How to Write a Novel: A 12-Step Guide

How to Write a Novel: A 12-Step Guide

You’ve always wanted to write a novel. But something’s stopped you.

Maybe you’ve tried before, only to get a few, or several, pages in and lose steam because:

  • Your story idea didn’t hold up
  • You couldn’t overcome procrastination
  • You feared your writing wasn’t good enough
  • You ran out of ideas and had no clue what to do next

You may be surprised that even after writing 200 books (two-thirds of those novels) over the last 45+ years, including several New York Times bestsellers (most notably the Left Behind Series), I face those same problems every time .

So how do I overcome them and succeed?

I use a repeatable novel-writing plan — one that helps me smash through those obstacles. And that’s what I reveal to you in this definitive guide.

Imagine finishing your first draft. Better yet, imagine a finished manuscript . Or, best of all, your name on the cover of a newly published book — does that excite you?

Imagine letters from readers telling you your novel changed their lives, gave them a new perspective, renewed hope.

If other writers enjoy such things, why can’t you?

Of course this goes without saying, but first you must finish a novel manuscript.

This guide shows you how to write a novel (based on the process I use to write mine). I hope you enjoy it and can apply it to your own writing!

  • How to Write a Novel in 12 Steps
  • Nail down a winning story idea .
  • Determine whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser .
  • Create an unforgettable main character .
  • Expand your idea into a plot .
  • Research, research, research .
  • Choose your Voice and Point of View .
  • Start in medias res (in the midst of things) .
  • Engage the theater of the reader’s mind .
  • Intensify your main character’s problems .
  • Make the predicament appear hopeless .
  • Bring it all to a climax .
  • Leave readers wholly satisfied .
  • Step 1: Nail-down a winning story idea.

Is your novel concept special?

  • Big enough to warrant 75,000 to 100,000 words?
  • Powerful enough to hold the reader all the way?

Come up with a story laden with conflict — the engine that will drive your plot .

I based my first novel, Margo , on this idea: A judge tries a man for a murder the judge committed .

Take whatever time you need to prioritize your story ideas and choose the one you would most want to read — the one about which you’re most passionate and which would keep you eagerly returning to the keyboard every day.

It must capture YOU so completely you can’t get it out of your head. Only that kind of an idea will inspire you to write the novel you’ve always dreamed of.

  • Step 2: Determine whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser.

If you’re an Outliner, you prefer to map out everything before you start writing your novel. You want to know your characters and what happens to them from beginning to end.

If you’re a Pantser, meaning you write by the seat of your pants, you begin with the germ of an idea and write as a process of discovery.

As Stephen King says, “Put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens.”

One or the other of these approaches will simply feel most natural to you.

But, in truth, many of us are hybrids, some combination of the two — needing the security of an outline and the freedom to let the story take us where it will.

So do what makes the most sense to you and don’t fret if that means incorporating both Outlining and Pantsing.

(I cover strategies for both types and talk about how to structure a novel here .)

Regardless, you need some form of structure to keep from burning out after so many pages.

I’m a Pantser with a hint of Outlining thrown in, but I never start writing a novel without an idea where I’m going — or think I’m going.

  • Step 3: Create an unforgettable main character.

Your most important character will be your protagonist, also known as your lead or your hero/heroine.

This main character must experience a life arc — in other words, be a different, better or worse, stronger or weaker person by the end. (I use “he” inclusively to mean hero or heroine)

For most novels, that means he must bear potentially heroic qualities that emerge in the climax.

For readers to be able to relate to him, he should also exhibit human flaws.

So resist the temptation to create a perfect lead. Who can relate to perfection?

You’ll also have an antagonist (also known as the villain ) who should be every bit as formidable and compelling as your hero. Make sure the bad guy isn’t bad just because he’s the bad guy. 😊

He must be able to justify — if only in his own mind — why he does what he does to make him a worthy foe, realistic and memorable.

You may also need important orbital cast members.

For each character, ask:

  • Who are they?
  • What do they want?
  • Why do they want it?
  • What or who is keeping them from it?
  • What will they do about it?

Use distinct names (even distinct initials) for every character — and make them look and sound different from each other too, so your reader won’t confuse them.

Limit how many you introduce early. If your reader needs a program to keep them straight, you may not have him for long.

Naturally, your lead character will face an outward problem — a quest, a challenge, a journey, a cause… But he also must face inner turmoil to make him really relatable to the reader and come alive on the page.

Heroic, inventive, morally upright, and physically strong? Of course. But your protagonist must also face fear, insecurity, self-doubt.

The more challenges he faces, the more potential he has to grow and develop.

Much as in real life, the tougher the challenges, the greater the potential transformation.

For more on developing your characters, check out my blog posts Your Ultimate Guide to Character Development: 9 Steps to Creating Memorable Heroes , How to Create a Powerful Character Arc , and Character Motivation: How to Craft Realistic Characters .

  • Step 4: Expand your idea into a plot.

True Pantsers — yes, even some bestselling novelists — don’t plot. Here’s the downside:

Like me, you might love being a Pantser and writing as a process of discovery, BUT — even we non-Outliners need some modicum of structure.

Discovering what bestselling novelist Dean Koontz calls the Classic Story Structure (in his How to Write Best-Selling Fiction ) changed my writing forever . My book sales took off when I started following his advice:

  • Plunge your main character into terrible trouble as soon as possible.
  • Everything your character does to try to get out of that trouble makes it only progressively worse…
  • …until his predicament appears hopeless.
  • Finally, everything your hero learns from trying to get out of the terrible trouble builds in him what he needs to succeed in the end.

Want to download this 12-step guide to refer to whenever you wish? Click here.

Plot Elements

Writing coaches call by different names their own suggested story structures , but the basic sequence is largely common. They all include some variation of:

  • The Inciting Incident that changes everything
  • A series of crises that build tension
  • A Conclusion

Regardless how you plot your novel, your primary goal must be to grab readers by the throat from the get-go and never let go.

For more on developing your plot, visit my blog post The Writer’s Guide to Creating the Plot of a Story .

More in-depth plotting resources:

  • Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
  • The Secrets of Story Structure by K. M. Weiland
  • The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson
  • Step 5: Research, research, research.

Though fiction, by definition, is made up, to succeed it must be believable. Even fantasies need to make sense.

You must research to avoid errors that render your story unbelievable.

Once a reader has bought into your premise, what follows must be logical. Effective research allows you to add the specificity necessary to make this work .

When my character uses a weapon, I learn everything I can about it. I’ll hear about it from readers if I refer to a pistol as a revolver or if my protagonist shoots 12 bullets from a gun that holds only 8 rounds.

Accurate details add flavor and authenticity.

Get details wrong and your reader loses confidence — and interest — in your story.

Research essentials:

  • Consult Atlases and World Almanacs to confirm geography and cultural norms and find character names that align with the setting, period, and customs . If your Middle Eastern character flashes someone a thumbs up, be sure that means the same in his culture as it does in yours.
  • Encyclopedias. If you don’t own a set, access one at your local library or online .
  • YouTube and online search engines can yield tens of thousands of results. (Just be careful to avoid wasting time getting drawn into clickbait videos.)
  • Use a Thesaurus while writing your novel, but not to find the most exotic word. I most often a thesaurus to find that normal word that’s on the tip of my tongue.
  • There’s no substitute for in-person interviews with experts. People love to talk about their work, and often such conversations lead to more story ideas.

Resist the urge to shortchange the research process.

Readers notice geographical, cultural, and technological blunders and trust me, they’ll let you know.

Even sci-fi or fantasy readers demand believability within the parameters of the world you’ve established .

One caveat: Don’t overload your story with all the esoteric facts you’ve learned, just to show off your research. Add specifics the way you would add seasoning to food. It enhances the experience, but it’s not the main course.

  • Step 6: Choose your point of view.

The perspective from which you write your novel can be complicated because it encompasses so much.

Your Point of View (POV) is more than simply deciding what voice to use: First Person ( I, me ), Second Person ( you, your ), or Third Person ( he, she, or it ).

It also involves deciding who will be your POV character, serving as your story’s camera.

The cardinal rule is one perspective character per scene , but I prefer only one per chapter, and ideally one per novel.

Readers experience everything in your story from this character’s perspective.

No hopping into the heads of other characters. What your POV character sees, hears, touches, smells, tastes, and thinks is all you can convey.

Some writers think that limits them to First Person, but it doesn’t. Most novels are written in Third Person Limited.

That means limited to one perspective character at a time, and that character ought to be the one with the most at stake in each scene.

Writing your novel in First Person makes it easiest to limit yourself to that one perspective character, but Third-Person Limited is the most common.

I’m often asked how other characters can be revealed or developed without switching to them as the perspective character.

Read current popular fiction to see how the bestsellers do it.

(One example: the main character hears what another character says, reads his tone and his expression and his body language, and comes to a conclusion. Then he finds out that person told someone else something entirely different, proving he was lying to one of them.)

For a more in-depth explanation of Voice and Point of View, read my post A Writer’s Guide to Point of View .

Step 7: Begin in medias res (in the midst of things) .

You must grab your reader by the throat on page one.

That doesn’t necessarily mean bullets flying or a high speed chase, though that might work for a thriller. It means avoiding too much scene setting and description and, rather, getting to the good stuff — the guts of the story .

Les Edgerton, a gritty writer who writes big boy novels (don’t say I didn’t warn you) says beginning writers worry too much about explaining all the backstory to the reader first.

He’s saying, in essence, get on with it and trust your reader to deduce what’s going on.

The goal of every sentence, in fact of every word , is to compel the reader to read the next.

  • Step 8: Engage the theater of the reader’s mind.

Don’t moviegoers often say they liked the book better?

The reason is obvious: Even with all its high-tech computer-generated imagery , Hollywood cannot compete with the theater of the reader’s mind.

The images our mind’s eye evokes are far more imaginative and dramatic than anything Hollywood can produce.

Your job as a writer is not to make readers imagine things as you see them, but to trigger the theaters of their minds.

Give them just enough to engage their mental projectors. That’s where the magic happens.

For more, visit my post on What Is Imagery? and Show, Don’t Tell: What You Need to Know .

  • Step 9: Intensify your main character’s problems.

You’ve grabbed your reader with a riveting opener and plunged your hero into terrible trouble.

Now, everything he does to get out of that terrible trouble must make it progressively worse.

Do not give him a break.

Too many amateurs render their hero’s life too easy.

They give a private eye a nice car, a great weapon, a beautiful girlfriend, an upscale apartment, a fancy office, and a rich client. Rather, pull out from under him anything that makes his life easy.

Have his car break down, his weapon get stolen, his girlfriend leave, his landlord evict him, his office burn, and his client go broke. Now thrust him into a dangerous case.

Conflict is the engine of fiction .

(For more on conflict, read my post Internal and External Conflict: Tips for Creating Unforgettable Characters )

His trouble should escalate logically with his every successive attempt to fix it.

You can hint that he’s growing, developing, changing, getting stronger, and adding more to his skillset through his trials, but his trouble should become increasingly terrible until you…

  • Step 10: Make his predicament appear hopeless.

Writing coaches have various labels for this crucial plot point.

Novelist Angela Hunt refers to this as The Bleakest Moment. It’s where even you wonder how you’re going to write your way out of this.

The once-reprobate lover who has become a changed man and a loving fiance suddenly falls off the wagon the night before the wedding.

Caught red-handed doing drugs and drinking with another woman, he sees his true love storm off, vowing to never speak to him again.

Imagine the nadir, the low point, the bleakest moment for your lead character. Your ability to mine this can make or break you as a novelist.

This is not easy, believe me. You’ll be tempted to give your protagonist a break, invent an escape, or inject a miracle. Don’t you dare!

The Bleakest Moment forces your hero to take action, to use every new muscle and technique gained from facing a book full of obstacles to prove that things only appeared beyond repair.

The more hopeless the situation, the more powerful your climax and ending will be.

  • Step 11: Bring it all to a climax.

The ultimate resolution, the peak emotional point of your story, comes when your hero faces his toughest test yet. The stakes must be dire and failure catastrophic.

The conflict that has been building throughout now crescendos to a final, ultimate confrontation, and all the major book-length setups are paid off.

Star Wars: A New Hope climaxes with the rebels forced to destroy the Death Star.

In the original version of the movie, that scene felt flat. So the filmmakers added that the Death Star was on the verge of destroying the rebel base.

That skyrocketed the tension and sent the stakes over the top.

Give readers the payoff they’ve been set up for. Reward their sticking with you and let them experience the fireworks.

But remember, the climax is not the end. The real conclusion ties up loose ends and puts everything into perspective.

  • Step 12: Leave readers wholly satisfied.

A great ending :

  • Honors the reader for his investment of time and money.
  • Is the best of all your options. If it comes down to clever, quirky, or emotional, always aim for the heart.
  • Keeps your hero on stage till the last word.

Because climaxes are so dramatic, endings often just peter out. Don’t let that happen.

Your ending might not be as dramatic or action-filled as the climax, but it must be every bit as provocative and riveting.

Don’t rush it. Rewrite it until it shines. I’ve long been on record that all writing is rewriting, and this is never more true than at the end of your novel.

When do you know it’s been rewritten enough? When you’ve gone from making it better to merely making it different.

Write a fully satisfying ending that drops the curtain with a resounding thud. Your readers will thank you for it.

  • Frequently Asked Questions and Novel Writing Tips

1. How long does it take to write a novel?

A lifetime. It will pull from you everything you know and everything you are.

It takes as long as necessary.

I know those answers sound flippant, but remember, speed is not the point.

Quality is the point.

Spend as much time as it takes for you to be happy with every word before you start pitching your manuscript to the market.

How long writing a novel will take you depends on your goals and your schedule.

A manuscript of a 100,000 words, including revision, should be doable — even for a beginner — in six to nine months.

Develop and practice the right habits , set a regular writing schedule, and stick to it.

2. How hard is it to write a novel?

If you’re anything like me, it will prove the hardest thing you have ever done. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Every published novelist (yes, even any big name you can think of) was once right where you are — unpublished and unknown. They ultimately succeeded because they didn’t quit.

Resolve to not quit, and you will write a novel. I can’t guarantee it will become a bestseller, but I can guarantee it won’t if you don’t finish it.

3. How do I know if my story idea has potential?

You’ll know your story has legs if it stays in your mind, growing and developing every time you think of it.

The right concept simply feels right. You’ll know it when you land on it. Most importantly, your idea must compel you to write it.

Tell your story idea to someone whose opinion you trust.

You should be able to tell by their expression and their tone of voice whether they really like it or are just being polite.

  • You Can Do This

If you want to write a novel, don’t allow the magnitude of the writing process to overwhelm you.

Attack it the way you would eat an elephant — one bite at a time. 😊

Don’t let fear stop you. Use it as motivation to do your best work.

Avoid wondering What if…?

Take the leap.

Stay focused on why you started this journey in the first place.

Follow the steps I’ve given you, and you may find that this time next year, you’re holding in your hands a manuscript that could become a published novel with your name on the cover.

  • Step 7: Begin in medias res (in the midst of things).

Amateur writing mistake

Are You Making This #1 Amateur Writing Mistake?

White blooming flower

Faith-Based Words and Phrases

novel writing 12

What You and I Can Learn From Patricia Raybon

novel writing 12

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Before you go, be sure to grab my character arc worksheet.

Just tell me where to send it:

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The Write Practice

How to Write a Novel (Without Fail): The Ultimate 20-Step Guide

by Joe Bunting | 0 comments

What if you could learn how to write a novel without fail? What if you had a process so foolproof, you knew you would finish no matter what writer's block throws at you? The zombie apocalypse could finally strike and you’d still face the blank page to finish your novel.

How To Write a Novel Without Fear of Failure: The Complete 20-Step Guide

Every day I talk to writers who don’t know how to write a novel. They worry they don’t have what it takes, and honestly, they’re right to worry.

Writing a novel, especially for the first time, is hard work, and the desk drawers and hard drives of many a great writer are filled with the skeletons of incomplete and failed books.

The good news is you don't have to be one of those failed writers.

You can be a writer that writes to the end.

You can be the kind of writer who masters how to write a novel.

Table of Contents

Looking for something specific? Jump straight to it here:

1. Get a great idea 2. Write your idea as a premise 3. Set a deadline 4. Set smaller deadlines building to the final deadline 5. Create a consequence 6. Strive for “good enough” and embrace imperfection 7. Figure out what kind of story you’re trying to tell 8. Read novels and watch films that are similar to yours 9. Structure, structure, structure! 10. Find the climactic moment in your novel 11. Consider the conventions 12. Set your intention 13. Picture your reader 14. Build your team 15. Plan the publishing process 16. Write (with low expectations) 17. Trust the process and don’t quit 118. Keep going, even when it hurts 19. Finish Draft One . . . then onward to the next 20. Draft 2, 3, 4, 5 Writers’ Best Tips on How to Write a Novel FAQ

My Journey to Learn How to Write a Novel

My name is Joe Bunting .

I used to worry I would never write a novel. Growing up, I dreamed about becoming a great novelist, writing books like the ones I loved to read. I had even tried writing novels, but I failed again and again.

So I decided to study creative writing in college. I wrote poems and short stories. I read books on writing. I earned an expensive degree.

But still, I didn’t know how to write a novel.

After college I started blogging, which led to a few gigs at a local newspaper and then a national magazine. I got a chance to ghostwrite a nonfiction book (and get paid for it!). I became a full-time, professional writer.

But even after writing a few books, I worried I didn’t have what it takes to write a novel. Novels just seemed different, harder somehow. No writing advice seemed to make it less daunting. 

Maybe it was because they were so precious to me, but while writing a nonfiction book no longer intimidated me—writing a novel terrified me.

Write a novel? I didn’t know how to do it.

Until, one year later, I decided it was time. I needed to stop stalling and finally take on the process.

I crafted a plan to finish a novel using everything I’d ever learned about the book writing process. Every trick, hack, and technique I knew.

And the process worked.

I finished my novel in 100 days.

Today, I’m a Wall Street Journal bestselling author of thirteen books, and I'm passionate about teaching writers how to write and finish their books. (FINISH being the key word here.)

I’ve taught this process to hundreds of other writers who have used it to draft and complete their novels.

And today, I'm going to teach my “how to write a novel” process to you, too. In twenty manageable steps !

As I do this, I’ll share the single best novel writing tips from thirty-seven other fiction writers that you can use in your novel writing journey—

All of which is now compiled and constructed into The Write Planner : our tangible planning guide for writers that gives you this entire process in a clear, actionable, and manageable way.

If you’ve ever felt discouraged about not finishing your novel, like I did, or afraid that you don’t have what it takes to build a writing career, I’m here to tell you that you can.

There's a way to make your writing easier.

Smarter, even.

You just need to have the “write” process.

How to Write a Novel: The Foolproof, 20-Step Plan

Below, I’m going to share a foolproof process that anyone can use to write a novel, the same process I used to write my novels and books, and that hundreds of other writers have used to finish their novels too.

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1. Get a Great Idea

Maybe you have a novel idea already. Maybe you have twenty ideas.

If you do, that’s awesome. Now, do this for me: Pat yourself on the back, and then forget any feeling of joy or accomplishment you have.

Here’s the thing: an idea alone, even a great idea, is just the first baby step in writing your book. There are nineteen more steps, and almost all of them are more difficult than coming up with your initial idea.

I love what George R.R. Martin said:

“Ideas are useless. Execution is everything.”

You have an idea. Now learn how to execute, starting with step two.

(And if you don’t have a novel idea yet, here’s a list of 100 story ideas that will help, or you can view our genre specific lists here: sci-fi ideas , thriller ideas , mystery ideas , romance ideas , and fantasy ideas . You can also look at the Ten Best Novel Ideas here . Check those out, then choose an idea or make up one of your own, When you're ready, come back for step two.)

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2. Write Your Idea As a Premise

Now that you have a novel idea , write it out as a single-sentence premise.

What is a premise, and why do you need one?

A premise distills your novel idea down to a single sentence. This sentence will guide your entire writing and publishing process from beginning to end. It hooks the reader and captures the high stakes (and other major details) that advance and challenge the protagonist and plot.

It can also be a bit like an elevator pitch for your book. If someone asks you what your novel is about, you can share your premise to explain your story—you don't need a lengthy description.

Also, a premise is the most important part of a query letter or book proposal, so a good premise can actually help you get published.

What’s an example of a novel premise ?

Here’s an example from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum:

A young girl is swept away to a magical land by a tornado and must embark on a quest to see the wizard who can help her return home.

Do you see the hooks? Young girl, magical land, embark on a quest (to see the wizard)—and don't forget her goal to return home.

This premise example very clearly contains the three elements every premise needs in order to stand out:

  • A protagonist described in two words, e.g. a young girl or a world-weary witch.
  • A goal. What the protagonist wants or needs.
  • A situation or crisis the protagonist must face.

Ready to write your premise? We have a free worksheet that will guide you through writing a publishable premise: Download the worksheet here.

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3. Set a Deadline

Before you do anything else, you need to set a deadline for when you’re going to finish the first draft of your novel.

Stephen King said a first draft should be written in no more than a season, so ninety days. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, exists to encourage people to write a book in just thirty days.

In our 100 Day Book Program, we give people a little longer than that, 100 days, which seems like a good length of time for most people (me included!).

I recommend setting your deadline no longer than four months. If it’s longer than that, you’ll procrastinate. A good length of time to write a book is something that makes you a little nervous, but not outright terrified.

Mark the deadline date in your calendar, kneel on the floor, close your eyes, and make a vow to yourself and your book idea that you will write the first draft novel by then, no matter what.

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4. Set Smaller Deadlines Building to the Final Deadline

A novel can’t be written in a day. There’s no way to “cram” for a novel. The key to writing (and finishing) a novel is to make a little progress every day.

If you write a thousand words a day, something most people are capable of doing in an hour or two, for 100 days , by the end you’ll have a 100,000 word novel—which is a pretty long novel!

So set smaller, weekly deadlines that break up your book into pieces. I recommend trying to write 5,000 to 6,000 words per week by each Friday or Sunday, whichever works best for you. Your writing routine can be as flexible as you like, as long as you are hitting those smaller deadlines. 

If you can hit all of your weekly deadlines, you know you’ll make your final deadline at the end.

As long as you hold yourself accountable to your smaller, feasible, and prioritized writing benchmarks.

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5. Create a Consequence

You might think, “Setting a deadline is fine, but how do I actually hit my deadline?” Here’s a secret I learned from my friend Tim Grahl :

You need to create a consequence.

Try by taking these steps:

  • Set your deadline.
  • Write a check to an organization or nonprofit you hate (I did this during the 2016 U.S. presidential election by writing a check to the campaign of the candidate I liked least, whom shall remain nameless).
  • Think of two other, minor consequences (like giving up your favorite TV show for a month or having to buy ice cream for everyone at work).
  • Give your check, plus your list of two minor consequences, to a friend you trust with firm instructions to hold you to your consequences if you don’t meet your deadlines.
  • If you miss one of your weekly deadlines, suffer one of your minor consequences (e.g. give up your favorite TV show).
  • If you miss THREE weekly deadlines OR if you miss the final deadline, send your check to that organization you hate.
  • Finally, write! I promise that if you complete steps one through six, you'll be incredibly focused.

When I took these steps while writing my seventh book, I finished it in sixty-three days. Sixty-three days!

It was the most focused I’ve ever been in my life.

Writing a book is hard work. Setting reasonable consequences make it harder to NOT finish than to finish.

Watch me walk a Wattpad famous writer through this process:

Wattpad Famous Author Wanted Coaching. Here's What I Told Him [How to Write a Book Coaching]

6. Strive for “Good Enough” and Embrace Imperfection

The next few points are all about how to write a good story.

The reason we set a deadline before we consider how to write a story that stands out is because we could spend our entire lives learning how write a great story, but never actually write the actual story (and it’s in the writing process that you learn how to make your story great).

So learn how to make it great between writing sessions, but only good enough for the draft you’re currently writing. If you focus too much on this, it will ruin everything and you’ll never finish.

Writing a perfect novel, a novel like the one you have in your imagination, is an exercise in futility.

First drafts are inevitably horrible. Second drafts are a little better. Third drafts are better still.

But I'd bet none of these drafts approach the perfection that you built up in your head when you first considered your novel idea.

And yet, even if you know that, you’ll still try to write a perfect novel.

So remind yourself constantly, “This first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be good enough for now.”

And good enough for now, when you’re starting your first draft, just means you have words on a page that faintly resemble a story.

Writing is an iterative process. The purpose of your first draft is to have something you can improve in your second draft. Don’t overthink. Just do. (I’ll remind you of this later, in case you forget, and if you’re like me, you probably will.)

Ready to look at what makes a good story? Let’s jump into the next few points—but don’t forget your goal: to get your whole book, the complete story, on the page, no matter how messy your first draft reads.

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7. Figure Out What Kind of Story You’re Trying to Tell

Now that you have a deadline, you can start to think more deeply about what your protagonist really wants.

A good story focuses primarily on just one core thing that the protagonist wants or needs, and the place where your protagonist’s want or need meets the reader’s expectations dictates your story's genre.

Plot type is a big subject, and for the purposes of this post, we don’t have time to fully explore it (check out my book The Write Structure here ).

But story type is about more than what shelf your book sits on at the bookstore.

The book type gets to the heart, the foundational values, of what your story is about. In my book The Write Structure , I define ten plot types, which correspond to six value scales. I’ll give an abbreviated version below:

External Values (What Your Protagonist Wants)

  • Life vs. Death: Action, Adventure
  • Life vs. a Fate Worse Than Death: Horror, Thriller, Mystery
  • Love vs. Hate: Love, Romance
  • Esteem: Performance, Sports

Internal Values (What Your Protagonist Needs)

Internal plot types work slightly different than external plot types. These are essential for your character's transformation from page one to the end and deal with either a character's shift in their black-and-white view, a character's moral compass, or a character's rise or fall in social status.

For more, check out The Write Structure .

The most common internal plot types are bulleted quickly below.

  • Maturity/Sophistication vs. Immaturity/Naiveté: Coming of Age
  • Good/Sacrifice vs. Evil/Selfishness: Morality, Temptation/Testing

Choosing Your External and Internal Plot Types Will Set You Up for Success

You can mix and match these genres to some extent. For your book to be commercially successful, you must have an external genre.

For your book to be considered more “character driven”—or a story that connects with the reader on a universal level—you should have an internal genre, too. (I highly recommend having both.)

You can also have a subplot. So that’s three genres that you can potentially incorporate into your novel.

For example, you might have an action plot with a love story subplot and a worldview education internal genre. Or a horror plot with a love story subplot and a morality internal genre. There’s a lot of room to maneuver.

