Anyone written a novel?
Discussion
In my mind there are three basic steps to adhere to.
1 First Chapter: : describe the main characters, ages, their status, relationship with each other and where they exist. No matter if it's a drama, you can add some humour as you have to keep the reader, well, reading- wanting to know more.
2 Middle Chapters: the plot should be well under way so ramp it up. If there turns out to be an eventual baddie character/alien/thing then they should've been introduced well before this stage. You can subtly add a few red herrings into the mix here to keep the reader guessing..
3Finale: The most important stage and as you already have a plot, perhaps you have prepared the ending so if it seems to work, close it but leave the story open to a part two.
Don't kill off the main character and if I were writing this kind of novel, I would make that person a female
Anyway, in answer to the thread title, a good friend of my brother wrote a novel some years ago (his first) and it was immediately snapped up by a publisher.
It sold well and two nights ago I watched the film version of it starring Nicholas Hoult.
This is its book cover:
1 First Chapter: : describe the main characters, ages, their status, relationship with each other and where they exist. No matter if it's a drama, you can add some humour as you have to keep the reader, well, reading- wanting to know more.
2 Middle Chapters: the plot should be well under way so ramp it up. If there turns out to be an eventual baddie character/alien/thing then they should've been introduced well before this stage. You can subtly add a few red herrings into the mix here to keep the reader guessing..
3Finale: The most important stage and as you already have a plot, perhaps you have prepared the ending so if it seems to work, close it but leave the story open to a part two.
Don't kill off the main character and if I were writing this kind of novel, I would make that person a female
Anyway, in answer to the thread title, a good friend of my brother wrote a novel some years ago (his first) and it was immediately snapped up by a publisher.
It sold well and two nights ago I watched the film version of it starring Nicholas Hoult.
This is its book cover:
Just clear your thoughts and write. It's important to keep the momentum too as it's easy to lose track of previous chapters when you're putting new stuff down.
I read Stephen King's book 'On Writing' and got Scrivener software and blasted out my novel after that.
There are many ways to go about it, particularly with character development. I thought of mine as basic shells initially and added to them as the plot developed. Which is probably better for young characters too on a journey, as opposed to an older expert character who has seen it all and maybe has a stronger more rigid personality early on in the novel.
Wish I had time to knock out another few as I have a few good ideas which could flesh out nicely, but it's so low priority I can't make the time for it.
I read Stephen King's book 'On Writing' and got Scrivener software and blasted out my novel after that.
There are many ways to go about it, particularly with character development. I thought of mine as basic shells initially and added to them as the plot developed. Which is probably better for young characters too on a journey, as opposed to an older expert character who has seen it all and maybe has a stronger more rigid personality early on in the novel.
Wish I had time to knock out another few as I have a few good ideas which could flesh out nicely, but it's so low priority I can't make the time for it.
A family member has had about 10 novels published, that have all sold pretty well, mainly in the USA. They have a set style, which is basically two seemingly separate stories running concurrently, in alternating chapters, one in the past (anytime from 1850s to WW2), one in the present, and eventually the past story comes to have a huge bearing on the outcome of the present story.
Each novel is completely different but they all follow the same formula. Seems to work well. I guess the yanks love all that English history.
Each novel is completely different but they all follow the same formula. Seems to work well. I guess the yanks love all that English history.
I have written one, it sits unpublished and unread in the depths of my computer. I did it for myself, wrote what I wanted when I wanted. I believe you either can write or you can't. No amount of creative writing classes can turn a non writer into one but they can improve one who already can write if you catch my jist. My tuppence worth is don't have a structure unless you have the kind of brain that needs it. It can stifle creativity and become a checklist type straitjacket. I knew how my book was gonna end. Didn't know how to get there though
I want to write a novel, I have the story in my head, and a few months ago I wrote down a chapter. Not the beginning or middle, or towards the end because I knew that scene in my head and I thought if I start I start. So I did. And then I wrote the next chapter, and then that's been it.
My Wife has just 'reinvented' herself as a writer.
