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.
[Read more…] about The Big Picture of a Novel — Part II
Archives for July 2009
Conflict is Necessary to Make it Spicy
Get ready for some more writing advice. Today’s post is an important one — for me at least! — and I hope it will be interesting for you.
When you are writing a novel, what is the important thing to consider? Of course there are many important things. I wrote the wrong words. To correct it, I’ll write it again: What is ONE of the most important things to consider when you are writing a novel?
[Read more…] about Conflict is Necessary to Make it Spicy
The Big Picture of a Novel
For me, writing a novel isn’t the same as writing the short story. The two are very very different, and that’s not for me. That’s saying for everyone.
Writing a short story of 1000-2000 words means you don’t have to worry about the big picture. You just write a gripping event which happened one day and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about the time span your story has either. Writing a short story is certainly easier in that respect. However… there are certain other problems related with it, about which I’m going to inform you in another post.
Back to this post, as I was saying, it’s all different with a novel. There are chapters in a novel, and you can’t write disconnected, disjointed chapters. Your readers will throw your book away if they find it’s very episodic. If you want to write in an episodic style, try the short story then!
So you have to worry about the Big Picture. Find where your chapters are leading to. Find whether they’re leading to the place you want them to lead, or whether they are disobeying you (for a want of a better word). And that is not as easy as it looks. But hey, if this is overwhelming to you, remember that all this stuff is not impossible! Thousands of writers have done this thing. If you like writing, you have to do it. I also have to do it. If there’s one thing that is important for a beginning writer, it’s this: whenever you find a thing that seems just way too difficult, take a break. And then determine to do it. After all, other writers have done the same thing too.
So is writing a novel as easy as it looks? Definitely not! What I have told you is only the teaser. There’s still a lot of stuff left to tell.
Which means this post will have to be cut in parts.
Read part two | part three
A Schoolboy Author
Hello, all. Let me first introduce myself. I am Idrees from the city Mumbai in India. My interests are—if you have not seen them already—are mostly reading and writing. I have read more than a hundred of books and this is my second oldest hobby, as I was reading short Indian tales when I was 5. As I say in my profile, I’m a great lover of reading! Without a book, I’m hopelessly lost. I’m bored! Play? What a boring thing to do. Watch television? No good programmes are showed these days. Sit on the computer? I’ll hamper my eyesight. Then what on earth to do?! Read, what else? The greatest hobby ever.
It is because of my interest in reading that I have become inspired to write my own book. My very own. A bestseller (okay, I appreciate the hardships). Famous and in print. Is it impossible to do that? Well, no. But is it difficult to write a novel, however easy it may seem at first? Oh yes! A month before I just started writing my first ‘real’ novel (I choose the word ‘real’ because all of my other attempts were just in fun). I am now currently up to the fifth chapter with 15000 words. While I know it is very difficult, I get a lot of fun from it. Well, isn’t this why we all become a writer?!
Got to go now, homework!
PS — expect more posts in the next few days.