Regardless of what you choose, the balance of the three will give your protagonist plenty of obstacles to face as they strive to achieve their goal from beginning to end. (For best results when you go to publish, though, make sure you have an external genre.)

If you want to have solid preparation to write you book, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of The Write Structure .

What two or three values are foundational to your story? Spend some time brainstorming what your book is really about. Even better, use our Write Structure worksheet to get to the heart of your story type.

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8. Read Novels and Watch Films That Are Similar to Yours

“The hard truth is that books are made from books.”

I like to remember this quote from Cormac McCarthy when considering what my next novel is really about.

Now that you’ve thought about your novel's plot, it’s time to see how other great writers have pulled off the impossible and crafted a great story from the glimmer of an idea.

You might think, “My story is completely unique. There are no other stories similar to mine.”

If that’s you, then one small word of warning. If there are no books that are similar to yours, maybe there’s a reason for that.

Personally, I’ve read a lot of great books that were a lot of fun to read and were similar to other books. I’ve also read a lot of bad books that were completely unique.

Even precious, unique snowflakes look more or less like other snowflakes.

If you found your content genre in step three, select three to five novels and films that are in the same genre as yours and study them.

Don’t read/watch for pleasure. Instead, try to figure out the conventions, key scenes, and the way the author/filmmaker moves you through the story.

There's great strength in understanding how your story is the same but different.

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9. STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE!

Those were the three words my college screenwriting professor, a successful Hollywood TV producer, wrote across the blackboard nearly every class. Your creative process doesn't matter without structure.

You can be a pantser , someone who writes by the seat of their pants.

You can be a plotter , someone who needs to have a detailed outline for each of the plot points in their novel.

You can even be a plantser , somewhere in between the two (like most writers, including me).

It doesn’t matter. You still have to know your story structure .

Here are a few important structural elements you’ll want to figure out for your novel before moving forward:

6 Key Moments of Story Structure

There are six required moments in every story, scene, and act. They are:

  • Exposition : Introducing the world and the characters.
  • Inciting incident : There’s a problem.
  • Rising Action/Progressive complications : The problem gets worse, usually due to external conflict.
  • Dilemma : The problem gets so bad that the character has no choice but to deal with it. Usually this happens off screen.
  • Climax : The character makes their choice and the climax is the action that follows.
  • Denouement : The problem is resolved (for now at least).

If you're unfamiliar with these terms, I recommend studying each of them, especially dilemma, which we'll talk about more in a moment. Mastering these will be a huge aid to your writing process.

For your first few scenes, try plotting out each of these six moments, focusing especially on the dilemma.

Better yet, download our story structure worksheet to guide you through the story structure process, from crafting your initial idea through to writing the synopsis.

I've included some more detailed thoughts (and must-knows) about structure briefly below:

Three Act Structure

The classic writing advice describes the three act structure well:

In the first act, put your character up a tree. In the second act, throw rocks at them. In the third act, bring them down.

Do you wonder whether you should use three act structure or five act structure? (Hint: you probably don't want to use the five act structure. Learn more about this type with our full guide on the five act structure here .)

Note that each of these acts should have the six key moments listed above.

The Dilemma

I mentioned the importance of a character undergoing a crisis, but it bears repeating since, for me, it completely transformed my writing process.

In every act, your protagonist must face an impossible choice. It is THIS choice that creates drama in your story. THIS is how your plot moves forward. If you don’t have a dilemma, if your character doesn’t choose, your scenes won’t work, nor will your acts or story.

In my writing, when I’m working on a first draft, I don’t focus on figuring out all five key moments every time (since I’ve internalized them by now), but I do try to figure out the crisis before I start writing .

I begin with that end in mind, and figure out how I can put the protagonist into a situation where they must make a difficult choice.

One that will have consequences even if they decide to do nothing.

When you do that, your scene works. When you don’t, it falls flat. The protagonist looks like a weak-willed observer of their own life, and ultimately your story will feel boring. Effective character development requires difficult choices.

Find the dilemma every time.

Write out a brief three-act outline with each of the six key moments for each act. It’s okay to leave those moments blank if you don’t know them right now. Fill in what you do know, and come back to it.

Point of View

Point of view, or POV, in a story refers to the narrator’s position in the description of events. There are four types of point of view, but there are only two main options used by most writers:

  • Third-person limited point of view is the most common and easiest to use, especially for new writers. In this POV, the characters are referred to in third person (he/she/they) and the narrator has access to the thoughts and feelings to a maximum of one character at a time (and likely one character for the duration of the narrative). You can read more about how to use third-person limited here .
  • First-person point of view is also very common and only slightly more difficult. In this POV, the narrator is a character in the story and uses first person pronouns (I/me/mine/we/ours) and has access only to their own thoughts and feelings. This point of view requires an especially strong style, one that shows the narrator's distinct attitude and voice as they tell the story.

The third option is used much less common, though is still found occasionally, especially in older works:

  • Third-person omniscient point of view is much more difficult to pull off well and isn't recommended for first time authors. In this POV, the characters are referred to in third-person (he/she/him/her/they/them), but the narrator has access to the thoughts and feelings of any and all characters at the same time. This is a difficult narrative to pull off because of how disorienting it can be for the reader. Readers are placed “in the heads” of so many characters, which can easily destroy the drama of a story because of the lack of mystery.

One final option:

  • Second-person point of view is the most difficult to pull off and isn't recommended for most authors. In this POV, the characters are referred to in second person (you/your). This choice is rarely (although not never) found in novels.

The Write Structure

Get The Write Structure here »

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10. Find the Climactic Moment in Your Novel

Every great novel has a climactic moment that the whole story builds up to—it's the whole reason a reader purchases a book and reads it to the end.

In Moby Dick , it’s the final showdown with the white whale.

In Pride and Prejudice , it’s Lizzie accepting Mr. Darcy’s proposal after discovering the lengths he went to in order to save her family.

In the final Harry Potter novel (spoiler alert!), it’s Harry offering himself up as a sacrifice to Voldemort to destroy the final Horcrux.

To be clear, you don’t have to have your climactic moment all planned out before you start writing your book . (Although knowing this might make writing and finishing your novel easier and more focused.)

But it IS a good idea to know what novels and films similar to yours have done.

For example, if you’re writing a performance story about a violinist, as I am, you need to have some kind of big violin competition at the end of your book.

If you’re writing a police procedural crime novel, you need to have a scene where the detective unmasks the murderer and explains the rationale behind the murder.

Think about the climactic moment your novel builds up before the final showdown at the end. This climactic moment will usually occur in the climax of the second or third act.

If you know this, fill in your outline with the climactic moment, then write out the five key moments of the scene for that moment.

If you don’t know them, just leave them blank. You can always come back to it.

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11. Consider the Conventions

Readers are sophisticated. They’ve been taking in stories for years, since they were children, and they have deep expectations for what should be in your story.

That means if you want readers to like your story, you need to meet and even exceed some of those expectations.

Stories do this constantly. We call them conventions, or tropes, and they’re patterns that storytellers throughout history have found make for a good story.

In the romantic comedy (love) genre, for example, there is almost always the sidekick best friend, some kind of love triangle, and a meet cute moment where the two potential lovers meet.

In the mystery genre, the story always begins with a murder, there are one or more red herrings , and there’s a final unveiling of the murder at the end.

Think through the three to five novels and films you read/watched. What conventions and tropes did they have in common?

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12. Set Your Intention

You’re almost ready to start writing. Before you do, set your intention.

Researchers have found that when you’re trying to create a new habit, if you imagine where and when you will participate in that habit, you’re far more likely to follow through.

For your writing, imagine where, when, and how much you will write each day. For example, you might imagine that you will write 1,000 words at your favorite coffee shop each afternoon during your lunch break.

As you imagine, picture your location and the writing space clearly in your mind. Watch yourself sitting down to work, typing on your laptop. Imagine your word count tracker going from 999 to 1,002 words.

When it’s time to write , you’ll be ready to go do it.

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13. Picture Your Reader

The definition of a story is a narrative meant to entertain, amuse, or instruct. That implies there is someone being entertained, amused, or instructed!

I think it’s helpful to picture one person in your mind as you write (instead of an entire target audience). Then, as you write, you can better understand what would interest, amuse, or instruct them.

By picturing them, you will end up writing better stories.

Create a reader avatar.

Choose someone you know, or make up someone who would love your story. Describe them in terms of demographics and interests. Consider the question, “Why would this reader love my novel?”

When you write, write for them.

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14. Build Your Team

Most people think they can write a novel on their own, that they need to stick themselves in some cabin in upstate New York or an attic apartment in Paris and just focus on writing their novel for a few months or decades.

And that’s why most people fail to finish writing a book .

As I’ve studied the lives of great writers, I’ve found that they all had a team. None of them did it all on their own. They all had people who supported and encouraged them as they wrote.

A team can look like:

  • An editor with a publishing house
  • A writing group
  • An author mentor or coach
  • An online writing course or community

Whatever you find, if you want to finish your novel, don’t make the mistake of believing you can do it all on your own (or that you have to do it on your own).

Find a writing group. Take an online writing class . Or hire a developmental editor .

Whatever you do, don’t keep trying to do everything by yourself.

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15. Plan the Publishing Process

One thing I’ve found is that when successful people take on a task, they think through every part of the process from beginning to end. They create a plan. Their plan might change, but starting with a plan gives them clear focus for what they’re setting out to accomplish.

Most of the steps we’ve been talking about in this post involve planning (writing is coming up next, don’t worry), but in your plan, it’s important to think through things all the way to the end—the publishing and marketing process.

So spend ten or twenty minutes dreaming about how you’ll publish your novel (self-publishing vs. traditional publishing) and how you’ll promote it (to your email list, on social media, via Amazon ads, etc.).

By brainstorming about the publishing and marketing process, you’ll make it much more likely to actually finish your novel because you're eager for (and know what you want to do when you're at) the end.

Have no idea how to get published? Check out our 10-step book publishing and launch guide here .

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16. Write (With Low Expectations)

You’ve created a plan. You know what you’re going to write, when you’re going to write it, and how you’re going to write.

Now it’s time to actually write it.

Sit down at the blank page. Take a deep breath. Write your very first chapter.

Don’t forget, your first draft is supposed to be bad.

Write anyway.

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17. Trust the Process and Don’t Quit

As I’ve trained writers through the novel writing process in our 100 Day Book Program, inevitably around day sixty, they tell me how hard the process is, how tired they are of their story, how they have a new idea for a novel, and they want to work on that instead.

“Don’t quit,” I tell them. Trust the process. You’re so much closer than you think.

Then, miraculously, two or three weeks later, they’re emailing me to say they’re about to finish their books. They’re so grateful they didn’t quit.

This is the process. This is how it always goes.

Just when you think you’re not going to make it, you’re almost there.

Just when you most want to quit, that’s when you’re closest to a breakthrough.

Trust the process. Don’t quit. You’re going to make it.

Just keep showing up and doing the work (and remember, doing the work means writing imperfectly).

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18. Keep Going, Even When It Hurts

Appliances always break when you’re writing a book.

Someone always gets sick making writing nearly impossible (either you or your spouse or all your kids or all of the above).

One writer told us recently a high-speed car chase ended with the car crashing into a building close to her house.

I’m not superstitious, but stuff like this always happens when you’re writing a book.

Expect it. Things will not go according to plan. Major real life problems will occur.

It will be really hard to stay focused for weeks on end.

This is where it’s so important to have a team (step fourteen). When life happens, you’ll need someone to vent to, to encourage you, and to support you.

No matter what, write anyway. This is what separates you from all the aspiring writers out there. You do the work even when it’s hard.

Keep going.

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19. Finish Draft One… Then Onward to the Next

I followed this process, and then one day, I realized I’d written the second to last scene. And then the next day, my novel was finished.

It felt kind of anticlimactic.

I had wanted to write a novel for years, more than a decade. I had done it. And it wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought.

Amazing, without question.

But also just normal.

After all, I had been doing this, writing every day for ninety-nine days. Finishing was just another day.

But the journey itself? 100 days for writing a novel? That was amazing.

That was worth it.

And it will be worth it again and again.

Maybe it will be like that for you. You might finish your book and feel amazing and proud and relieved. You might also feel normal. It’s the difference between being an aspiring writer and being a real writer.

Real writers realize the joy is in the work, not in having a finished book .

When you get to this point, I just want to say, “Congratulations!”

You did it.

You finished a book. I’m so excited for you!

But also, as you will know when you get to this point, this is really just the beginning of your journey.

Your book isn’t nearly ready to publish yet.

So celebrate. Throw a party for yourself. Say thank you to all your team members. You finished. You should be proud!

After this celebratory breather, move on to your last step.

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20. Next Drafts: Draft Two…Three…Four…Five

This is a novel writing guide, not a novel revising guide (that is coming soon!). But I’ll give you a few pointers on what to do after you write your novel:

  • Rest. Take a break. You earned it. Resting also lets you get distance on your book, which you need right now.
  • Read without revising. Most people jump right into the proofreading and line editing process. This is the worst thing you could do. Instead, read your novel from beginning to end without making revisions. You can take notes, but the goal for this is to create a plan for your next draft, not fix all your typos and misplaced commas . This step will usually reveal plot holes, character inconsistencies, and other high-level problems.
  • Get feedback. Then, share your book with your team: editors and fellow writers (not friends and family yet). Ask for constructive feedback, especially structural feedback, not on typos for now.
  • Next, rewrite for structure. Your second draft is all about fixing the structure of your novel. Revisit steps seven through eleven for help.
  • Last, polish your prose. Your third (and additional) draft(s) is for fixing typos, line editing, and making your sentences sound nice. Save this for the end, because if you polish too soon, you might have to delete a whole scene that you spent hours rewriting.

Want to know more about what to do next? Check out our guide on what to do AFTER you finish your book here .

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Writers’ Best Tips on How to Write a Novel

I’ve also asked the writers I’ve coached for their single tips on how to write a novel. These are from writers in our community who have followed this process and finished novels of their own. Here are their best novel writing tips:

“Get it out of your head and onto the page, because you can’t improve what’s not been written.” Imogen Mann

“What gets scheduled, gets done. Block time in your day to write. Set a time of day, place and duration that you will write 4-7 days/week until it becomes habit. It’s most effective if it’s the same time of day, in the same place. Then set your duration to a number of minutes or a number of words: 60 minutes, 500 words, whatever. Slowly but surely, those words string together into a piece of work!” Stacey Watkins

“Honestly? And nobody paid me for this one—enroll in the 100 Day Book challenge at The Write Practice. I had been writing around in my novel for years and it wasn’t until I took the challenge did I actually write it chapter by chapter from beginning to end in 80,000 words. Of course I now have to revise, revise, revise.” Madeline Slovenz

“I try to write for at least an hour every day. Some days I feel like the creativity flows out of me and others it’s awkward and slow. But yes, my advice is to write for at least one hour every day. It really helps.” Kurt Paulsen

“Be patient, be humble, be forgiving. Patient, because writing a novel well will take longer than you ever imagined. Humble, because being awake to your strengths and your weaknesses is the only way to grow as a writer. And forgiveness, for the days when nothing seems to work. Stay the course, and the reward at the end — whenever that comes — will be priceless. Because it will be all yours.” Erin Halden

“Single best tip I can recommend is the development of a plan. My early writing, historical stories for my world, was done as a pantser. But, when I took the 100 Day Book challenge , one of the steps was to produce an outline. Mine started as the briefest list of chapters. But, as I thought about it, the outline expanded to cover what was happening and who was in it. That lead to a pattern for the chapters, a timeline, and greater detail in the outline. I had always hated outlines, but like Patrick Rothfuss said in one of his interviews, that hatred may have been because of the way it was taught when I was in school (long ago.) I know I will use one for the second book (if I decide to go forward with it.) Just remember the plan is there for your needs. It doesn’t need to be a formal I. A. 1. a. format. It can simply be a set of notecards with general ideas you want to include in your story.” Patrick Macy

“Everybody who writes does so on faith and guts and determination. Just write one line. Just write one scene. Just write one page. And if you write more that day consider yourself fortunate. The more you do, the stronger the writing muscle gets. But don’t do a project; just break things down into small manageable bits.” Joe Hanzlik

“When you’re sending your novel out to beta readers , keep in mind some people‘s feedback may not resonate or be true for your vision of the work. Also, just because you’ve handed off a copy for beta reading doesn’t mean you don’t have control over how people give you feedback. For instance, if you don’t want line editing, ask them not to give paragraph and sentence corrections. Instead, ask for more general feedback on the character arcs, particular scenes in the story, the genre, ideal reader , etc. Be proactive about getting the kind of response you want and need.” B.E. Jackson

“Become your main character. Begin to think and act the way they would.” Valda Dracopoulos

“I write for minimum 3 hours starting 4 a.m. Mind is uncluttered and fresh with ideas. Daily issues and commitment can wait. Make a plan and stick to the basic plan.” R.B. Smith

“Stick to the plan (which includes writing an outline, puttin your butt in the chair and shipping). I’m trying to keep it simple!” Carole Wolf

“Have a spot where you write, get some bum glue, sit and write. I usually have a starting point, a flexible endpoint and the middle works itself out.” Vuyo Ngcakani

“Before I begin, I write down the ten key scenes that must be in the novel. What is the thing that must happen, who is there when it happens, where does it take place. Once I have those key scenes, I begin.” Cathy Ryan

“In my English classes, I was told to ‘show, don’t tell,' which is the most vague rule I’ve ever heard when it comes to writing. Until I saw a post that expanded upon this concept saying to ‘ show emotion, tell feelings …’. Showing emotion will bring the reader closer to the characters, to understand their actions better. But I don’t need to read about how slow she was moving due to tiredness.” Bryan Coulter

“For me, it’s the interaction between all of the characters. It drives almost all of my novels no matter how good or bad the plot may be .” Jonathan Srock

“Rules don’t apply in the first draft; they only apply when you begin to play with it in the second draft.” Victor Paul Scerri

“My best advice to you is: Just Write. No matter if you are not inspired, maybe you are writing how you can’t think of something to write or wrote something that sucks. But just having words written down gets you going and soon you’ll find yourself inspired. You just have to write.” Mony Martinez

“As Joseph Campbell said, “find your bliss.” Tap into a vein of whatever it is that “fills your glass” and take a ride on a stream of happy, joyful verbiage.” Jarrett Wilson

“Show don’t tell is the most cited rule in the history of fiction writing, but if you only show, you won’t get past ch. 1. Learn to master the other forms of narration as well.” Rebecka Jäger

“We’ve all been trained jump when the phone rings, or worse, to continually check in with social media. Good work requires focus, but I’ve had to adopt some hacks to achieve it. 1) Get up an hour before the rest of the household and start writing. Don’t check email, Facebook, Instagram, anything – just start working. 2) Use a timer app, to help keep you honest. I set it for 30 minutes, then it gives me a 5-minute break (when things are really humming, I ignore the breaks altogether). During that time, I don’t allow anything to interrupt me if I can help it. 3) Finally, set a 3-tiered word count goal: Good, Great, Amazing. Good is the number of words you need to generate in order to feel like you’ve accomplished something (1000 words, for example). Great would be a higher number, (say, 2000 words). 3000 words could be Amazing. What I love about this strategy is that it’s forgiving and inspiring at the same time.” Dave Strand

“My advice comes in two parts. First, I think it’s important to breathe life into characters, to give them emotions and personalities and quirks. Make them flawed so that they have plenty of room to grow. Make them feel real to the reader, so when they overcome the obstacles you throw in their way, or they don’t overcome them, the reader feels all the more connected and invested in their journey. Second, I think there’s just something so magical about a scene that transports me, as a reader, to the characters’ world; that allows me to see, feel, smell, and touch what the characters are experiencing. So, the second part of my advice is to describe the character’s experience of their surroundings keeping all of their senses in mind. Don’t stop simply with what they see.” Jennifer Baker

“Start with an outline (it can always be changed), set writing goals and stick to them, write every day, know that your first draft is going to suck and embrace that knowledge, and seek honest feedback. Oh, and celebrate milestones, especially when you type ‘The End’. Take a break from your novel (but don’t stop writing something — short stories, blog posts, articles, etc.) and then dive head-first into draft 2!” Jen Horgan O’Rourke

“I write in fits and spurts of inspiration and insights. Much of my ‘writing’ occurs when I am trying to fall asleep at night or weeding in the garden. I carry my stories and essays in my head, and when I sit down to start writing, I don’t like to ‘turn off the tap.’ My most important principle is that when I write a draft, I put it out of my mind for a few days before coming back to see what it sounds like when I read it aloud.” Gayle Woodson

“My stories almost always start from a single image… someone in a situation, a setting, with or without other people… there is a problem to be solved, a decision to make, some action being taken. Often that first image becomes the central point of the story but sometimes it is simply the kick-off point for something else. Once I’ve ‘seen’ my image clearly I sit down at the computer and start writing. More images appear as I write and the story evolves. Once the rough sketch has developed through a few chapters I may go back and fill in holes and round things out. Sometimes I even sketch a rough map of my setting or the ‘world’ I’m building. With first drafts I never worry about the grammatical and other writing ‘rules.’ Those things get ironed out in the second round.” Karin Weiss

“What it took to get my first novel drafted: the outline of a story idea, sitting in chair, DEADLINES, helpful feedback from the beginning so I could learn along the way.” Joan Cory

“I write a chapter in longhand and then later that day or the next morning type it and revise. The ideas seem to flow from mind to finger to pen to paper.” Al Rutgers

“Getting up early and write for a couple of hours from 6 am is my preferred choice as my mind is uncluttered with daily issues. Stick to the basic plan and learning to ‘show’ and ‘not tell’ has been hard but very beneficial.” Abe Tse

If you're ready to get serious about finishing your novel, I love for you to join us!

And if you want help getting organized and going, I greatly recommend purchasing The Write Planner and/or our 100 Day Book Program .

Frequently Asked Questions

If you're working on your first-ever novel, congratulations! Here are answers to frequently asked questions new (and even experienced) writers often ask me about what it takes to write a book.

How long should a novel be?

First, novel manuscripts are measured in words, not pages. A standard length for a novel is 85,000 words. The sweet number for literary agents is 90,000 words. Science fiction and fantasy tend to be around the 100,000 word range. And mystery and YA tend to be shorter, likely 65,000 words.

Over 120,000 words is usually too long, especially for traditional publishing. Under 60,000 words is a bit short, and might feel incomplete to the reader.

Of course, these are guidelines, not rules.

They exist for a reason, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow them if you have a good reason. For a more complete guide to best word count for novels, check out my guide here .

How long does it take to write a novel?

Each draft can take about the same amount of time as the first draft, or about 100 days. I recommend writing at least three drafts with a few breaks between drafts, which means you can have a finished, published novel in a little less than a year using this process.

Many people have finished novels faster. My friend and bestseller Carlos Cooper finishes four novels a year, and another bestselling author friend Stacy Claflin is working on her sixty-second book (and she’s not close to being sixty-two years old).

If you'd like, you can write faster.

If you take longer breaks between drafts or write more drafts, it might take longer.

Whatever you decide, I don’t recommend taking much longer than 100 days to finish your first draft. After that, you can lose your momentum and it becomes much harder to finish.

That’s It! The Foolproof Template for How to Write a Novel

Writing a novel isn’t easy. But it is possible with the write process (sorry, I had to do it). If you follow each step above, you will finish a novel.

Your novel may not be perfect, but it will be what you need on your road to making it great.

Good luck and happy writing!

The Write Plan Planner

Discover The Write Plan Planner »

Which steps of this process do you follow? Which steps are new or challenging for you? Let us know in the comments !

Writing your novel idea in the form of a single-sentence premise is the first step to finishing your novel . So let’s do that today!

Download our premise worksheet. Follow it to construct your single sentence premise.

Then post your premise  in the Pro Practice Workshop (and if you’re not a member yet, you can join here ). If you post, please be sure to leave feedback on premises by at least three other writers.

Maybe you'll start finding your writing team right here!

Happy writing!

The Write Plan Planner

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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How to Write a Novel: A 12-Step Guide

How to Write a Novel: A 12-Step Guide

You’ve always wanted to pen a book, but you’ve come to a deadlock. You must have tried before, right? But after some pages, you lost interest. Your tale concept did not hold up. You cannot overcome your hesitation. You were afraid of your writing. You were contemplating your next steps. You might be surprised to learn that I still have the same problems even though I’ve written 200 books in the last 40 years, two-thirds of which were novels and many of which were New York Times bestsellers, like the Left Behind Series.  So, how can I go through them and follow success?  I follow a regular novel-writing strategy that helps me overcome those barriers. And that is exactly what I will reveal to you in this classic guide.

Consider completing your first draft. Even better, visualize a completed manuscript. Or, simply, your name on the cover of a recently published book —does it satisfy your interest? Imagine receiving emails from readers telling you that your story changed their lives and gave them new hope and a fresh start. Why can’t you enjoy such things when other writers do? At the very least, you should complete a novel manuscript. This course will teach you how to create a novel. I hope that you appreciate it and find it useful, so you can try to implement everything in your personal work!

How to Compose a Novel in Eleven Steps

  • Nail down a winning story idea.
  • Determine whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser.
  • Create an unforgettable main character.
  • Expand your idea into a plot.
  • Research, research, research.
  • Choose your Voice and Point of View.
  • Start in medias res (in the midst of things).
  • Engage the theater of the reader’s mind.
  • Intensify your main character’s problems.
  • Make the predicament appear hopeless.
  • Bring it all to a climax.
  • Leave readers wholly satisfied.

Step 1: Nail-down a winning story idea.

Is your novel hypothesis memorable?

  • Is it more than enough to clarify 75,000 to 100,000 words?
  • Is it strong enough to keep the reader hooked all the way through? 

Create a conflict-filled story—the engine that will push your plot.

Margo, my first novel, is based on this concept:  a judge indicts a guy for a murder carried out by the judge himself.

Take as much time as you need to emphasize the ideas for your story and choose the one you would happily read—the one that comforts your interest and keeps you worried about returning to the keyboard every day.

It must thoroughly catch you and refuse to leave your mind. Only an idea like that will motivate you to write the novel you’ve always wanted to write.

Step 2: Determine whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser.

If you’re an outliner, you must like to plan everything out before you initiate writing your work. You want to know what occurs to your characters from the beginning to the climax.

If you’re a pantser, which means you write on the trigger of the moment, you start with the root of an idea and write as a procedure of discovery.

“ Put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens. ”

Stephen King says

One of these techniques will simply feel more realistic to you. But, in reality, many of us are hybrids, requiring both the security of a plan and the freedom to let the story take us wherever it may be. Apply the one that makes the most sense to you, and don’t be concerned if that means combining outlining and pantsing. Regardless, you are required to avoid burning out after working on so many pages.

