Hi
I’ve had the idea for a novel circling around in my head for some time. I’ve written maybe 10,000 words- some key scenes, snippets of important dialogue, character descriptions, etc. But I am now stuck on how I turn all these loose ideas into a nicely honed novel.

Do I just literally start at the beginning and keep writing until I get to the end?!

The part of the story that tickles my interest most at the moment is somewhere in the middle. When I switch my laptop on that’s the file that I head to first- it’s the bit I’m most excited about and so obviously the writing flows easiest when I’m working on it. I’m worried that if I just keep writing which ever bit of the plot takes my fancy on a particular day I’ll end up with lots of chunks which I then try to force together at the end to make a whole.

Can anyone give me any pointers on how they turn an initial idea into something more solid?

Many thanks
Vic- very much a beginner……

Hi Vic

Do I just literally start at the beginning and keep writing until I get to the end?!

I think that's what I'd do. With novels there's no easy way of writing them. I think you need to jump in and get started - and once you've started you'll probably find some sort of momentum.

The other thing you could do is start at the point which interestests you. Either write that scene and see how it fits with the rest of the story or begin with the exciting scene and use it as an opening.

Either way, there's no substitute for getting started with it.

Hope that's helped.

Best of luck with it!

Nik

I start at the most interesiting bit too, vic, and that's usually the middle, and maybe a bit at the beginning, and another bit close to the end. The boring bit is often the opening chapters when you're developing the MC, but if they are already gully formed in your head, then you can start anywhere that takes your fancy. As for it all coming together in the end, it is quite common to have a novel that's like a jigsaw puzzle. It may mean you have to write a bit extra, or leave some bits out, to make it fit, but I find that's all part of the fun.


- NaomiM

If this is your first novel, you're very much on a learning curve. I would go along with what the others have said. Write what interests you most, get it out of your head onto paper – or your PC – and see how it fits together later. And bear in mind – no one gets it right first time. Most work comes in the rewriting and editing, which are the best bits.

Good luck, and welcome to WW.

Dee

If there's a section that you feel really motivated to plough ahead with, it has to make sense to go with it. Suppressing that motivation in favour of doing things in some 'correct' order or waiting until the big picture is quite clear risks your losing the inspiration you are currently experiencing. It may not be there when you come back later! As Naomi has indicated, there's a lot of fun to be had from seeing how all the pieces can fit together at a later stage. And, who knows, when we are in this kind of situation, we may subconsciously have a better idea of how it's all going to fit together than we are aware of at the time.

Chris

Writing a novel is almost a portfolio of skills. One of the most valuable things I did was spending a little time going back to basics and making sure my writing skills were up to scratch - so a few quid on punctuation and grammar books (please, not Eats Shoots and Leaves though). As for approaching the novel, for your first, it's probably best to get stuck in, see if you have the stamina to get it out (course you do, otherwise you wouldn't be here !) and then take a step back and see if it's the novel you are aiming for. Once you have that first draft you have an idea of where you want to go, if it works, if it can be cleaned and polished or if it was simply something you had to get out before moving onto novel #2. In short, that first draft gives you a good base - something to work on, possibly even replan. This might sound daunting, or even ridiculous - I mean, why not just plan properly and go for the final work? Probably because it rarely works like that, but then again, you could hit the mark first time round.

The most important thing, I suppose, is finding regular time to write.

Welcome aboard!

Colin M

Do I just literally start at the beginning and keep writing until I get to the end?

Thta's certainly what I do - and always did, even with my first attempt. If you have key scenes and something of an outline in your head, all the better. Once you have a draft - or even most of a draft - then you can tinker. But the key thing is to get writing. We learn by writing. And maybe join a WW group and post some bits there, to receive criticism/feedback and thus improve...

Best of luck!

Rosy

Thanks for all your help everyone. I think you are right- I need to stop thinking about it too much and just get stuck in!
There are so many amazing writers and great advice on this website- I can't fail to be inspired to get writing!
Vic

I have no idea what I'm doing, I have to guess, it's kind of like the Cadbury's Cream Egg thingy! You know, how do you eat yours? I can tell you, my original first page is now about page 120.

Why?

I wrote it here.

http://michaelscott.weebly.com/why.html

excuse the grammar, it's a random rant.

Have I got any chocolate around my mouth?

Vic,

In many ways, your question is unanswerable. So much depends on what is going on in your head about this story, and what you want it to do. And - if you're like most writers - you probably aren't entirely clear about that anyway. What I can try to do is give you a few pointers, based on having written novels myself for nearly 30 years and having been an editor for over 20 years, working on all kinds of novels by new and established writers. But the caveat has to be that there is no single method of writing a novel that will work for everyone. Some authors plot and plan meticulously before writing a single word of the story proper; others start the novel immediately and work it out as they go.

But what I think must be common to either the pre-plan or the just-jump-in approach is that the author is enthused by a powerful desire to communicate important, unusual, magical, moving themes through a satisfying story. 'Satisfying' generally means with a beginning, middle and end (climax/resolution), although this basic form can be played with if you have the skill. And they must be sure that this desire is genuine enough to survive the many months of drafting, of learning new techniques as you go, of getting it wrong and starting again, of being diverted by sub-plots and characters you didn't expect.

