Advice for writing a novel

[NDub]

Hey, everyone. It's been on my mind all summer as I mowed through a few books; I'm thinking about writing my own novel.

Although I'm unsure of the plot, I have a premise and some ideas that I really like. I've started some preliminary work - characters, storylines, research.

But I've never written a novel, only a few short stories for college classes.

Does anyone have any advice? I'm open to anything. If there's been a recent thread about this topic, please direct me to it. Thanks for your help.

 

[BYH]

Drink until you come to your senses.

Check out this thread for some great advice about writing a book:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/36781/

 

[Sports_Scribe]

What type of novel?

 

[forever_town]

I'm actually considering writing a novel as well. Have been thinking about doing it for a while now.

I've had some informal training while playing an online RPG. One of the things you want to do is develop believable characters. Think about both good and bad characteristics and all that stuff.

 

[NDub]

Thanks for the link, BYH.

I think my idea is good, but characters are where it's at. I could have an incredible idea but if the reader doesn't care about the people involved, then it's worthless. As you might already know from here, I'm a huge LOST fan, so I'm very aware the importance of character development.

I'm going the science fiction route with this story. Nothing whacky like Star Wars, but a little more real... in the LOST mold.

 

[EagleMorph]

Rule #1 - Don't tell anyone you're writing a book. If you never publish it, or never even finish it, that's all people will ask about.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Vampires.

-30-

 

[NDub]

Ha ha ha. No vampires!

How much did you guys have planned out before you sat down and started writing? Did you create an outline? Or just a few paragraphs for the plot, and then fill in the details in your 200 pages? Did you come up with character names, personalities, backgrounds, etc. beforehand? Or did you make it up as you went along?

 

[HejiraHenry]

Get off the internet. You'll never get anything done.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Rule #1 - Don't tell anyone you're writing a book. If you never publish it, or never even finish it, that's all people will ask about.

This. I've completed a first novel (68,000 words), although it probably could use some revisions. I haven't told anyone about it yet, although I really haven't gotten myself geared up to send out proposal letters to agents yet. I don't really want to tell anyone (family or friends) about it because I don't want them to think, "Oh, Baron's just trying some new fad of being an author. That'll last five minutes." Instead, I've been working on a second novel ( I'm up to about 5,000 words). I guess someday, I'll send out the proposal letters, and hope that an agent calls, and my wife will be wondering what the heck I've been doing while she's asleep.

What I've done is just basically write. Sounds simple and nutty. But I just sit in front of the computer and put down what comes to mind.

 

[Sic semper tyrannis]

Interesting insight at the end of John Irving's latest, Last Night in Twisted River
He describes his writing process, which is essentially back to front. Needs to write the last sentence first.
Also, how he'll write a sentence that he likes and then will find a spot for it somewhere in the book.

 

[MonsterLobster]

Stephen King's "On Writing" has some interesting insight on how to get the job done.

 

[britwrit]

From what I read (and what I believe), everybody has their own - wildly different - ideal way of writing a novel.

With that proviso, if you only have one or two hours a day to write, I've found that having a detailed outline, scene by scene, passage by passage, helps. It doesn't take the fun of creation away either. It lets you concentrate on the actual writing. (But I'm well into the second novel without a sale, so what do I know?)

 

[HejiraHenry]

Stephen King's "On Writing" has some interesting insight on how to get the job done.

Yes. And it's his contention, as I recall, that "plot" is overrated.

 

[Buck]

It was King's contention that brevity and editing were overrated.

 

[MonsterLobster]

When I mentioned King's "On Writing" as an example of how to get the job done, I was thinking more of his logistical suggestions. Like setting aside set times to write each day and sticking to it like a punch-the-clock job. How to block out distractions. How to get work done without second-guessing yourself before the editing stage. How to learn to recognize bad work (I believe he called it killing your darlings). How doing cocaine will lead to The Tommyknockers. That sort of thing.

I've read at least 30 King books and I'll be the first to tell you I hate each of them for a different reason, but somehow he has mastered the trick of writing to the point where you're one more dull page from just throwing the book out before he gives you 300 words of pure awesomeness that keep you hooked through the next 40-page lull. He also likes to write about 10 pages too long after what should be the best ending of any of his books. The only exceptions to that last part I can think of are The Stand and the final book in the Dark Tower series.

 

[Flip Wilson]

A friend of mine is a pretty successful novelist, and she gave me this advice. Write 1,000 words a day. You're a journalist, so 1,000 words every day is certainly do-able. In three months, you'll have about 100,000 words, more than enough for a book.

 

[NDub]

I've always been told that the best writers are the best readers. So devour books and magazines. I read three books this summer and drew a ton of ideas for my story. I've got a list of at least 15 books I'd like to get into that are in the genre I want to write.

I guess I'm just trying to figured out how to start. I think I need to sit down, turn on the laptop and go.

 

[Huggy]

Drink until you come to your senses.

Check out this thread for some great advice about writing a book:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/36781/

I sent that link as well as one from a thread we had about writing screenplays to a friend of mine who has unsuccessfully been attempting to make a living as a novelist and screenwriter for years.

From what I have seen of the latest stuff he's sent me he hasn't been paying attention to this advice. He's been writing movies for a while now (he's dabbled in creating and writing for TV too) and it's always the same, dark, psycho-thriller stuff. Wooden characters, terrible dialogue, really formula stuff.

He'll bang out some screenplay in a couple of days, jam it into an envelope headed to a guy who he says is "repping" this stuff for him in Cali somewhere and move on to something else. Says he'll rewrite it when somebody pays him to do it. No surprise to me why he's never sold anything, I can't imagine anybody buying the stuff in the condition he sends it out in. He's always telling me that somebody from some studio or other is interested in this project or that, but they never fork over any cash, so I am hesitant to believe any of this ****.

As others have noted here, characters are everything. A while back my buddy tells me he is "developing" a one-hour TV drama based on a small music mag we all wrote for back in the late-80s. (It was an awesome time, even if it didn't last a year, man, it was so much fun.) Not a bad idea in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing, but he's been watching too many current dramas. There is the hard-to-deal-with genius with a deep, dark secret who is the focal point, the spunky single mom, the crazy boss, the serious co-workers and their whacky counterparts. Nothing we haven't seen before elsewhere.

I am sure anyone who has ever dabbled in writing has thought of writing a book. I know I have but I don't have the talent or discipline to pull it off and I have a ton of respect for those who can.

 

[Buck]

The idea of writing on spec is repgunant to me.
I don't want to write anything unless I'm guaranteed to get paid for it.