I’m a pantser with vitality for outlining, but I never start a novel without knowing where I’m going—or where I think I’m going.

Step 3: Create an unforgettable main character.

Your most important character will be your main character, your hero (your protagonist). This primary character must go through something, which means that by the end, there must be a difference. He may be worse and become better, or he may be better and become worse. He or she should have a complete turnover. He should have human flaws so that readers can relate to him. So resist the need to build a flawless lead. Who can identify with perfection?

You’ll also have the villain (an antagonist). This character should be as powerful and exciting as your hero. Try to make sure that the bad guy is not so evil because he’s the bad guy. He must be able to explain why he does what he does, even if only in his own mind, in order to be a respectable, natural, and unforgettable antagonist. Important circular cast members may also be needed. For each character, ask:

  • Who are they?
  • What is his need?
  • Why do they need that?
  • What or who is holding them away from it?
  • How will they manage that?

Use different names (even separate initializes) for each character, and make them sound different from one another so your reader doesn’t mix them up. Restrict how many you present early on; if your reader needs a schedule to keep track of them, you may not hold him for long.

Naturally, your hero (protagonist) will face an external problem—a mission, a challenge, a journey, or a reason… But, in order to be truly engaged with the reader and arrive active on the page, he must also deal with inner sufferings. Brave, ingenious, ethically good, and physically powerful? Without a doubt. However, your hero (protagonist) must also deal with anxiety, fear, insecurity, and self-doubt. The more hurdles he experiences, the greater his capacity to develop and evolve. Just like in real life, the harder the problems are, the more likely it is that they will change and vary.

Step 4: Expand your idea into a plot.

True pantsers, including some best-selling authors, do not plot. Here is the disadvantage: like me, you may enjoy existing as a pantser and writing as a method of finding, but even we non-outliners require some structure.

Discovering what successful novelist Dean Koontz refers to as the “classic story structure” (in his book How to Write Best-Selling Fiction) deeply modified my work. When I started following his recommendations, my book sales rocketed .

As quickly as possible, throw your main character into threatening difficulty. Everything your character does to try to get out of trouble only makes matters worse until his situation appears desperate.

Finally, everything your hero learns while trying to get out of that horrible situation teaches him the skills he needs to succeed in the end.

Plot Elements 

Writing instructors refer to their own suggested story structures by various titles, although the actual sequence is quite uniform. They all involve some form of:

  • A Beginning.
  • The encouraging experience that transforms everything
  • A sequence of problems that create suspense
  • A Conclusion.

In any way you plot your work, your primary goal must be to catch readers by the neck and never let go.

For more on designing your plot, see my blog post The Writer’s Guide to Creating the Plot of a Story.

Additional in-depth plotting help:

  • Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
  • The Secrets of Story Structure by K. M. Weiland
  • The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson

Step 5: Research, research, research

The fiction must be credible in order to grow. Even fantasies require logic. You must conduct a study to prevent making mistakes that make your story ridiculous. What follows must be rational once the reader has accepted your assumption. Effective research helps you provide the particularity required for this to function. When my character utilizes a weapon, I research it well. Readers will complain if I refer to a handgun as a revolver or if my hero fires twelve bullets from a weapon that only stores eight rounds. Details that are accurate give realism and genuineness. If you get the facts wrong, your reader will lose faith and interest in your story.

Research essentials :

Consult atlases and the world almanac to confirm geography and cultural standards and to select character names that fit the setting, period, and customs. If your Middle Eastern character gives someone a thumbs up, make sure it means the same thing in his culture as it does in yours.

  •  If you don’t have a set, you can get one at your local library or online.
  • YouTube and online search engines can produce tens of thousands of results. (Just be careful not to get sucked into clickbait videos.)
  • Use a thesaurus while writing your story, but do not locate the most exotic term. I usually use a thesaurus to look up a common word that is on the tip of my tongue.
  • There is no alternative to in-person interviews with professionals. People enjoy discussing their work, and such discussions frequently result in new story ideas. 

Resist the impulse to cut corners on the research process. Readers notice geographical, artistic, and technical errors, and believe me, they will inform you. Even readers of science fiction or fantasy want your story to make sense in the world you’ve created.

One caveat : Don’t overburden your story with mysterious details only to boast about your study. Add specifics in the same manner as you would season food. It adds to the experience, but it isn’t the main course.

Step 6: Choose your point of view.

Because it encompasses so much, the point of view from which you write a novel might be complicated. Your point of view is more than just picking which voice to use: first person (I, me), second person (you, you’re), or third person (you, you’re) (he, she, or it). It also entails determining who will be your POV character, acting as the camera in your story. One perspective character in every scene is the cardinal rule, but I prefer one per chapter, and ideally one per novel. Readers will see everything in your story through the eyes of this character. There will be no peering into the minds of other characters. All you can portray is what you’re POV character sees, hears, touches, smells, tastes, and thinks. Some writers believe this limits them to writing in the first person, although it does not. The majority of novels are written in the limited third person. That indicates only one perspective character at a time, and that character should have the most at stake in each scene.

Writing in first person makes it easier to limit yourself to a single point of view character, while third-person limited is the most popular. I’m frequently asked how additional characters can be revealed or developed without moving to their point of view. Read popular novels to understand how best-selling authors do it. (For instance, the main character hears what another character says, interprets his tone, expression, and body language, and draws a conclusion. Then he discovers that the individual told someone else something completely different, showing that he lied to one of them.)

Step 7: Begin in media res (in the midst of things).

On page one, you must hold the reader by the throat. That doesn’t always imply gunshots or a high-speed chase, but it could be in a thriller. It entails eliminating extreme scene settings and descriptions in order to get to the good stuff—the heart of the story.

Les Edgerton, a gritty writer who writes big-boy novels (don’t say I didn’t warn you), believes that beginner writers are too concerned with explaining everything to the reader first. He’s basically saying, “Get on with it,” and trust your reader to figure out what’s going on. Every line and every word’s objective is to entice the reader to read the one following it.

Step 8: Engage the theatre of the reader’s mind.

Isn’t it common for the audience to remark that they preferred the book to the film? The explanation is self-evident: Hollywood, despite its high-tech computer-generated graphics, cannot compete with the theatre of the reader’s mind. Our minds’ images are far more dazzling and stunning than anything Hollywood can conjure up. Your role as a writer is to torch the theatres of your readers’ imaginations, not to make them picture things as you sense them. Give them just enough to get their mental projectors working. That is where the charm takes place.

Step 9: Intensify your main character’s problems.

You’ve made the prologue interesting for the reader and put your hero in dangerous situations. Everything he does to get out of that bad situation must now make it worse. Do not give him a break. Too many trainees make it too easy for their hero. They provide a private investigator with a fine car, an excellent weapon, a lovely girlfriend, a wealthy apartment, a deluxe office, and a rich client. Pull anything that makes his life easier out from under him. Allow his car to break down, his weapon to be robbed, his lover to depart, his landlord to expel him, his office to burn down, and his client to go bankrupt. Now put him in a scary situation.

The motor of fiction is conflict. His problem should logically decline with each successive attempt to address it. You can suggest that he is growing, developing, changing, becoming stronger, and adding to his skill set as a result of his challenges, but his problems should become increasingly unbearable until you…

Step 10: Make his predicament appear hopeless.

This essential plot moment is known by numerous names among writing instructors . This is referred to as “the bleakest moment” by novelist Angela Hunt. This is the point at which you wonder how you’re going to write your way out of this mess. The once-reprobate lover, now a changed man and a devoted fiancé, slips off the wagon the night before the wedding. When he is caught using drugs and drinking with another lady, his true love storms off, swearing never to talk to him again. Consider your protagonist’s nadir, the lowest point in his or her life, the most tragic period. Your ability to manipulate this can make or ruin your career as a novelist. This is not going to be easy, believe me. You’ll be tempted to grant your protagonist a reprieve, devise an escape, or infuse a miracle. Don’t even think about it! The dire situation necessitates your hero acting, using every new muscle and technique he has gained from facing a book full of difficulties to prove that things were only beyond repair while they appeared to be. The more hopeless the scenario, the stronger your climax and ending.

Step 11: Bring it all to a climax.

The ultimate resolution, the emotional high point of your story, is when your hero encounters his most difficult test yet. The stakes must be high, and failure is fatal. The tension that has been developing throughout now reaches a climax, and all of the key book-length setups have paid off.

The rebels are compelled to destroy the Death Star in Star Wars: A New Hope. That sequence felt flat in the original version of the film. As a result, the filmmakers suggested that the Death Star was about to destroy the rebel outpost. That increased the stress and raised the stakes significantly, providing the payout that has been promised to readers. Reward their loyalty by allowing them to witness the fireworks, but keep in mind that the climax is not the finish. The true conclusion binds everything together and puts everything into perspective.

Step 12: Leave readers wholly satisfied.

A remarkable conclusion :

  • Acknowledge the reader’s financial and time investment.
  • Always go for the heart, whether it comes to being creative, strange, or inspirational.
  • Keep your hero on the scene till the very end.

Because climaxes are so astonishing, endings often just shrink away. Do not allow this to occur. Your ending may not be as exciting as the climax, but it still needs to be interesting and exquisite. Take your time. Rewrite it until it is perfect. I have long stated that all writing is rewriting, and nowhere is this truer than at the end of your novel. When do you realize you have rewritten it enough? When you have progressed from making it better to just different. Write a satisfying ending that brings the curtain down with a smack. Your readers will appreciate it.

Frequently Asked Questions and Novel Writing Tips

How much time does it take to write a novel?

Once in a lifetime. Everything you know will be extracted from you. It takes as long as it takes. I know such answers sound dismissive but remember that speed is not the point. Quality is the main point. Spend as much time as it takes to be completely satisfied with every word before offering your novel to the market. The length of time it takes to write a novel is determined by your objectives and time limitations.

A 100,000-word manuscript, including modifications, should be possible in six to nine months, even for a newcomer. Develop and create good habits, and stick to a regular writing schedule.

How hard is it to write a novel?

If you are someone like me, it will be the most difficult task you’ve ever done. If it was simple, everyone would do it easily. Every published novelist (yes, even any major name) was once where you are now: unpublished and unidentified. They eventually flourished because they did not give up. You will write a novel if you resolve not to give up. I can’t promise it will be a smash hit, but I can promise it won’t be if you don’t finish it.

How do I know if my story idea has potential?

Your story will have legs if it stays in your head, evolving and growing with each thought. The proper idea just feels good. When you land on it, you’ll know. Above all, your concept must push you to write it. Tell someone you trust about your story concept. You should be able to tell by their expression and tone of voice if they like it or are just being nice.

You Can Do This

If you want to write a novel, do not let the injustice of the process overwhelm you. Take it one bite at a time, just like you would eat an elephant. Don’t let fear hold you back. Use it to motivate yourself to produce your best work.

Stay away from thinking. What if…?

Take the risk.

Keep in mind why you launched this way in the first place.

If you follow the steps I have outlined, you might find yourself holding a manuscript that could become a published novel with your name on the cover this time next year. Get help from our book publishing agent .

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12 Steps to Write a Bestselling Novel (in less than 6 months)

Turquoise Mountains and a sun frame the words "12 Steps to Write Your Novel"

Hi, I’m John Fox, and as an editor I’ve helped hundreds of authors write, edit and publish their novels.

If you’re planning on writing a novel, you’ve come to the right place. Let me guide you through the process.

Now, you’re probably intimidated to write a novel. You should be. At least a little. They’re difficult labyrinths and most writers get stuck at the beginning or halfway through and they never finish.

But you can do it. No, it isn’t easy, but it’s not as painful as many would-be authors think.

The trick is to ignore about 90% of the advice out there. Because there’s lots of robot-like corporations and wannabe writers out there dispensing advice, and most of it is washed up and cliche.

I’m going to give you true and honest advice that will be the best you’ve ever gotten — I swear it. This is advice I’ve assembled after editing hundreds of novels and guiding hundreds of authors to award-winning books.

By the time you’ve finished reading this, you will have learned how to:

  • Come Up with an Idea
  • Figure out the Storyteller
  • Select a Starting Point
  • Propel your Story
  • Develop Your Character
  • Create Supporting Characters
  • Develop a World
  • Advance your Plot
  • Bring in the Bigger Picture
  • Take the Plunge
  • Write a Smash-Bang Climax
  • Close out the Story

1. Come up with an Idea

A white and yellow book with a yellow light bulb over it meaning "book idea"

You probably already have an idea for your novel. So my goal is to help you refine that idea so that it will sell lots of copies (you want to sell lots of copies, don’t you?)

Bestsellers are not made through marketing and hiring marketing gurus — bestsellers are born when you come up with a fantastic idea for your book.

A good way to find your idea is to ask the question, “What if?”

  • What if dinosaurs were brought to life and put in a zoo, but then they escaped? ( Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton)
  • What if a missionary was sent to convert aliens to Christianity? ( The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber)
  • What if a black man tried to reinstate slavery and segregation in modern America? ( The Sellout by Paul Beatty)

Your book should sound as interesting as those do — it should immediately pique the reader’s interest.

Now you need to take that “What If” and phrase it as a single-sentence statement. It should have several components:

  • Main character
  • Opposition/Conflict
  • Surprising Element

Here’s one from Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island :

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane: "A US Marshall investigates an escape at an insane asylum.

Another way to generate a one-sentence pitch or logline for your book is to use this formula:

The protagonist + their goal + opposition.

This example is from Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy: A father protects his son from starvation and cannibals.

Then try out your one-sentence description on some folks. Do they seem excited or bored?

You want to make them say: “Oooo, I’d read that in a heartbeat.” Then you know you’ve struck gold.

2. Figure out the Storyteller

There are three steps to figuring out the right storyteller for your novel.

1. Pick your Storyteller

This isn’t as obvious as it seems.

Sherlock Holmes never got to tell his own tales — Watson was the one who narrated every single mystery .

In “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold, the murdered girl tells the story. Yes, from beyond the grave.

Don’t be afraid to pick someone on the sidelines of your story to tell the story, or someone 30 years after the story is done, or a narrator who isn’t alive. Unusual narrators make for fascinating stories.

2. Pick your Point of View

  • First Person — I shot the robber.
  • Third Person — She shot the robber.
  • Omniscient — The sad orphan shot the robber.

First person is easiest if you don’t want to mess anything up. Just talk about what the storyteller knows.

Third person can be difficult because most writers tend to slip out of the point of view of this character (they accidentally start using omniscient).

And omniscient is great but many writers get flummoxed by the sheer possibility of a trillion story opportunities (it’s awfully complex).

3. Pick your Psychic Distance

This is what most beginning writer’s forget about. How close will the reader be to the storyteller?

  • Sometimes readers are right inside their heads, listening to every breath and every thought.
  • Sometimes readers are seeing the bird’s eye view of characters’ actions, from far away.

You have to decide how intimate you want the reader to get with your characters.

First person tends to be more intimate, while omniscient tends to be more standoffish, but not always — some writers reverse this.

Infographic telling the reader to 1. Pick your storyteller, 2. Pick your point of view, and 3. Pick your psychic distance

Pro tip: If you have a disagreeable, unlikable character, don’t get too close in terms of psychic distance. The reader will recoil.

And if you are writing omniscient, make sure to take advantage of that all-knowing eye. Talk about minor characters, talk about characters’ pasts and their histories. Talk about details about the world only an omniscient character would know.

3. Select a Starting Point

Most of the time, writers pick the wrong place to start their book. Even really smart, well-published writers like Jonathan Safran Foer .

It took him months of writing to realize that the beginning of his novel “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” wasn’t the right place to start, so he deleted the first 12 pages and started on page 13.

Here are three options to help you pick a place to start your book:

  • Start close to the inciting incident (preferably, in media res , meaning in the middle)
  • Start with conflict and action
  • Start with an event that showcases your character’s personality

Don’t be afraid to flail about and write a chapter to discover the true beginning of your book. You might have to delete that early writing, but remember that writing is a process of discovery. You don’t get it right at the first moment.

I’ve written about starting a novel before, so if you’re stuck, I’d recommend checking out these posts:

  • 20 Strategies to Write Your Novel’s First Paragraph
  • 25 Terrible Ways to Start a Novel

In general, try to start as close as you can to the true beginning of your novel, meaning the event that launches the plot.

How Quickly Do Novels Start?

Many start right away

Most start quickly

Rarely, books start late

What does it mean to “start” your novel? Well, to reveal the central conflict or issue that will propel the storyline.

And from the graphic above, you can see that 95% of the time, that happens in the first chapter (often on the first page).

That means a prologue, which doesn’t involve your main character and doesn’t launch the main storyline, is not as common as most writers think.

4. Propel Your Story

After the first chapter or two, where you should have started your story, now it’s time to accelerate your story into the middle.

Since the beginning of your novel launched the problem, at this point you need your main character to try to solve that problem. Often, this means your character is changing from someone who gets acted upon (passive) into someone who acts on others (active).

Try using Carl Jung’s character archetypes to clarify this point in the journey:

  • In your first chapter, your character is an Orphan (suffered a loss, a tragedy, a problem)
  • In your early novel, your character is a Wanderer (trying to find solutions to his problems)
  • In your middle novel, your character is a Warrior (fighting for a solution)

3 CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

An orphan on the road with backpack and food.

In the 1st Chapter, your orphan has suffered a loss, a tragedy, or has a problem.

A wanderer with a hat and backpack

In the early novel, your character is a wanderer, trying to find solutions to their problems.

A warrior king with a sword and goblet

In the middle novel, your character is a warrior, fighting for what they want.

So for this early novel, how will your character “wander?” What steps will he or she take to solve the problem of the beginning of your book? Here are some examples of wandering:

  • Start a journey
  • Make a huge decision and act on that decision
  • Try to figure out the solution for a problem

For an example, let’s look at The Martian by Andy Weir, where an astronaut is stranded on Mars (played by Matt Damon in the movie).

In the early novel, this astronaut is wandering by:

  • figuring out how to farm
  • figuring out how to avoid suffocation
  • figuring out how to communicate with earth

5. Develop Your Character

Characters sell books.

Characters ARE books.

You can’t write a book without a character. And no bestseller has characters that are lackluster and forgettable.

I would suggest coming up with a character by combining three pieces. This is my strategy that I outlined in my “ Triangle Method of Character Creation ” course. You will take one thing from each category and combine them to create a new, fictional character:

Triangle method of character creation course with three corners: Imagination, Friend and Yourself

  • Friend . I take one personality or physical trait from someone I know. Perhaps they hate heat. Perhaps they are easily insulted.
  • Yourself. You should take one element from yourself. Make this the most personal one: perhaps you’ve always hated your mother or your father.
  • Imagination . Make one thing up entirely. This is a piece that’s needed to fit your particular story. For instance, the character’s occupation is underwater welder.

Combine all three of those elements and you have a newly minted character, someone who has never existed before. Congrats!

I’ve written at length about developing characters in my article on “ 12 Steps to Develop a Memorable Character .” Check that out to continue to fuel your character building.

Now that you have a character, it’s time to get to know them a little bit better. Run through this simple exercise and you’ll feel like this character is your new best bud.

Here are five things every author should know about their characters:

  • Their Addiction . I’m not only talking about drugs or alcohol. I’m talking about coffee. Video games. A sense of power or control. Feeling like a victim. Sex. Nobody is free of addiction. Every character NEEDS something, they crave something, and once you figure it out, you’ll draw a much more accurate picture of them.
  • Their Body . Not just what they look like, but how they dress. What they hate about themselves. What has hurt their body in the past. How they exercise (or don’t exercise). If you know a character’s body, you will know how they live and move and exist in the world. We all live inside bodies — know what your character’s is like.
  • Their Social Life . Are they introverts or extroverts? How do they treat authority figures? Do they have lots of friends or few friends? Are they forthcoming with people or do they hide it all inside? What is their relationship with their parents? Knowing how your character reacts to other humans is essential.
  • Their Backstory . Every character has something that has happened to them in the past. You must know how those experiences shaped them. Not just traumatic experiences, but also the great memories as well.
  • Their Beliefs . Every character thinks something about the world. They have ideas and philosophies. They have political beliefs, and religious beliefs, and economic beliefs. How do these impact who they are and what they do? To have a motivated character, you need a character with strong beliefs.

If you want to develop your character even more, I would recommend using my 4 Questionnaires for Characters , with more than 60 questions and exercises to help you get to know your character better.

6. Create Supporting Characters

A circle of supporting characters: Ruler, Creator, Caregiver, Innocent, Explorer, Sage, Jester, Lover, Everyman, Hero, Rebel, Magician

No protagonist does it all on their own.

They need characters to help them along the way, characters like:

  • an antagonist

Well, that last one doesn’t help them exactly. But it does help you to tell a much more interesting story!

The point is that you need to do characterization for sidebar characters, so the reader feels intimacy with them.

To develop these characters, you need to figure out three questions:

  • How are they different from your main character?
  • How do they impact the plot?
  • How are they different from each other?

If you want to learn more about supporting characters, I have a whole video and exercise for supporting characters (and how they’re different from minor characters) in my 36-video course, “ Write Your Best Novel .”

And of course you need to come up with incredible names that are memorable and very different from each other. Consult my resource on 13 Strategies to Name Your Character to help you with this.

7. Develop a World

If you’re writing sci-fi or fantasy or dystopia, you are literally creating a world out of scratch.

You get to decide the:

And obviously if you’re writing historical fiction, you’re assembling a world through your research.

But even if you’re writing literary or crime or romance, writing in our normal, current world, you’re still doing world building. Every detail you select creates a portrait of what the universe of your book is like.

Even something as trivial as describing breakfast can tell the reader a ton about these characters and this world, as Margaret Atwood notes :

“I like to wonder what people would have for breakfast, and where they would get those food items, and whether or not they would say a prayer over them, and how they would pay for them, and what they would wear during that meal, and, if cooked, how, and what sort of bed they would have arisen from, and what else they might be doing while having the breakfast … Breakfast can take you quite far.”

Part of world creating is choosing surprising, unusual details. And choosing unusual character mannerisms .

You would think that all these small things don’t matter as much as the plot, but you would be wrong. All these little small details that you wedge into your story, alongside the plot and dialogue and character building, they create a texture for your book. They make the reader feel like they’re being transported.

Quote from Paul Auster: "The Truth fo the story lies in the details."

Three quick examples of fun details:

  •  “Then one of the monkeys caught sight of some life form in the hair of his little girl and reached up and snatched it off her scalp and swallowed it.” (Ann Patchett, State of Wonder )
  • “The baggage-claim crowd was like a group of colorful stragglers in front of some third-rate nightclub: sunburns, disco shirts, tiny bejeweled Asian ladies with giant logo sunglasses.” (Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch )
  • In a funeral pyre for his mother: “The toes, which were melting in the heat, began to curl up, offering resistance to what was being done to them.” (Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger )

8. Advance your Plot

Okay, so you’ve had your character desires struggle and flail against obstacles and escalated obstacles, but you’re only two-thirds of the way through your book. What do you do now?

Let me give you four additional techniques that writers often use to throw a wrench in their protagonist’s plans, just before they reach the climax.

  • Examples: Reveal the true identity of the informant — it’s the main character’s son! The bomb is actually in America, not in Afghanistan. He has two wives, not just the one.
  • Examples: The guards came back early. The wife came back early. The baby was born with health problems.
  • Examples: The Martians who were their allies turn out to be turncoats. At first they wanted to sabotage a gathering of world leaders, and now they want to protect it.
  • Examples: After decades of being a pacifist, your character decides to kill someone. Your character decides to head behind enemy lines. Your character decides to marry his best friend’s fiance.

Infographic on 4 ways to develop a novel's plot: Surprises, Complications, Reversals, Decisions

The overarching strategy for moving your plot forward is escalation. Every single step of the story should get the reader closer to that climax. Things need to be tougher. They need to seem like failure is right around the corner.

If you get stuck on plotting, look at my 9 story structures — it’s a very helpful resource to help you sketch out the plot of your whole book.

9. Bring in the Bigger Picture

Good stories never exist in a vacuum. You have to connect your book with the conversations that your reader already knows.

Here are three ways to connect your book to the world:

Connect your story to history . Whether you’re writing during the time of 9/11 or the Civil War or a pandemic, books that take place around historical events have weight. Find what is happening in the world during your story and connect your small story to that larger story. Readers instantly connect with your book because they already have an emotional connection to the historical event.

  • All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer took place during WWII, and that gives the book gravitas and meaning.
  • The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen takes place during the Vietnam War, both in Vietnam and in the United States.
  • The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck taps into the struggles during the Great Depression.

Connect your story to ideas . What is the bigger picture idea you’re wrestling with in your book? It could be about the price of freedom, the ethics of reproduction, the responsibility to the environment, the struggle between the genders, duty to one’s country, or the difficulty of romance. Make your characters talk directly about these big picture ideas.

  • John Green’s The Fault in our Stars talked about the endurance of love in the most difficult of situations (both teens have cancer).
  • Patrick DeWitt’s The Sisters Brothers wrestled with the immorality of greed (they find a huge gold deposit).
  • Ann Patchett’s “State of Wonder” dealt with the ethics of reproduction (they found a drug that enabled women in their 60s or 70s to have babies).

Connect your story to an argument . Make sure you know what you want to say with this story. In other words, have a point to make. You shouldn’t start your story with an argument in mind, but it will arise naturally as you write the book. Make characters and plot most essential, and layer in your argument as the story unfolds.

  • Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale was an argument against patriarchal societies and the imprisonment of women.
  • Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea was about the perseverance of the human spirit against nature.
  • Dave Egger’s The Circle argued that privacy is necessary and good, and social media can be dangerous.

10. Take the Plunge

A woman holding an umbrella with the rain falling inside the umbrella but not outside, symbolizing a terrible event

So many writers make the mistake of being too kind to their protagonist. They never really bring them to their lowest point.

Which is a shame, because readers need that low point — or plunge — to make them feel the tension. Bring your protagonist to the lowest point of despair:

  • Make them believe everything is hopeless
  • Make them believe they’re worthless
  • Make them believe that they’ve failed at their goal

Unless you bring your character to their absolute low point, you will never convince the reader that things might go badly. And so when you have a happy ending, it won’t feel very satisfying, because the reader was never worried.

Ideally, you want the plunge to happen just before the climax, so the contrast is strong.

  • Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”: The father dies just before the boy is rescued .
  • Gillian Flynn’s “Sharp Objects”: The daughter is depressed and letting her mother poison her before they solve the murders .

11. Write a Smash-Bang Climax

Oh, this part of the book is a boobytrap for writers. It’s easy to trigger all sorts of tripwires and fall into so many spiked pits.

