Novel Writing Unleashed

Most of the advice on this website covers the novel writing essentials. Of course, it does that in a lot more depth than you'll find anywhere else...

• The free information at Novel Writing Help gives you a better grounding in the theory of how to write a novel than most paid-for guides.
• And all the extra help and advice in my Ultimate Writing Guide tells you everything you need to know to write a successful first novel (in the order you need to know it).

Nevertheless, I have tried to keep things as simple and as straightforward as I can.

Novel Writing Unleashed moves beyond the essentials and helps you to develop as a skilled writer of fiction as your career develops.

Novel Writers Should Never Stop Learning

Speak to anyone who has ever achieved any success in creative writing (and I'm including the literary greats here) and they will tell you that they are figuring out new writing tricks and techniques all the time.

That is why a typical writer's later novels tend to be more accomplished than their earlier ones - they are getting better at what they do.

• Partly this improvement comes from more practice. The more we do anything, the better we get at it.
• But novel writers also improve through a greater understanding of their craft. And that is where this section of the website comes in.

If you are still getting to grips with the fundamentals of fiction writing, the articles below can be safely skipped for now. If you are ready to take your knowledge of the art and craft of writing a novel to the next level, read on...

Novel Writing Unleashed: Beyond the Facts about Fiction

Becoming a Novel Writer

• Keeping a Writing Journal
  This one isn't a particularly "advanced" advice, but it is certainly something to consider if you plan on making writing your career. You know all those writing ideas you have that you can't do anything with because you are too busy working on your novel? Well, keeping a writing journal is a great way of getting them out of your system without ruining your current work in progress.

Theme and Symbolism

• Using Multiple Themes In a Novel
  This is something I get asked a lot - whether a novel has to be about one issue and one issue only, or whether you are free to explore a whole range of ideas in your fiction. This article provides the answer.

Character and Viewpoint

• On Character Change
  When you think about it, witnessing a character undergo a change is one of the biggest reasons there is for reading fiction. Here, I discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of character transformation in novels.
• The Unreliable Narrator
  It is an unwritten convention in novel writing that 1st person narrators should always tell the reader the truth. They can lie to the other characters, sure, but not to the person they are telling their story to. Unreliable narrators, as the name implies, are 1st person narrators that can't be trusted.
• Creating Realistic and Romantic Characters
  Some characters in novels are so believable, so realistic, that they could easily live next door to you. Others might be great to read about as they perform their heroic deeds, but they are ultimately unbelievable. This article shows you how to make your own novel's leading man or woman the perfect blend of the two.
• Letting Go of Novel Characters
  Finally in this advanced look at point of view and characterization, some advice on what to do (and what to beware of) when your novel is complete and it is time to say goodbye to the fictional characters you have created.

Building the Setting

• Fictional Settings vs. Real Settings
  Is it best to set your novel in a real place or a fictional one? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? The short answer is that both types of settings are okay. And it is even possible (maybe even preferable) to blend the two and use both fictional and real places in your writing.
• Does Your Novel's Setting Inspire You?
  Last up, a few thoughts on the importance of feeling connected to your story's setting. You cannot hope to move readers with a setting if the setting does not move you.

Plot and Structure

• Deus Ex Machina Endings
  You have probably heard of these types of endings. In a nutshell, they are contrived endings that the readers won't find at all satisfying, and you obviously need to steer well clear of them.
• How to Handle the Passage of Time
  Have you noticed that a typically-sized novel (300 pages, say) can cover anything from a few hours to a few decades? If your own novel covers a long period of time, what tricks do you have at your disposal to handle the passing of all those years?

Dialogue

• Writing Dialogue Indirectly
  An alternative title for this one might have been: How to Handle Long Speeches in a Novel. One of the unforgivable sins of novel writing is to bore the reader - and speeches that drag on and on can do precisely that. So what is the solution? Actually there are several. But the most important one is to write what I call "indirect" dialogue.

Novel Writing Solutions

• How to Write Opening Lines
  Opening lines are important commercially. If publishers (and, later, book buyers) don't like the first sentence, they will probably stop reading there and then. And that's bad news for your bank balance.
• How to Write Closing Lines
  Closing lines, on the other hand, matter artistically. They are like the very last note in a symphony - if it's off-key, it will ruin everything that has come before it.
• How to Write About the Weather
  Okay, I know I'm British and that we apparently have a problem with talking about the weather too much but, putting that aside, it's still very important in fiction. It can make the difference between a great scene and one that is seriously short on atmosphere.

There will be plenty more "Novel Writing Unleashed" articles coming very soon...