WRITING | WRITING TIPS | CREATIVE WRITING

Struggling to Make The Pieces Fit?

Focus more on the structure of your story

I recently had a request for help specifically geared towards beginners. You have an idea and a dream for being one of those aspiring writers but aren’t sure how to take that next step?

I’m going be breaking down the writing process step by step. It’s important to understand that everything in this story is a general overview of the process. It would be best if you didn’t get the impression that this happens overnight or in a hurry because you couldn’t do this overnight.

Each step is a process in and of itself. Depending on what type of book you want to write, it can be easy or hard. It can take a lot of time and a lot of dedication. These steps will give you the general idea of what direction to move in and hopefully give you the basics to get you started.

Here are the five steps for how to write a novel.

Step number one: come up with an idea. The idea may seem like the easy part, but in my opinion, this is one of the more difficult steps of the process. You have to come up with the idea that has substance. It needs to be something that you could write about in an entire novel.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come up with an idea and thought it was brilliant. Only to discover later that it was problematic, there wasn’t any conflict at the heart of the story, or there was no real antagonist. It simply wasn’t compelling enough to write enough words on it.

So how exactly do you come up with these ideas? Well, it’s up to you. Every writer has their process for coming up with ideas; for some, it’s very organic. They get an idea, and it works, and they run with it. It’s a little bit of inspiration/manipulation.

I’m typically inspired by something around me, whether it’s something I see in the world or a feeling I have and want to explore. Perhaps a song lyric or a painting that speaks to me. I usually get some basic idea from that, and then I think about okay, what could be the story here?

Suppose you think about all of the elements that make up a good story. In that case, it’s straightforward to take your idea and manipulate it into an idea that’s worth writing about in a novel.

· Decide who your protagonist is.

· Who is the antagonist?

· What’s the conflict of the story?

· What journey is the character going to go on?

· What are their goals and motivations?

Once you start thinking about all of these, begin to fill in the blanks.

You should be able to tell if you have a novel worthy story on your hands. If you find that you’re struggling to make the pieces fit, that may not be an idea you want to continue developing. You keep being creative and keep thinking what if, what is, and then eventually, you come up with the idea that you know what you want to write your story on.

Step number two: planning. Some people consider themselves to be planners when it comes to writing. That means that they take their idea and sit down and write entirely by the seat of their pants’, which works for them. That is awesome.

Some people are plotters. If you’re starting with a writing journey, I encourage you to consider doing some planning before you begin writing. You need to know who your characters are and where your story is going before writing the first word. Think about it like this. It would be like going to a brand new place that you’ve never been before and trying to navigate that place without the help of a map or a GPS or directions from a local.

When you’re first starting, you want to make it as easy as you can for yourself. That’s why planning is vital and positively encouraged. I recommend that you do character charts or profiles for each of your main characters and an outline. Your plot turns don’t have to be anything fancy; they have to serve the purpose of allowing you to get to know those characters as if they were real people. You have to get inside their heads, after all, and to write compelling characters, know and understand who that character is and what makes them tick.

· Their fears

· Their motivations

· Their goals

· Their aspirations

· Their dreams

· Their likes

· Their dislikes

Reviewing these points is a step that you do not want to skip. Once you’ve got your characters down, then it’s time to move on to your outline. You have to know exactly where your story is going, so it’s a critical step. Stop, sit down, and figure it all out before you dive right into the writing.

I can recommend Freytag’s pyramid to outline. It is, by far, one of the most helpful methods that I have found. Using that method makes the stories feel much more developed and fleshed out. Those stories’ actual writing feels a million times easier than when I used to write without it. It would be best if you had an outline; you’re the writer, it’s your story, and you have to know all of the inner and outer workings of that story before writing the first word. Take some time to develop your characters, then build your plot, and once you’ve done, it’s time to start writing.

Step number three: write the first draft. Here’s what you do: put yourself in a chair, put your fingers on that keyboard, and tell that story no matter what. Stop letting self-doubt be a distraction or an excuse. Stop trying to make things perfect. Just write. First drafts are usually crappy. It doesn’t matter who you are or how good of a writer you are — the first draft. You have a place to start editing. Get the bare bones of your story down on paper.

Step number four: celebrate. You just wrote a novel, and that is amazing. Many people say they’re going to write a book and never actually accomplished it, but you did. It’s a good idea to take a little time away from the manuscript. You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you, so while you’re celebrating and recharging your batteries, put the document in a file, and step away. When you are ready, dive back in with fresh eyes. Once the rest period is over, it’s time to pick up that manuscript and start revising.

At this point, you’re not worried about all the little stuff like grammar and mechanics:

· Focus more on the structure of your story

· Begin the development of your characters

· The advancement of your plot.

You may find yourself deleting entire sections and chapters. You may find that you need to rewrite a lot of things. You’ll move stuff around and rename things and do a whole lot of change. Rewriting can be a good thing and is part of the process. You get to take your idea and start chipping away at it until it becomes something you’re proud to have written. At this time, enlist the help of beta readers and critique partners. Beta readers and critique partners are invaluable when it comes to feedback.

Take the opportunity to take that draft you’re revising and making the story shine. Send it out to people and get the feedback you need to make that story ten times better than it is. A lot of writers consider this step optional.

Step number five: polishing. Once you’re sure your story’s content is as solid as you can make it, then the next step is to go through and make edits. Focus on those little things where you’re looking for grammatical errors and sentence structure issues. You’re removing filter words and changing up dialogue tags, etc.

At this point, you really should not be making any significant content changes, just fixing those tiny little errors and tightening things up. Once you’ve done that, you have a finished and polished novel. Remember, no matter how tough things get, keep writing. Please don’t give up. You can do it!

If these tips have been helpful, some of the ideas in the stories below may also help. A variation of this story is on https://1creativewritier.com