Let me save you some trouble by telling you what a good climax should do:

  • Should fulfill the main character’s desires . Whatever the protagonist has been going after for the whole book, this is where you deliver that desire. (or fail to fulfill, if this is a tragedy). If you’re writing a bittersweet book, you can fulfill one of the character’s desires (to the win the girl’s heart) but not other (they lose the championship game). Bittersweet endings are excellent because they make the reader happy and also avoid being cheesy and unrealistic.
  • There are certain expectations of, say, the romance genre. Most of the time the couple gets together. Sometimes they don’t. But either way, the relationship question has to be resolved.
  • Historical: stick with history, but also deliver a surprise between the lines of history. The climax is often a better known historical event. HOW is happens must be a surprise.
  • Fantasy must deliver a climax that uses the magic in their world in some way: a climax that’s reliant upon the rules of worldbuilding you’ve done all along in your book.
  • For literary works, there’s often a certain amount of subtlety or ambiguity or complexity about the climax.
  • Give Every Character a Role to Play . The hero can’t succeed on their own. This is the most common mistake I see in climaxes. For example, in Dune, our main hero Paul is unconscious. And it takes his mother and his girlfriend to help revive him. They have to play detective to figure out why he’s comatose. Only then can he lead everyone in war. Without those two supporting characters, the hero would never have succeeded.
  • Resolve all the conflicts . This climax should resolve the main conflict of the book, the internal conflict of the protagonist, and any other loose conflicts (otherwise, you better resolve them right after the climax).

Infographic of common climax mistakes: forgetting internals, too fast, passivity, false suspense, and only one climax

12. Close Out the Story

Once you’re ready to finish up the story, you need to take these three steps at the end:

1. Show Character Change

As you’re trying to wrap up your book, the most important question is: how has your character changed?

Character change is one of the most satisfying elements of storytelling. A character who remains the same is a boring character.

So ask yourself:

  • How has this character evolved or shifted over the course of the story?
  • What have they learned?
  • What will they do differently from now on?

2. Tidy up Plot Strands

If there is a minor or supporting character who has a story, make sure you tell the reader how it ended.

If there are any questions left in the reader’s mind (but what happened to X?) then this is the place to resolve those questions.

The end of a story works like a piece of music — you want to resolve to the tonic chord, so everything seems right with the world. That means you need to provide the answers that the reader has been seeking for the whole book.

3. Highlight your Theme

The most difficult part of a book is knowing how to write the last few paragraphs. Here are three tips:

  • End on dialogue. At the end of Walter Tevis’s The Queen’s Gambit , the heroine asks, “Would you like to play chess?” It’s the perfect line of dialogue to wrap up a chess novel.
  • End on a thematic note . What is your book about? P.D. James’ The Children of Men is about a world where no one can have babies any more. The human race is dying out. So of course the book ends on the birth of a baby, the first baby in decades.
  • End on a departure . Just as the reader is about to say goodbye to the book, have a main character say goodbye. In “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’engle, Mrs. Whatsit departs in a gust of wind.
  • End on a decision . At the end of Alexander McCall Smith’s #1 Ladies Detective Agency, a man proposes to the main character. And even though she has refused him before, this time she finally says yes.

Here on Bookfox I have a post about how to end your chapters, and many of the ideas are relevant when you’re trying to end your book: 12 Ways to End Your Chapter .

Lastly, I have a post which gives 100 examples of story endings , and which can be very useful in helping you generate possible ideas for ending your book.

Graphic of Questions and Answers (Q & A)

How long does it take to write a novel?

Most writers can finish a rough draft in about 6 months. But I’ve seen some writer blaze through a draft in 4 weeks, while others take two or three years.

How long are most novels?

Don’t write a novel more than 100,000 words — it’s tougher to get it published. And if you write something under 70,000 words, it’s too short.

So aim for 70k – 100k words (and never cite page count — writers only use word count).

Can I actually finish a novel?

Yes. Absolutely, you can. I’ve helped hundreds of writers, most of whom had never written a book before, finish their novel. It is possible. All you need is to follow the advice above (and if you want extra help, take my course on how to write a novel ).

What if I get Writer’s Block?

Writer’s Block is part of the creative process, and it’s natural and normal. To get past it, I would recommend:

  • reading my article on 25 Ways to Defeat Writer’s Block
  • watching my YouTube video
  • taking my online course, “ Master Your Writing Habits .”

Should I self publish or traditionally publish?

So for self-publishing, there’s lots of upsides: there’s no wait time, and you get complete control of the project (such as cover art and illustration), and there’s not that much of a cost if you do it all yourself.

But … you have to do all the marketing yourself, and you don’t have anyone to guide you through the process, and you don’t have the prestige of being published by a traditional publisher. You should do self-publishing if you’re a real go-getter and you think you can get the word out there about your book. (Here are 7 self-publishing success stories ).

For traditional publishing, there are also many upsides: you would get an advance (money is nice!), they would handle all the proofreading, ISBN, illustrations, cover art, etc, and they would give you some guidance with how to do the marketing and promotion.

But … it can be very hard to get an acceptance from a publisher. Sometimes you have to send the book out for a year or two, submitting to a hundred outlets or more. Go this route if you have a lot of patience and you want the book to reach a wider audience.

Please comment below with any questions you have and check out my course on “ Write Your Best Novel .”

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Very interesting and informative.

“John Matthew fox” I’ve been reading his articles for months now and I can say, they’ve all been amazing. His articles and post are just the right food a writer needs to move on and complete a story. His not only an awesome author but also a great editor and mentor.

I really appreciate your advice. It made sense and very helpful. Helped me alot with my current book I am writing. Thank you.

Just so you know, a piece of music ends on the tonic, not the dominant. Other than that, thanks for the article.

Wow! I wish I had discovered this advice 30 years ago. But better late than never. I would be thrilled to write my novel at age 70!

What if you have many ideas inside your head? I mean, several universes all at once? And you just can’t decide on a single one? What to do then? How to single out that one idea to work on?

novel writing 12

Every writer NEEDS this book.

It’s a guide to writing the pivotal moments of your novel.

Whether writing your book or revising it, this will be the most helpful book you’ll ever buy.

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12 Must Read Books for Novel Writing Advice

AlexSpaghetti

Almost everyone has thought about writing a novel at some point in their lives. Competitions like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) attract hundreds of thousands of participants every year, and thousands upon thousands of books have been written about how to follow in their author's footsteps.

There are books that are specifically about the act of writing a novel, and while those provide useful advice, there are other ways of learning how to write prose fiction. The list below ranges from the mechanics of poetry to the components of screenwriting -- because while novels are their own separate category, good fiction and good writing come from the same place.

How to write a novel step-by-step

  • Writing The Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass The first entry on the list is purely practical – if you want to know how to write a novel in the most broad and hands-on way, this is the (work)book for you. Donald Maass complies a number of lists and exercises to walk you along the appropriate path. At the end of it, you'll almost certainly have a novel sitting on your hard drive.
  • Structuring Your Novel Workbook by K.M. Weiland Another workbook with exercises and checklists to help you get to the nitty-gritty of novel writing. Structuring Your Novel Workbook is the fourth book of an eight book series by author KM Weiland, an excellent instructional series, and can be used independently of the other texts. Versatile, and chock full of useful information.
  • Save The Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody The book title says it all – it takes the screenwriting book Save The Cat! (discussed later) and adapts it for novels. Using a fifteen plotpoint structure and invaluable advice, Save The Cat! Writes a Novel uses the spareness of screenwriting to help people get through the difficult parts of novel writing.
  • Ready, Set, Novel!: A Workbook by Lindsey Grant, Tavia Stewart-Streit, and Chris Baty The perfect companion to NaNoWriMo (written by founder Baty, former Program Director Grant, and Operations Manager Stewart-Streit), this book will give you plenty of tools and tricks to bust through the most difficult bits of creative block and write the work you've always dreamed of.

Novel-writing adjacent

  • Save The Cat! by Blake Snyder Save The Cat! is an intensely practical guide to the structure of screenwriting. It eschews much of the artistry around screenwriting for a step-by-step mechanical breakdown of what good screenplays purportedly contain. How does this help with novel-writing? One, by introducing the spareness and functional nature of screenwriting as a concept. Two, by reminding potential authors that art is craft, and craft creates magic, not the other way around.
  • Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field Syd Field's Paradigm worksheet is perhaps the most widely known and widely used screenplay structure in the filmmaking world, and Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting does a wonderful job of explaining its utility. It blends practical advice with trenchant examples from movies throughout history, giving an aspiring writer of any type things to reverse-engineer and internalize to help them write better fiction.
  • The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms by Eavan Boland The Makings of a Poem goes in-depth on the technical aspects of poetry writing, giving a writer the rules and tools of the trade – a trade that is about using precise language to describe abstract ideas, creating emotional experiences using oft-rigid structure. That is novel-writing at its best, and the poets have a lot to teach.

Writing as a lifestyle

  • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King The best memoir on writing, On Writing has endured since its publication twenty years ago. Stephen King delves into the mechanics of English, gives useful and insightful advice to aspiring writers, and discusses what his life has been like as he wound his way through his career. A must-read for anyone looking for a glimpse into the life of a professional writer.
  • The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk and E.B. White Anybody who's taken a single writing class has heard of Elements of Style . A classic instructional text, it is 105 pages of time-tested rules and advice that improve any writer's prose. First published in 1918 at 43 pages and expanded to its current size in 1999, it covers a wide variety of ideas from use of the active voice to not over-explaining.
  • Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King Authors Browne and King, best known for their work with The Editorial Department , have created a book that teaches you essentially everything you need to know about editing your own work. All good writers know that the real work begins with revision, and Self-Editing for Fiction Writers teaches you how to do that.
  • Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing by Tiffany Yates Martin Author Tiffany Yates Martin has worked with major players in publishing – through her own company and through places like the New York Times and USA Today – and brings that experience to help authors of all levels. Accessible, simple, and clear, Intuitive Editing is a comfortable journey through becoming your own best critic.
  • Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer Drayer's English is written by the copy chief and managing editor of Random House , one of the biggest publishers in the world. It contains a storied career of advice on using the rules of English grammar to create the best and most clear prose possible. An interesting and engaging look into a usually staid subject.

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POSTED ON Nov 28, 2023

Justin Champion

Written by Justin Champion

You're ready to learn how to write a book…

And as a first-time author, you're nervous about this new journey because you want first-time success (who doesn't?).

But today's publishing industry has become noisy . There is endless information out there on how to write a book, and with the rise of self-publishing , it can be overwhelming, to say the least.

If you’re ready to take the leap, become an author , and learn how to write a book the right way, start with this resource to get your wheels in motion.

As a first-time bestselling author, I can tell you that writing my first book was one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life.

I experienced a lot of growth and pushed through many hurdles, and being able to learn how to publish is something I am truly proud of.

And I'm ready to share the steps of how to write a book with you, so that you can go on to write a book of your own, and find success as a first-time author.

Ready to learn how to write a book? Let's get to it!

Need A Nonfiction Book Outline?

Here's how to write a book in 12 steps:

  • Develop a writer’s mindset a. Hold yourself accountable to writing your book b. Give yourself permission to be a writer c. Announce your intention to write a book
  • Create a book writing space
  • Choose your book writing software a. Google Drive b. Grammarly c. Evernote d. A notebook & pen
  • Determine your book's topic a. Identify your target reader b. Write about something that intrigues you c. Research potential topics d. Choose a topic you can write about quickly
  • Create a book outline a. Create a mindmap b. Write a purpose statement c. Create a working title d. Write an elevator pitch for your book e. Draft a working outline for your book f. Fill in the gaps with more research g. Frameworks on how to write your book
  • Finish writing your manuscript a. Break your book writing into small chunks b. Build the momentum to finish writing your book c. Collaborate with others
  • Include front & back matter a. Preface or introduction b. Foreward c. Testimonials d. Author Bio e. Glossary f. Notes g. Images
  • Edit your book a. Self-edit your book b. Hire a professional book editor c. Re-write sections of your book's draft using your editor's feedback d. Finalize your book title
  • Choose a compelling book cover
  • Format your book
  • Prepare to launch your book a. Build your book's launch team b. Develop a marketing mindset c. Create a book launch strategy
  • Publish your book
  • How To Write A Book: FAQs

In this article, we'll start with the basics. While the steps in this phase may seem to be unrelated to actually learning how to write a book, they are very important.

In fact, setting yourself up for success will help you build the foundation needed to start writing a book .

We'll talk about developing a writer's mindset to get you in a frame of mind that's conducive to writing. Then, we'll discuss how to create a writing space that will boost your writing productivity, and how to choose the best book-writing software for your needs.

Here are some tips for success as you write a book:

  • Develop a writer's mindset . This is all about embracing a mentality that will inspire you to start (and finish) writing your book.
  • Create a writing space . This is all about how to set up the ideal writing environment that fits your routine.
  • Use a tool to write your book . This is all about deciding on what you will use to write your book.
  • Get support . A strong support network, a community of peers, and a book-writing coach could be the difference between a published book and an unfinished manuscript.
  • Use templates where you can. We provide you with a proven book outline template in this post. But there are templates for cover layouts, formatting, and more. Don't recreate the wheel! Use these and build upon them to make them your own.

YouTube video

1. Develop a Writer’s Mindset

Learning how to write a book takes time, work, and dedication. It’s easy to romanticize becoming a bestseller like J.K. Rowling or Octavia Butler. However, every author has a story on how they started out and overcame adversity to get where they are today.

For example, Rowling, who had no job and was on welfare at the time, would take her children to a coffee shop and write.

Butler, who was a dishwasher and potato chip inspector at the time, would wake up at two or three in the morning to write and wrote herself mantras to keep her focused on her goals.

The first steps in learning how to write a book are overcoming mindset blocks, dealing with self-doubt as a writer , and developing a healthy frame of mind that will help you with your writing goals .

Write A Book Mindset Quote Graphic

Let’s review three things you can do to circumvent roadblocks and crush challenges to keep you focused on your goal.

Hold yourself accountable to writing your book

It’s not good enough to write only when inspiration strikes. There will be days when writing is the last thing you want to be doing.

But you have to treat your writing as if it were a job, or a duty. This means holding yourself accountable, taking action, and showing up every day.

Here's how to hold yourself accountable to writing:

  • Set a writing goal. If you don't have a goal, procrastination will get the best of you. Determine a writing goal, including how many days a week you intend to set aside time to write, and set a deadline or due date for when you'd like to have parts of your book.
  • Block off chunks of time to write every week.  If you’re looking for a place to start, consider one to two hours per day five days per week. The more often you write, the more you’ll develop a habit for it, and making time for writing won't be that much of a struggle.
  • Set a daily word count goal.  Consider how many words you want to write each week. Use this Word Count Calculator to determine the goal you should aim for, depending on the type of book you are writing. For example, if your goal is 3,000 words per week and you have five chunks of time blocked off to write per week, then you’d need to write 600 words per day to achieve your weekly goal.

I write early in the morning before I do anything else for 1-2 hours. I find that as I go throughout the day and work on other projects my mind isn’t as fresh or sharp by the end of the day. However, sometimes I have ideas throughout the day that I jot down in Evernote to jump-start the next morning with a working outline.

Give yourself permission to be a writer

This might sound silly, but it's true: in order to learn how to write a book, you need to give yourself permission to be a writer. Many aspiring authors get stuck in their mindset, which prevents them from initiating and completing their writing projects.

Even successful authors feel like they aren't good enough. Acknowledge your feelings, but then shake them off, and move on with your day.

Hear this : You don't have to be an expert to learn how to write a book. You don't have to feel 100% confident to be a good writer. You don't even have to be all-knowing to teach others about your experiences or knowledge.

Here's how to give yourself permission to be a writer:

  • Get inspiration from other writers . When you're just starting to learn how to write a book, you might feel alone in your journey. But take comfort in the fact that other successful writers all started at the bottom, just like you. Many of them overcame seemingly impossible hurdles, but persisted with their writing dreams, anyway. Research some of your favorite authors, and read up on their stories to discover the issues they overcame to find success.
  • Accept where you are . Acknowledge your feelings of self-doubt, and then release them. It's okay to experience moments of feeling discouraged, but it's important that you don't let those feelings hold you back. Accept that you are beginning your journey and that this is a learning process.
  • Use positive affirmations . Your thoughts have a huge influence on your abilities. What you think starts to become your reality, so make your thoughts good. Use positive affirmations about yourself and your writing abilities to pump yourself up. You can even read inspirational writing quotes from famous authors for motivation.
  • Overcome imposter syndrome . Even expert authors and writers feel like imposters every now and again. While it's okay to experience feeling inferior, you have to eventually get over those thoughts and push on towards your goals. Connect with other aspiring writers, get yourself a mentor, and join writers conferences or writing communities.

Announce your intention to write a book

The best way to hold yourself accountable for your work is to let others know your goals. Is there someone you trust or a group of people in your network you can appoint to check in on your progress?

Perhaps there is someone who is a seasoned writer who can serve as a mentor. If so, try to have regular check-ins with this person.

One way to keep these meetings consistent is to schedule a lunch or coffee date. Talk about your progress and perhaps any challenges you’re facing. They may be able to bring a fresh perspective.

I told my wife, Ariele, and several of my closest teammates from work about my intentions to write my first book. We had regular check-ins to talk about progress. Everyone helped keep me motivated and had different feedback for me. Without them, it would have been a lot more difficult to write Inbound Content in the timeframe I did.

2. Create a Book Writing Space

The second step in how to write a book has to do with your environment. Where you choose to write will have a major impact on your writing productivity.

Find creative spaces where you can produce your best writing.

Sure, some might argue that they can write anywhere as long as they have the tools to write. But where we choose to write plays a huge role in our writing motivation and focus.

Questions to think about: Where do you work best? What surroundings inspire you most? Identify them and make it a best practice to work there consistently.

Creative Book Writing Spaces Graphic

Here are creative writing spaces to write your book:

  • Coffee shops (classic)
  • Beautiful park or somewhere in nature
  • A dedicated writing nook at home

My main writing location is the dinette in my Airstream. I do my best work when traveling; I wrote the manuscript for my book in six weeks as I traveled the U.S. and worked full time from the road.

3. Choose your Book-Writing Software

The next step in how to write a book has to do with writing tools.

In 1882, Mark Twain sent to a publisher the first manuscript to be written on a piece of technology that would transform the writing industry: the typewriter.

Nowadays, we have computers with word processing and the internet where you can find an endless assortment of useful book-writing software and apps that are meant to help you be an efficient and effective writer. If you're writing a novel, check out this guide to novel-writing software .

You may be tempted to overload on apps because you think it’ll help elevate your writing. But honestly, less is more . The truth is that the right tools and even self-publishing companies make writing and publishing easier and more enjoyable.

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Instead of overwhelming you with all the possible apps in existence, below is a list of three tools I recommend adding to your writing toolkit today (and they’re free).

Google Drive

Google Drive is one of the most versatile cloud storage services available today. But Google Drive is so much more than cloud storage. Here’s a list of ways you can use Google Drive to help you write your book:

  • You can organize all aspects of your project in folders (research, outline, manuscript drafts, etc.)
  • You can host files for your projects like images, photos, etc.
  • You can use Google Docs as a word processor. And we have a book writing template , specifically for Google Docs.
  • You can enable offline access and work on your files even when you don’t have an internet connection, such as when you’re traveling.
  • You can collaborate easily with others, avoiding version control issues.
  • You can access it from just about any device (laptop, smartphone, tablet, you name it).

Plus, Google will give you 15GB of free storage just for signing up.

If you’re new to Google Drive, here’s a list of resources that can turn you into a pro. (FYI, if you have a Gmail account, you have a Google Drive account.)

Grammarly is an editing tool that helps you identify grammatical errors, typos, and incorrect sentence structure in your writing.

Download the web extension and Grammarly will edit most anything you type in a web browser (yes, it will work with Google Docs).

You can check out this Grammarly review if you're on the fence about this one.

Inspiration can strike at any time. Capture those thoughts and ideas as they happen in Evernote . You can even sync Google Drive and Evernote. I recommend doing this, especially on your mobile device.

A Notebook & Pen

Don't underestimate the power of good ole' fashioned pen and paper when it comes to learning how to write a book, which is arguably the only essential writing tool out there.

Even if you write your entire manuscript on a trusty writing software program, you'll still want to have a dedicated notebook available for the times when inspiration strikes and you can't access a computer.

Every writer should have a notebook handy for random ideas and thoughts. You can jot these down in your notebook, then revisit them and digitally store them in your book-writing software when you're back at the computer.

4. Determine Your Book Topic

Now we'll move on to how to actually start writing a book. This is the part that seems simple, but can be more difficult than you realize.

However, once you get through the process of actually writing your book, you will gain momentum to finish it, and eventually publish it.

Learning how to write a book starts with an idea. Shat's your book idea ?

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Maybe you already know exactly what you want to write about. Or maybe you have a million ideas floating on in your head, but you don't know exactly where to start.

One of the most common pieces of advice for aspiring first-time authors is: “Write what you know.” A simple phrase that’s meant to be helpful, yet it begs so many questions.

If you're struggling with a book idea, try jumpstarting your creativity by experimenting with these writing prompts.

Whether you’re writing a non-fiction how-to guide or a fictional post-apocalyptic thriller, you need to form a connection with your audience — and you can do that through emotion. The best way to create emotion with your reader is to understand them.

Here's how to determine what you want to write about and how to write it in a meaningful way.  

Identify your target reader

The key to producing meaningful content is understanding your reader. You can do this by creating a reader persona — a semi-fictional representation of your ideal audience.

To get started with your reader persona, consider answering the following questions:

  • What’s the reader’s age? Are you writing a self-help book geared towards mature adults, or are you writing a guide for teenagers? The age of your reader will set the tone for your writing and book's context.
  • What’s the reader’s education level? Are you writing a book for PhD candidates, or for recent high school graduates? Depending on the answer, your writing style, verbiage, and word choice will vary.
  • Does the reader prefer visuals? Think about your book's potential topic and if visuals like charts, graphs, tables, illustrations , screenshots, or photographs will be expected.
  • What is this reader interested in? When you write a book, it's less about what you want to say, and more about what your reader needs to know. As you start to brainstorm a topic and write your book, always have a reader-centric approach.

The more you know about your reader, the better experience you can create for them.

When you start learning how to write a book, you have to make your book about the reader. What do they need to know in order to learn what you have to say?

My main audience is marketers and business owners at small-to-medium-sized businesses. They’re strapped for time and don’t need another theoretical resource. They value real-world examples to help visualize what tips and strategies look like in action.

Write about something that intrigues you

You need to write about something that spikes your curiosity, something that keeps you coming back day after day. Something that lights you up and that you're invested in.

I can’t stress the importance of this enough. If you choose a topic to write about for the wrong reason, don’t expect to create something that people will love.

You need to be able to stick with it through dry spells and bouts of non-inspiration. Your own desire to hear the story will be what drives you through learning how to write a book.

Research potential topics

In our digital age, we can conveniently research topics from the comfort of our own homess.

Google makes it easy to research just about any topic.

Here’s a list of ways to research your book concept on Google:

  • What content already exists? Are there already books written on this topic? If so, which ones performed well? Why did they perform well? Is there anything interesting about their content that enhances the reader’s experience? Is the market over-saturated on this topic?
  • What influencers exist on the subject? Are there well-known authors on this topic? Who are they? What can you learn from them?
  • What do you need to learn? Are there specific things you need to learn to create a rich, meaningful narrative (ex. geography, culture, time period, etc.)?

I performed extensive research before writing the manuscript for Inbound Content. It was important for me to understand what content was already out there, which content was performing well, and most importantly, how could I make my book unique. This is exactly why I included homework after each chapter to help my readers build an action plan that they could implement immediately, something I noticed wasn’t typical in other marketing books.

Choose a topic you can write about quickly

Writing your first book is invaluable because it's a serious learning experience. The process of actually writing a book and completing it will make this book a personal success for you, because of how much you will learn about yourself and your craft in the process.

Don't get hung up on a topic. If you're struggling with deciding what to write about first, go with the topic that you know best. Choose a topic or experience that you can write about quickly, with limited resources.

Here's how to find a topic you can write about quickly:

  • Write what you can teach right now. If you had to teach a lesson on something right at this second, what could you confidently teach? This is a topic you know well, that requires limited additional research, and what you can quickly create content for.
  • Write about a powerful experience. Each individual is unique in their experiences. Everyone has gone through something that changed them. Reflect on your life and think about one experience that sticks out about your life.
  • Write about a life lesson. What has life taught you? What unique observations have you made about the world? You can use this information to learn how to write a memoir .

5. Write A Book Outline

Once you know what you want to write about, you’re probably eager to start writing. But you need a writing guide first.

Let’s review what you can do to create a clear book outline for your book that you can use as a roadmap.

Create a mindmap

You have an idea, now it's time to hone in on just exactly what that idea is. With a mindmap, you can drill your topic down into sub-topics. It will help you get all of your ideas out and onto paper.

Here are the steps to mindmap your book's topic:

  • Get a blank piece of paper and pen.
  • Set a timer for 10 minutes.
  • Write your topic in the middle of the page.
  • Jot down all of your ideas related to your book's topic.
  • Do not stop writing until the timer goes off.

Once you have mindmapped your idea, you should have a full page of brainstormed thoughts, ideas, and concepts. You can then review what you've written, and begin to organize them. This will come in handy when it comes time to actually start plugging in content for your book outline.

Write a purpose statement

In one sentence describe the purpose of your book. A strong purpose statement will explain to readers why they should consider reading your book. For me, I was writing a book to grow my business .

This will also help you stay focused as you begin drafting your outline and writing your book. When you have trouble solidifying what your book is about , review your purpose statement.

Inbound Content‘s purpose statement: People who read this book will learn a step-by-step process on how to do content marketing the inbound way.

Create a working title

A working title is a temporary title used during the production of your book. Identifying your book by giving it a name can help set the direction.

Once you finish your work you can revisit the title and update accordingly. Don't get too hung up on this step; think of the title as a placeholder. It isn't permanent, but it will be helpful to begin with one in mind.

If you need help thinking of a working title, use our Book Title Generator .

Write an elevator pitch for your book

An effective elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride of 30 seconds. For context, 30 seconds equals about 65-70 words.

Having a prepared elevator pitch will come in handy throughout your book-writing process. It will help you nail your book's purpose and topic, and it will help the concept become crystal clear not only for yourself as the writer, but for your potential readers, too.

As you ask family and friends to hold you accountable to writing, and as you connect with fellow writers, authors, and mentors, you will be asked about your book. Having a prepared elevator pitch will help you nail the answer without hesitation, each and every time.

Draft a working outline for your book

The next step in learning how to write a book is drafting a working book outline. Just like the working title you created, this outline is a work in progress. The outline can change throughout your writing process, and that's okay!

