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How to Write a Novel Step by Step

The toughest part of learning how to write a novel is knowing where to start
and how to keep on going to the end. This section of Novel Writing Help is all
about demystifying the writing process.
Figuring out how to write a novel can be
confusing, probably because there are
so many steps to take...
You've got to create all the ctional
characters and write a watertight plot.
You've got to write the subplots and
weave them seamlessly into the main
plot.
You've got to build an atmospheric
setting and decide on a theme.
...and that's all before you can even start to write the novel! It's little wonder
that the question I am most often asked is...
Where do I even begin?!?
The answer is that you begin by studying a good map and familiarizing
yourself with the route, and the 12-step process outlined below is your map.
Actually, it is two maps in one...
First, it gives you an overview of every step you need to take to get
from where you are today to having a published novel to your name.
Second, it is a kind of user's guide to Novel Writing Help, in that it
summarizes where everything is and what all the sections are about.
Take some time to study this map now, just to get an idea of where you are
going. But don't forget to return to it along the way if you ever nd yourself
lost.

Twelve Steps to Write a Novel

At the most basic level, writing a novel involves just three steps...
1. Planning. This is where you work out what you want to say (in note
form).
2. Writing. Here, you transform the plan into prose and dialogue.

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Easy, right? Well, yes...except it really doesn't tell you anything about how to
write novels.
What you need are lots of specic steps to take, not just three broad ones.
What you need is for each step to contain concrete instructions on what,
precisely, to do. And you will nd all of this in the twelve steps below.

1. Prepare For the Journey

I know I said above that "planning" is the very rst step to take, but I lied. If
you are serious about succeeding as a novel writer, you need to take your
time and begin right at the grass roots. Writing a novel is not a race...
If you have your heart set on selling a completed novel to a publisher in just a
few short months, good luck but I'm afraid I can't help you.
If you are willing to work as hard as it takes for as long as it takes - without
forgetting to enjoy yourself along the way, of course - you could go far.
How do you prepare for the journey ahead?
First and foremost, you need to decide why you want to write ction at all.
Making money from writing is not a bad motivation, but there are much better
ways to ensure you look forward to working on your novel every day.
Other tasks here include getting organized (both in terms of paperwork and
time), and learning how to harness your inner-creativity.
When the time comes to carry out this step of the novel writing process,
simply head to the Becoming a Writer section of the website.

2. Decide What Type of Novel to Write

An important aspect of learning how to write a novel is adopting a
professional attitude. Forget all your romantic ideals of what being a writer is
like - selling a novel to a publisher is a business proposition.
What does that mean for you? It means that, to stand the best chance of
success, you need to know right from the outset where your book will
eventually sit in the marketplace.
Now, I'm not asking you to bin your artistic integrity here, I'm simply advising
you to slip on your business hat for a moment. And in practical terms that
means researching the market and identifying a niche to target.
How do you do that? You will nd the help you need in the section exploring
the dierent Types of Novels.

If you are readingg this section for the first

time, just to get a feel for what writing a novel

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The time to do thaat

t is when you actuua
ally perform
each step in the nno
ovel writing procees
ss.

3. Brainstorm For Ideas

Okay, we're gradually edging closer to the point where the real work begins
(i.e. the point where you start to plan your novel).
Before you can plan, though, you need to nd an idea. I don't mean any old
idea, but the best one you can possibly come up with. (After all, you will be
devoting a signicant chunk of your life to this novel. The last thing you want
to do is set o on the wrong foot.)
Some people will tell you that good ideas are dicult to come by. I would
respectfully disagree. (In fact, I believe that most writer's face the opposite
problem: Not having years to turn every idea they have into a novel.
Unfortunately, I can't help you there!)
The section dedicated to Finding Ideas not only shows you precisely how to
brainstorm for more ideas than you could ever hope to use, it also explains
how to "road-test" the best idea before nally committing to it.

