You have had an idea for a novel for years. You know what you want to write about and you are passionate about it. Now you want to do it. But, where do you even begin. Here are some ideas to get you started on your book.
Develop a Plot
To begin with, you need to know what your story is about. Here are the decisions you need to make about your book so you can really get started with it.
1) Where is your story going? The plot in any story involves a sequence of occurrences that lead to fixing a problem or achieving a goal. The plot is the explanation for how the problem ultimately gets fix or the main character achieves his goal. The plot should impact nearly every character in the book.
2) What happens if the goal isn’t reached? If the problem is not solved by the characters, what is the consequence? What is the story riding on? This lingering fear or concern is what will keep readers hooked onto a book and dying to know if the characters succeed or fail. Keeping the readers on the edge of their seat will make them more involved and concerned about the outcome.
3) What has to happen to reach the goal? You need to figure out what steps the main character needs to perform in order to reach their goal. Think of the different possibilities that the characters could attempt, no matter how silly or how they may fail in the process.
4) Foreshadowing can help. While you never want to give the entire book away to the reader, giving them hints or clues to how things will go will pique their interest. This will make them more emotionally invested in the book and keep them reading. And it’s even more fun to make the hints wrong and give a bit of a plot twist.
5) What do the characters have to lose to win? As in, they can reach the goal, but at what cost? Will they have to kill their dog, lose their job, or abandon their children? How important is achieving the goal to their moral character. What does it say about the characters? Maybe what the characters give up isn’t such a bad thing. Perhaps the main character just needs to lost pride or gain humility.
6) You need to keep your character interested as well. If the character is constantly struggling over every marker throughout the entire book, book the character and the reader are going to get worn out. You need to give your character small wins, even if they have little or nothing to do with the ultimate goal achievement of the book. This can give the reader a break from the goal and let them know a little more about the character. And this will keep the character, even though he is fictional, from getting discouraged in the process. It is never fun to read about a character who is losing all of the time.
7) Think of the specific steps that will lead to the goal of the story. Does the character need to discover the treasure map for everything else to happen? What has to happen to the character before the journey can begin?
8) Who are the antagonists in the book making the main character’s journey more difficult? While the character will have personal challenges and maybe physical challenges while working toward the book’s goal, there usually is a villain, however minor, who is making life even more difficult for the main character.
With these thoughts in mind, physically lay out your story. This will give you a plot arc to follow and keep you on task when you have begun writing.