However, it's super helpful to start with an outline so that you know where to begin, and have a general roadmap for where to go as you start writing.

Use the related concepts and sub-topics you organized in your mindmap, and start plugging in some content into your outline.

Your outline will do wonders for you once you start writing. It can help you avoid writer's block , and increase your writing momentum and productivity. Instead of wondering what to write about in the next chapter of your book, you'll already have an idea of where to start with your book's outline.

Fill in the gaps with more research

After your working outline is completed, it's important to do further research on your topic so that you can fill in any areas that you missed or forgot to include in your original outline.

Do not get too caught up in your research that it prevents you from writing your book. Take some time to research, but set a limit. Always go back to writing.

Nonfiction Book Research Infographic

Here's how to research when writing a book:

  • Use online resources by doing a Google search on your topic.
  • Read other books that have been written about your topic.
  • Listen to expert interviews, podcasts, and audiobooks related to your topic.
  • Read scholarly articles and academic journals within the subject or industry.
  • Search archives, collections, historical journals, data records, and newspaper clippings to get clear on events, dates, and facts about your topic, especially if you're writing about the past.

Frameworks on how to write your book

If your book can follow a framework, this will make it easier to keep your writing organized and relevant.

By choosing a format or structure for your book's topic, you'll be able to align your outline in a way that will be helpful when you start to write each chapter.

Most nonfiction books can fall into a specific framework, or a blend of frameworks. It's better to start with a specific framework, then tweak it as needed as you continue writing.

Here are common nonfiction book frameworks to consider when writing a book:

  • Modular: Use this framework if you have a lot of information or concepts that can be grouped into similar topics, but don't need to be presented in a specific order.
  • Reference: Use this framework if your book will be used as a reference that makes it easy for readers to quickly find the information they need.
  • Three Act Structure: Use this framework if you plan to use storytelling in your book, where you have three main parts like a Set Up, Rising Action, and Resolution.
  • Sequential: Use this framework if your book reads like a “how to” with a specific set of steps.
  • Compare & Contrast: Use this framework if you need to show your reader how two or more ideas or concepts are similar to or different from one another.
  • Problem & Solution: Use this framework if readers need to be able to clearly identify a problem and understand the solution.
  • Chronological: Use this framework if each main section of your book represents a specific time or order of events.
  • Combination: If your book will fall under two or more of the above frameworks, then you will need to use a combination framework that's adjusted to your book's specific topic.

6. Finish Writing Your Book Draft

For many, the hard part isn't getting started with how to write a book… it's in actually finishing it!

Commit to finishing your rough draft , and you're already succeeding!

Here are our top tips to keep the momentum going as you start taking action after learning exactly how to write a book.

Break your book writing into small chunks

Now that you have your book's outline and framework, it's time to get started with writing.

Like a marathon, your manuscript is essentially a puzzle made up of many smaller like-themed pieces. Your finished book may be 262 pages long, but it’s written one word or thought at a time. Pace yourself and stick to your consistent writing schedule.

If you approach your book writing by focusing too much on the larger picture, you can get overwhelmed. Write chapter-by-chapter.

Start with baby steps by chunking your writing into small pieces. Set milestones, and celebrate the small wins.

Here are some tips for breaking your writing into small pieces:

  • Write one chapter at a time . Focus on one piece at a time, not the entire puzzle!
  • Set deadlines to complete each chunk of writing . Break your goal down into smaller sections, then set individual deadlines for each section.
  • Structure your writing time. Follow a routine for writing that includes time for research (if needed) and review. For example, if you dedicate two hours each day towards your book, set 30 minutes aside to review your outline so you know what you're writing about, then 30 minutes to research anything that you need to clarify, then one hour to actually write.
  • Celebrate small goals. As you accomplish milestones towards your end goal, schedule and celebrate your small accomplishments. It can be something as simple as going out to dinner, buying yourself a small gift, or doing a little dance.

Build the momentum to finish writing your book

Learning how to write a book can be difficult.

When you're in the weeds with writing your book, there will be days you want to give it all up.

There will also be times when you have writer's block, and even though you know what you should be writing about, it all sounds wrong as you re-read what you've written in your head.

Here's how to fight writer's block and increase your writing momentum:

  • Don't edit as you write. Writing and editing require your brain to work in two very different ways, so don't do it! It'll slow you down, and keep you at a standstill. Keep writing, and save the editing for later.
  • Switch up your scenery. If you usually write at home in your own writing space, maybe it's time to freshen up your writing environment. Try writing in a public park, or at a coffee shop or library on the days when writing is the last thing you feel like doing.
  • Take a break. It's okay if you're too mentally worn-out to write. Take a small break, and then get back to it. When we say small break, we mean take a day or two off from writing (not a month or two!).
  • Get creative inspiration elsewhere. Binge-watch an exciting new show, read a novel, take a walk in nature, go to an art gallery, or be around people you love. While you aren't writing when you do these things, it can help your brain reset and recharge so you can return to your book.
  • Write about something else. Sometimes, when we're so engulfed in our book's topic, it can be self-limited. If you're feeling less excited about writing when it comes to your book, maybe it's time to flex your writing muscles in a different way. Try doing some creative writing exercises, journal, or write a poem.

Collaborate with others

There's strength in numbers when it comes to accomplishing a huge task.

And, more importantly, it can help you feel less isolated in what can be a very solitary act. Writing a book can be lonely!

Let’s review three things you can do to collaborate with others when writing your book.  

Connect with your original accountability partner or group

A great example of finding accountability partners is through a group or self-publishing company much like what Self-Publishing School does with their Mastermind Community on Facebook.

Attend a writer's conference

Sharing space and networking with other writers can do wonders for your own writing habits and momentum. By attending writer's conferences, you'll be in a room full of people just like you.

Not only will you be able to network with and learn from expert authors who have been where you are, but you'll also be able to meet fellow aspiring writers going through the same process as you.

Writers Conference Infographic

Collaborate with thought leaders on your subject

Ideal for nonfiction writers, this collaboration could mean asking well-known people in your industry to write a quote that brings value to your content.

Pro tip: When promoting your book launch on social media, consider creating a buzzworthy piece of content like an engaging blog article and have your audience share it.

7. Include Front & Back Matter

Now it's time to put on your marketing pants and spread the word about your book!

There are elements outside of your book’s content that you’ll need to write, such as a preface, foreword, notes, etc. I suggest waiting until after you’ve written your book. This way, not only can you better connect them to your story, but you won’t waste time editing them in case you make changes to your manuscript.

Let’s review eight final touches you may or may not need to wrap up your book.

Preface or Introduction

Draw in your readers with a compelling story. This could be a personal anecdote related to your topic. Tell them what the book is about and why it is relevant to them (think of your reader persona from earlier).

A foreword is typically written by another author or thought leader of your particular industry. Getting someone credible to write this can add a lot of value to your readers.

Testimonials

Just like with the foreword, try and find respected, well-known people in your space and have them write a review about your book. The best way to promote yourself is to have someone else speak on your behalf.  

How To Write A Book Back Cover Blurb Photo

How do you want to be portrayed to your audience? Readers love knowing personal details of an author’s life, such as your hobbies, where you live, or what inspired you to write this book.

Pro tip: The author bio on the flap of your book might be one of the first things people read when deciding whether or not to read our book. Keep it short, but make sure it packs a punch (just like your elevator pitch).

A glossary is an alphabetical list of terms or words relating to a specific subject, text, or dialect with corresponding explanations. If you are writing nonfiction, especially a topic that uses a lot of lingo or uncommon words, make sure to include a glossary to create a better experience for your readers.

If you are writing nonfiction, keep track of your sources as you research and write. A clear bibliography will only add to your value and credibility.

Being nonfiction that was based on a lot of research and experiments, I made sure to include a notes section in Inbound Content. It included citations, stats, image sources, etc.

How To Write A Book Notes

Using images is a nice addition to your content. Images can create a more engaging experience for the reader while improving the communication of hard-to-grasp concepts.

8. Edit Your Book

The next step in learning how to write a book is editing. This involves self-editing first, then having a thorough professional edit done.

The success of your book will depend on its quality, and a thoroughly edited book is a solid way to increase your book's quality.

Even the best writers require editing, so don't feel discouraged by this process. In the end, you'll be glad you followed the editing process, and will have a completed, error-free book that you can be proud of.

Self-edit your book

Remember when we told you not to edit your book as you wrote? Well, now's your time to shine in the editing department.

Once your book is written, it's time to go through and read it line-by-line.

We recommend printing your entire manuscript out on paper, then going through each page and making edits. This will make it easy to spot errors, and will help you easily implement these changes into your manuscript.

There's a specific strategy to self-editing; if you start this process blindly, it can be overwhelming, so make sure you understand how it works before diving in.

Here are some tips to self-edit your book successfully:

  • Read your manuscript aloud as you edit.
  • Start with one chapter at a time.
  • First, go through and edit the chapter for structure revisions.
  • Second, find opportunities for improving the book's readability.
  • Third, make edits for grammar and word choice.

Once you complete your self-edit, you can make your revisions on your manuscript, then get ready for the next round of edits.

Hire a professional book editor

The next step in learning how to write a book is handing your book off to a professional book editor .

As meticulous as you may be, there are bound to be some grammatical or spelling errors that get overlooked. Also, a professional editor should be able to give you feedback on the structure of your writing so you can feel confident in your final published draft.

There are many different types of editing , so think carefully to determine who you should hire.

Re-write sections of your book's draft using your editor's feedback

Now it's time to improve your book using your editor's feedback. Don't be discouraged when you get your manuscript back full of edits, comments, and identified errors.

Think of these edits as opportunities to improve your book. You want to give your reader a polished, well-written book, and to do this, you need to edit and re-write.

This doesn't mean you have to re-write your entire book. You simply have to go through your editor's feedback, and make any revisions you think are necessary.

If there is something you don't agree with your editor on, that's okay. In the end, it is your book, and you are in control of what you want to add or take out of the manuscript.

Just be sure your revisions are coming from a place of sound reasoning, and not pride.

Finalize your book title

If you haven't done so already, it's time to revisit the working title you created for your book earlier in the process.

You need to finalize your book's title before you move on to the next steps!

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If you need help deciding on a title, cast a vote with your target readers and mentors in your author network. Send an email out, post a social media announcement , or reach out through text with people that are considered your book's ideal reader.

Get feedback on your title by asking people to vote for their favorite. Include the top three choices, then use the crowdsourced results to narrow it down even more.

Once you have a title selected, don't worry too much if you're not 100 percent sold on it yet. Even if the title turns out to not be effective, you can always change the title depending on the publishing platform you select.

9. Choose a Compelling Book Cover

Don’t judge a book by its cover? Please.  People are definitely judging your book by its cover. 

The book cover design is generally the first thing that will pique a reader’s interest.

You can find freelance graphic designers to create a compelling book cover for you on many online marketplace sites like Upwork, Reedsy , and Snappa . You can even check with a local graphic design artist for a more hands-on approach.

Tips for creating an effective book cover:

  • Whitespace is your friend.  Make it a best practice to choose a design that pops, but doesn’t distract.
  • Make it creative (non-fiction) or emotional (fiction).  Do your best to connect the art to the story or use it to enhance the title.
  • Consider a subtitle.  Think if this as a one-sentence descriptor on what this book is about.
  • Test two or three designs.  Send a few designs to your trusted accountability group to get their honest first impressions and feedback.

Keeping these best practices in mind, I chose a cover for Inbound Content that was simple but made the title pop and let the subtitle provide the promise to the reader.

Book Cover Of Inbound Content By Justin Champion

10. Format Your Book

Now that you’ve written your manuscript, it’s time to format it so you can visualize the final product — your book!

Formatting your book is an important step in learning how to write a book, because it has to do with how your book will appear to the reader. A successfully formatted book will not cut off text, incorrect indentations, or typeset errors when printed or displayed on a digital device.

If you've already decided to go with self-publishing vs traditional publishing , this is all on you. But if you're not tech-savvy and don't have the time to learn how to format your own book, you can hire a professional to do this part for you.

If you know how to format a book correctly and to fit your book distributor's specifications, you can do so in Word or Google Docs. You can also use a program like Vellum Software or Atticus .

Otherwise, we recommend hiring someone to do this professionally, as it's one of the most important aspects to get right. Check out Formatted Books if that's the case for you.

11. Prepare to Launch Your Book

Before you hit “Publish” it's time to do the groundwork to start prepping for your book's launch, and your ongoing book launch and book marketing strategy.

There are a few steps involved in this process, which we'll outline below.

Build your book's launch team

This is an ongoing step that you can start doing when you are finished with your rough draft. As you send your book to the editor, designer, and formatter, you can organize a launch team in the meantime.

Your book's launch team is essentially a group of individuals who are considered your target readers. They will help you promote your book, and will be actively involved in the launch process of your book.

Develop a marketing mindset

It's time to start shifting your mindset from writing to book marketing . Think about your strengths and areas of growth when it comes to sales and marketing.

Acknowledge any fears or self-limiting thoughts you have, then push past them by remembering your book's purpose. Know that the power of sharing your knowledge and experience through your book is stronger than any fear that might hold you back.

It's important to understand in the marketing phase that your mindset has a huge role in the success of your book. You can write the best book in the world, but if you don't channel some energy towards marketing, no one will know it exists.

Here are six ways to market your book:

  • Paid advertisements
  • Free advertisement opportunities
  • Local or in-person events
  • Content marketing on Google and Amazon
  • Be a guest on podcasts and websites
  • Speaker opportunities

Create a book launch strategy

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to your launch strategy, so it's important to draft up a plan before you publish your book.

Your launch strategy is basically how you plan to create momentum with your book. Think of it like a business launch. There's always a big celebration to announce the launch of the business. It's the same for your book.

12. Publish Your Book

The self-publishing process steps will vary on whether you are publishing your book as an eBook only, or whether you plan to publish it as a print book.

It will also vary depending on which self-publishing companies you plan to work with. There are many self-publishing platforms to choose from, including KDP on Amazon and IngramSpark .

If you plan to work with a different book publisher , you'll want to follow their guidelines. You should also learn how to copyright a book to protect yourself against plagiarism.

Once you've hit publish on your platform, you can start implementing your launch strategies and marketing strategies, which we'll cover in the next section.

FAQs: How To Write A Book

If you read through this guide and have specific questions on how to write a book, here are some other questions we get often.

How long does it take to write a book?

How long it takes to write a book depends on a number of factors. on average, it takes self-published authors anywhere from 3-6 months, but that can be shorter or longer depending on your writing habits, work ethic, time available, and much more.

How much do authors make?

There is no set amount that an author can make. It depends on many factors, such as the book genre , topic, author's readership and following, and marketing success.

For a full report on this, please read our report on Author Salary

Writing a book is not a get-rich-quick strategy by any means. While learning how to write a book can help you grow your business through techniques like a book funnel , unless you sell hundreds of thousands of copies of books, you likely will not earn six figures from book sales alone.

How much money does an author make per book?

The money an author makes per book sold is calculated by the royalty rate. The royalty rate varies depending on the publishing medium, and company.

Use this Book Royalty Calculator to get a better idea of your potential earnings.

How much does it cost to write and publish a book?

With Amazon self-publishing and other self-publishing platforms, the cost to publish is actually free. However, it costs money to hire professionals that actually produce a high-quality book that you will be proud of.

For full details, read this guide on Self-Publishing Costs .

Can anyone write a book?

Yes, anyone can learn how to write a book. And thanks to the rise of technology and self-publishing, anyone can publish a book as well!

Traditional publishers used to serve as the gatekeepers to publishing, holding the power to determine which books would be published. This prevented many stories from being shared, and many talented authors from being recognized.

Thankfully, this antiquated system is no longer the only option. This also means that because anyone can technically publish a book, it is extremely important that you create a quality, professional book that's of the highest standard.

How To Write A Book Step-By-Step Infographic

You Wrote A Book!

And that’s it! Those are the steps to take to learn how to write a book from start to finish.

You can and will write your first book if you put forth the effort. You’re going to crush this!

Trust the process, create a consistent writing schedule, and use this practical guide to help you through the journey of learning how to write a book.

Are you ready to write your book?

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It’s drafty in here.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying that the only thing a first draft has to be is finished. But that’s easier said than done. How do you go from writing a beginning to writing “The End?”

In this course, we’ll support each other in taking our novels from premises to hundreds of pages. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing suspense, horror, fantasy, or some other genre; with a weekly 5,000-word writing goal, you’ll be able to complete a sparse first draft of a novel—or the majority of a denser one.

And, while you’re writing, I’ll give you readings from craft books like Save the Cat Writes a Novel! and The Breakout Novelist, as well as encouraging written lectures, to help separate the goals of drafting from the goals of revision, while still working on craft skills.

Together, we’ll read and critique one another’s work. You’ll receive feedback from me and be paired with one other student from class for encouraging peer critiques. Come start a novel that you want to finish!

Learning Goals

By the end of the 12th week, you will:

  • determine what your first draft focus should be, as opposed to your revision concerns
  • understand “show vs. tell,” and its purpose in courting the reader
  • develop pacing, thinking critically about the purpose of backstory and exposition
  • reflect upon your reasons for writing your story, and how to keep those reasons in sight
  • learn strategies for building a writing practice, and exercises for future revision

Writing Goals

  • build a premise for your novel, as well as opening and final images, as a working, loose outline for your drafting work
  • complete a short first draft of your novel (about 60,000 words)
  • write through plot problems on the fly
  • offer and receive thoughtful reflection upon yours and others’ writing

Course Zoom Schedule

Each Wednesday I will provide a written lecture to get you thinking, and a plotting or writing assignment so you can apply the lecture to your craft. Plus, I’ll hold an open office hour on Zoom once a week (3pm EST, every Friday), for anyone who wants to drop in to ask questions or chat about the weekly lecture, the assignment, or the direction of their writing.

Please note: this class will not meet during the week before Halloween , so the course is 12 lectures spread out over 13 weeks.

Course Syllabus

First, we’ll focus on premises—and what separates a good one from a great one. We’ll share our premises with one another, so we have a sense of the stories we’ll be reading

Assignment: 5,000 words

Using the barest bones of the Save the Cat beat sheet, we’ll begin to think about the prospective beginnings and endings of our novels, and what they have to do with one another. This will serve as a very malleable outline to keep our draft on-track.

Assignment: Write 5,000 words

WEEK THREE:

By now, we’ll have had the urge to go back and fix something at least once. This week, we’ll look at the difference between drafting and revision, so that we don’t get overwhelmed trying to do both.

By now, our energy might be flagging as we move away from our draft beginnings. This week we’ll explore some strategies for building a regular writing practice, and see if any of them help you.

This week we’ll focus on getting the reader to buy into our stories—and what “show, don’t tell” has to do with that.

This is our midpoint class, so this will be a good time to focus on structure. We’ll take another look at beat sheets, but also talk about the value in bending or stretching structure to suit the story we’re telling.

WEEK SEVEN:

This week, we’ll check in with ourselves about the reasons we are telling our stories—and make sure that our insecurities are not shifting our focuses in a negative way.

WEEK EIGHT:

This week will be all about backstory—its many uses, and the dreaded “infodump.”

How do we deal with the “saggy middle” of a novel? That’s the focus of this week.

This week will be about pacing. How to slow a story down, and how to speed it up. With the end of your story in sight, it will be worth looking over your shoulder to assess changes you might make in revision to affect pace.

WEEK ELEVEN:

By now, you will have a sense of what plot points are working and which ones need some work. This week, we’ll talk about problem-solving for plot issues.

WEEK TWELVE:

You will either have completed a sparse full draft of your novel, or else come very close. This week we’ll focus on the future—and your plans for revision.

Student Feedback for Briana Una McGuckin:

“With Briana’s encouragement and support along the way, I was able to complete a 60,000-word first (very rough) draft in twelve weeks. This was exactly what I needed. A terrific experience.” —Kevin Holland

briana una mcguckin

About Briana Una McGuckin

Briana Una McGuckin writes Gothic Romance/Romantic Suspense. Her debut novel, On Good Authority , is a Victorian Gothic/Romantic Suspense. Among other places, her short fiction appears in the Stoker-nominated Not All Monsters anthology (Rooster Republic Press), as well as IN SOMNIO (Tenebrous Press) and A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales (Brigids Gate Press). Briana has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, a perhaps concerningly large collection of perfume oils, and a fascination with all things Victorian.

Briana's Courses

Write Your Novel in 12 Weeks! Dread and Desire: Gothic Fiction Techniques to Lure and Horrify Your Readers (Live Workshop) The Art Friend’s Dilemma: Advice on Writing from Real Life What to Do When Your Characters Fall in Love: Writing Romance in Any Genre

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How to Plot and Write a Novel With 12 Free Templates & Worksheets

Writing your first novel can be daunting. That's where these free novel-writing templates and worksheets can prove handy.

Writing your first novel can be more daunting in life than actually putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard. The untouched page is a frank sign of how much work there is to do.

In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott explains the writer's dilemma:

You are desperate to communicate, to edify and entertain...to make real or imagined events come alive. But you cannot will this to happen. It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work. So you might as well just go ahead and get started.

Yet getting started is easier once you've done some initial prep work on your story; its structure, characters, and how on earth you're going to get this thing out of your head.

That's where these free novel-writing templates and worksheets prove handy.

1. Story Premise Worksheet

Evernote Story Premise Worksheet

This worksheet from Evernote is a simple way to outline the main characters, plot themes, events, and conflicts within your story. By teasing them out of your mind and onto a worksheet like this, you'll be able to plot the broad story arc.

Remember to keep your descriptions specific and concise. This isn't meant to be an entire plot description.

If you're an Evernote fan, there are plenty of other Evernote templates you can use . But if you don't use Evernote, this worksheet can easily be replicated in other programs, or on a sheet of paper.

2. Character Basic Info Worksheet

Basic Character Info Novel Writing Worksheet

This straightforward worksheet from The Novel Factory helps you to pad out your main characters. You'll find yourself adding to, and referring back to this info, time and again as your character develops.

If you want to flesh out your characters in more detail, you could download the accompanying Character Development Worksheet and Character Voice Worksheet .

3. The One Page Novel Plot Spreadsheet

novel writing 12

If you're looking for a more linear approach to plan your novel, this spreadsheet from EA Deverell is especially useful. This customizable resource allows you to break down and describe each of your scenes so that you have a concrete plot before you start writing.

To start using this spreadsheet, open it up, click File then Make a Copy.

4. Freytag Novel Planning Worksheet

Freytag Model Plot Outline

The Freytag method of planning out your novel sits somewhere between vague and extremely detailed. If that sounds like the approach you'd like to take, complete this worksheet from Duolit .

The model covers all essentials, without going overboard on planning. From the introduction of characters, through to rising action, and to the final resolution of your story.

5. Setting Worksheet

Novel Setting Wor

This PDF from The Writers Craft will help you to flesh out important scenes before writing them out in your first draft.

With this worksheet, you'll paint a detailed picture of an individual scene from your main character's viewpoints. You'll explore the sights, sounds, and smells of the situation to develop a vivid idea of what it is that you need to portray.

6. At a Glance Outline

At a Glance Novel

Writer's Digest has a number of useful writing worksheets aimed at helping writers pen the first draft in 30 days. One of the most useful of these templates is the At-a-Glance Outline. This worksheet helps you to fill in any gaps and plot holes in your story before you come across them in the middle of your draft.

Working your way through this worksheet may be difficult at first, but when it comes to writing your novel, it'll make things a whole lot easier.

7. Choose Your Perspective Flowchart

Choose your perspective flowchart

This simple flowchart from Duolit will help you to figure out what perspective and tense you'll be writing in. This is an often overlooked part of writing a novel, so having this pinned down early on will give you a good advantage.

8. Chapter and Scene Breakdown

Chapter and Scene Breakdown Template

Another template from Evernote, this chapter and scene breakdown can easily be replicated in whichever program you prefer to use. Once you've planned out your novel in more detail, quickly creating a breakdown like this is useful for easy reference.

This will save you time searching through your notes when you're in the writing "flow".

9. Climax Sketch

Climax Novel Sketch

Another great worksheet from Writer's Digest is their Climax Sketch PDF. This is where you will plan out the climax of your novel, "the point where the protagonist faces the conflict directly, with his goal on the line".

It's important you get this part of your story right, so spend some time on this to make it compelling.

10. Infographic: 10 Ways to End Your Novel

10 Ways to End Your Novel

Technically, it's not a template or a worksheet, but given that figuring out how to end your novel will be one of the biggest challenges you face, this infographic is extremely valuable.

By knowing about the different ways in which you can draw your story to a close, you may well be able to improve your writing  and introduce more interesting plot twists and character development than you might have otherwise.

11. Scrivener Story Structure Template

Scrivener Story Planning Template

There are plenty of programs for creative writers , but Scrivener is arguably one of the best. Case in point: this seriously detailed Scrivener template for outlining and structuring your novel covers everything you could imagine.

From character arcs, premises, abbreviated outlines, and character details, to props, areas for worldbuilding, planning out a series, and more.

If you're using Scrivener (30-day free trial available) to write your novel, this free template is certainly worth checking out.

Other Scrivener templates you might want to try are:

  • The NaNoWriMo Novel Writing Template
  • The Seven-Point Story Structure Template
  • Ray Daniel Novel Template

12. Microsoft Word Novel Templates

MS Word Novel Templates

These five free Microsoft Word book templates from DIY Book Formats (email registration required) are of high quality. And what's more, they'll save you tons of time wrestling with document formatting when you could be writing.

Each template includes paragraph and header styling, a cover page, footers, and page numbers, and comes in PDF, DOC, DOCX, and INDD (InDesign) filetypes.

For Google Docs Users: The DOC and DOCX files included in this collection can also be uploaded and used on Google Docs . You may have to slightly tweak line spacing, etc. but most of the formatting is retained.

Start Writing

By the time you've worked through a few of the worksheets included in this article, you'll be in a much better position to finally put pen to paper and become the writer you always wanted to be.

And who knows? After a few rounds of edits, you may even be ready to finally publish your ebook , and get your story printed so you can enjoy the pride that comes with having a physical copy of your work in hand.

Looking to publish? Meet your dream editor, designer and marketer on Reedsy.

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Feb 07, 2023

How to Write a Book (with Tactics from Bestsellers)

What’s the secret formula to tapping into your creativity and writing a book? Some authors would tell you there is no single path to authorship , as every writer’s journey is unique. However, almost every bestselling author will have highly effective writing patterns and habits that help them reach their writing goals . In this post, we'll share some of their most commonly used tactics for starting and finishing a book.

How to write a book:

1. Start with a book idea you love

2. research by reading genre-prominent books, 3. outline the story, 4. write the opening sentence , 5. write the first draft, 6. set a schedule with achievable goals, 7. find a good writing space, 8. pick a "distraction-free" writing software, 9. finish your draft, 10. edit the manuscript, 11. publish your book for readers to buy.