4. Get Ready to Plan Your Novel

"The best time for planning a book is while you
are doing the dishes."
- Agatha Christie

One person's idea of how to write a novel will be a little dierent from
somebody else's. (Which is why you should feel free to adapt my novel writing
process to your own unique requirements.)
Perhaps the biggest dierence is this...
Some folks like to plan their ction in huge detail before they turn to
the business of drafting and revising it.
Other writers manage to get by on virtually no planning at all, or even
zero planning. They come from the "seat of the pants" school of
writing.
Which way is best? There is no absolute answer to that - if a particular way of
writing ction works for you, it works. End of story.
But if you are unsure and want me to make a recommendation, I would
suggest you plan your novel in as much detail as you can stand before you
write the rst draft. (For more on this, please read Planning vs. Writing a
Novel.)

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Because planning a long work of ction in detail is such a large task - not to
mention a potentially confusing one - the best way to tackle it is to break it
down into smaller parts. In all there are ve such parts...
Theme and Symbolism.
Character.
Viewpoint.
Setting.
Plot.
The next 5 steps are dedicated to these individual elements. By working on
them one by one (in Steps 5-9), the mammoth task of planning a novel is
made a lot simpler.
One nal caveat before tackling each element in turn: Performing each of
the next steps is not quite as simple as carrying out the necessary action
steps then moving on.
Why not? Because they all aect each other. Changing your main character,
for example, will have a knock-on eect on the plot. All this simply means is
that you will have to do some looking back and thinking ahead as you go.
(For more on this, please read Why Writing a Novel Isn't Like Baking a Cake.)

5. Sow the Seeds of Theme and Symbolism

This isn't nearly as tricky or as confusing as it sounds. Theme is simply what
your story is "about" or what it "means." Symbolism is a little dierent,
though it's close enough in nature to group the two together.
Anyway...in basic terms, theme and symbolism both refer to the deeper layer
of meaning running beneath the surface of your novel. "Sowing the seeds" is
my term for guring out this meaning in advance, so that it works its way into
the fabric of the novel all by itself.
Confused? Don't be - it really is very simple (and doesn't involve a whole lot
of work, either). When the time comes, visit the section on Theme and
Symbolism and all will be revealed.
Now for the next of the ve elements you need to work on individually...

6. Create the Characters

There are two broad tasks to complete here...
First, you need to draw up a cast list - everyone from the leading man
or woman at the top down to the lowly walk-on character at the
bottom. It's impossible during the planning stage to think of all the

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write). But you certainly need to gure out who the major players are.
Second, you need to "get to know" the characters by writing proles,
or mini-biographies for them.

Getting to know your characters before you write a single word of the novel is
important. Fail to do this and they are unlikely to come across to the readers
as convincing human beings - and that's not going to do much for your
reputation as a novelist.
What should go into these "mini biographies" that you need to write for each
of the main characters? The section on How to Create Characters provides
the answers,.

7. Decide On a Point of View

Okay, so you've drawn up a cast list and got to know the most important
characters on the list. They now feel "real" to you. The next step is to gure
out...
Which of them will be "viewpoint characters" - i.e. the ones whose
eyes we look through and whose thoughts we can hear.
Whether to use the "I" of rst person or the "he/she" of third person.
(Though if you are feeling brave, there are also some less common
alternatives you might want to consider.)
Before making your decision, though, it is important that you understand the
theory of viewpoint rst. This will not only allow you to make a better
decision, it will also allow you to handle your chosen viewpoint more
professionally when you come to write your novel.
When you are ready to carry out this step in the Novel Writing Process, simply
head on over to the Point of View section.

8. Build the Novel's Setting

As you will discover in the section dedicated to Setting, it encompasses a
whole lot more than just streets and buildings. It also includes things like...
What characters do for a job.
The weather (very important in an atmospheric novel).
The town's history and folklore.
How do you go about building a great location for your story?
Just like with the characters earlier, you simply need to "get to know" the
setting before you start writing about it. (As a matter of fact, if you view
setting in a novel as another character, you won't go far wrong.)

