for your opinion -- I don't believe it's the only path, or even the correct path, for everyone.

 

Everyone needs to find the correct path for themselves. False starts, wasted time, and everything else that comes with it. Those who succeed are the ones that find it inside, whatever their it is. Whether your passion is short form, screen plays, novels, it is the passion, not the format.

 

You gotta find that ONE THING.

 

I wrote my best poem when I was 19. I thought it was awesome, but she wasn't that impressed.

I also wrote one when I was about 17. I don't remember that much about it, but I do recall I was trying to find a rhyme for "buns".

 

Nuns? But she might have found that less impressive and possibly counter-productive for the budding poet.

 

Puns, of course. Tsk. If only you'd asked sooner.

 

I did write a lot of scenes. That's for sure. I can only speak for myself, obviously, but I had a combination of problems. Some involved needing practice, like anyone, to find my style and whatnot, but more than anything, I suffered from "the grass is always greener" syndrome. Every idea was more exciting than the last, and I abandoned project after project accordingly. I hear similar things from new writers most often when they struggle with the same ADHD hurdles I do. Following through with a solid, well-researched plan did more to help me reach my first "The End" than any further amount of practice could have.

I deviated from said plan and from my outline on my second book to the point that I was outright discovery writing and wrote myself into a corner around the 80K mark. I don't know if I'll ever finish the thing. C'est la vie. I'm now three-quarters of the way through another book, on plan and more or less on schedule. It's a first draft and therefore far from perfected, but it's on its way to being the best thing I've written. I'm sure of it.

I learned things from the three or four shorts I finished along the way, but "Write a cadre of short stories before you attempt a novel," just isn't advice I'm as likely to give as someone who did.

 

I'm not sure how I did it but I managed to dodge that bullet. Like you, I started with a novel, and while I struggled greatly to complete it, I had this other ideas swirling inside my head. I kept wanting to write them but I told myself that I absolutely won't write anything else until I've completed that project.

I stuck to my promise for the most part. But at one point, I got so stuck with my first project that I decided to take a break by writing a chapter of a new novel idea. It was supposed to be one. Just one. But I wrote two. And it was really exciting. I thought, "This is the best idea ever!"

I didn't want to deviate too much from my promise though, so I went back to the pain of writing the first project. Because yeah, it became a pain, but my determination to finish it paid off and I actually enjoyed the result. I was just a little proud of it. I was also excited to start this brilliant idea as a second project.

And guess what? A few chapters in and it all fell apart just like the first project. Finishing it was as much of a pain as the first project, if not more.

In the end, what I think happens is that while an idea seems great in your head, bringing it into fruition comes with challenges which might change the overall vision of the idea or are simply a turn off just by themselves. That's why a new idea seems more exciting. You haven't yet encountered the challenges it takes to bring it into reality. It's simply a fantasy inside your head. So, when you do try to put it down, face the challenges, and you get turned off again, you hop into the next idea. And the cycle continues until you figure out how to stop it... or worse... give up writing entirely. And that's why Seven Crowns said:

Novels are hard. They have a structure to them. There's lots of characters. Some of them must be developed. There's conflict and epiphany as well as a climax. And of course, a good novel ties all of it together into a bigger picture that says something. I've read some theory book that described it as the "Grand Argument".

Aside from these things, there's also the author's voice and utility of the language. If you have no experience tackling that then you'll also get stuck. In fact, that's the skill you gotta have first and foremost because everything depends on it. You gotta know how to get what you want across in your own unique way. Short stories really help with that, or scenes. Anything that doesn't have a big dramatic structure to worry about so you can focus on the language alone.

Then once you figure out the language to a degree you feel comfortable with, you also gotta tackle the complicated process of writing a novel, which is a hell on its own. Some people are discovery writers and just sorta do it. In fact, that's what I was doing too, but because I wrote myself to a corner multiple times I stopped and adopted the Snowflake method. This at least helped me organize the key elements of my novel into a neat little plan so I didn't loose track. I think discovery writers are more capable of keeping track on the fly, so for those of that don't, planning is the way. Which is why I wasn't surprised when you said:

But either way, knowing how to write a solid paragraph before anything else is key. And whether you use scenes or short stories or whatever to achieve that, it'll work. As long as you have that kind of ability before you attempt a novel.

This is all a bit of an extension to what I said in an earlier post in this thread. Do forgive me if it's too much.

 

Take some acting classes. So you can write a script actors can work with. Read Robert McKee especially story and dialogue.

 

What about novelettes and novellas? I’ve enjoyed quite a few of those.

 

Sure. I like novellas. I've read a hundred of them. Novelettes are on the short side for me, but like shorts and flash, I've read a few I really liked.

 

Personally, I think it's more than fine for a writer to start with a novel. I wrote by first novel back in undergrad. I had taken a few creative writing courses where you workshop short stories. And I did still write a few, but, mostly I was just interested in my novel back then.

I say this now as someone who now loves the short form. I got into reading the literary journals, and I was hooked.

I think the list of steps by the OP isn't too far off. depending on how good you are and what you're writing. Sure, the list is simplified. I mean you can link revision and all that in with the writing process. Getting published is on the list. Book touring can mean marketing in general. These steps may take years, but it's basically how it's done, no?

 

Interesting suggestion, I had an acting class during my (dramaturgy) studies and I hardly passed because I couldn't remember the lines during the final exam. But I think it's not a bad advice overall, I had actors changing my lines in a way that made more sense than what I originally wrote because they seem to think in a more contextualized and situational way than I do. I'm reading Writing the TV Drama Series at the moment btw.