How To Start Writing A Novel

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How To Start Writing a Novel

1. Sit down.
2. Turn on computer / pick up pen & paper.
3. Breathe; close your eyes, tuning out the world around you.
4. Think of an amazing memory.
5. Pretend it happened to someone else.
6. Tell THAT person's story. Start writing it down, slowly at first, a word or two, then a sentence or two, at a time.
7. Be descriptive. See what they're seeing. Feel their feelings. Move beyond your original memories. This is THEIR story now.
8. Gradually start embellishing it. Let yourself go, as wildly as you can or want. Write more emotionally now, then with all abandon, almost "cinematically," spilling it all out onto the page, paying no attention (yet) to grammar or proper structure.
9. Write until you have no more to say, for the moment. This may be hours later, or only minutes; after only a few sentences, or paragraphs, or pages.
10. Put your pen down.
11. Breathe again.
12. Get up. Hydrate. Have a snack. Go take a walk. Clear your head of everything you just wrote.
13. Later (a couple hours, tonight, tomorrow). Read what you wrote. Don't edit anything yet. Think about what might come next in the story. Scribble a few notes to yourself in the margins...or not.
14. Next day, start again at Step #1.
15. After a few days / weeks, go back and see what you have. Is a theme appearing? A plot? A mystery? Let the story reveal itself to you as you go. It's okay not to have all the answers yet. Let yourself be surprised by the unfolding story...just like your reader will be.
16. Only now should you start editing what you wrote earlier with abandon. Start cutting out unnecessary words, phrases, ideas that no longer fit your emerging characters and storyline, or are just too crazy.
17. When you see the story finally emerging, start jotting down a rough outline, just as a roadmap. Don't carve it in stone. Give yourself permission to change the outline as the story tells itself to you. Remember: The ending has not yet been written.
18. Congratulations! You've made a great start to writing a novel! Repeat all the above as often as necessary.
 
#writing #TriceTunes #novelist #fiction #productivewriting #writingtips






 

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