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Remember that we hha

ave been looking aat
t the
different elementss of a novel in is olation. This
makes the planningg process so much ssi
impler. So far
we have dealt withh the first four....
Theme and Symbolissm
m - or the "why" of a novel
Character - or thee "who"
Viewpoint - also tth
he "who"
Setting - the "wheer
re" and "when"
Now for the final element, plot - orr the "what" of
a novel...

9. Write the Plot

This is the big one, at least in terms of how long it will take you. That's the
bad news. The good news is that the job will be made a lot simpler by my
10-step guide to how to plot a novel found in the Plotting section.
(Learning how to write a novel sometimes seems an impossible task to
beginners. By breaking everything down into steps and, if necessary,
sub-steps, I hope I can make your job a lot more manageable and a lot more
enjoyable.)
Back to plotting a novel...
Like I said, writing the 10 steps of the novel's main plot is the big one. Once
you have done that, it is easy to make it more professional (and more
publishable) by adding a few bells and whistles to it...
First, you need to weave one or more Subplots seamlessly into the main plot.
Second, you need to visit the section on Structuring a Novel, where you will
learn a few nifty tricks like...
How to create suspense by planting "signposts" to future events.
How to move seamlessly backwards in time to deal with events from
the past.
How to control the pace by learning how to speed up and slow down.
And that is it...
These last ve steps, remember, have been about working on each of the ve
main elements of a novel individually. If it seems like these steps represent a
lot of work, you aren't wrong. They're kind of fun, though (what's not to love
about creating people and places and events out of thin air?) And once you
have completed them, you will be ready to start writing your novel.

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10. Write the First Draft

"The pages are still blank, but there is a

miraculous feeling of the words being there,
written in invisible ink and clamoring to become
visible."
- Vladimir Nabokovv

You will have noticed that, in this 12-step guide to how to write a novel, the
rst 9 deal with preparation and planning. That is quite deliberate.
According to agents, most novels are rejected because of weak
craftsmanship. My job, therefore, is to teach you the craft of how to write a
novel (and a little of the art, too) in as much detail as I can, and then how to
apply that craft eectively.
And guess what? You are far, far more likely to write a well-crafted novel if
you take the time and trouble to plan it in some detail rst.
If you choose to skip all the planning material above and jump straight into
the writing, that is okay. Chances are, though, the rst draft will end up being
a structural disaster zone - and you will then have to apply all my planning
techniques to it during the twelfth step: revision.
That's why I'm a fan of planning beforehand - particularly if you are writing
your rst novel.
And remember this: Although some people will tell you that the only truly
creative part of writing a novel is doing the actual writing, they are wrong. In
fact, starting out with a blank sheet of paper and lling it with characters and
places and events, using nothing but your imagination, is the very denition
of creativity.
Anyway, enough talk. Time to get drafting...
Some writers will tell you that writing a rst draft of a novel is agony. And
there is some truth to this. In fact, it's precisely at this stage that writer's
block is most likely to set in.
Tackled with a positive mindset, though, there is no reason that lling a few
hundred sheets of paper with words should not be a joyous experience.
The biggest mistake most newcomers to novel writing make is trying to draft
and edit at the same time (i.e. they get a sentence down on paper and them
immediately start trying to improve it).
Don't do this. First drafts are simply about getting black on white, no matter
how terrible the quality of the prose is. You shouldn't even think about
making the prose pretty until the next step.
When the time comes to actually perform this step, you will nd more
help on writing a rst draft here.

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in one go - namely, doing it chapter by chapter and revising each one

before moving on.

