How to Start Writing Your Novel
The challenge of starting to write a novel can be likened to a jar containing rocks and sand. The jar is your life. All the things you have to do (feed the dog, wash the laundry, help the kids with homework) are the sand. Your dreams, like writing a novel, are big, smooth river rocks. If you put the sand in first, the rocks won't fit. But if you put the rocks in first, the sand easily pours around it ... and you get both into the jar. It's possible that the hardest thing about writing is starting. You have so much to do, and everything seems to be priority one. But if you don't start, you'll never know if you can do it. So go ahead, set aside time to pursue your dreams. You'll find time to do the other stuff.
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Things You'll Need
- A place to write.
- 24 hours every day - the same as everyone else.
- Butt glue.
Instructions
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Set aside a quiet place and time. This place might be in your house, but if your house is chaotic, take a laptop to a coffee shop and sit in a quiet corner. J.K. Rowling started out writing in a local cafe. Do what works for you. Make sure you have what you need (a cup of water, for instance) so you don't have to get up. Let the phone keep ringing on silent mode.
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Glue your bottom to a chair. Set a timer for an hour or so, and don't stop until it rings. Unless you have an emergency or you need to take a stretch break, don't get up. Let family and friends know that this is your time to write and you are not to be disturbed.
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Write, write, write. Start writing about anything -- the tree outside your window or your eccentric Uncle Bob. This will "warm up" your writing muscles, like stretching before running.
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Use different tools to help you get started, including: Keeping a daily journal that you can mine for ideas; using a story-starter that gives you one scenario to write about; describing your hero's personal characteristics; outlining a plot and conflict; and reading the kind of books you want to write for inspiration and to learn.
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Allow yourself to make mistakes. Write quickly, to get your thoughts down, then come back later to fix the typos and grammar. Expect to delete a lot of what you write -- this is just part of the process of getting your story on paper.
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Tips & Warnings
Bring a pad of paper and pen, or your iPad/laptop, with you at all times. Story ideas will pop into your head at the oddest times, and you don't want them to pop out before they're immortalized on paper.
Participate in NaNoRiMo, which is National Novel Writing Month in November. You'll have 30 days to write your novel along with other participants and it will give you a goal to reach for.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
