I start at the end.

 

 

There are two classic ways of approaching writing a novel. In reality everyone discovers their own way of going about writing their novel(s). This way is some version (which probably evolves over time) of one or the other or a mix of both of the classic two. But back to the two classic models: one is known as a pantser (as in by the seat of your pants), and the other is a planner (someone who outlines the whole book before writing the first draft). Pantsers don’t want to know the plot (or maybe even all the characters) before sitting down to write the first draft. They like being surprised and finding the book along the way. Planners want to have it all (or some of it) outlined beforehand, sometimes having outlines as long as ninety pages before setting out to write the first draft.

Before I write my first draft, I need to know what the climax of the novel will be. In fact, the climax is something I must know before deciding to write a book. Because the climax is the purpose of the book. The climax is why I am writing the book. The climax says something about life. You write a book to say something about life to your audience. Something about being a human being on this planet that you want to communicate to your audience. That does not mean that your novel is didactic. Whatever you have to say, you need to say it in an experiential way, not an intellectual way. And when I say something to say, I mean that in the broadest terms. I am writing this book because of this “thing.” I want to communicate and communicate in an experiential way. And the climax is the final word on that “thing”.  You may be illustrating that “thing” all the way through your book, but the climax is the final proof.

If Romeo and Juliet didn’t both commit suicide at the end of the play, the meaning of the play would be vastly different. You can’t even imagine Romeo and Juliet with another ending. In the movie Gladiator (the first), Maximus dies at the end. Suppose he had lived. The whole meaning and the power of the picture would be different. Think about your favorite books, movies, and poems, and consider that if the conclusions were different, how would you feel about them?

And so, my writing process starts at the end and then builds up everything that leads up to that ending.

 variation is essential

In writing, variation is essential. I don’t mean variation of genre. I mean variation of the text the writer creates. The words, the sentences, the paragraphs, the chapters. If a writer does not have variation the writing becomes tedious to read.

If the writer uses a word repeatedly, like more than once in a sentence, more than once in a paragraph, in every paragraph, etc., then the writing gets smaller and more closed off. The exception is certain figures of speech like Anadiplosis, example from Star Wars “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Repetition of words should be a conscious choice, not indicative of lazy writing. There are many online thesauruses that one can use to eliminate this issue. Another thing about words: it is best to use words that are simple and direct. Words that are not commonly used by your readers will attract attention and pull the reader out of the story. This, of course, depends on knowing your readership. If you are writing for academics your vocabulary will differ from writing for six-year-olds. Yet another thing: many of us, maybe most of us, have words or phases that we use continually and somewhat unconsciously. A writer needs to make these rhetorical ticks conscious and eliminate them.

Sentences can be long or short. Short sentences pick up the pace of the narrative, can be more emotionally jarring, and creative of a more vigilant attention in the reader. They are often used in action sequences. Longer sentences slow the pace and can be more thoughtful and lyrical. But restricting the writing to all long or all short sentences becomes monotonous and any impact the length once had becomes diluted. A mix of both works best. After many long sentences, a short one or several short ones have greater impact than continual short sentences. Even sequences of long, thoughtful, slower paced sentences benefit from some short sentences and vice versa.

As with words and sentences, paragraphs and chapters must also vary. A whole chapter of paragraphs all with long sentences can be tiresome to read. But even if a writer can make this work surely many chapters like this will not. If one chapter primarily has long thoughtful paragraphs the next one should be different. Think of the different types of writing in a novel: dialogue, action, description (of person, place, culture, etc.), inner thoughts. These should be interspersed in writing to increase readability.

Look at your favorite writers and check out their work. How do they place the different types of writing in their work? Do they repeatedly use the same words? What is the pacing of their sentences?  How alike are their sentences? How do they create variety?

 the plot is not what really happened

Of course, nothing “really happened” since a novel is fiction. Life is nothing like a novel. And you should not try to make your novel like life. It won’t work if you do. Life is full of events, interactions, and living that could be many stories, plus what you ate for lunch. A story is more like an analysis of something that happened in life with all the extraneous things that actually happened taken out.

We all tell stories, all the time. It is how we understand the world and is a basic part of what being a human is. Perhaps something happens at work and you want to tell your friend or partner or mother. You tell them “Something weird happened at work today.” And go on to tell your story. But you don’t tell uninteresting things. And you don’t tell everything that happened that day. You leave out all the things that happened that have no relation to your story - your interesting thing. That is plot.

A plot is like an analysis of an out-come. It is everything that happened that contributed to the out-come and nothing that did not. It’s like a mathematical proof. And all the events of the story are arranged in a cause-and-effect style. Indeed, cause-and-effect is what it’s all about. The reader wants to know why something happened and the novel answers that question.

A novel is also written to be more interesting and dramatic than how things are in real life. Writers are often told to listen to people talk as a study for writing dialogue. Certainly, you can find snatches of overheard dialogue that are great, but as a whole real people speak is a mess when transcribed. It is full of boring stuff, repetitions, bad grammar that is hard to follow, etc.

In Life one doesn’t’ know what people are thinking. A lot of stories we tell each other are concerned with trying to figure out what other people were thinking; and getting help doing it from the person you tell your story to. A novel can tell you what the characters are thinking, or what some of them are thinking. And the reader really wants to know what the protagonist is thinking. What they are thinking, what they decide to do -> what happens because of that -> how they think and feel about the outcome -> what they decide to do next, etc., etc. That is the great thing about novels, we get to know what the characters are thinking (some of the characters). In life you do not.

