First off, welcome, and thank's for taking the time to read through this column. I hope you find this to be of use.
Now, a lot of people come into writing for a number of reasons. It could be down to reading a really good book which has then inspired you to go on and create your own works, or even seeing an event that is memorable to you, and you feel like being creative with it and playing with the art of words.
This is good. You have chosen to actually do something about this! Too many people get idea's that they fancy jotting down but never actually do it.
So, you have sat down, pen (pencil or even keyboard!) in hand. Before you even start writing, the most important thing you need to consider is the enviroment you are going to be working in. This is essential to producing quality works. For example, a relaxed enviroment, where you can listen to some music if the feeling take's you, or sit quietly without being disturbed.
From personal experience, I have learnt that someone knocking on your door every five second's allows you to get very little writing done but also put's you off doing it altogether, as 'other things' pop up and need to be dealt with.
Novels
After you have created your 'Working enviroment', you need to start thinking about what you want to write. More than a few people who want to start writing usually want to start a novel. Now, this is great! But, at the same time, there are usually a few problems that come with it. The biggest problem that crops up is that the novel never gets finished. This could be down to a number of reasons, such as:
*Not being able to draw the story to an end, so it just stops mid-way.
*Not having a proper plot set out.
*Thinking that you have to write more.
There are of course many other reasons but I have found that these are the real kickers. The last one I mentioned is a really nasty one. Lots of people start writing a novel but when they look back over their work, it just does not seem that much. STOP. Don't worry. This is actually quite normal and most importantly, don't let this stop you from carrying on. It takes a great deal of practice to come up with a 500 page book, it does not usually happen first time.
I have written below what I believe to be the five essential steps to writing your first novel.
Step One: Decide whether you want to plan your story. Some people benefit from creating a rough plan of what they want there novel to be about, what will happen in it, and how it will end. This can be of great use as it stops you from trailing off from what you actually want to write about. As the story starts to develop, you can also develop your guide, so instead of it just being a rough guide, it can become more detailed, with what you want to happen chapter by chapter. This is a very effective way of writing novels.
Having said this, other people prefer to just start writing, with their idea already focused in their mind. This is good too. It does allow more freedom with what you write. don't get me wrong, if you choose to create a plan, you can change it, it is yours after all, but 'Free-writing' does allow the mind to wander just that little bit more. What you have to be careful with though is, as I have mentioned earlier, wandering away from the main plot of the story, drivelling on about some minute detail in a far away land that actually does not relate to the story you are trying to write.
Step Two: After you have decided to create a plan, or simply jump straight in, you need to think of how you are going to start your novel. This is perhaps the most important part of your story-to-be, as it draws the reader in and creates their first impression. Too many good writers have created fantastic works, but have not been noticed because they failed to capture the reader within their first few pages. I cannot stress enough just how important this is but at the same time, don't freak out about it, get the first idea written down, you can always come back later to change something and make it better. That's what re-drafting is for.
Step Three: So, with the beginning of your novel mapped out, it is time to let you mind travel down to your hand and start writing. The key thing to remember that quality is better than quantity. I have written more than a few stories in my early day's that I look back now and think, 'How can I make somebody read through all that!?' When you do your re-drafts you can always go back, adding bits in and generally beef things up. Also, stay on point! Don't trail off to much, otherwise you might forget where you were trying to go with the story!
Key point: Never, ever, delete work. If you start something off, just because you do not finish it does not mean it is of no use. I have draw upon draw full of loose bits of paper, from various different idea's to the beginning's, middle and ends of various stories that I wanted to write. Keep them! You can take those idea's later on if you have them still, but will find it more than just a bit difficult if you don't.
Step four: After much work, you are coming to the end of your novel. This won't have happened overnight, so do not start thinking it will. Writing is actually quite time consuming when done properly.
For you youngsters out there, that's not an excuse to bunk school or miss sports! Been there tried that, teacher's and parent's don't buy it!
After coming to the final stages of your story, what do you do now? you have pretty much written all you want to write, but now it is time to round thing's off, answer the questions, and draw things to an end. This is perhaps the second most important part of your novel. If you have a really rubbish ending, people get this set in their mind, and remember that you did not finish off well, making it likely that they won't read later works.
Step Five: Congratulations, hopefully you have finished your first draft and finished your story. Give yourself a pat on the back and relax. Do not be fooled into thinking this is the end of it though. There is always room for improvement as they say. Now it is time for re-drafting your work. What this means is going back over your work and changing things you don't like, such as parts of the story, or even correcting grammatical errors. Before you jump straight into this though, I strongly advise you take a break from this particular project. Try exploring some other writing styles or simply taking a break for a few day's, or even a week, just to let your mind settle and cool off. You may want/need to re-draft more than just the once, but that is down entirely up to you. I personally like to re-draft a minimum of three times, twice by myself, and a final 'editing suggestions' by a 'reader.'
I advise strongly that you let someone with a bit of experiance, or even someone who the story might appeal to, read through it. Other people can find points that you might have overlooked. Just be careful that they don't re-write the story so it becomes theirs!
This concludes my little column. thanks again for reading, and I hope this is of use to you.
Good luck Writers!
Kurisu
Adding your comment:
.