Just nicely completed her third Novel in a series, she's always been pretty good with Words but the inspiration for the Story tends to come from personal events. We also brainstorm between us and come up with plot ideas to fit in with the basic concept. She has found that very often she has no idea how parts of the plot will play out, literally making it up as she goes along. This is far from unusual, I remember reading an interview with one of the top crime writers who confessed to the same. He only tends to discover who the murderer was part way through the book !.
My Wifes books are generally for the Ladies, set in France and centre around a young English Girl who inherits a Chateau (The Letter by Emma Sharp)
She has devoted an enormous amount of time to the series, written all three in a year, two now published, third ready to be edited. Her very first written earlier is not in the series, but needs to be rewritten as she has learnt so much since.
Her books are self published using Amazon KDP and are currently exclusive to Amazon to take advantage of Kindle select, those who subscribe to that service can download books free, the Authors are paid by the pages read. We currently find we make slightly more on 'select' per book than the royalty on a sale.
The real key to being successful is sadly not that much to do with the actual book, but a lot more to do with the way its marketed and of course to the subject matter. The difference between sales just ticking slowly along (like ours) or suddenly running away and making serious money seems to lie with finding a method of exposing the books to peoples searches on amazon and crucially getting reviews from readers. Amazon reckon that only one in every 750 readers will leave a review, but just having a small number of reviews increases your chances of sales massively.
There are other marketing aspects too, free give ways will suddenly generate a relatively high number of downloads, which pushes the book up the rankings and hence up the search listings, this tends to have a hang over effect for a short while when the free offer ends.
Its certainly an interesting exercise and is bringing my Wife an enormous amount of satisfaction, but we aren't going to retire on it!. We might, just might, recover the costs of editing the three books in a couple of years, but its going to be a very long term thing requiring a number of new books before sales are anything more than a trickle. We will need to do some paid advertising too.
I'd love to hear from others in a similar position, there is a community on Amazon, but you tend to hear from those who have either been mega successful or have totally bombed out. It would be good to hear if anybody else on pistonheads has experience of this.
Just nicely completed her third Novel in a series, she's always been pretty good with Words but the inspiration for the Story tends to come from personal events. We also brainstorm between us and come up with plot ideas to fit in with the basic concept. She has found that very often she has no idea how parts of the plot will play out, literally making it up as she goes along. This is far from unusual, I remember reading an interview with one of the top crime writers who confessed to the same. He only tends to discover who the murderer was part way through the book !.
My Wifes books are generally for the Ladies, set in France and centre around a young English Girl who inherits a Chateau (The Letter by Emma Sharp)
She has devoted an enormous amount of time to the series, written all three in a year, two now published, third ready to be edited. Her very first written earlier is not in the series, but needs to be rewritten as she has learnt so much since.
Her books are self published using Amazon KDP and are currently exclusive to Amazon to take advantage of Kindle select, those who subscribe to that service can download books free, the Authors are paid by the pages read. We currently find we make slightly more on 'select' per book than the royalty on a sale.
The real key to being successful is sadly not that much to do with the actual book, but a lot more to do with the way its marketed and of course to the subject matter. The difference between sales just ticking slowly along (like ours) or suddenly running away and making serious money seems to lie with finding a method of exposing the books to peoples searches on amazon and crucially getting reviews from readers. Amazon reckon that only one in every 750 readers will leave a review, but just having a small number of reviews increases your chances of sales massively.
There are other marketing aspects too, free give ways will suddenly generate a relatively high number of downloads, which pushes the book up the rankings and hence up the search listings, this tends to have a hang over effect for a short while when the free offer ends.
Its certainly an interesting exercise and is bringing my Wife an enormous amount of satisfaction, but we aren't going to retire on it!. We might, just might, recover the costs of editing the three books in a couple of years, but its going to be a very long term thing requiring a number of new books before sales are anything more than a trickle. We will need to do some paid advertising too.
I'd love to hear from others in a similar position, there is a community on Amazon, but you tend to hear from those who have either been mega successful or have totally bombed out. It would be good to hear if anybody else on pistonheads has experience of this.
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