Things to remember about plot:

1. Dialogue is not like real people speaking just written down. It should leave out all the boring stuff. It is more witty, mysterious, emotional.  I have another post just on dialogue.
2. Don’t include events that have nothing to do with the out-come. Leave out everything that the reader doesn’t need to know to get the story. Everything. From pouring a cup of coffee, routine actions: she walked into the room, put down her bag and sat down,  routine dialogue:  hello – hello – nice to see you today - to someone’s relationship with their great-aunt that has nothing to do with the out-come.
3. Leave out the boring stuff as Elmore Leonard said “I try to leave out the parts readers skip”
4. Don’t include red herrings. The only exception is in mystery/detective stories and then they must be plausible. Readers expect everything to be important to the out-come and if something isn’t, they get annoyed, plus they invest time in trying to figure out how it fits in.
5. Remember cause-and-effect.
6. The reader really, really wants to know what the main character is thinking/feeling - give it to them. Don’t think it is suspenseful to withhold this - it’s not suspenseful it’s unsatisfying. 

    

 

The Title – what it’s for

 

The purpose of the book title is to let the reader know what to expect from the book. Readers when looking for a book to read usually know what they want. Even if they think they don’t, they do. A reader may be looking for something to read and think they don’t have anything in mind but they probably want something like something they read, and liked, previously. So, if I read cosey mysteries, non-fiction on food, and short stories I probably want more of the same. If they like funny, or scary, or romantic, or any other genre, the title should say to them “here I am.”

Now, I believe the final title of a published book is decided by the publisher. This may disappoint some, but it is what it is. Still when submitting your manuscript to an agent or editor you want to make the title you give your MS signal to your reader what to expect.

Think about a title which is a woman’s first name like:

Emma

Rebecca

Carrie

Matilda

All famous, wonderful books of very different genres. All different reading experiences. So, should they have been titled something else? No, but you might want to think twice about doing that, particularly if you are as yet unpublished or not a household name.

Check out these titles:

Do You Want to Start a Scandal

Beasting Beauty

In Bed with the Devil

Mine till Midnight

They are all romance novels. No surprises here.

 

Take a look at these:

House of Flame and Shadow

Quicksilver

The WingFeather saga

The Magician’s Nephew

If you guessed fantasy, you nailed it.

 

More:

Alien Clay

The Killing Star

The Third Rule of Time Travel

Sifi here.

 

More:

In A Dark Wood

None of this is True

Alienist

Against all Enemies

Only the Dead

Thriller here.

 

More:

A Study in Scarlet

The Hunter

Book Scavenger

Destination Unknown

The Mystery of the Yellow Room

Yeah mystery.

 

What are these?

Bossypants (so obvious)

Birdie and Harlow

This Book is Perfect

Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s

The Stinky Cheese Man

It’s humor. (I guess cheese is inherently funny)

 

Now when you get into literary fiction things get trickier

To Kill a Mockingbird

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Crime and Punishment

By Any Other Name

James

The Evolution of Annabel Craig

One thing about these titles they don’t scream any of the genres. Even Crime and Punishment is just too in your face to be a thriller, or mystery, or detective novel. But it might be a non-fiction sociology book.

In my humble opinion the best way to go is not too obvious, not to obscure, something with a bit of poetry or mystery to it. Like:

Brave New World – not too obvious but very euphonious

The Unbearable Lightness of Being – I never read this, but I adore the title

East of Eden – I have read this. I’m not a fan, but the title is great (it's from the Bible)

The Tale of Despereaux – I love this book, and the title is great because of the name Despereaux, any other name would not be as good. Now if the name was funny, like “Dippy Dawg” it would work also for a humorous book.

If you are not yet published, you might want to error on the obvious side; nothing wrong with obvious if it is also done well.

 

 what it's all about

What is a novel for?  Presenting something that is noteworthy. I mean that in the broadest sense. Something of human experience that is meaningful. Not necessarily meaningful to everyone, but to someone. Not necessarily true, or good, or bad, right or wrong, etc. Experientially noteworthy.

For instance, think of cozy mysteries. What do they do besides entertain. Not that entertainment isn’t valuable. But on a deeper level, these types of books assure the reader of a world that is just and tidy. There is crime or evil if you like, but it is not graphic or monstrous, and it can be brought to justice by a calm, intelligent, persistent force (the detective) bringing the world back into order. Basically, the world is safe and in order even if occasionally it gets a little bit of whack.

Think of the book Huckleberry Finn. It is an exploration of racism in the pre-civil war American South. Certainly meaningful.

Each book is a representation of a world view and it instantiates that view in the reader’s mind. Something that can be thought of as pure entertainment or distraction is a little more than that. By reading a book, and accepting that book, it becomes a part of the reader’s psyche, even if only a little part.

And how does the book insinuate itself into the reader’s mind and emotions? Through the protagonist or protagonists. The book is a psychic journey taken by its main character(s). But for the reader to ride along they must know the thoughts and feeling of MC. The novel must show what they are thinking and feeling. The decisions they make and actions they take. The consequences of their actions and that means not only the external consequences but the internal ones; their subsequent feels, thoughts, and decisions. If the reader only sees the external actions of the MC it won’t work. If the author withholds the thoughts and feelings of the MC (perhaps in the name of suspense) the reader will feel cheated. We, the readers, want to see inside of the MC and follow intimately their journey. How did they feel? What did their feelings make them want to do. What decisions did they make and how did they then act on those decisions. How did they feel after taking action; not just what happened but how did they then think and feel. Most of Hamlet (perhaps the worlds greatest play)  is about what is going on inside his head and heart. If you took that away from the play what would be left?