There's a long, exciting road ahead. So let's get started.

ezyeeNi4g2I Video Thumb

The one thing you absolutely  need  to write a book is, of course, an idea. If you don't have that, you'll never get past the first page of your draft.

You may already know what you want to write about, or you may be at a total loss. Either way, you can settle on a “big book idea” by asking yourself a few simple questions:

  • What do I  want  to write about?
  • What do I feel is  important  to write about?
  • Who will want to read about this story/subject?
  • Will I be able to carry out this idea effectively?

Your answers to these questions will help you narrow it down to your best options. For example, if you have several different ideas for a book, but only one that you're truly passionate about and feel you can pull off, then voilà — there's your premise!

On the other hand, if you  lack  ideas, these questions should steer you in a firmer direction. Think about the kinds of books you love to read, as well as books that have made a significant impact on you. In all likelihood, you'll want to write a book in a similar vein.

Tools to help you find an idea

If you're grasping at straws, consider using creative writing prompts or a  plot generator  to get the ball rolling! You might stumble upon an interesting concept or story element that sparks a “big idea” for your book. (And if you're still uninspired even after trying these tools, you may want to reconsider whether you really want to write a book after all.)

Which writing app is right for you?

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Once you've found your big idea, the next step is to research your genre. Again, if you're writing the book you like to read , you already have a leg up! Reading books in your genre is by far the best way to learn how to write in that genre yourself.

But if not, you'll want to select a couple of representative titles and analyze them.  How long are they  and  how many chapters do they have ? What does the  story structure  look like? What are the major  themes ? Perhaps most importantly, do you think you can produce a book with similar elements?

Find out what people are reading

You should also conduct market research on Amazon to determine the most  popular  books in your genre. If you want your book to succeed, you'll have to contend with these bestsellers. Go to the  Amazon Best Sellers page  and find your genre in the lefthand sidebar:

How to write a book: what you need to know about bestsellers in your category.

Then read those books' blurbs to figure out what really sells. What do they all have in common, and why might readers find them appealing? Does your book hold up to these standards?

Finally, think about how your book can offer something NEW. For example, if you're writing a psychological thriller, will there be a particularly sneaky  unreliable narrator , or maybe a  series of twists  that the reader never sees coming? If you're  writing a nonfiction book , do you have a unique take on the subject, or a particularly deep well of knowledge? And so on.

Going above and beyond is the only way to give your book a chance in today's hyper-competitive market. So don't skimp on the genre research, because this will tell you where the bar is and how you can surpass it.

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Before you write a book, you need to write an outline.

If you want to write a great story , you need to outline it first. This is especially important if it's your first book, since you need a solid blueprint to rely on when you get stuck! (Because believe us, you will  get stuck.)

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Get our Book Development Template

Use this template to go from a vague idea to a solid plan for a first draft.

So how do you go about creating that outline for your book? We actually have a  whole other post on the subject , but here are the essentials:

  • Pick a format that works for you.  There are so many different types of outlines: the free-flowing mind map, the rigorous chapter-and-scene outline, the character-based outline, and so on. If one approach doesn't work for you, try another! Any kind of plan is better than none.
  • Have a beginning, middle, and end.  Way too many authors go into writing a book with a strong notion of how their story should start... yet their middle is murky and their ending, nonexistent. Take this time to flesh them out and connect them to one another.  Remember:  the best books have endings that feel “earned,” so you should try to be building toward it from the start!
  • Consider your conflict points.   Conflict is at the heart of any good book  — it draws in the reader, conjures tension and emotion, and ultimately reflects the themes and/or message you want to convey. You don't have to know  exactly  where your conflict will manifest, but you should have a pretty good grasp of how it works throughout your book.
  • Get to know your characters.  If you haven't done much  character development  yet, your outline is the perfect opportunity to do so. How will your characters interact in the story, and how will these interactions demonstrate who they are and what matters to them?

If you'd like to outline your story directly in a writing app, we recommend using the pre-made templates in the free Reedsy Book Editor. Simply create your account with one click below and start creating the building blocks of your story — right away.  

FREE OUTLINING APP

FREE OUTLINING APP

The Reedsy Book Editor

Use the Boards feature to plan, organize, or research anything.

Let's get into the actual writing and make a dent in your first draft . One of the most important parts of writing a book is  starting the story ! It's no exaggeration to say your first few pages can make or break your book — if these pages aren't good enough, many readers will lose interest, possibly never returning to your book again.

First off, you need an opening hook that grabs the reader's attention and makes it impossible for them to look away. Take a look at the first lines of these hit bestsellers:

“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
“Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery.” — The Da Vinci Code
“If all the Saturdays of 1982 can be thought of as one day, I met Tracey at 10 a.m. on that Saturday, walking through the sandy gravel of a churchyard, each holding our mother's hand.” — Swing Time

All of these books fall into different genres, yet all their opening lines do the same thing: capture the reader's attention. You can imitate them by making a similarly strong, slightly furtive statement in  your  opener!

From there, your job is to maintain the reader's interest by heightening the stakes and  inciting the plot . You should also make the reader care about the main characters by giving them distinct personalities and  motivations . (Note that “main” is a key descriptor here; never introduce more than a couple of characters at a time!)

Of course, there are infinite ways to write your first chapter. You might have to experiment with lots of different opening lines, even opening scenes, to find the right balance — but it's worth the effort to set the stage perfectly.

If you struggle to write consistently, sign up for our How to Write a Novel course to finish your novel in just 3 months.  

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how to write a book - plot, story and theme arae like an iceberg

Many writers believe that the key to writing an amazing book is style: impressive vocabulary, elaborate sentences,  figurative language  that would make Shakespeare swoon.

We're here to dissuade you of that notion. While style is great (as long as your prose doesn't  start to become purple ),  substance  is far more important when writing a book — hence why you should focus primarily on your plot, characters, conflict(s), and themes.

Make sure your book is all killer, no filler

Of course, that's easier said than done, especially once you've already started writing . When you get to a patchily outlined section, it's tempting to  keep  writing and fill out the page with literary gymnastics. But that's exactly what this content is: filler. And if you have too much of it, readers will become frustrated and start to think you're pretentious.

This is another reason why outlining is so important. You need to KNOW your story in order to stay on track with it! But besides outlining, here are a few more tips for making substance a priority:

  • Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.  This advice comes straight from Kurt Vonnegut, and it's 100% true: if a sentence doesn't accomplish one or both of those things, try removing it. If the passage still makes sense, leave it out.
  • Be conscious of your pacing.  Slow pacing is a symptom of excess description. If the events of your book seem to move like molasses, you're probably using too much style and not enough substance.
  • Use a writing tool to reduce flowery language.  Speaking of great American novelists,  Hemingway  is a fantastic tool to help you write like the man himself! Simply paste your writing into the app and Hemingway will suggest ways to make your prose more concise and effective.

Tell us about your book, and we'll give you a writing playlist

It'll only take a minute!

Keep readers in mind while writing

Want to write a book that people will  really  enjoy (and buy)? Well, this is pretty much the cardinal rule: you should always be thinking about your audience and trying to write “reader-first.”

For example, sometimes you'll have to write scenes that aren't very exciting, but that  serve the overall story arc . Don't rush through these scenes just to get them over with! Even if they don't seem interesting to  you,  they contribute to the reader's experience by building tension and preserving the pacing — and the reader deserves to relish those things.

Create 'fake' people who will want to read your book

When considering your readership, you should also  keep a proto-persona in mind  for marketing purposes. These are constructed personalities that marketers use to better understand their target customers. The more your book can cater to this hypothetical reader, the easier it will be to sell!

Maybe you're writing a true-crime account for zealous  true crime readers . Such readers will have pored over countless criminal cases before, so you need to include unique details to make  your  case stand out, and craft an extra-compelling narrative to engage them.

How to write book: Focus your writing time with a daily word count goal.

Let's move on to practical ways that you can improve your writing habits. Word count goals play a huge part in creating an effective writing process, especially if you're trying to finish your book  in a certain amount of time .

You should create word count goals for both your individual sessions and per week — or per month, if that's how you prefer to think about your writing output. For relatively novice writers, we'd recommend the following word count goals:

  • 500-750 words per day
  • 1,500-2,500 words per week
  • 6,000-10,000 words per month

These goals are based on a pattern of 3-4 sessions per week, which is reasonable for a beginner, but still enough to make commendable progress. Even if you only follow our  minimum  recommendations — 500 words per session at 3 sessions per week — you can still easily finish your book in less than a year!

Speeding up the writing process

If you're looking for how to write a book  as fast as possible , your word count goals should look a little more like this:

  • 1,500-2,000 words per session
  • 9,000-15,000 words per week
  • 35,000-50,000 words per month

The figures above adhere roughly to  NaNoWriMo , the event in which participants write an average of 1,667 words/day to complete a 50,000-word book in  one month . It's hard work, but it's definitely possible to write a book that quickly; hundreds of thousands of people do so every year!

But as any author who's done NaNo can attest, it's also a pretty grueling experience. Most authors find it exhausting to write such great quantities for so many days in a row — and they still have to  edit copiously  once they're done.

If this is your first book, make sure you take your time, set manageable word goals, and gradually build to bigger goals.

Use writing sessions to establish a schedule

Having a healthy writing routine is the only way you'll actually hit those word count goals — not to mention it fosters a better relationship with writing overall! To establish a healthy routine, ask yourself these baseline questions first:

  • When do I have the most free time in the day/week?
  • What time of the day do I tend to be most productive?
  • How can I space out my writing sessions effectively?
  • Will I realistically be able to balance my writing goals with other responsibilities?

The best way to set up your routine is to take advantage of your pre-existing schedule and natural patterns. So for example, if you already go to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, perhaps the best time to write would be on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Or if you find yourself most creative late at night ( many of us do! ), you can plan late-night sessions over the weekend/before your day off, so you can sleep in the next day.

Ultimately, you just want a well-balanced writing routine that facilitates productivity, yet keeps you from burning out. If you find that writing for several days in a row is too much for you, space out your sessions more or try to shake things up by moving to a new writing space. If you can't keep up with your goals, it's okay to reduce them a little.

Yes, writing a lot is important, but it's not more important than your mental health! Remember that writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint, and that a consistent, healthy approach is absolutely vital. Here are some tips for making the most of your writing routine.

Don't skip more than one session in a row

Life happens, and sometimes you won't be able to make a planned writing session. However, unless it's a serious emergency, you should try to get back in the saddle for your next session. Otherwise, you'll lose too much progress and feel discouraged, which typically leads to skipping even  more  writing sessions, and eventually giving up.

Track your progress

Screenshot of the Reedsy Book Editor showing daily progress bars and an overall wordcount

With our free writing app, the Reedsy Book Editor , you'll see the numbers update automatically depending on your activity: you'll see how many words you added  and deleted on any given day. Depending on the overall goal you set for your manuscript, you'll also see your daily targets adjust depending on how much you've written so far.

Use a site blocker to stay focused

Distraction is the enemy of routine, and the biggest distraction in our modern world is the Internet. To that end, download a site-and-app blocker to use during your writing sessions so you won't be enticed by social media or adorable cat memes. We'd recommend  Freedom , as you can schedule block sessions in advance and even keep track of your productivity   within  the app.

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Another major component of how to write a book is  where  you write, hence why it gets a separate section. If you want to complete an entire book, you absolutely must find a calm, focused space for your writing.

This may be in your house, a coffee shop, a library, a co-working space — wherever you can work productively and without interruptions. It should also be a place that you can access easily and go often. Working from home is the most convenient option in this sense, but it may be difficult if you have family around, or if you don't have a designated “room of one's own” (i.e. an actual office, or at least a desk).

What does a good writing space look like?

Try out different locations to see what works for you. Indeed, you may find that you like to rotate writing spaces because it keeps you energetic and your writing fresh! But wherever you go, do your best to make the space:

  • Quiet  (noise-canceling headphones can be very helpful)
  • Clean  (no clutter, especially if you do chores to procrastinate)
  • Non-distracting  (nothing too fun around to tempt you away from writing; turn off your phone so other people won't bother you)
  • Your own  (cultivate a nice atmosphere in your home office with posters and plants, or simply take the same seat at your local café every time — truly carve out a “dedicated writing space”)

We've already talked about a few different pieces of software to help you with writing a book. But if you haven't found the right app or program yet, never fear — there's plenty more where those came from!

Book writing software is a topic we've actually  written an entire post about , but it's worth touching on a few of our favorite writing tools here:

Scrivener 🖋️

Scrivener is  the  downloadable writing software of choice for many writers, and for good reason: it has an exceptional interface and tons of useful features. You can outline chapters with its drag-and-drop system, create labels for elements you want to track, and use various templates to plan AND format your book. If you want to feel like a true professional, you can't go wrong with Scrivener — and it's even free to try for 30 days.

Or if you're not much for outlines because your thoughts are all over the place, Milanote can help. The super-flexible interface allows you to “mind map” just as you would longhand, and rearrange different sections as you please. When writing, you can see all your notes at once, so you don't have to stress about forgetting things. It's a very refreshing, intuitive way approach that's worth a try for all disorganized authors.

FocusWriter ✍️

Speaking of intuitive, what's more intuitive than simply writing on a piece of paper, no distractions — just like the old days? Meet FocusWriter, which allows you to do exactly that. The full-screen default interface is a sheet of paper on a wooden desk: no bells, no whistles, no distractions whatsoever. Seriously, this one will get you in the zone.

The Reedsy Book Editor 📖

We couldn't leave out one of the coolest word processing, editing, and formatting tools on the market! All jokes aside, the RBE lets you cleanly format your book  as you go,  so you can watch it take shape in real-time. You can also add sections for front matter and back matter and invite collaborators to edit your text. Plus you can toggle on goal reminders to make sure that you're on track with your writing schedule. Once you finish writing, you can export the files of your book. But don't take our word for it: you can try the RBE for free right here .

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Set goals, track progress, and establish your writing routine in our free app.

how to write a book: start writing and stay motivated

Getting into the groove of writing a book can be difficult. When there are a million different things to distract and discourage you, how can you keep going with your writing routine and finish your book?

Based on ours and other writers' experience, here are a few motivational strategies for you to try:

  • Make a list of reasons  why  you want to write a book.  Having a tangible reminder of your true purpose is one of the best ways to motivate yourself, so think hard: Do you want to send an important message? Reach a certain group of people? Or do you simply yearn to tell this particular story? Write down all your reasons and keep them as an ace in the hole for when your motivation dwindles.
  • Find someone else to write with you.  Getting a writing buddy is another great way to stay motivated! For one thing, you get some camaraderie during this process; for another, it means you can't slack off too much. So ask your writer friends if they'd like to meet up regularly, or join an  online writing community . With the latter, just make sure you exchange progress updates and proof that you're actually writing!
  • Reward yourself at important milestones.  Sometimes the best motivation is the prospect of treating yourself. If you respond well to this kind of motivation, set a goal, a deadline, and a reward for meeting it: “If I can write 10,000 more words by the end of the month, I'll go out for an amazing, fancy dinner with all my friends.” This kind of goal is also helpful because you can  tell  your friends about it, and that very act will hold you accountable.

For even more advice on how to staying motivated through the writing process, check out this Reedsy Live from author and writing coach Kevin Johns!

oUgIFXNapuQ Video Thumb

Don't give up

Remember how we said you'd inevitably get stuck? Well, that's what this step is all about: what to do when you hit a wall. Whether it's a tricky plot hole, an onslaught of insecurity, or a simple lack of desire to write, all writers experience setbacks from time to time.

There are countless ways to  overcome writer's block , from freewriting to working on your characters to taking a shower (yes, that's a legitimate tip!). However, here are some of the most effective techniques we've found:

  • Revisit your outline.  This will jog your memory as to planned story elements you've forgotten — which may help you find the missing piece.
  • Try writing exercises.  It's possible you just need to get the words flowing, and then you can jump get right back into your book. Luckily for you, we have a whole host of great writing exercises  right here!
  • Share your experience with friends.  This is another great role for your writing buddy to fill, but you can easily talk about writer's block with your non-writing friends, too. If you're struggling, it always helps to vent and bounce ideas off other people.
  • Take a  short  break to do something else.  Yes, sometimes you need to step away from the keyboard and clear your head. But don't take more than a day or so, or else you'll lose momentum and motivation.

Most of all, remember to take setbacks in stride and not let them get you down. As platitudinous as that might sound, it's true: the only thing that can stop you from writing a book is if you, well,  stop writing . So keep calm and carry on — every day brings new opportunities and you'll get through this.

Your aim at this point is not to emerge with an instant masterpiece. The quality almost always emerges in the edit.

how to write a book, step 14: get feedback

You can write all day, all night, to your heart's content... but if no one else likes what you've written, you might end up heart broken  instead. That's why it's crucial to request feedback on your book, starting early and from as many sources as possible.

Begin by asking your friends and fellow writers to read just a few chapters at a time. However, apply their suggestions not only to those chapters, but wherever relevant. For example, if one of your friends says, “[Character A] is acting weird in this scene,” pay extra attention to that character to ensure you haven't misrepresented them anywhere else.

Once your book is finished, you're ready for some more intensive feedback. Consider  getting a beta reader  to review your entire book and provide their thoughts. You may want to hire an editor to give you professional feedback as well. (Find out about the different types of editing, and which type your book might need,  in this post .)

Finally, it might sound obvious, but we'll say it anyway for all you stubborn writers out there: feedback is useless if you don't actually listen to it. Separate yourself from your ego and don't take anything personally, because no one wants to offend you — they're just trying to help.

You’ve persevered to the end at last: brainstormed, outlined, and written a draft that you've edited extensively (based on feedback, of course). Your book has taken its final form, and you couldn’t be prouder. So what comes next?

Well, if you’ve taken our advice about catering to your target readers, you may as well give publishing a shot! We have a  full guide to publishing right here  — and if you’re thinking about traditional publishing,  read this article  to decide which is right for you.

Get help from publishing professionals

Publishing is another rigorous process, of course. But if you’ve come this far to find out how to write a book, you can pretty much do anything! Invest in  stellar cover design , study up on  marketing , or start writing an  irresistible query letter  that will get you an offer.

Whichever route you take, one thing will remain true: you’ve written a book, and that’s an incredible achievement. Welcome to the 0.1% — and may the next book you write be even greater than the first. 📖

13/12/2019 – 15:33

thank you for helping me find a new way to write my book

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Home » 12 Best Novel Outline Templates to Structure Your Story

12 Best Novel Outline Templates to Structure Your Story

12 Best Novel Outline Templates to Structure Your Story

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Table of contents.

Are you ready to overcome writer’s block with a book outline template?

Let me preface this by saying that while this article is about book outline templates, it’s not a “this is how we do it” article. Not everyone needs a novel outline template for their book road map, but they do help.

Like books, authors and their writing styles are unique and numerous. Even basic things like the programs we use to write in can be diverse. Many prefer to write using a word processor, whether paid or free. Others prefer to use something like Scrivener or Squibler.

Having said that, many new writers are overwhelmed by the writing process and aren’t sure how to write a book. For that reason, templates can help them get started. Even seasoned authors can find templates helpful, too.

Some simply prefer to write from an outline .

Benefits of Using a Novel Outline Template

Despite your writing style and whether or not you’re an author who typically relies on a book outline template, it’s probably safe to say there are times you might wish you had one. Maybe.

I should note there are a few definitive cases for having at least a loose outline of your book. Even those who hate to outline will agree to this.

  • Keeps Your Plot Outline Fresh in Mind

There are times you start a book and for some reason, you put it aside. Maybe you have another story burning to be told. Maybe you had to deal with sickness, your own or a loved one’s. Your mind map of your book disappear, and you feel the need to start fresh.

Assuming you don’t have total recall, after months—or perhaps years—do you remember your story? It’s plot and all its details? Or have you completely lost its thread? If you have an outline, it doesn’t matter what you’ve forgotten.

  • It Can Aid in Writing a Synopsis

Perhaps you’re intent on having your books traditionally published. If so, agents and publishers will often request a synopsis of your book.

Imagine this. The publisher you’re interested in requires a query letter, three chapters, and a synopsis. I know several authors, myself included at times, who would only have those first three chapters written.

Back when I started writing—this hasn’t changed, by the way—you could wait for months to hear back from a given publisher and depending on how quickly you wrote that was plenty of time to finish the book. Or at least motivate you to write faster. But you had to write your synopsis first.

That’s much easier to do if you have a detailed outline in place already.

  • It Can Help you Ease into Writing in a New Genre

Templates and outlines might be especially useful to writers new to a genre. Some genres have very specific structures and arcs that need to be developed and followed. For example, if you’re thinking about writing a romance novel you need to meet reader expectations. An outline could help you meet them.

Let’s recap some reasons why templates or outlines may be good for some:

  • Some writers, new or seasoned, are lost without one.
  • If you have to leave off writing your book, you can come back to it any time.
  • It’s much easier to write a synopsis when you already have an outline.
  • If you’re new to a genre, an outline could be very helpful.

Which Novel Outline Template is the Right One for You?

The following is by no means a comprehensive list, but I’ve culled a fair selection. So no matter what you write, from academic treatises to screenplays, there should be something for you.

Also, note that book outlines are known by different names. Depending on the genre, they might be called beat sheets or something else, but they all serve the same purpose.

Since I’ve mentioned romance, let’s start there.

1. Squibler – Romancing the Beat Template

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What makes a romance novel a romance novel? Just a bunch of lovey-dovey stuff, right? A couple makes eye contact, they fall in love, the end.

There is a very specific romantic arc that needs to be followed for a book to be a true romance novel.  And the overall plot or arc of the story needs to be wound around the romantic arc.

Sound confusing?

That’s why using a romance beat sheet is so popular.

From the introduction of your main characters, through the meet cute—when and where they first connect—to all the reasons why they shouldn’t and couldn’t fall in love. To the maybe this could work, the this will never work, and finally happily ever after.

And that wasn’t all the points in the arc that need to be addressed.

The beats are broken out and provide you with sections like:

  • Adhesion of the plot thrust
  • Deepening desire

Since this is a romance, you know it doesn’t end with a breakup.

If you’re new to writing romance, you may have an easier time at it when using a novel outline. Specifically, a romance novel outline.

If Scrivener isn’t your thing, Gwen does offer an outline in PDF format for anyone who joins her mailing list.

Regardless of format, this outline is based on Gwen’s book of the same name.

Key takeaways:

  • Romance writers must follow a specific arc—a template will provide that.
  • For those who don’t use Scrivener, a PDF is available if you sign up for Gwen’s mailing list.
  • The template is based on Gwen’s book of the same name.

2. Scrivener – Romance Template

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The second book outline template on our list that focuses on romance is courtesy of Jami Gold .

While it will ultimately get you to the same place as Romancing the Beat above, these romance authors each approach things in their own unique way.

From a pure romance standpoint, Gwen’s outline might be easier for some to follow.

Remember the two arcs I mentioned above? The romantic arc and the story arc? Jami separates out the two arcs. From Martha Alderson’s The Plot Whisperer , she uses beats and terminology that play to the plot or story arc. They don’t deal with the character’s inner struggles and journey, which is central to a romance novel.

The advantage to you?

You can focus on the romance arc—the developing relationship between your main characters.

Some of the sections of the template are:

  • Inciting incident
  • The end of the beginning

If you don’t own or are still trying to learn how to use Scrivener , you can still follow Jami’s outline. She also has it available for free download in Excel format. Even better, it has the functionality to track your word count too.

If you’re still learning how to write a book and you’re contemplating writing romance, why not see what the Romance Writers of America has to say about the genre.

  • Jami’s beat sheet—template—breaks apart the two arcs in a romance. The story arc and the romantic arc.
  • If you don’t use Scrivener, Jami also has her template available in Excel format. It’s a free download, no signup necessary.
  • If you’re new to the genre, check out RWA.

3. Scrivener – The Great American Novel Template

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This is a Scrivener template created by Michael O’Bryan .

His stated purpose is to help with the writing process itself. Or at least give you a vehicle to help you get together everything you need in order to write your book.

He provides an Idea Creation section that has even more templates based on some of his favorite methods and formats, like the Snowflake Method or Truby’s Anatomy of Story .

The Great American Novel template provides lots of ways for organizing your writing project including folders and color coding.

You have folders for:

  • Story Notes
  • Story Elements
  • Story Structure
  • Story World
  • Front Matter

He also includes what he calls an Obsolete Files folder, which I think is an excellent idea. This folder acts as a repository for ideas you may have had and discarded, revisions, drafts, and so forth. These are maintained on the off chance you may need or want to readdress them for some reason. Which you can’t do if you have deleted all these files.

  • An excellent template for organizing and structuring your story.
  • Folders for every component of your novel.
  • A folder for obsolete files.

Have you started writing your own Great American Novel several times? Perhaps using this template would help you to finally finish it.

4. Squibler – The 30 Chapter Novel Template

This book template is courtesy of Damien Benoit-Ledoux .

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This is a very clean, well laid out outline for a book. Each of the 30 chapters has a purpose, basically taking you by the hand and leading you through the creation of your masterpiece. At a very basic level, it can teach you how to write a novel.

You won’t be leading your readers in confusing circles.

To give you an idea, the outline starts off with the following chapters:

  • Introduction of the MC – who, what, where and when
  • I know what I want – the MC’s goals and dreams
  • I’m getting what I want – the plan to obtain the above
  • Inciting/life-changing incident – the plan is ruined
  • I’m not getting what I want – why?
  • Why did this happen – self-examination and a new plan

And continues on to chapter 30.

You will also find some of the typical ancillary templates and folders for things like character sketches, historical events, objects, and back matter.

For those without Scrivener, there is a Word document version of the template as well.

  • A well laid out outline with supporting folders can help you learn how to write a book.
  • MS Word version also available.
  • Includes additional templates.

5. Scrivener – The Hero’s Journey

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Got an epic story to tell?

This book outline template is based on Joseph Campbell’s theory that all stories are based on the foundation of a single story. This conclusion is reached due to an observation that there exists a common pattern in the narrative elements of nearly all great myths.

Mel Corbett wove that theory in with her own personal notes on The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler to give us the Hero’s Journey Scrivener template .

Using this template or outline will help you create and clarify conflict and enable you to keep your characters moving forward on pace.

You probably know this outline without even being aware of it. Many of today’s blockbusters are built on this plot pattern or outline.

To name a few you’re likely familiar with:

  • Lord of the Rings
  • Harry Potter
  • The Lion King

You’ve heard of one or two of those, right?

The template takes you through 3 key stages:

  • The Departure
  • The Initiation

You also have folders for:

  • Template based on The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler and Joseph Campbell’s theory.
  • Will help you keep your story moving.
  • Many great movies are built on the Hero’s Journey premise.

