Things To Think About Before Writing Your Novel

The novel can be a fast paced thrill ride of adventure-or this demonic thing we create, store in a closet, and hope to forget. Before you write the novel there are some things to keep in mind. We must take care in writing the novel, living a full and artful life, and be prepared for all those festering doubts.

First we meet the page. It does not look like something better, but we find ourselves sitting there, sipping on tea, and enjoying just thinking of the novel. We can do this forever-the world won't end. We might not be ready for the novel, but, as long as we are thinking, it is okay not to act. You are so used to people telling these stories of writing a novel from page one to page three hundred in a matter of months that you forgot the simplest pain and joy in staring at the page.

Before we write the novel not everything has to be thought through. However, in writing it, we must think of it as long as reasonably possible. This project could change the way we look at the world, maybe even a career, and so we need to treat the form with respect.

Read as much as possible in a field different than what your novel is. So, if it is a literary novel of length, consider reading fantasies and or romance novels by the likes of George R.R. Martin and Danielle Steele. If the novel will be science fiction we need distance from speculative fiction, and we will read things like those literary novels by John Updike or Paul Auster.

We are still not ready to write the novel, no matter what we think. We need a creative outlet besides the novel, so we write a short story, maybe even a piece of flash fiction. We have no intent of publishing this story; it is an act of exploration. It can be as different from our novel as the sun to the moon, or as similar as a brown notebook to a blue one. This shorter form piece may not be our first, but what matters is that we work out all our storytelling kinks, all the things we want to do in the novel, on the page.

Now we are ready. We pull out the laptop computer, or turn the monitor of the desk computer on, and make our first choice. We can outline or tell it straightforward-there is no wrong way to begin a novel. The first page will be a catalyst for the rest, and all the experiences we have had before will find themselves deep in the pages.