How to "Road-Test" a Novel Idea

For those of you following the Step-by-Step Novel Writing Process, this article expands on something I said there: You should "road-test" a novel idea before you commit to it.

And in case you are thinking of skipping this article - at least hear me out first! This is important.

Why Should You Road-Test a Novel Idea?

The simple answer is this: writing a novel is a huge commitment, both in energy and time.

You don't want to give over a significant chunk of your life to writing the wrong novel.

(I should know because I've done it!)

More specifically, it is a smart move to road-test writing ideas for two reasons...

• First, it helps you decide if you are excited enough by an idea to want to commit to it (this is the "road-testing" part).
• Second - assuming that you do commit to it - it enables you to block-out a rough plan for your novel using nothing but your instincts. And on the basis that first instincts are nearly always correct, this is clearly a useful first step to take before getting stuck into the nitty-gritty of writing a long and detailed plan.

How Do You Road-Test Novel Ideas?

In a nutshell, you do it by fleshing out your initial idea in a little more detail. Or to put it another way, you start hanging flesh on the bones and see how it fits.

An initial idea for a novel, as you probably know by now, is ideally just one sentence long.

A detailed plan for a novel could potentially run to hundreds and hundreds of pages (depending on how keen a planner you are).

Road-testing an idea is about bulking out the single sentence to a few pages, and so it represents a bridge between your initial one-sentence novel idea and a full-blown novel plan.

In practical terms, road-testing writing ideas involves taking your initial idea and turning it into a page or two of notes on each of the following:

• Plot
• Characters
• Setting
• Theme
• Viewpoint

Let's look at them one by one...

1. Plot

Begin by taking a sheet of paper and jotting down how the novel begins, some key events in the middle, and how it ends.

You are not attempting to create a detailed plot outline for the novel here, merely sketching out a few of the milestones along the way but leaving plenty of gaps in between.

If you are wondering how you are supposed to do this without having first studied the theory of How to Plot a Novel, using your instincts is the whole point of testing a novel idea.

If it helps, try imagining the story you want to tell not as a book but as a movie. How does the film begin? What key scenes along the way can you picture in your mind's eye? How does it end?

2. Characters

Next, flesh out the main character (or the leading man or woman) in a little more detail on another sheet of paper - writing a physical description, for example, and noting one or two of their key traits.

Also make a list of the other principal characters in the novel, though forget about the minors for now.

Again, don't worry about the technicalities of Creating Characters for now. You will come to that soon enough.

The idea here is to see what you can come up with before getting bogged down in all the rules and theories of novel writing.

3. Setting

Next, write a few descriptive notes on the location in which the events of the novel occur.

This means the setting as a whole - the real or imaginary town or city, for example - plus the important settings within the town, like the principal character's house and the bar where they drink.

Also make a note here of any specialized knowledge that your story will need to contain (and that you will need to research) - police procedure if you are writing a crime novel, for example, or how to raise livestock if the setting is a farm.

Remember, you don't have to do anything in any detail at this stage. The idea of taking a novel idea out for a road test is simply to roughly assemble the key components and check they work together as a whole. The detailed work will come later.

4. Theme

Next, write a paragraph or two on the novel's theme. The theme is what the novel is "about" on a philosophical level, or what you want it to "say".

Here are some typical novel themes:

• The effects of divorce on children.
• The futility of war.
• How people carry on living with a broken heart.

All good novels have this undercurrent of meaning, one which comments on some aspect or other of the human condition.

From the rough story you have so far blocked out, what will your readers learn about life? It doesn't have to be profound or "important", just true to your own feelings and experiences.

5. Viewpoint

All novels are seen through the eyes of at least one "viewpoint character", and sometimes several.

So a novel could be told from John's point of view throughout, for example, or half of the chapters from John's point of view and half from Mary's.

Which of your characters are going to be in the glare of the spotlight, so to speak? And will you use the "I" of first person or the "he/she" of third person?

Don't worry if you can't decide right now, because you will find much more help in the Point of View section. But it does no harm to at least think about it while you are doing the road testing.

Final Thoughts

And that is it.

Remember, you are not attempting to create a polished document here - scribbled notes are fine.

And it doesn't matter if the decisions you make turn out to be the ones you end up going with. Plans have a habit of changing dramatically as you develop them, anyway. The important thing is to at least start off on a solid footing.

Road-testing a novel idea might not be a crucial step in the process of writing a novel, but I believe it is one that could save you a lot of wasted work.

Having this initial planning session, where you block-out each of the five elements of a novel using a very broad brush, is not only useful for deciding that, actually, it isn't such a great idea after all.

It is also a useful way of ensuring that each of the novel's five elements works in harmony with all the others.

Deciding that you are not pleased with your choice of location, for example, is really not a problem now. But deciding to alter the setting later on, once you have written the book, would be almost unthinkable.

Next Step...

And that is the end of this whole section on finding writing ideas. The next job is to start fleshing out the idea in detail.