6. Scrivener – K.M. Weiland Template

novel writing 12

An author of historical and speculative fiction, K.M. Weiland is also the author behind several books around the outline and structure of novels. The initial version of the book outline template that bears her name was created by one of her readers, one Stuart Norfolk. He based it on Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel.

Yes, she has provided a lot of info for any who are learning how to write a novel.

Jump ahead and K.M. has updated the template to include info from her book Creating Character Arcs and a folder system that she personally uses for keeping track of her notes.

This template provides you with some initial folders meant to help in the prep stage. Help on creating your outline, notes on character development, and catchall for all your worldbuilding details.

Then she provides you with the manuscript section. If you follow this, you are pretty much mirroring her footsteps as she builds her story. There’s even lots of color coding.

Use the color coding to aid you in keeping track of any foreshadowing setups and payoffs.

Here’s an example of the setup and payoff color coding:

  • Setup: Foreshadowing, Hints (Yellow)
  • Opportunity for Hints (Yellow)
  • Misinformation (Magenta)
  • Revealed Later (Light Blue)
  • Setup That Must Be Fulfilled Later (Magenta)
  • Payoff: New Info/Revelations That Turn the Plot (Green)
  • Straightforward Facts That Don’t Turn the Plot (Magenta)
  • Character Evolution Turning Point (Dark Blue)
  • Based on Outlining Your Novel , Structuring Your Novel, and Creating Character Arcs.
  • Folders for character development and worldbuilding.
  • Some very useful color coding.

7. Squibler – Novel with 4 Parts

novel writing 12

Did you even realize there was so much help available for those seeking to learn how to write a novel?

Courtesy of Tony McFadden , we have this Scrivener novel outline.

According to Tony, all good fiction—at least good fiction written in the last 100 years—follows a specific development arc broken down into four parts.

  • Setup and hook
  • First plot point

Let’s flesh those out a bit.

In part one, you have a goal. Sure you’re going to introduce your main character here, but you need to grab the attention of your readers and hold on to it. We’ve probably all read—or started to read—a book where an author failed to do that.

If you’re like me you have a huge TBR file, and you just move on to the next book. There isn’t enough time to read all the books we’d like to read, and if an author has lost you in the first chapter, that doesn’t bode well for the rest of the book.

Again, grab and hold the attention of your readers.

The first plot point is where our hero leaves behind the status quo and his quest—whatever it may be—begins.

At about half-way into the book, act two should begin. Our hero is now reacting to whatever brought about the change of status quo.

Finally, in act three our hero knows what’s necessary to succeed and overcomes all odds to do so.

Clearly, there’s a lot more involved than that. Why not check out the template?

  • All good fiction follows a special developmental arc.
  • Grabbing and holding the attention of your reader immediately is imperative.
  • Guidelines are provided to indicate where your new stages should begin based on word count.

8. Scrivener – The Snowflake Method Template

novel writing 12

As should be very clear by now, there are a number of methods and techniques floating around. Probably one of the most respected and well known is the Snowflake Method , inspired by Randy Ingermanson.

The concept behind the Snowflake Method is that great novels don’t just happen. They are based on sound planning and design.

The idea is you need to build upon an extremely simple theme and then layer on the complexities. It calls for some intense planning and research upfront.

Having said that, Randy freely admits that all authors are different and what works for him isn’t necessarily going to work for every other writer.

For those who would like to try this method, here’s a condensed version of the initial steps:

  • Write a single, big picture sentence that summarizes your novel.
  • Expand the sentence into a paragraph that includes the key plot points.
  • Develop your characters.
  • You now have the structure of your novel and will know if it works or not. If it does, continue to expand upon your sentence/paragraph outline.

Sound like something you would like to try? You can read Randy Ingermanson’s book of course, but you can also follow the book outline template based on his method.

  • This method of outlining is one of the most popular today.
  • Great novels are based on advanced design and planning.
  • All writers are unique, so this won’t work for everyone.

9. Squibler – Thriller Template

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This novel outline comes to you from writer Jennifer Mattern . A blogger and mystery writer, Jennifer writes both by means of an outline.

Her Murder Mystery Template provides you with all the necessary resources to plan, outline, and draft in a single file. If you also do any marketing for your book—and if you aren’t, you should be—there’s even a folder for promotional material.

  • Promotional Material Folder
  • Boilerplate
  • Press Release

There’s a lot of research and planning to goes into a modern murder mystery, and there’s a spot within the template for nearly anything you could think of at this stage.

  • Planning Folder

1.  One-paragraph Summary 2.  One-page Summary 3.  Subplot Summaries 4.  Suspect List 5.  Secrets and Lies 6.  Clues 7.  Red Herring

  • Research Folder

1.  Murder Method 2.  Police Procedure & Forensics 3. Other Research Notes

But if you write murders mysteries—or read them—you know there’s still more involved, don’t you? It hasn’t been forgotten.

  • Settings Folder

1.  Scene of the Crime

  • Characters Folder

1.  Protagonist 2.  Antagonist 3.  Victim

There’s still more to this template, but for any who may be writing a mystery for the first time, or even if you’ve struggled with writing one in the past, this is an excellent template to follow. You’ll be sure to hit all the key plot points of a good mystery novel.

  • Adding folders and sections for marketing and promotion is a unique plus.
  • If I were writing a murder mystery novel for the first time, I would definitely use this template.
  • This comprehensive template will insure you don’t miss any plot points.

10. Excel – The One Page Novel Outline Spreadsheet

novel writing 12

We’re leaving Scrivener behind and moving on to other book writing templates and novel outline formats. This one is provided courtesy of Eva Deverell .  One of her favorite writers is Joseph Campbell, mentioned above, who theorizes that all great stories are based on the foundation of a single story.

So it’s not surprising she is also a proponent of outlining. And as she points out, even “pantsers” typically work from some kind of preconceived plot or outline. Scant or encyclopedic, all writers need to follow some type of story structure.

This template is based upon a video workshop that Ms. Deverell offers.

In this video, she covers the following and more:

  • How to plot using one piece of paper—and just one side of it.
  • She provides some info on archetypal plot structures.
  • How to create a simple character arc.
  • She identifies eight story stages and how they fit together.

Using the spreadsheet, you are taken through different stages and scenes. For example, some of the stages are:

The spreadsheet also gives you an idea of where you should be in terms of word count. The template is based on a 50K novel, but you could easily—depending on your math skills—adjust the final word count and where you should be at any given point.

Assuming your book was also 50K, when you reach the “Trigger” stage, you should be about 10K words in. This stage introduces a scene where your main character is involved in an incident that sets your story in motion.

  • Even pantsers need to work from some kind of outline, no matter how brief.
  • You are guided through the creation of an outline that would fit on a single sheet of paper.
  • The spreadsheet provides the benefit of tracking where you are in terms of word count.

11. Scrivener – Blogging Template

novel writing 12

This template is made available to us from Bryan Collins , a non-fiction writer who contributes to publications like Forbes .

Every writer isn’t a novelist. Especially in this content-driven world we now live in. We also have technical writers, case study writers, proposal writers and more.

Or perhaps as an author, you maintain a blog as well. Some offer priceless advice on how to become a better writer. For whatever reason you blog here’s an excellent template to use.

You do need to subscribe to Bryan’s mailing list to get his template, but in my opinion, it’s well worth it.

For all you bloggers out there, and especially those who have a busy blog you schedule for, you need to get this template.

I’m sure some of you are thinking a template for your blog is overkill, but here are a few ways it would be useful:

  • You can manage all of your articles in one place.
  • If you post to more than just your own blog, the included binder can be used as an editorial calendar, allowing you to quickly order and arrange your posts.
  • For those who may often need to write with two separate Word documents open, the template also allows you to open your current work and research at the same time—the process is just easier.
  • You can set word counts for each file.

The provided folders allow you to keep your workflow past and present neatly categorized.

  • Archives – contains individual folders for each month of the year gone by.
  • This Month’s Post’s folder, which includes the following:
  • Bonding Post
  • How to Post
  • Future Blog Posts – individual folders for the months still to come.
  • This template could be a huge asset to a busy blogger.
  • An editorial calendar can help especially if you write for more than one blog.
  • Complete organization for the entire year.

12. Scrivener – Screenplay Template

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If you’re thinking of being the next George Lucas or James Cameron, you might want to consider using this screenplay template .

For those of you who already have Scrivener, you know this comes bundled with the software. For those who don’t maybe this will be some extra incentive to buy it.

It’s a fairly basic outline, but it has everything you need. However, some who actually write screenplays say it’s nothing to compare to using Final Draft, so you’ll need to draw your own conclusions.

I did find a last-minute bonus screenplay template though.

A Redditor has provided a Scrivener screenplay template that some are saying is much better than the one mentioned above.

You will need to be the judge of that yourself. You can download it using this link .

If you’re a beginner, this might be the one for you. It includes:

  • Extra info about story structure
  • Scene construction
  • Template Sheets including:
  • Character Sketches
  • Setting Sketch

Do You Have to Use a Novel Outline Template?

At least that’s the short simple answer.

Should you use a book template or novel outline? That’s going to depend on the writer, especially when we’re talking about more of the complex outlines and templates.

But here’s the thing. Every writer should be writing from some form of an outline. For some, that could be a very brief outline consisting of nothing more than a handful of words.

Perhaps notes jotted down on things like the following:

  • Physical features of your main characters
  • Character traits of your hero
  • Location and setting details (especially if you’re worldbuilding, but more on that in a bit)
  • Motivations

Your brief outline may have more or less than that, it depends on you. And it depends on the feedback of your readers too.

Are your reviews complaining about major plot holes? Or in one chapter your character is a plump blonde but in the next a sleek brunette? Then you have some serious problems, and it really doesn’t matter what you think of your story.

Criticism can be hard to take, but constructive criticism is gold. Learn from your readers and your peers.

And start to use an outline or template. Who knows, you might decide you love it. Or you may just think this is all terrible writing advice. But at least give it a try.

A final note on things like worldbuilding.

Depending on what you write, it might be easier to get away without an outline or template. But the more complex your novel, the more detailed, the chances that you should be using an outline template increase significantly.

While the above list is long, it’s by no means comprehensive. And while most of these templates are for Scrivener, with some searching there are a lot more formats available. We also discuss some book outline templates I haven’t mentioned here in another post.

Happy writing!

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Home » Blog » Novel Ideas to Start Writing (And Why They Work)

Novel Ideas to Start Writing (And Why They Work)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Writing a novel is an exciting and fulfilling adventure – creating worlds and characters all your own and watching them come to life. You need to have some good novel ideas to start writing though – your concept and plot need to have enough depth to make it through the entire length of the novel.

Good novel ideas can come from several different places. You might come up with something on your own out of the blue.

An idea may be inspired by something you are reading or watching. Many novels are inspired by real events in an author’s life. Other times, it is helpful to simply look up some novel ideas to start writing.

If the inspiration is a little dry, sometimes a good old fashioned writing prompt can get things flowing again.

What Makes Good Novel Ideas to Start Writing?

You may have lots of great novel ideas to start writing, but you need to figure out if the ideas will last before you dive in.

There are some things you should consider and questions you should ask yourself about a possible idea as you decide if it is good enough to be your next novel.

  • Will the idea last for an entire novel? Some ideas are better suited to a novella or even a short story. Think ahead and make sure you can flesh the idea out into a novel-length story.
  • Do you love the idea? If you don’t love the idea, your readers won’t either. Don’t try to write something just because you think it will sell. Be in love with your idea.
  • Are you passionate about it? Your passion will show through in your writing. Writing a novel isn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows, but you should enjoy yourself for the most part. If you are not passionate about the story you are telling, it may be time to stop trying to tell it.

Novel Templates

Before you dive into these novel ideas, consider opening up a template. Once you have your idea, going forward with a template will take a lot of the pressure off.

general fiction template

It will help you take your idea and craft a fantastic story with all the makings of a best-selling novel. There are general templates available as well as ones specific to certain genres.

Fantasy Novel Ideas to Start Writing

Fantasy is so great because it is so vast and versatile. A fantasy world has no limits and everything is up to you!

Th Sacrifice

Your protagonist lives in a world where humans must make a yearly sacrifice to the “gods” in order to keep them happy. Over time, people have become less and less devoted to the gods as they don’t really see any evidence that they actually exist. As fewer and fewer people believe, there is a push to stop the practice of sacrificing altogether. Your protagonist joins the movement when someone very close to them is chosen for the next sacrifice. Society as a whole decides to go ahead and end the practice before the friend is killed. The relief is short-lived because it turns out the gods do exist and they can’t be kept happy without the chosen sacrifice. They are now very angry.

Reincarnate

Your protagonist lives in a world where reincarnation exists, but with a twist. Reincarnation can happen in different timelines simultaneously, meaning there is a chance of someone meeting either a past or future incarnation of themselves.

Drunk on Power

Fantasy with a comedic twist: the protagonist has powers, but is only able to use them when they are under the influence of a substance. This causes some hilarious situations, but also some disastrous ones. They struggle with wanting to stay sober but also loving the power they can have. They must make a choice when it is determined that their powers are needed for something important – perhaps saving a group of people/a town/city/the world?

Try putting one of these fantasy plots into our fantasy template:

fantasy novel template

Mystery Novel Ideas to Start Writing

Mystery novels are great because the concept itself is so versatile. A mystery can accompany many other themes. Mysteries can be exciting, full of suspense, scary, funny, or even all of the above!

Someone is arrested for committing a crime, but they claim their identical twin did it. The twin is found and questioned, but there is not enough evidence to prove either one of them definitely guilty or definitely innocent. This sparks a huge ring of crime. These twins create a secret website, where other sets of identical twins come and conspire. Crimes are now being committed rampantly and no one is being found guilty because there is always a question as to which twin did it.

There is an astronomical amount of people that go missing each year from national parks. The terrain is thick and rough, making for a great place to hide a body. It is also very difficult to find concrete statistics from the authorities on this, which has led to a lot of conspiracies. There are the typical extremists who claim it’s bigfoot or some other mythical explanation. A mystery surrounding this could go in any number of directions.

Dystopian Novel Ideas to Start Writing

A dystopian is another versatile genre to write in. While the basic theme is the same – a world/state of reality that has experienced great tragedy and suffering – anything can take place. There are dystopian romances, adventures, mysteries, thrillers, and many more.

The Party Guest

Your protagonist and her little sister live alone on the streets in a world with only two extreme classes – the abundantly wealthy and the tragically poor. One day, the younger sister falls quite ill. She needs a medicine that is common and widely available to those with money, but scarce among those on the streets. The main character sneaks into a fancy party being held for the rich and disguises herself as someone important. Her goal is simple: find the medicine cabinet and take what her sister needs. A certain young man soon becomes intrigued by her and is not shy about making advances. She must decide between getting in and out as planned or continuing the facade and potentially gaining much more from the relationship – at great risk, of course.

In a world that has gone completely awry and everything is falling apart, one group decide to take off and start their own civilization. They choose a leader and completely seclude themselves from the outside world. The group creates a village in the middle of a forest, in the middle of nowhere. They build strong borders. The people reject technology and begin to populate. Generations go by, and this village remains old fashioned. The “chief elder” rules with an iron fist and takes many wives.

Children are married off young, true love is nowhere to be found. Outside of this “village”, the rest of the world has started to rebuild and they continue to advance in technology. Things are getting better. One day, a brother and sister are exploring the dense forest, and one comes up injured. They stumble upon the village and ask for help. After much deliberation, they are allowed in, and the injuries are tended to. Once recovered, however, they are informed that they are never allowed to leave. Their cell phones are confiscated and they borders are once again locked up.

Horror Novel Ideas to Start Writing

Horror is not for everyone, that is certain. There are many who avoid it entirely, while there are many others who embrace it in every way possible. True horror fans are some of the most passionate and dedicated people out there. So, if you have some guts and aren’t afraid of the dark, perhaps it’s time to try your hand at spooking your readers a little!

Haunted Doll

Your typical haunted doll scenario, with a twist. A young girl’s mother dies. Soon after, she finds a porcelain doll buried in the yard that looks kind of like her mother did, so she keeps it. She discovers that the doll is haunted by her mother. While unnerving, it makes the girl happy to be able to communicate with her mother. However, her mother only ever wants to tell her one thing – her father’s new girlfriend is the one who killed her. The daughter eventually feels pressured to avenge her mother by killing the girlfriend. The twist: the girlfriend didn’t kill the mother, but the mother is outraged at how quickly her husband moved on and she wants revenge on him.

The Nightmare

Your protagonist suffered from insomnia as a child, largely due to a horrifying, recurring nightmare. They go from having the dream almost every night, to once a week, once a month, etc – until it eventually goes away completely. They enter their early adult years having completely restored their ability to sleep well. One night, they wake up screaming again – the nightmare is back. Except this time, they’ve woken up inside the nightmare.

Grandfather Clock

Your protagonist has a large and close-knit family. There is a grandfather clock that has been in the family for as long as anyone can remember. No one even knows where it originated from. Some have come up with crazy stories and legends surrounding the clock, though none of them can be confirmed or denied indefinitely. It has never stopped working, even though no one can ever remember who changed the batteries last. One day, it suddenly starts running backward.

Dead Daughter

A girl goes missing. The police search and search. The investigation goes on for ages, with the teary-eyed parents appearing on television multiple times, begging for help or information. Eventually, the case goes cold and people move on. Fifteen years go by, and the parents receive a phone call from their daughter. They are frozen with terror because they killed their daughter all those years ago.

Romance Novel Ideas to Start Writing

Romance is a common side plot in novels of other genres. Love is an emotion that crosses borders, defies boundaries, and connects us all. Love interests, even if they are small, will often help a reader become emotionally invested in a character as romance makes them that much more relatable. However, it is possible for a novel to simply be a romance and nothing else. A straight romance novel is often light-hearted and fun to read, with just enough drama to keep things interesting.

Big City Twist

The usual small town ex/big city boyfriend love triangle with a small twist. Your protagonist had a relationship in her late teens with a childhood best friend. The guy is good at heart but has some issues with being possessive, jealous and angry. The main character moves away for college and breaks up with her small town boyfriend despite his protests. She falls in love with a man from the city, who she later brings home to meet her family. The family is apprehensive at first, and the ex does not even hide his attempts to win her back. These stories usually end with the main character going back to their original love from back home, but this time the girl chooses to stick with her boyfriend from her new life in the city.

Astronomical Love

A futuristic romance where the known universe has expanded considerably. Earth is still home, but humans have discovered several galaxies with Earth-like planets that they want to inhabit. Communication between galaxies can only happen through physical letters carried on spaceships traveling between the galaxies. Two aspiring astronauts meet and fall in love during the long and rigorous training process. They fantasize about starting an exciting new life on a brand new planet. Graduation day comes, and they are assigned to missions in entirely different galaxies. Upon signing up for the program, they agreed to the terms which were very strict about following orders and assignments without objection. They are both passionate about the project and have invested years into the training, not to mention made a huge commitment to seeing their missions through. What rules are they willing to break to be together?

Honey, I’m Home

This idea can either be dark and creepy, or light-hearted and a little hilarious. It’s up to you to choose the direction. Your main character is notoriously single. They lowkey want a relationship, but they are fiercely independent, with a strong and intimidating personality. They are nearing thirty and have settled into their single life quite nicely. Their singleness has become a bit of a running joke to them. Almost every day, upon returning home from work, they call out “honey, I’m home!” only to laugh and continue with some variation of “oh wait, I’m here alone, no one loves me!” Then one day, a voice replies, very casually “hey hun, dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”

Our romance novel template will help you flesh these ideas out in no time:

romance novel template

Take the Ideas and Run

The ideas here are meant to get your wheels turning for a new novel. The options and variables are plentiful and many can go in several directions. Don’t be afraid to fall in love with an idea and run with it! Make it your own, and turn your imaginative passion into an unforgettable novel.

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  • Story Writing Guides

How to Write a Fantasy Novel in 12 Steps

Escape the chains of the real world, and jump straight into fantasy story-telling. Fantasy novels push the limits of your imagination – Taking on new worlds, creatures and magic. In this guide, we’ll show you how to write a fantasy novel in 12 steps.

As a writer, the fantasy genre can be very exciting. It presents writers with the opportunity to create their own rules, explore new worlds, and discover magic of all sorts – The only limit is your own imagination! However, the job of a fantasy writer is not always an easy one. In fact, fantasy novels can be more difficult to write than non-fantasy or factual based books. The simple reason is that fantasy stories require more planning and research to make them ‘believable’ to readers. We put the word, believable in quotes because most readers know that magical elements like dragons don’t exist in the real world. But your task as a fantasy writer is to make them believe in magic and things beyond logic.

You might also find this guide on how to write a story for children useful.

What is the Fantasy Genre?

1. read the work of others, 2. know your readers, 3. stick to your idea, 4. create a descriptive world, 5. beware of too much description, 6. write down the rules, 7. do your research, 8. add real-world elements, 9. create relatable characters, 10. do the unexpected, 1. think of a unique idea, 2. outline your idea, 3. develop your characters, 4. develop your world, 5. write the starting paragraph, 6. write the first chapter, 7. develop the climax, 8. write the remaining chapters, 9. write the ending, 10. self-edit your novel, 11. title your fantasy novel, 12. publish your novel, how do you start a fantasy novel, what are the steps to writing a fantasy novel, what makes a great fantasy novel, what should you not do in a fantasy novel, how do you write the first chapter of a fantasy novel.

The fantasy genre contains an element of magic or make-believe. Think of witches, wizards, magical wardrobes, dragons and faraway kingdoms. Fantasy novels contain elements of fiction, as opposed to factual elements. The most popular fantasy series of all time is Harry Potter. Other examples include Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Mortal Instruments. The fantasy genre can be split into many sub-genres including:

  • Epic Fantasy: This genre is set in a fictional world. Here the characters and even the plot would include high elements of magic or fantasy. 
  • Urban Fantasy: The novel is set in an urban setting and normally in the present day.
  • YA Fantasy: These are fantasy novels targeting readers between the ages of 12 to 18.
  • Fantasy Romance: This is a romantic story between characters which combines elements of magic or fantasy.
  • Historial Fantasy: The novel here is set in past historical periods, such as the pre-19th century. 
  • Dark Fantasy: This is a type of fantasy that combines horror and frightening themes, along with magical elements.
  • Sci-Fi Fantasy: This is a combination of science-fiction or reasonable logic, along with fantasy or make-believe elements.
  • Low Fantasy: These stories are set in the real world, but with a small magical twist.

10 Tips For Writing A Fantasy Novel

Before you jump straight into planning your fantasy novel, here are 10 tips for writing a fantasy novel:

Before you delve into the world of fantasy writing, take time to read popular fantasy books and stories. Don’t just read them, understand them. Think about all the story elements that make them great and the elements that are not-so-great. Better yet, write down your own book review for each fantasy novel you read. Make notes of things you find interesting. You could even use sticky notes to bookmark pages that you would like to revisit later on. During your book review, pay attention to how the author introduces characters, describes the world and how the major conflict is dealt with. 

Our advice is to read as many fantasy novels as you can before writing your own. Not only does this help you with coming up with a great story idea, but it can also help you become a great writer too.

Who are you writing for? It is extremely important to know who your audience is. Knowing your target audience guides your writing style, idea generation, language choice and even choice of characters and setting. Think about the age of your target audience – Are they children,  young adults or grown-ups? A younger audience may relate to a simpler story idea and main characters who are also young. While a grown-up audience would expect plot twists, big build-ups to the conflict and an older main character to relate to.

Another aspect of knowing your readers is thinking about the sub-genre of fantasy you want to write about. Which sub-genre would be most popular with your target audience? At this point, you will need to think about the interests of your potential readers. If you readers love scary stuff, then dark fantasy is a good sub-genre to take on. While a romantic fantasy tale would go well with teens or grown-ups interested in love and romance. 

Imaginations can run wild, especially when thinking about fantasy worlds. Make sure you stick to your original story idea throughout the novel. It is easy to get side-tracked by secondary characters or minor conflicts you develop. But your focus should always be on the main character and their role in the story. While secondary characters can have their own problems, their main role should always relate back to your original plot idea. 

Know your fantasy world inside and out. Whether your entire world is make-believe or you just added elements of magic on Earth – A detailed description of the world is required. If your story is set on present-day Earth, then think about how magic has changed the world (see our guide on how to write a magic system ). And if the story is in a fictional world, then describe this world in detail from its climate to its currency, language and even way of life. You might not need to include all this information directly in the story, but it will definitely help you create a believable world during the planning phase.

An extra tip is to use the five senses technique to describe this world (see, hear, feel, taste and smell). This will help you go beyond the physical appearance of the world into a deeper, more meaningful world description. Check out this list of 112+ world-building questions to help you create a realistic fantasy world.

It’s perfectly fine to create detailed descriptions of the setting and characters in the planning phase. However, when it comes to the actual fantasy novel, try to avoid cramming too much description into one page or a section of the story. This could be off-putting to readers and even boring to read. Instead, try to provide subtle hints of the world the characters live in and leave the rest up to the imagination of your readers. 

Fantasy worlds normally run by their own rules. Whether this is a faraway kingdom with rules created by a vile king or a new set of rules for particular people on Earth. Common rules may relate to the use of magic, money or currency and even how people live their lives. Rules can also be the source of conflict in many fantasy stories. As a writer, it is important to write down the rules of your fantasy world and stick to these throughout the story.

Just because you’re making stuff up, doesn’t mean no research is required. If you want to create a believable fantasy tale, you’ll need to do your research on how things work in your fantasy world. Common mistakes fantasy writers make are mixing up titles and classes in characters. For example, a necromancer mage is very different from a mage who specialises in illusions. You might not think this is important, but fans of the fantasy genre will know the difference. And so creating a fantasy novel with incorrect details can be extremely detrimental to its success. 

Another example is explaining the logic behind magical powers and abilities. Of course, you can’t know for sure how magical powers work. But you should at least create a near-realistic back story to these. For example in an underwater kingdom, how do the humans that live here survive? Doing your research, you might think the humans are actually merpeople with fins and gills that help them breathe underwater. Alternatively, a magical source or outer-world technology helps them survive there.

No fantasy novel is 100% fantasy. There are always elements of realism or facts that people in the real world can relate to. The level of realism can vary greatly in fantasy stories. In epic fantasy stories, real-world elements are subtle. While in low fantasy stories real-world elements are at the centre of the plot and are more obvious. The common types of real-world elements in fantasy novels include character personality traits, technology use, and even real-world problems. Just imagine a wizard with social anxiety issues or a plumber who discovers a magical toolbox.

