http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-writing-blog.html Welcome to the Novel Writing Help Blog - the place to come to read all the new material (and updated old material) added to the Novel Writing Help website. en-us novel writing Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:08:04 GMT Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:08:04 GMT novel-writing-help.com http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-writing.html 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. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:15:12 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-titles.html Never underestimate the importance of great novel titles. They matter artistically and, perhaps more importantly, they matter commercially. Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:24:30 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/editing-fiction.html Editing fiction for style simply means working on the words until they are as perfect as you can make them. It is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects of the entire novel writing process. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:37:09 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/first-draft.html Writing a first draft of your novel is both a scary and a magical time. It is scary because facing a blank sheet of paper and having to fill it with words takes grit. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:37:08 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-fiction.html For some people, writing fiction is the easiest thing in the world. Armed with nothing but a pen and some paper, they write beautiful prose without even breaking a sweat. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:37:07 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-journal.html I have been keeping a writing journal all of my adult life. With virtually zero time to devote to novel writing, my writing notebooks have kept me sane. Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:41:10 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/plot-line.html Writing a gripping plot line means hooking the novel's readers on the very first page - and keeping them hooked. It's very simple to do, once you understand the key to page-turning fiction. Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:44:56 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-writing-software.html This is a novel writing software guide with a big difference. What's the difference? I am not affiliated with any of the writer's software products mentioned below. Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:32:48 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/create-characters.html When you create characters or settings for a novel and you do a series is it best to use a spreadsheet to make sure that you get continuity? Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:31:43 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-with-style.html Writing with style is what makes the difference between a novel getting published or not. Plot, character and all the rest of it are important, but they count for nothing if your writing style sucks. Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:31:42 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/plot-and-structure.html At its simplest level, plot and structure in a novel is all about keeping the readers turning the pages. Plotlessness might be fashionable with some writers, but they don't have an audience to speak of. Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:31:41 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/how-to-plot-a-novel.html It is no small task, learning how to plot a novel. Not only do you have a lot of events to dream up, you also have to present them in such a way that the readers keep turning the pages. Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:31:39 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/how-to-write-fiction.html Learning how to write fiction can be overwhelming at times - so many new things to discover, so many ideas bouncing around in your head, so many tasks to perform. Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:31:38 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/closing-lines.html Make no mistake: closing lines are important in novels. As discussed in the article on writing opening lines, the most important sentence in a novel is the very first one. Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:43:36 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-writing-secrets.html There are just two novel writing secrets. But despite the fact that these keys to writing success are really just common sense, 99.5 percent of writers fail to act on them. Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:37:01 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-writing-success.html The two biggest keys to novel writing success, in my opinion, are a willingness to work hard and a deep knowledge of the craft of writing a novel. Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:35:00 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-opening-lines.html Opening lines in novels are by far the most important sentences that any writer will write. I don't mean that opening sentences in fiction are artistically the most important. Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:37:26 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/passage-of-time-in-fiction.html The passage of time that a novel has to span can vary wildly, anything from a single day to an entire century. And yet those novels might have precisely the same word count - 80,000 words, say. Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:27:40 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/character-change.html When you think about it, a plot in a novel is ultimately all about character change. Without character transformation, there would be little point in writing or reading fiction at all. Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:29:43 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/building-a-novels-setting.html In some novels, setting is more important than in others. Does that mean you can forget about your novel's setting? Of course it doesn't - not if you want to write fiction with atmosphere. Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:35:57 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/creating-characters-in-novels.html Creating characters has got to rank close to the top of favorite novel writing tasks. Creating a character involves bringing a person to life using only your imagination - and that takes some beating. Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:50:26 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/point-of-view-in-fiction.html For many writers, point of view in fiction begins and ends with the decision between 1st person and 3rd person point of view. To write well, you need to go deeper than that. Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:33:03 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/creative-writing-tips.html Novel Writing Help is packed with creative writing tips, but here's a way to have even more free writing help and advice delivered straight to your inbox. Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:22:40 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/plot-diagram.html Let's face it, a typical plot diagram is worse than useless. It has a gently sloping line on the left showing the rising action, and a sharply falling slope on the right where the action drops. Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:18:19 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-websites.html As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time checking out other writing websites. Often the writing sites are not up too much... Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:00:46 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/setting-and-description.html Setting and description are often put side by side in creative writing guides, and for good reason - a lot of the work you have to do on setting is all about helping the reader visualize it through strong, sensory language. Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:21:52 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/details-in-writing.html Using strong details in writing is what makes the difference between language that springs to life and words that remain flat and uninspiring. Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:49:15 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-details.html As I showed in the previous article on using details in writing, finding strong writing details to use in your prose is critical to your success as a novelist. Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:47:52 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/becoming-an-author.html Some people, too many people, believe that becoming an author and making a living from writing fiction is something that only the extraordinarily gifted can hope to achieve. Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:25:48 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/purple-prose.html According the the Oxford English Dictionary, purple prose is writing that is too elaborate or ornate. It is the literary equivalent of a chocolate box painting. Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:59:18 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-about-the-weather.html Writing about the weather in your fiction - and writing about it well - is critical to an atmospheric story. But don't just take my word for it... Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:48:17 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-setting.html As I have said earlier in this section, the setting of a novel is not its most important component. That distinction is shared equally between character and plot. Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:19:05 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-characters.html Writers can become very attached to fictional characters when working on a novel. Characters might be born in our imaginations, but they nevertheless seem real. Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:16:03 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/print-on-demand-publishers.html There are dozens of print on demand publishers, some well known and some not. As print on demand publishing becomes ever more popular, no doubt many more players will spring up. Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:15:44 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/self-publishing-books.html So far in this look at self publishing books online, we have looked at the future of traditional publishing, whether self publishing a book online is a smart choice... Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:14:16 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/online-self-publishing.html I have pretty much said all there is to say about online self publishing vs. traditional publishing in the previous article - Is Online Book Publishing a Smart Choice? Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:12:56 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/traditional-publishing.html Traditional publishing is the system by which books have always made their way into the hands of readers: A writer writes a book and has it accepted for publication by a publishing house. Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:11:41 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/getting-a-book-published.html Getting a book published isn't as simple as it used to be. But then what is? Back in the golden age of publishing, not so long ago, writers banged out manuscripts on manual typewriters. Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:10:26 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/online-book-publishing.html Online book publishing is a way of self publishing your book using the power of the internet. It differs from traditional self publishing in two important ways. Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:22:06 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-about-sex.html When you stop to think about it, writing about sex in a novel is no different in theory than writing about two characters sharing a meal in a restaurant, playing a game of table tennis, or wallpapering the living room. Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:51:07 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/creating-characters.html Creating characters is arguably the most important part of novel writing. At the very least, knowing how to create a character is as important as plotting a novel. Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:37:45 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/protagonist.html Put simply, the protagonist of a novel is the character that the novel is about, or the character whose story lies at the novel's core. Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:34:27 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/naming-characters.html Naming characters in your novel might seem like the easiest job there is in writing, but you'd be amazed how long fiction writers can agonize over the decision. Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:26:14 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/themes-in-a-novel.html A question I get asked a lot is whether you can have several themes in a novel. The answer (as with a lot of answers in novel writing) is that it depends. Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:15:57 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/character-creation.html In all of the material I have read on character creation, this distinction between creating romantic and realistic fictional characters hardly crops up at all. Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:48:52 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/switch-viewpoints.html The most important thing to do when you switch viewpoints from one character to another is to make the transitions as seamless for your readers as you can. Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:07:58 GMT http://www.novel-writing-help.com/point-of-view-in-literature.html Point of View in Literature is probably the biggest single area of novel writing that aspiring writers have problems with. Mostly, they can't decide on first person or third person point of view. Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:06:17 GMT