The Three Stages to Writing a Novel Successfully

What is a writer? As defined by dictionary.com, a writer is someone who commits their ideas to paper sometimes privately, or professionally.

For those looking to be penning the next great American novel, think before you jot one iota down on paper. Do you have what it takes to be a writer? If you say yes, do you have what it takes to be a novelist? Really, can you sustain an idea for more than a page without getting bored? If you say yes again, continue reading and learn more about what it takes to be a potentially great American novelist. Instead of following a conventional format of a set number of tips, there are three stages of writing that explain the inspiration, perspiration, and frequent degradation of rejection letters. Let's break down those stages accordingly in order to get the full story before creating one of your own.

Stage One: The Idea Process

Read at your own accord, but the ideal bet would be to start chronologically from the beginning with stage one, which starts with the idea process. Some people believe that the idea well can be perpetually dipped into to churn out three or four books a year like most romance novelists do. Come on. No one in their right mind can churn out that many stories, unless their formula is so pat that the writing process takes less time. Usually, that's never the case. The process is only as long as any good novelist allows it to be.

In the movie Becoming Jane, James McAvoy's character advises aspiring novelist Jane Austen that her " horizons must be... widened" in order to be a literary success. The best way to do would be to have time to brainstorm ideas on a limitless time table. Ideas never work based on a set schedule. Don't force the ideas come out, because then it won't happen. Creativity only flows when someone is not banging on the door waiting for the big pay-off. If that's the case, then give up now. Make sure your potential ideas have enough of an opportunity to go beyond simple musings in your head. Can this idea be interesting in 10 pages and still be just as interesting in 300 pages or more?

Once the ideas have been formatted, then its time to gather facts about the subjects you plan to explore. If the lead characters are trial lawyers, research the profession thoroughly through past court cases and observe some real-life lawyers to see what their day-to-day activities are like. As an insurance policy, make sure you get documentation of your research just in case if any issues with the story come to pass in the future. The swiftest way to end a rising career would be a lawsuit revealed in any public forum. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves before the story is even completed.

Stage Two: Slaving Away at the Computer

For this stage, the ideas have been fleshed out as far as they can go, and now it's time for the real nitty gritty to proceed. The months and years spent on generating material for the first, or 20^th, novel. The process is rather complex and often takes the scrapping of once great ideas and replacing them with more improved ones. Don't overreact if some ideas fail, because dozens of better ones will sprout up to rectify that.

The key to writing the story is finding which audience the story is for. If it's a universal story, the task should be a little more simple, but if the goal is to focus on a certain group, tighten the idea reins to do so. No reader likes to spend their time reading the work of someone who went a wild twenty chapter goose chase.

Sadly, many novelists make multiple mistakes in their first books that can never be taken back. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel This Side of Paradise, he wrote an "Author's Apology" explaining away his disappointment as simply as he could. Fitzgerald said that, "My whole theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next and the schoolmasters of ever afterward." The only cure for early errors in judgment would be to learn from them for future novels. For example, if the third person story narrative did not get the right reaction from readers, then try telling the next story in a more direct first person viewpoint. This narrative angle allows the character, and the author by extension, verbally express themselves as much as possible. If this angle does not entirely work, customize it to fit the story. One narrator might not work, but two would be even better by breaking up the story into two sections based on the characters' versions of what happened.

The biggest enemy to a writer is of course Writer's Block. It's the mental Kryptonite that allows ideas to be washed down the shower drain, or chapters worth of work to get locked in a freezer. No one can ever determine when the freezer door can be unlocked when the lock cannot be seen. Sounds strange, but it's really true. The timing of Writer's Block can never be explained, except that it happens. Sometimes it takes days, months, or even years before a writer gets their story groove back, but when it does watch out world. They will burn the midnight oil and allow themselves to complete any long ignored incomplete manuscript. This is the best time to resurrect any story that has not been completed and see if it can be rescued. Occasionally, those long forgotten story tidbits can be blended in with an active story rather seamlessly. Other times, those snippets get snipped out of the book and are thrown aside once again for the next salvage attempt.

Ideally, the story will get the opportunity to see the perfect ending, but often the book just concludes on a typical note depending on the genre. Mystery novels usually have the Sam Spade type make off with the dame, and have the crooks carted off to jail. Romance novels either end with a wedding, or the promise of one. The biggest twist in that genre is when true love does not prevail, which is rarely the case. The guy and the girl usually skip off into the sunset and have as many children as they are allowed by the author. Now that the book has a reasonable ending, time to shop it around to any publisher interested in reading it.

Stage Three: Publication Time

In this final stage, the real work begins to make the newly completed story publication ready, which is done best by dissecting every molecule of the book from the ground up. Confidence in your work is the key to success, but also knowing that instant success on the New York Times bestseller list is impossible. Everyone has to start somewhere, which is often with an editor deciding to take a risk by taking a second look at your manuscript.

According to Thomas McCormack, a former publisher at St. Martin's Press, the greatest moment for an editor comes "when you're not actively looking for some particular thing, and out of an anonymous pile of manuscripts something emerges that feels magnetized, radioactive, dancing with electricity." Much to the dismay of writers and editors alike, the electricity is rarely seen in the midst of thousands of manuscripts. Interests frequently wander at the turn of each page, which is understandable because the first draft is never perfect. It's usually riddled with flaws, which is why you never submit a first draft to a publisher unless rejection is your goal.

Before spending twice as much time as you spent creating the story, buy as many red pens as you need. Why pens? If you use a pencil to edit the book, the more likely you are to erase some editorial corrections. Stick with a writing tool that's more permanent and noticeable. Once the mistakes are highlighted, correct them in a way that allows them to better blend in with the story. When that is done, take some time to celebrate the completion of your first, or whatever number, novel before putting back on the editing cap.

Once the editing is done, time to pass off the finished products for an expert to treat your literary pride and joy like a school science project. The only sure thing that Las Vegas can predict in the publishing industry is that rejection is a certainty. Many publishing houses will ignore the story, while others might take the extra step to critique your work. Don't let the criticism get to you. If it helps to make the story improve, take the suggestions and make the improvements because those changes might make all the difference.

In the end, the fate of your literary success is no longer in your hands once the story has been written. Well, not exactly. It depends on the right marketing strategy to properly explain your story. If the publisher sees your story beyond the typed pages, the possibilities could be endless, but instead focus on the reality of writing a novel. The accomplishment of completing it should be worth its weight in gold alone, because many writers never finish their supposed masterpieces. After the last sentence is typed, everything else is simply icing on the cake.

Sources

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/quotes/quotes1.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/writer
http://imdb.com/title/tt0416508/quotes
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/novelwriting/a/McCormack.htm