No one’s perfect and neither should your characters be. When developing characters the most important thing to consider is their flaws. What mistakes have they made? What do they fear? And what are their weak points? Knowing the answers to these questions is what makes your characters believable and relatable. At this point, it is a good idea to think about real-world problems that your readers might face. For example, depression, social anxiety, eating disorders, and poverty are all examples of problems in the real world.  These problems could be the main source of conflict in your fantasy novel, along with a magical twist. 

The fantasy genre is great for including unexpected plot twists. Think outside the box and try doing the opposite of what your readers might expect. Don’t be scared of introducing new characters mid-way through your story or even at the end. Think about the magical elements, how far can you push these? What is the full capability of your main character? By throwing in unexpected plot twists and elements, you can keep your novel interesting and even make room for more novels in your fantasy series. 

How to Write a Fantasy Novel Step-By-Step

Learn how to write a great fantasy novel in just 12 easy steps:

Behind every great fantasy novel is a spectacular idea. The idea doesn’t need to be anything 100% new or original. You could simply take a basic idea from your favourite book or movie, and add your own elements to it making it unique. But be careful not to copy or plagiarise another author’s work!

Here are some examples of fantasy story ideas you could use or adapt:

  • A boy discovers he is related to the dark lord of the underworld.
  • An antique collector comes across a magical mirror from another world.
  • A dark elf falls in love with a fairy against all the odds.

You can also view our post on 70+ fantasy writing prompts for more ideas.

As you can see most story ideas, include a character and a problem or goal that they want to achieve. Try using the simple jigsaw method for idea generation which involves, the who, want and why not.

story jigsaw example

Each piece of the puzzle is explained below:

  • Who:  Who is your character?
  • Want:  What does your character want?
  • Why not:  Why can’t your character get what they want?

Once you have your idea written down the next step is to outline this book idea . The purpose of this step is to expand your idea into a couple of paragraphs. These paragraphs should be divided into the beginning, middle and ending of your story. You can also include notes on your novel’s major conflict, along with any plot twists you plan on including.

There are many techniques you can use for outlining stories, such as:

  • Snowflake Method
  • Story Mountain Templates
  • Scene Lists
  • Storyboarding

Ideally, by the end of this step, you should have a chapter-by-chapter outline or plan for your novel or chapter book .

Characters are an important element in all stories. For this reason, you should focus on your characters separately. Developing your character involves two key steps. First, you should list out the main characters in your story, along with their role in the story. Next, you should create a detailed character profile for each one.

A detailed character profile includes information about name, age, occupation, values, goals, fears, wants and so on. The purpose of a character profile is to make sure your character is consistent with their beliefs throughout the story. Of course, the hero of your character will change and develop as the story progresses, but their core beliefs should remain the same. See our guide on the hero’s journey for more information.

fantasy character illustration

You might be interested in this fantasy name generator for some character ideas.

World-building is an important activity for fantasy writers, especially those writing about a fictional world. When developing a world, you should think about the following elements:

  • Climate (see fantasy weather generator )
  • Native Language
  • Rules / Laws
  • Important buildings
  • Tourist Attractions

These elements will help bring your fictional world to life, and make it more believable when you write about it in your novel. It is a good idea to keep a detailed world description sheet or document that you can refer to when writing your novel – This can help you stay consistent throughout the story.

fantasy world illustration

Take a look at this fantasy world name generator for some inspirational world name ideas.

Think about how you will start your fantasy novel. More specifically focus on the opening line or starting paragraph. Do you start with a question or an interesting fact about the fantasy world? Will you start with a conflict or action scene? If you plan on starting with a conflict, make sure this is a minor conflict, so the readers can look forward to a bigger conflict later on in the story. A good starting paragraph is a difference between hooking your readers and putting them off, so make sure it’s a good one.

The first chapter of a fantasy novel normally introduces the main character, provides a description of the setting and provides a hint towards the possible main conflict. With this in mind make sure your first chapter is clear and concise. Do not ramble on too much about the exact details of the setting, or the main character’s every single flaw, weakness and goal. Be careful about the information you give your readers. You want to give them a hint to keep them hooked and keep the best secrets until the near end of the novel.

The climax is the point when the main conflict occurs. This is likely past the middle point of your novel and perhaps towards the end. You might be wondering why did we jump from the first chapter all the way to the climax? Simply because the first few chapters can be cumbersome or tiring for writers. To keep things interesting and to give yourself a goal, we suggest developing the conflict scene or chapter towards the beginning of your novel writing journey. Don’t worry you don’t need to have a set-in-stone chapter written, just an outline of the climax or main conflict in your story will do.

It’s time to fill in some blanks. You got your first chapter written, and you got a detailed outline of your climax chapter. Now go back and work on the remaining chapters. If you’re struggling with your chapters, then try outlining or planning each one before you actually write it. An outline is a great way to keep you on track, and can even act as a motivation tool to complete each chapter.

You made it! Your fantasy novel is almost complete, you just need a great ending to satisfy your readers. Most fantasy novels come in trilogies or in a series. If you plan on writing more parts to your novel in the future, then the best ending is a cliffhanger or an open ending. A cliffhanger ending leaves a certain conflict still in the mist, as the main conflict is resolved. Resolution is important in all novels. If nothing is resolved, then the whole novel could be a waste of time for you and your readers.

A resolution could come in many forms, such as a solution or part-solution to the main conflict or the main character learning something important at the end.  Think about how your fantasy novel will end. Will it be a happy, sad or cliffhanger ending?

Your novel is complete! Celebrate and rejoice, you just completed the hardest thing for any author. Now go back and read through each chapter of your fantasy novel. Be a critic in your own mind. Question your own word choices, dialogue and descriptions. How could you make this paragroup sound more interesting? How could you explain this concept better? Could you add more plot twists?

Don’t be afraid of sharing your draft work with friends, family, teachers or colleagues for their feedback. You could even create a questionnaire to help get valuable feedback from others on your draft novel. An extra tip, we recommend when self-editing is to take a break from your novel. Come back to it in a month with a fresh pair of eyes, so you can be a fair critic of yourself.

The title of your fantasy novel may be the single most important thing you do. After all, before a reader even reads your book, the title, along with the book cover is the first thing that will entice them. Make sure your book title is short, descriptive and relates to your core story idea. Avoid using fancy words, just because they sound cool. Instead, keep it true to the meaning of your novel. Just take a look at this example: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – It summarises the whole book in just 7 words!

You can use our fantasy book title generator for some ideas on how to title your novel.

Now you have a beautifully complete fantasy novel. It’s time to publish it. At this point, you have many options. You can publish your book online using a tool like Imagine Forest – Which is great for kids and young writers. From there you can share it with friends and family and build your fanbase online. Alternatively, you can self-publish your novel professionally on Amazon or take the traditional route by working with professional book publishers.

That’s it! 12 steps later and your fantasy novel is complete!

Common Questions About Fantasy Novels Writing

There are a number of ways to start your fantasy novel, including the following:

  • A detailed description of the world.
  • An interesting fact about culture.
  • A question to the audience.
  • Minor conflict or action scene.
  • Secondary character dialogue.
  • A dream sequence.
  • A past memory.
  • The death of a character

Try to come up with a unique and powerful way to start your novel. Remember the goal is to hook your readers so they keep on reading until the very end.

There are 12 steps for writing a fantasy novel:

  • Think of an idea
  • Outline your idea
  • Develop your characters
  • Develop your world
  • Write the starting paragraph
  • Write the first chapter
  • Develop the climax
  • Write the remaining chapters
  • Write the ending
  • Self-edit your novel
  • Title your novel
  • Publish your novel

The key to writing a great fantasy novel is creating believable and relatable characters. You can include all the magical elements you want, but your characters must be realistic. Realistic characters have flaws, weaknesses and dreams. Their problems are just like your problems in the real world. To help you create relatable characters think about your own fears, dreams and wants, and incorporate them into your main characters.

Here is a list of 10 mistakes that most fantasy writers make:

  • Writing down too much detail about the world.
  • Creating perfect characters with little or no flaws.
  • Including too many action scenes, with no purpose.
  • Creating stereotypical, flat characters.
  • Introducing too many characters at once.
  • Not doing your research.
  • Neglecting the opening line.
  • Including terrible dialogue.
  • Using technical terms without meaning
  • Creating an ending with no resolution.

Before you write the first chapter in your fantasy novel, plan the chapter. Note down what you plan on including, the overall purpose of the chapter, and the key scenes within the chapter. This outline will help guide you when it comes to writing the first chapter of your novel. Typically in fantasy novels, the first chapter includes an introduction to the main character, a setting description, and a small build-up to the main conflict.

How to Write a Fantasy Novel

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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How To Write Dialogue In A Story

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How an Author Perfects her Dialogue

Kiley reid’s new book  come and get it  lets the characters speak at the top of their game..

Gabfest Reads is a monthly series from the hosts of Slate’s  Political Gabfest  podcast. Recently, David Plotz talked with Kiley Reid about her new novel,  Come & Get   It , and discussed how Reid gets her dialogue to sound so real.

This partial transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.

David Plotz: I do think what makes your writing so singular and so distinctive is that you have an incredible ear. And I’m envious of it, as someone who’s been a writer for some of my life and never had an ear like that. How do you listen? How do you create these voices in your head?

Kiley Reid: It’s a bit of a game. Because as I’m sure that you’ve done, if you’ve transcribed anything because you’ve recorded something, you very quickly realize that we do not speak chronologically. We go off on tangents, we say, “um,” and “like,” and “oh my gosh.” And there’s a lot of things that we’re doing in between the things that we’re actually trying to say.

So, while I’m writing, getting hyper-realistic dialogue is really important to me, but it becomes a game of doing [two] things: One, it’s showing characters, for the majority of the book, at the top of their intelligence, showing their best selves—what they  think  is their best self. And number two, it’s making sure that their best self still isn’t grating to a reader.

When I’m doing interviews with students and getting inspiration, they may say ‘like’ or ‘um’ in the thousands. And so, I want to include some of those likes or ums, but I also don’t want to make fun of those students. This wasn’t a satire this time around, but I want to make it true. So, there’s a lot of give and take there.

I also think just being a writer, you need to put yourself in the position of being a listener and writing down something exactly the way you heard it. That’s the kind of things that I like to read.

Why do they have to be at the top of their game? Why is that important?

I think it’s important to be a democratic and generous writer. Otherwise, you look like you’re making fun of your characters. And I think every character can be interesting depending on the different light that they’re in. And I’m just not really super interested in fiction that says, look at these dumb kids. Especially because they’re not dumb. I want to see them at their best. And then later when they make mistakes, those mistakes hit a little bit harder.

I also feel like there’s a conjuring act here. Because as you said, I guess you wrote it in Iowa; you have lived in Philly; you’ve lived in Ann Arbor since you were in Fayetteville. But you’re conjuring up people who are just mostly Southern, and certainly are the kind of students who would be at University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. How do you get back to them when you’re not with them?

I do a lot of interviews when I’m writing. And this time around I had a research assistant, and that was incredibly useful. I probably formally interviewed about 30 people and then maybe 20 others on top of that, just making sure I was getting things absolutely right.

So, I interviewed some old students, some of my friend’s students, people who went to Arkansas, people from Chicago, baton twirlers. I interviewed a number of people.

And people always ask me, “How do you get people to tell you things?” I’m sure you know people just like talking about themselves. And people were very gracious to me, and I’m really thankful for that.

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Why did Savannah write a faith-based book? Because she’s the person who ‘needs to read it’

The TODAY co-anchor took on a challenge that was both thrilling and scary when she decided to write her latest book, "Mostly What God Does."

Savannah Guthrie challenged herself to leave her comfort zone and “do something thrilling and scary” when she wrote her new book about faith, “Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere.”

The process was scary for the TODAY co- anchor , who is Christian, because she is, in her words, a “regular person” — not a theologian, not a religious scholar. And yet it was thrilling because her faith is an essential part of who she is.

“It’s what makes me tick. It’s what makes me joyful. It’s what helps me navigate the world and stresses and disappointments and fears,” she tells TODAY.com.

In the foreword for “Mostly What God Does,” a collection of essays and personal reflections released Feb. 20, she lays out her “road map” for the chapters that follow, based on what she describes as the six foundational aspects of a connection to God, including love, hope and purpose. She then notes that the book isn’t solely intended for those who have a firm belief in God.

“You may be faith-full, you may be faith-curious, you may be faith-less, still scarred by a toxic religiosity of your past,” she writes. Regardless of which category applies to you, Savannah invites you to “come as you are.”

“I’m not writing this book from some mountaintop where I’ve received some wisdom, and now I’m imparting it to the world,” she explains in the TODAY.com interview. “No, I’m still down here, struggling. Still down here, disappointing myself. I’m still down here, needing faith, needing grace, needing mercy, needing love. That’s why I wrote the book — because I’m the person that needs to read it. And so I thought, if I do, then maybe others do, too.”

Embarking on an important journey

Prior to working on what became “Mostly What God Does,” Savannah, 52, had co-authored two children’s books and was subsequently pitched follow-up projects.

“From time to time over the years since I wrote those kids’ books, I might get an offer to write something: another children’s book or laughably even a cookbook once,” she shares, with a nod to her relative lack of skill in the kitchen that inspired the TODAY All Day series “Starting from Scratch with Savannah Guthrie.”

“But I’ve always been so busy with the (TODAY) show and I’ve got little kids and I never really wanted to write anything,” the mom of two continues.

Then, about a year ago, she was presented with the opportunity to write a book about faith, and she says she felt intrigued, excited and challenged by the idea. She decided to give it a try, since she considers her faith to be her greatest passion.

The cover of Savannah's new book.

“I wasn’t sure there would be a book at the end of it, but I knew that it would be a really important path and journey to take,” she adds.

Her interest in faith can be traced back to her childhood, growing up as a Baptist in what she calls a “very churchy family.”

“We would go three times a week. It was very much part of my upbringing,” she recalls. “My sister has the best line in the book: She said, ‘God was the sixth member of our family,’ in our family of five.”

Though “Mostly What God Does” is not a tell-all memoir, as Savannah is quick to point out in the foreword, she does reference some of the struggles she has faced personally and professionally, including the loss of her father to a heart attack when she was a teenager ; a divorce in her mid-30s; and her winding career path before she landed her co-anchor seat at TODAY.

Over the years, she says, she’s gone through “seasons of devout study and enthusiasm” about her faith, and also “seasons of distance and disappointment,” when her relationship with God wasn’t as strong.

“All of what I have come to realize is that all of that is my faith story: belief and doubt, you know, joy, and also disappointment and sorrow. It’s all part of my faith journey,” she says. “It’s all enhanced what I believe and have come to understand about God.”

Spreading a message of love

The title of Savannah’s book gets to the heart of the message she wanted to get across with the project: “Mostly what God does is love you,” a phrase taken from a translation by scholar and pastor Eugene Peterson of a Bible verse. The theme of love is one that she knew early on in the writing process she wanted to focus on.

“That sentence always hit me, and I loved it,” she explains. “Because I think so many of us, particularly if you do come from any kind of faith background, you may be asking yourself, ‘What does God think of me? What is God doing right now? What does God think of that choice I made? Am I selfish? Am I flawed beyond reconciliation?’

“The answer is, ‘Mostly what God does is love you.’ What has he been doing this whole time? Just loving you. And I love the simplicity and bareness of it. It’s simple, but it’s not easy.”

Even if a reader is not of faith or is struggling with doubt, Savannah hopes that message of love still resonates.

“I hope the book is appealing and compelling to anyone in any walk of life, because it’s just a gentle call to be loved. And once you feel that love, well, you’ll find that you can’t help but share it. It’s just contagious. And I think that’s really the thrust of the book and really what I was trying to say,” she says.

That positive outlook ties in with one of Savannah’s other foundational aspects of a connection to God: hope. Savannah acknowledges that it can be challenging to hold on to hope in difficult times, when we are inundated with depressing news headlines.

Her faith and her hope provide her with perspective in such situations: “When I get discouraged, I try to go back to basics and remember that I’m not in charge. God is. And that I trust him and believe him and hope in him.”

However, she quickly adds that hope is a “word, it’s not certainty.” She asks in her book, what if there is no silver lining? What if there is no justice in store for the world? What if, she writes, “this whole idea of God is just a figment, a soothing story we tell ourselves?”

These are all reasonable questions to wonder. Still, Savannah chooses to live a life of optimism.

“None of us on Earth here can know if God is real or how it ends, right? We’re humans; we don’t get to know. No one knows what happens after death. No one comes back to tell. Fact. I would rather be hopeful and turn out to be wrong at the end than hopeless and turn out to be right,” she tells TODAY.com. “Hope is the posture that I choose every single day.

“And it’s not a blind hope. I think there are things all around that reassure and confirm that hope. But in the end, it is faith. That’s why they call it a leap of faith. It’s a leap of hope. And so I try to hang on to hope.”

I would rather be hopeful and turn out to be wrong at the end than hopeless and turn out to be right.

Savannah guthrie

Passing down her faith to her children

Much like her sister has said that God was the sixth member of their family growing up, Savannah is trying to make God a part of her family with husband Mike Feldman, who is Jewish, and their two children, daughter Vale, 9, and son Charley, 7 . That includes a nightly ritual of saying prayers with the kids.

“What I know is that it’s my job to give them the building blocks to teach them about the God that I know and help foster that connection,” Savannah says. “And then I also know that when they grow up, it will be their choice. And it’s just my job to give them as much information but also experience with God as I possibly can.”

Savannah mentions how excited Vale was when she was recently baptized at the church their family attends. At the time, she made a comment that touched her mom.

“She said, ‘Today, God, I joined your family.’ And that gives me a lot of joy,” Savannah shares.

Vale has read “quite a bit” of her mom’s book, and perhaps not surprisingly, she approves of it, particularly the parts that reference her. (It seems she didn’t mind Savannah bringing up the difficult aspects of motherhood in the book — for example, the bad behavior or “epic sibling throwdowns” at nighttime that Savannah and her husband often deal with.)

Charley has heard Vale read the book out loud, and he did question the inclusion of a less-than-flattering story that involved him.

“He doesn’t love that, like, there’s a part about how he threw the train at my eye when he was 2. You know, he’s like, ‘Did you have to tell that story?’” laughs Savannah, years after the accident that caused a tear in her retina that resulted in multiple surgeries.

Charley’s concerns notwithstanding, Savannah would love for her children to read the book and gain more of an appreciation for it when they are older.

“I wrote it for them, and it’s dedicated to them. It’s everything I would want to tell them,” she says. “If I died tomorrow — not to sound morose — it’s what I would want them to know about the God that loves them.”

novel writing 12

Shane Lou is a senior editor for TODAY.com.

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The Most Important Writing Exercise I’ve Ever Assigned

An illustration of several houses. One person walks away from a house with a second person isolated in a window.

By Rachel Kadish

Ms. Kadish is the author of the novel “The Weight of Ink.”

“Write down a phrase you find abhorrent — something you yourself would never say.”

My students looked startled, but they cooperated. They knew I wouldn’t collect this exercise; what they wrote would be private unless they chose to share it. All that was required of them was participation.

In silence they jotted down a few words. So far, so good. We hadn’t yet reached the hard request: Spend 10 minutes writing a monologue in the first person that’s spoken by a fictitious character who makes the upsetting statement. This portion typically elicits nervous glances. When that happens, I remind students that their statement doesn’t represent them and that speaking as if they’re someone else is a basic skill of fiction writers. The troubling statement, I explain, must appear in the monologue, and it shouldn’t be minimized, nor should students feel the need to forgive or account for it. What’s required is simply that somewhere in the monologue there be an instant — even a fleeting phrase — in which we can feel empathy for the speaker. Perhaps she’s sick with worry over an ill grandchild. Perhaps he’s haunted by a love he let slip away. Perhaps she’s sleepless over how to keep her business afloat and her employees paid. Done right, the exercise delivers a one-two punch: repugnance for a behavior or worldview coupled with recognition of shared humanity.

For more than two decades, I’ve taught versions of this fiction-writing exercise. I’ve used it in universities, middle schools and private workshops, with 7-year-olds and 70-year-olds. But in recent years openness to this exercise and to the imaginative leap it’s designed to teach has shrunk to a pinprick. As our country’s public conversation has gotten angrier, I’ve noticed that students’ approach to the exercise has become more brittle, regardless of whether students lean right or left.

Each semester, I wonder whether the aperture through which we allow empathy has so drastically narrowed as to foreclose a full view of our fellow human beings. Maybe there are times so contentious or so painful that people simply withdraw to their own silos. I’ve certainly felt that inward pull myself. There are times when a leap into someone else’s perspective feels impossible.

But leaping is the job of the writer, and there’s no point it doing it halfway. Good fiction pulls off a magic trick of absurd power: It makes us care. Responding to the travails of invented characters — Ahab or Amaranta, Sethe or Stevens, Zooey or Zorba — we might tear up or laugh, or our hearts might pound. As readers, we become invested in these people, which is very different from agreeing with or even liking them. In the best literature, characters are so vivid, complicated, contradictory and even maddening that we’ll follow them far from our preconceptions; sometimes we don’t return.

Unflinching empathy, which is the muscle the lesson is designed to exercise, is a prerequisite for literature strong enough to wrestle with the real world. On the page it allows us to spot signs of humanity; off the page it can teach us to start a conversation with the strangest of strangers, to thrive alongside difference. It can even affect those life-or-death choices we make instinctively in a crisis. This kind of empathy has nothing to do with being nice, and it’s not for the faint of heart.

Even within the safety of the page, it’s tempting to dodge empathy’s challenge, instead demonizing villains and idealizing heroes, but that’s when the needle on art’s moral compass goes inert. Then we’re navigating blind: confident that we know what the bad people look like and that they’re not us — and therefore we’re at no risk of error.

Our best writers, in contrast, portray humans in their full complexity. This is what Gish Jen is doing in the short story “Who’s Irish?” and Rohinton Mistry in the novel “A Fine Balance.” Line by line, these writers illuminate the inner worlds of characters who cause harm — which is not the same as forgiving them. No one would ever say that Toni Morrison forgives the character Cholly Breedlove, who rapes his daughter in “The Bluest Eye.” What Ms. Morrison accomplishes instead is the boldest act of moral and emotional understanding I’ve ever seen on the page.

In the classroom exercise, the upsetting phrases my students scribble might be personal (“You’ll never be a writer,” “You’re ugly”) or religious or political. Once a student wrote a phrase condemning abortion as another student across the table wrote a phrase defending it. Sometimes there are stereotypes, slurs — whatever the students choose to grapple with. Of course, it’s disturbing to step into the shoes of someone whose words or deeds repel us. Writing these monologues, my graduate students, who know what “first person” means, will dodge and write in third, with the distanced “he said” instead of “I said.”

But if they can withstand the challenges of first person, sometimes something happens. They emerge shaken and eager to expand on what they’ve written. I look up from tidying my notes to discover students lingering after dismissal with that alert expression that says the exercise made them feel something they needed to feel.

Over the years, as my students’ statements became more political and as jargon (“deplorables,” “snowflakes”) supplanted the language of personal experience, I adapted the exercise. Worrying that I’d been too sanguine about possible pitfalls, I made it entirely silent, so no student would have to hear another’s troubling statement or fear being judged for their own. Any students who wanted to share their monologues with me could stay after class rather than read to the group. Later, I added another caveat: If your troubling statement is so offensive, you can’t imagine the person who says it as a full human being, choose something less troubling. Next, I narrowed the parameters: No politics. The pandemic’s virtual classes made risk taking harder; I moved the exercise deeper into the semester so students would feel more at ease.

After one session, a student stayed behind in the virtual meeting room. She’d failed to include empathy in her monologue about a character whose politics she abhorred. Her omission bothered her. I was impressed by her honesty. She’d constructed a caricature and recognized it. Most of us don’t.

For years, I’ve quietly completed the exercise alongside my students. Some days nothing sparks. When it goes well, though, the experience is disquieting. The hard part, it turns out, isn’t the empathy itself but what follows: the annihilating notion that people whose fears or joys or humor I appreciate may themselves be indifferent to all my cherished conceptions of the world.

Then the 10-minute timer sounds, and I haul myself back to the business of the classroom — shaken by the vastness of the world but more curious about the people in it. I put my trust in that curiosity. What better choice does any of us have? And in the sanctuary of my classroom I keep trying, handing along what literature handed me: the small, sturdy magic trick any of us can work, as long as we’re willing to risk it.

Rachel Kadish is the author of the novel “The Weight of Ink.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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    Squibler - The 30 Chapter Novel Template. This book template is courtesy of Damien Benoit-Ledoux. This is a very clean, well laid out outline for a book. Each of the 30 chapters has a purpose, basically taking you by the hand and leading you through the creation of your masterpiece.

  22. Novel Ideas to Start Writing (And Why They Work)

    Romance Novel Ideas to Start Writing. Romance is a common side plot in novels of other genres. Love is an emotion that crosses borders, defies boundaries, and connects us all. Love interests, even if they are small, will often help a reader become emotionally invested in a character as romance makes them that much more relatable.

  23. How to Write a Fantasy Novel in 12 Steps

    7. Do your research. Just because you're making stuff up, doesn't mean no research is required. If you want to create a believable fantasy tale, you'll need to do your research on how things work in your fantasy world. Common mistakes fantasy writers make are mixing up titles and classes in characters.

  24. How to write novels? Just do it!

    John Irving, author of The World According to Garp, said that the first thing he did with a novel was to write the last line. And this is the second method of writing a book: first lay out the framework and then fill it up. Irving's is the most extreme form of this architectural style, but we can see how it differs from King's.

  25. Author Kiley Reid on How to Write Realistic Dialogue

    Recently, David Plotz talked with Kiley Reid about her new novel, Come & Get It, and discussed how Reid gets her dialogue to sound so real. This partial transcript has been edited and condensed ...

  26. Rachel Carson's Sky Writing Is Now a Picture Book

    A century and a half later, six years before Rachel Carson awakened the modern ecological conscience with her book "Silent Spring" and four years after "The Sea Around Us" earned her the ...

  27. Savannah Guthrie Discusses New Faith Book 'Mostly What God Does'

    The TODAY co-anchor took on a challenge that was both thrilling and scary when she decided to write her latest book, "Mostly What God Does." Feb. 20, 2024, 1:17 PM UTC / Source : TODAY By Shane Lou

  28. Book Review: 'The Freaks Came Out to Write,' by Tricia Romano

    The tone of "The Freaks Came Out to Write" is a symphonic kind of anarchy. I kept imagining these interviews poured by a director into a word-drunk "Chorus Line"-like musical, without the ...

  29. Opinion

    For more than two decades, I've taught versions of this fiction-writing exercise. I've used it in universities, middle schools and private workshops, with 7-year-olds and 70-year-olds.