Novels Start With a Plan

Getting Started

When people begin to write they often don't know where to start. This is particularly the case if they are trying to write a novel. This article will give you some tips on how to get started writing a great novel.

Have an Outline

One good way of starting work on your novel is to have an outline. If you have got any idea at all about what your novel is going to be about then start with an outline.

On a sheet of paper write the numbers one to ten. Next to one write beginning and next to ten write end.

Maybe your story starts with someone finding a body, if so then put that next to your beginning. Perhaps your story ends with the killer being caught and handed over to the police. Put that next to ten end.

In between you can list some things that you think might happen in between. Don't worry at this stage what connection there is between each stage and the next that often comes with writing and with having good characters.

Storyline and Characters

Your characters are essential to making your storyline work. You should have a biography for each of your central characters. In this you should include their name, their physical description (you don't want your heroe or heroine to start out with blonde hair and end up a redhead, so keep this near you). You should know where they live, what their life was like just before the story started, what it is they want out of life, what it is they don't want.

You need to know what your characters might do to get what they want and what their strategies are to avoid what they don't want. It is these things that will provide the conflict in your story and make it work. What would character a do if they walked into a room and found a body? What might they do to find out what had happened, what might they avoid? These should have some fit with what your chief character wants and what they want to avoid. This is how character and storyline meet.

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