Writers' Treasure Fiction Writing The Big Picture of a Novel — Part II

The Big Picture of a Novel — Part II

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

Further Reading:

  1. The Big Picture of a Novel – Part III
  2. The Big Picture of a Novel
  3. Getting Bogged Down in Editing – Help!

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October 27, 2009October 27, 2009| Idrees PatelIdrees Patel| 4 Comments| 2:06 PM

Of all the novels I’ve read, I (and you) prefer those who have a compelling opening chapter. The chapter which draws us in and leads us smoothly throughout the book to the end. If we are not “hooked” by the chapter, we close the book snap shut. Which means the author has failed to do his job.

But you don’t want to be that author. You want your novel (or any form of fiction) to be a bestseller. Widely read. Widely praised. You want your reader to be hooked in. You want him/her to finish the book and not close the book until the last word has been read. You want your book to stand the test of the reader’s patience.

But how do you actually achieve this things?
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Further Reading:

  1. What Should Be Told and Shown in the Opening Chapter?
  2. The Best Way of Writing a Compelling Opening Chapter
  3. Compelling Opening Chapters Written — Then What?
  4. Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Compelling Opening Chapter
  5. The art of finishing a chapter
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How to pick out a character for your novelHow to pick out a character for your novel

June 7, 2015June 7, 2015| Guest AuthorGuest Author| 0 Comments| 1:50 AM

This is a guest article by James Thompson. If you want to submit a guest article of your own be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

Believe it or not, but the profession of your novel characters play a major role in making your novel a big hit. Using clichéd professions such as doctor, lawyer, detective, or an actor won’t suffice — unless it’s the only relevant choice. The profession of the characters, especially the main character, is what sets the scene for your book. Readers prefer reading something “fresh”.

How often do you read about a wizarding profession? (I’m sure we all clearly remember the famous books with those characters). All right, these aren’t all technically “professions”, but they set the scene and add more flavor to the character. They make a character more memorable.

A character’s profession affects the entire novel. It pinpoints to a personality type.

For example, what kind of a personality would you expect a detective to have? Clever, unsocial, and offensive at times? How about a rich guy? Bold, clever, and slightly arrogant? The profession also affects the plot. Since the profession forms the personality and “role” of a character, it’s bound to alter the plot and the way the character acts and reacts in it.

I have stressed enough about the importance of the characters’ profession. Now, let’s move on to how to pick out a suitable career for them. Relax, they are only characters! They won’t complain about freedom of choice.

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Further Reading:

  1. What Should Be Told and Shown in the Opening Chapter?
  2. Fiction Writing 101: The Elements of Stories
  3. The Best Way of Writing a Compelling Opening Chapter
  4. The Big Picture of a Novel – Part III
  5. Conflict is Necessary to Make it Spicy
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The Big Picture of a NovelThe Big Picture of a Novel

July 18, 2009July 18, 2009| Idrees PatelIdrees Patel| 0 Comment| 10:51 PM

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

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Further Reading:

  1. The Big Picture of a Novel — Part II
  2. The Big Picture of a Novel – Part III
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