How to Draft a Novel

The art of writing takes many forms.

Does everyone really have at least one good book in them? If you're a writer, you've heard this patronizing adage repeated so often that it has probably taken on the dreaded whine of nails on chalkboard. The truth? Writing the first draft of a novel is the easiest thing that you'll never get around to doing if you're the average person. So you have an idea for a story and a character or two. What's next? Draft it.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook
• Pen
• Sketchbook
• Packet of pencils
• Gum eraser
• Typewriter or computer

Instructions

Drafting the Novel

1. 

   Outline

   Start with an outline, listing and describing the major points of the plot and characters. Write it in the notebook. Set no more than seven days to accomplish this.

2. 

   Sketch

   Next, take a lateral approach. Stealing a page from cinema, so to speak, sketch storyboards in the sketchbook, basing them on your outline and illustrating its major points. Skill is not a prerequisite; stick figures will do. In this way, visualizing the complex interplay of plot, character and setting becomes easier. Again, try to accomplish this quickly, in perhaps a fortnight, at the most.

3. 

   Write

   Begin writing the first draft of your novel in your notebook, computer or wherever you feel comfortable writing it, but keep it orderly, keep it short and most of all, keep it action- and dialogue-oriented. Depending on the time you have available, this process needs at least a fortnight to complete, but may take six months.

4. 

   Scraps

   Chances are that in the midst of outlining, sketching and writing the solid prose, some extra writing took place. Good. Never fight the impulse to jot something down. Look at this material; find uses for it within the overall draft. If, however, it takes more than an hour to find a place for scrap material, move on; it doesn't belong.

5. 

   Intermediate Drafts

   Polish the first draft, removing excess scenes that do not support plot, setting or character development. In this first revision, concentrate on the obvious points of awkwardness, such as bloated asides, stilted dialogue, ambiguous details and other elements that steal from rather than add to the novel's storytelling, editing out as much as possible. In gutting the novel, you gain freer rein to add crucial elements that were crushed for space before.

6. 

   Final Draft

   On commencing the final draft, devote attention to the finer points of prose and the artfulness of the wordplay. Work over each scene laboriously, until it becomes a simple matter of whether a comma ought to be removed or kept.

Tips & Warnings

• Whether writing literary, genre, mainstream or one of the many other categories of fiction, just like every other writer, you start at the same place: a blank page. Rather than writing the prose immediately, start simple. For this reason, the steps listed above, rather than exhaustive or conclusive, are a simple way to get jump-started. There are many approaches. Jonathan Lethem, for instance, says that he never uses an outline. The approach that gets your work done is best, obviously. In addition to the process laid out, read as much as possible, visit museums and art shows. When possible, take short excursions. In short, find inspiration wherever you may.

• The writer needs to heed only one warning: keep writing, never stop. Writer's block does not exist; it's merely a manner of getting lost, exploring. Sit down and write, regardless of how you feel. If you're earnest, you will find the way.

References

• Novel & Short Story Writer's Market; Jonathan Lethem: Finding His Way Home; Michael Schweer; December 2006

Resources

• How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction; Williamson.