11. Revise WHAT You Have Said

First up, the bad news: this step is like planning a novel all over again.
The good news? If you did plenty of planning before you wrote the novel's
rst draft (like I advised) there will actually be very little to do here.
(What if you pretty much skipped all the planning and wrote the novel by the
seat of your pants (i.e. you made it up as you went)? Then you will have a LOT
of work to do here. Unless you are a genius, the rst draft will be a complete
mess, and your job is now to go through all the planning steps above in order
to make sense of everything.)
If you DID do plenty of planning beforehand, you aren't out of the woods
entirely here...
Characters have a habit of taking on a life of their own during the writing, and
that often means that what the characters do (i.e. the plot) can also go o
track in places, too.
This is actually a good thing. Changing your mind about certain aspects of
the story should result in a better story. But it does mean that you now need
to carefully check the manuscript for any errors or inconsistencies that might
have crept in.
(How do you do this? This article has the answers.)

12. Revise HOW You Have Said It

This simply means polishing the language until it ows as eortlessly as good
conversation. Or as Hemingway put it: "Getting the words right."
To my mind, this is the best part of writing a novel. The hard work is behind
you, the nishing line is right up ahead, and all you have to do is tweak the
words and sentences until they are just right.
The best advice here is simply to trust your ear. It was a love of language that
drew you to novel writing in the rst place, so this is the time to trust your
instincts. But for more specic advice, check out this article on how to edit
ction for style.
And for help on how to write prose and dialogue to a professional standard,
please visit the following sections on the website...
Writing Narration and Description. Narration is the type of writing you
will use the most - it is basically writing that "tells the story."
Descriptive writing means those fancier, more poetic passages of
prose where you describe a character or the setting.
Writing Dialogue. I don't need to tell you what dialogue is, but I

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to make publishers reject your novel. This section oers plenty of

ways to make your conversations sparkle.

Writing Interior Monologue. This section is all about handling a

character's thoughts. The ability to get inside a character's head and
hear what they are thinking is one of the big advantages that novels
hold over movies, and you must make full use of this advantage.
And that pretty much concludes this whistle stop tour of how to write a
novel.
Caveat: Ask one hundred writers how to write a novel and you will get one
hundred dierent answers. Everybody is unique, and everybody works in their
own unique way.
I can tell you what works for me - and for many other writers I have spoken
to - but if you need to tailor the steps above to your own personal needs, that
is what you must do.

"You must be prepared to work always without

applause...no one can see it until you have gone
over it again and again, until you have
communicated the emotion, the sights and sounds
to the reader, and by the time you have completed
this the words, sometimes, will not make sense to
you as you read them, so many times have you
re-read them. By the time the book comes out you
will have started something else and it is all
behind you and you do not want to hear about it."
- Ernest Hemingwayy

More Help on Writing a Novel

To nish with, here are a few articles which, although not a part of the novel
writing process, should nevertheless help you to gain a deeper understanding
of it...
Beyond the Novel Writing Process. Reading the information on this
website is only a part of learning how to write a novel. You also need
to practice, practice, practice - by applying what you learn to your
own novel in progress. And you need to read plenty of published
ction - preferably from the same genre you are writing in - so you
can see what it takes to succeed. Do these three things in unison and
you will create a virtuous circle of improvement.
How to Divide a Novel into Chapters & Parts
Finding Titles for Novels
And that, as they say, is that.
I know this article isn't exactly on the brief side but, like I said at the top,
knowing where to start and how to keep on going right to the end is

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step by step guide to how to write a novel, they do!

Bookmark this page and return to it often - it's like the map that will stop you
getting lost.

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Getting Started
How to Write a Novel
Step by Step
How Long Will It Take?
Becoming a Writer
Types of Novel

Planning a Novel
Finding Writing Ideas
Theme & Symbolism
Creating Characters
Point of View
Building the Setting
Plotting a Novel
Narrative Structure

Writing a Novel
Narration & Description
Writing Dialogue
Interior Monologue
Writing Solutions

Writing Resources
Getting Published
Writer's Software
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Fiction Writing Q&A
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