On a more practical note, I strongly endorse Colin's point about a novel being a portfolio of skills. Unfortunately, many, many new writers do not seem to know this, or do but choose to believe they can be the special case that can side-step the requirements. In some ways, it's extraordinary that a person can spend a year or more writing a novel with no idea of how to go about it. But it happens; I see it all the time: novels that do not have a plot, for example, and not because the author has decided he doesn't need one: he simply isn't aware it's missing. Or novels in which it's clear the author has no conception of Point of View; or, on the micro-level, no knowledge of the principle of Show not Tell; or, at the technical level, a poor grasp on grammar, even spelling.

Unfortunately, most fiction genres these days concentrate on novels, and so thousands of new authors are trying to write them in the hope of getting published, but with virtually no training in how to do it. This is why I often encourage my clients to work on short stories before tackling novels. There are two major advantages to writing short: one is that it quickly hones a writer's structural story-telling skills, and the other is that it encourages him to produce more ideas, the demand for which will draw deeper on his wells of passion about life. A problem with spending a year or two working on just one story is that it can mean the inexperienced author is not regularly tapping his creativity; in a sense, the novel becomes an unconscious displacement activity. Even experienced novelists can fall into this trap, mind you.

Terry

Everybody is different, short-story and novel writing, to me are unrelated. In the former you are a witness, relaying an event or events. In a novel, you give a number of people life, direction, friends - you are god to an entire community. The difference between maintaining a relationship and having a one night stand.

We, (where did everybody go) the uneducated, look for exceptions to give us hope.

As a first work Harry Potter was too long.
Michael Johnson's running technique is all wrong.
Einstein would never amount to much.

I've looked at the Sacred Script competition ($1.2 million), I've read the rules. They don't even want a script, just 1000 word synopsis. More importantly, they seem to be saying 'Please send us some new sh*t,' and it's not the the only place I've seen this.

The world is changing, as are media choices. I like the films Crash, Love Actually, and Forrest Gump, none of which have a particularly significant central plot.

short-story and novel writing, to me are unrelated. In the former you are a witness, relaying an event or events. In a novel, you give a number of people life, direction, friends - you are god to an entire community. The difference between maintaining a relationship and having a one night stand.

Michael, you appear to be saying short stories require utilising a different point of view to novels; which is just not true. Any POV can be used in either. It's also not true that short story and novel writing are unrelated. I'm sorry to challenge this, but I get worried that someone will assume different skills are required for writing novels and therefore decide they have nothing to learn from the short form. Much as your last sentence is snappy, it doesn't actually bear scrutiny: both forms are long-term relationships, at least in terms of a writer being committed to improving. Yes, of course, a novel is more complex than a short story but both require memorable characters, the right choice of POV, a satisfying plot, great prose and dialogue, to name just a few.

As for the novel writer being 'god to an entire community' - this might have been the case back when omniscient POV was fashionable. But these days, readers tend to prefer getting in closer to the characters. Which brings me back to the short form, where it's essential the author is able to immediately bring the reader deep into the main character's feelings, needs, thoughts, etc. And that's a skill which is very much transferable to novel writing.

I'm not sure why you want to look for exceptions to give you hope. Do you mean you're hoping exceptions will let you off the hook of learning technique? Why would anyone want to do that? Besides, surely the point is not to fix on early assumptions, say, that Einstein would never amount to anything, but to look at what he actually achieved and, if that's what you want to emulate, doing the work that can take you there. And the chances are, this will mean learning the 'techniques' of physics, you not being Einstein.

As for examples of films which don't have plots - again, what are you trying to prove? I can give you tons of examples of films that do have plots; it's not relevant to the question here, which is, as far as I can see: does a writer want to learn to write or not? Once he knows what he's doing, fine - he can play around with form and may be good enough to bend the rules.

Terry

Thanks, you type really fast!

The problem with asking for and giving writing advice is there is no one size fits all. All most people can do is say what works for them and leave the person asking to make their own mind up.

As a generalisation, I'd say approaches to writing a novel fall roughly into two. There's the 'plan it all and know where it's all going before writing it' people, and then there are the 'start at the beginning and see what emerges as the writing progresses' people. The trouble is we may not know which approach suits unless we try them both, although most of us would have a reasonably good idea.

So you can either try writing a plot outline that starts at the beginning and ends with the end, although you don't need to work out the plot in that order. Or you can try starting writing the actual novel at what feels like a good start place to start, numbering the blank page 1, and seeing what happens.

However, it is potentially possible to use planning as a good excuse not to actually start writing. Whichever way you go about it, every page of a novel does have to be written.

Whichever way you go about it, every page of a novel does have to be written.

Good line, Daisy.

<Added>

As far as research and pre-planning is concerned, I like Terry Pratchett's attitude: when he was writing Pyramids he got hold of lots of text books on the Egyptians, then shoved them to one side when he realized that to get the humour, the reader would have to have read the same set of text books.