The Big Picture of a Novel — Part II

July 19, 2009| Idrees Patel| 3:34 PM

Categories:

Fiction Writing

In the first part of this post I started explaining about The Big Picture of a Novel. In the second part I will start the process of how to actually be aware about it.

Step One: When you’re about a quarter way in your novel…..

Organize your novel first, into nice chapters and scenes. I always find that being organized helps me to stay on track. I don’t know if that is true for you too, but you could always try out my advice.

Then read what you have written. Read it with a critical eye. Do not make any changes in this stage.

Step Two: The Thinking Phase

This is the time to think. To decide. Does it really hold up, your novel? Of course this is a first draft, so you don’t worry about what anyone would do if they read your book in this form. So do not worry about that aspect of the matter.

Just decide whether you’re going on the right way. Is this the way you planned to go when you first started writing? If yes, continue happily; there’s no problem for you. But if no….

Don’t be worried. You just have to decide at this stage.

Decide between two options:
1. Whether this new path is better than the one you thought before.
2. Or maybe it’s worse. Maybe you’d like to stay in that old, safe part.

Only you can decide this. If you decide that the new path is better, go ahead with it. If the book has a lot of contradictory information as a result, do not correct it at this stage. You have loads of time once you have completed your first draft. As many writers will tell you, do not get worked up in editing at this stage.

If the new path is worse, steer your novel to the old path and continue as if there were no contradictory information. You can always correct it later!

That’s all for Part II.

Read part III

Why Hunting for Plots is WorthlessWhy Hunting for Plots is Worthless

June 9, 2010| Idrees Patel| 18 Comments| 4:28 PM

Plots are limited, and that’s a fact. If you think you can make up a unique plot all by yourself, think again. I’m not saying that it isn’t possible – maybe you can do it — but it’s as difficult as climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen.

Why is this so? Because there have been writers for centuries and centuries, and every plot you think of has already been done, been written or been told in one form or another. The details may be different – the characters may be different, and the setting may be different. But the plot will be similar; the issue of plagiarization will rise.

It’s a big claim to make. Is your writing original? Maybe you struggle with plots. Maybe you can’t seem to find a suitable plot.

Maybe it doesn’t fit.

Maybe it seems like it’s been done before, and many times.

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Writing Tip: Finding the Balance of Narrative and DialogueWriting Tip: Finding the Balance of Narrative and Dialogue

July 8, 2010| Idrees Patel| 8 Comments| 12:03 AM

In the world of fiction writing, there are many things to explore. Subplots, conflict, POV, characters, you name it. But have you heard of narrative and dialogue? If you’ve got a story, you’ve got to narrate it. If you’ve got a set of characters, they have to converse, i.e., talk. Talking in fiction writing is known as dialogue, and narrating or describing anything is known as narrative.

Now where’s the problem in that?

Too much of a good thing is usually a bad thing, and it applies here. Some writers use narrative a lot. Their characters aren’t talkers. It’s just page after page of narrative, how they did this, their journey, their perils, the people they met, the surroundings, and so on. All description. At which point your story looks like an essay which no one wants to read, rather than an amazing novel.

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