ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Beginning a Novel

Updated on August 8, 2013

Whether You Pen or Type

Making it your best work
Making it your best work

Getting Started

You have an idea for a novel. You cannot wait to get started. You sit at your computer or writing desk. You begin.

Does your setting make a difference in your first scene? If so, be sure your reader has a clear idea of where you are? Is it the desert? Is it a snow-capped mountain top? Where the heck are you. If you've written about the heat in the desert, but are inside a house, where are you in the house? Is it hot there? Or do you have air-conditioning?

Next when you introduce your main character, make sure they have first and last name. Sally is sitting in the dark waiting for her wayward husband to stagger in, tells me absolutely nothing. Where is Sally waiting? Who the heck is Sally? Why is she sitting in the dark? Do they have children? What is she wearing? Is she angry? Is she fed up? Is she ready to leave him? And why does she expect him to be staggering? Is he an alcoholic? What makes him wayward? You have left way too much to my imagination.

If I have trouble with your first sentence, I'm not sure I want to read further. If you are submitting a work to me, I'm going to ask you all those questions. I'm not picking it apart, I need to know as a reader.

Do you have an idea where your story is going? Some people work from an extensive outline. Some people (me) write as we go. I have the idea. I know where I'm starting and I know where I want the story to go. You have to do what works for you. I make notes on the things I don't feel are working, or for my next scene. I write on any paper available, napkins, place-mats, any scrap I can find. Sometimes I even carry a notebook.

Storyboards work for some writers. They can see how things are going to go. Some writers also draw. They actually draw their characters and look at them while they are writing. I'd love to be able to draw my characters, alas I am not an artist.

Our Setting

Pouring rain
Pouring rain

Grab Me

Your first paragraph has to grab your reader. I know you've been told this over and over. You think you have it down. Does it grab you? If it doesn't rework it until it does. If you can't get beyond the first paragraph ask for help.

Sam Wade was a big man, almost six foot four, as he staggered out of the dark alley, people gave him a wide berth. The rain was pouring down as he made his way to the nearest police cruiser. Someone handed him a cup of steaming coffee. He took it as he slid into the passenger side of the car.

We know Sam is big, he's been in an alley, and it's raining. Do we want to know why Sam has been in the alley...of course. Is the rain going to make his job harder? We're not sure. We don't know his job yet. Why are people hanging around in the rain? I sure want to know. What is in the alley? Why was he staggering out? Who gave him coffee and why? Why did he go to a police car?

These are all things your reader will want to know. As you work with Sam, you need to build him a background. You need to know him as well as you know yourself. I don't know Sam yet. He was a thirty second write for this blog. Do I know if there is a story here? Not a clue. I'm not yet ready to tell you why he was in the alley.

I am going to assume Sam is dripping wet. I read the rain was pouring down. Which could be the reason someone handed him a cup of coffee. I don't even know if he likes coffee, but he did take it. But the whole thing has possibilities.

What Next

To the drawing board
To the drawing board

Where Do I Go From Here?

The first thing I'm going to do is a biographical sketch of Sam Wade. How do I do that? Well I've created a worksheet I fill in.

How old is Sam?

What does he look like? Hair color?

What is his occupation?

What is his family like? Does he have a family?

Where does he live? Apartment? City? Country? House? Condo?

How long has he worked his job?

How did he get to where he is?

College education?

How does he think?

Is he a religious man?

Who are his friends?

Who are his colleagues?

All of this gets in depth description. I want to know Sam. I want to know his habits, his quirks, his faults. I could be a bitter person stuck in a no where job. He could have just been promoted. Maybe this is his first day on a new job. Before I am done, I will know all of this. Sam is going to be my new best friend.

He is going to be with me night and day. I'm going to walk in his shoes until he thinks we're attached at the hip. He's going to haunt my sleep telling me which direction this story should take. We are going to argue. Some days I'm going to let Sam think he's in charge and let him run with the story. Other days I'm going to rein him in because he's done something out of character or his idea isn't working.

Until Sam's story is written and has made fifty to sixty thousand words, Sam and I are going be be a team. If you don't know your characters as well as that, keep learning who they are.

My first novel had two different starts before I finally wrote the third one and it worked. In the first few pages I killed the town's lovable librarian. It took the rest of the novel for my main character to figure out why anyone would do such a thing. As it was a small town, he had to wade through all the secrets to find the killer. Hence the title for my book: Secrets. I knew I had a good book on my hands when all of the sudden my characters took over. I was just the conduit to get the story out. Yes, it's a weird feeling, but it works. Which is what I mean about having to sometimes rein them in. I do so on the days, it's not working.

And my mind never sleeps. I put a notebook and pen next to my bed so if I get an idea while sleeping I can turn on the light and write it down. Sometimes the ideas are good, sometimes they don't fly at all.

Finally

When your story/novel has finally come together, it's time to prepare it for an agent or publisher. The first thing you have to do is find someone who can edit your grammar. Bad grammar will get the door shut before it ever gets open. Then, if you belong to a writer's group, test it out on them. Don't be offended at their feedback, you want the good with the bad. It's the only way to make it better. If you don't belong to a writer's group, find one, create one, find one on-line.

Check with your local library, they will most likely know if there is one in your area. Check at a local community college or university. Their English departments can point you in the right direction. If all else fails, attend a conference where you can get feedback on your writing. I did for my third novel. I spent an extra $25 and sent the first five thousand words of my work in progress to be critiqued. It was the best money I ever spent. I've also done an on-line writer's workshop where all the authors were anonymous until the end of the sixteen week session. The feedback I received from the other two authors made my book the best it could be.

Send you best copy off to agents/publishers. They want to see your best work. That doesn't mean they won't have ideas on how to make it better. But they won't look at it if you haven't done these things. Best of luck.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)