For Writers
By Writers
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For Writers
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By Writers
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by
Writing a novel is exciting and thrilling, a challenge. Keith Waterhouse once described the process as 'an exercise not unlike digging a small quarry'! Some writers start out with a vague idea and 'travel hopefully', letting their idea and its characters lead them to a conclusion. Others plan everything down to the last detail and never stray from their original plan. Whichever method you choose is for you alone to decide, but a little planning and thought will ensure that you won't falter along the way.
Think of it like running a long distance, cross-country race. You start easily enough, gaining momentum with that first heady rush of excitement, but will you have the stamina to keep going, up and down, from side to side - sometimes even backtracking - until you reach the finishing line?
Your idea - your story - should have strong 'legs'. Enough muscle to keep going until the end. You know you have the makings of a good novel in your mind when it's too long to be a short story, play or poem. Decide now if your story has the energy and stamina to make it to the finishing line. Let's plan it with a bit more detail.
Number a sheet of paper with points 1 to 10 (for an example, see the text box). Point number 1 is your starting point, your beginning. No. 5 is midway and No. 10 is the ending. Fill in all the bits of story you know and decide approximately where these will appear in your story. Enlarge it if you like, by making the points from one to twenty. Make your outline as detailed as you can and save it for revision and further enlargement as you follow this series. You may not be able to put something next to every number at this point, but you should have a rough idea of beginning, middle and a possible ending. You may have to change tack at a later stage if, for example, you know your character would not choose this or that course of action when they reach a certain point. But simply having a plan is a way forward, something to rely on. You need a mapped-out method for sticking to the story you are going to tell, without going off-track down a side lane, losing direction and forward motion on your cross-country journey. Remember though, that this plan is not set in concrete - you don't have to stick to it if you feel the story should take a different direction after further thought.
Next, let's think about that all-important beginning. It has to be something that will make the reader want to read on. It may be an opening that they can identify with, or one that will arouse their curiosity, for example. Take a look at the following first paragraphs of a few novels. We'll identify the ingredients that will make us, the reader, want to read on.
'Buddy stole the money from his mother's purse just before he left for school. His mother was in the kitchen clearing up the breakfast things and his father was still in bed.'
This is from a novel for young people, aged around 13-15 years old. Read it again through the eyes of a teenager. Would you, as that reader, want to know why the character was stealing money from his mother's purse? Did he get away with it, or did he get caught? The opening sentence forms the question, 'why did he do that?' in the reader's mind. To find out the answer, the reader will have to read on. It's an example of a writer using an action inviting a question as an opening. Here's another:
'Sunday 1 January
It's a novel about the life of a single woman, written in the form of a diary.
What makes this opening different? It's the first of January, a time of resolutions. The figures don't provide enough of a draw on their own, but the excuses in brackets do! Most of us have excuses for excesses, don't we? Helen Fielding, in this example, uses humour and reader identification to draw us in. We do the same things - will her story be similar to ours? It's like reading the problem page of a magazine, if only to satisfy our curiosity, or to see if someone has a problem we can identify with.
And another, again very different:
This opening uses imagery to invite the reader to read on. It makes great use of the senses - sight, smell, and sound combine to set the scene for what is to come. You can picture the man, smell the salt, hear the waves. Why is the man alone and why is he pacing? The last sentence make you want to know more, too - what 'whispered tales' is the man trying to hear?
Notice that all the characters in the examples above have a 'problem'. Buddy needs money for something and has none of his own. Bridget Jones wants to control her habits of over-indulgence; the Bard is frustrated by trying to listen to something ethereal, tales brought across the sea on the wind.
Ask yourself what your main character's problem is. Characters without problems don't make very interesting reading! Read other beginnings of novels and analyse that all-important first paragraph. Choose novels like the one you wish to write yourself, in the same genre, and see how other writers have done it. Note down any good examples you find in a small notebook, which will also be useful to capture any ideas you may have as you go along.
You now have a plan of the story you are going to write. You've studied some examples and taken a closer look at how other novelists have written their openings. Now think about the opening of your own novel. What device(s) will you use to tempt the reader to turn the page and read the book? Decide on a time, a place, and a main character. Make it as real in your imagination as you possibly can. Think about it until you are bursting to write it down then write it. You've just written the beginning of your own novel - congratulations!
In the next of this six-part series, learn how to develop the plot and define the theme of your novel.
Recommended reading:
Writing a Novel and getting published by Nigel Watts, from the Teach Yourself series by Hodder & Stoughton. London 1996.
The Craft of Novel Writing by Dianne Doubtfire, also from Hodder & Stoughton. London 1996
The Way To Write Novels by Paddy Kitchen. Elm Tree Books. London 1981.
Planning your Novel a checklist
An example of how to plan your novel. You may not be able to fill in all of the gaps, like in this example, but you should at least have a beginning, middle and a possible ending.
| 1 | Woman A (main character) is having an affair with Man B. They work for the same firm. |
| 2 | Man & woman return home to their respective families. Scenes picturing the lives of the two. What reasons/excuses for their behaviour? |
| 3 | Woman A confides to another colleague, Woman C that she is having an affair with Man A. She trusts woman B to keep the secret. |
| 4 | Woman C tells someone else. Soon, all Woman A's and Man B's colleagues know. |
| 5 | Woman A's partner and family find out about the affair. How will this come about? |
| 6 |
The different reactions and emotions of Woman A's family. Someone will go to
Man B's partner and family and tell them.
Early consequences of actions. |
| 7 | The destruction of two families. Two regretful people, A & B. Four single parents. Upset children and grandparents. |
| 8 | Man B returns to his wife, who has forgiven him. Woman A, betrayed by Man B, is now single and without a partner. |
| 9 | Reactions of Woman A, who has to build a new life. Eventually she meets Man D and begins a new relationship. |
| 10 | Woman A and Man D plan a new life together. Will it be successful? Will Woman A allow the previous mistakes in her life to affect her future? |