How to Write a Novel

Video Transcript

"So you've got that novel inside of you and the doctor says it's got to come out. What are you going to do about it. The first thing you have to do actually is read a lot of other novels. You don't want to wind up rewriting something that's already been done. And in fact you are going to learn a lot just by reading and thinking about the novels that other people have written. Novels that are somewhat similar to the one you are thinking of writing, novels that are completely dissimilar. It doesn't matter. Just read a lot and keep reading while you are writing. Because remember while it is possible to write a novel in a week, it's probably not going to be very good, and it's not going to be very long and you're probably not going to be able to do it. I couldn't do it certainly. Understand that you are in it for the long haul. Anthony Trollop who wrote more novels then most of us, said that what you most needed was cobbler's wax. Cobbler's wax is very sticky, it's used for holding the shoe together while you are making the shoe, and said apply it to the bottom of your pants and then sit down in the chair. And stay there. Persistence counts for an awful lot. Know you characters. If you don't know you characters you won't be able to see them behave as they are going to behave. They won't be able to behave like human beings. They have to become people to you. Take them on walks. Take them to dinner. Spend time actually conversing with them in your imagination of course. There's a questionnaire called the Proust questionnaire which you will be able to find on the Internet, a series of questions that Marshall Proust asked himself periodically, ask your characters these questions and when you can answer them then you know them well enough that you can put them through their paces and they will behave as individuals. Don't stick just to one story, the best novels don't have just one story that's very, very long, they have a number of stories. What we call subplots that are related to the original story and embroider on it, it's like a braid. A braid is not just one strand of something, it's one strand coming down the middle with other stuff braided around it. The other stuff is what helps make it beautiful and make it stronger. Subplots will also do that for your novel."