Feeling lost? The novel writing roadmap will take you where you want to go!
Begin at the beginning and keep on going to the end. There’s a lot of information on Novel Writing Help, but if you follow the articles below, in order, you’ll know everything you need to know to write and publish a your novel.
I’ve divided the information into four phases. If you want to skip ahead, here they are…
- Phase 1: Prepare to Succeed
- Phase 2: Write Your Novel
- Phase 3: Edit Your Novel
- Phase 4: Publish Your Novel
Phase 1: Prepare to Succeed
The information below covers everything you need to do before you write your novel. It lays a rock-solid foundation – not just for the next novel you write, but for your novel writing career as a whole.
7 Keys to Becoming a Successful Writer
Can You Make Money Writing Novels?
How Long Does Writing a Novel Take?
How to Beat Writer’s Block
The Complete Novel Writing Software Guide
Finding Your Market: Types of Novels
Phase 2: Write Your Novel
Phase 1 was all about your writing career as a whole – or all the novels you’re going to write. The second phase focuses on your first novel (or your next novel if you’ve written a book before).
More specifically, it takes you from a blank sheet of paper to a solid working draft. The language may not be that pretty by the time you reach the end, but you’ll have a gripping story full of compelling characters to take forward to Phase 3, where we’ll work on polishing the words themselves.
The Process: How to Write a Novel Step by Step
Finding Ideas
- What Are Novel Ideas?
- Where Do Ideas Come From?
- Should You Write Autobiographical Fiction?
- How to Find Ideas in 2 Easy Steps
- How to Find Titles for Novels
What Is Theme & Why Does It Matter?
Creating Characters In Novels
- The First Rule Creating Fictional Characters
- Minor Characters & Major Characters
- How to Create Character Profiles
The Complete Guide to Point of View
- Viewpoint Theory…
- Third Person Narrative Theory
- Writing In the Third Person
- First Person Narrative Theory
- Writing In the First Person
- First Person Narration Using an “Observer”
- Writing a Multiple Viewpoint Novel
- 1st or 3rd?…
- Advantages of Third Person Point of View
- Advantages of First Person Point of View
- 1st vs. 3rd Person: Which Is Best?
- Minor Viewpoints…
- Second Person Point of View
- Omniscient Point of View
- Using an Unreliable Narrator
- Final Decision…
- Past Tense or Present Tense?
Building the Setting
How to Plot a Novel
- The Essentials…
- What Is a Plot?
- How to Write a Plot in 10 Steps
- Beginning a Novel “In Medias Res”
- Adding Subplots to a Novel
- Optional Reading…
- What Is a “Deus Ex Machina” Ending?
- On Character Change
- Developing a Plot Backwards
- Writing Opening Lines
- Writing Closing Lines
Narrative Structure Made Easy
- Nine Examples of Foreshadowing
- Handling the Exposition of a Story
- How to Handle Flashbacks
- Showing & Telling
- How Write a Narrative with Pace
- Anatomy of a Novel: Chapters & Parts
Phase 3: Edit Your Novel
If Phase 2 was all about what you say, Phase 3 covers how you say it – or as Hemingway put it, “getting the words right.”
The articles below are a complete course in how to write with style.
Read them before you write your first draft – to familiarize yourself with the essentials. Or go with the flow the first time around and use these articles to edit the draft later.
Finding Your Writing Voice
The Five Types of Writing
Prose Writing 101
The Art of Descriptive Writing
9 Rules For Writing Dialogue
The Complete Guide to Interior Monologue
Phase 4: Publish Your Novel
Finally, the best part of the whole novel writing process – getting your novel published.
Actually, getting published is the easy part. The real goal, of course, is to sell as many copies of your novel as you can!
(Note: This section is in need of a major overhaul, which I’m currently working on. The articles below will get you started, but stay tuned for a more up to date look at how to publish and promote your fiction.)
The Complete Guide to Publishing a Novel
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