Late Night Novel Writing

[wordsnquotes]

The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.

Terry Pratchett  (via captainfart)

[maxkirin]

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

George Orwell (via maxkirin)

[latenightnovelwriting]

A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid.

William Faulkner

[latenightnovelwriting]

Day 1: Creating Your Protagonist

Who is your protagonist? Before you begin noveling, it's important to decide who your story is about. Whether you are writing in first or third person, your audience will need to see through a character's eyes. Imagine that as you begin planning (and ultimately writing) this book, that you are getting to know a person who is tangible and real. Your character can't be totally developed before you even begin writing, but as if you just met them for the first time, you can get the basics down. Name: Gender: Age: Eye color: Hair color: Skin color: Body type: Height: Clothing style: Quirks: Personality traits: Flaws: Strengths: Fears: Desires: You may not be able to fill all of this out thoroughly on your first day of planning, but go ahead and jot some notes down. Keep a notebook so you can add more information about your characters and keep it all straight. You and your protagonist are about to become the best of friends over the next months. Start getting to know each other now.

[promptly-written]

An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.

Charles Dickens (via promptly-written)

[thewritershandbook]

[latenightnovelwriting]

I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book — something in which the reader can get happily lost, if the tale is done well and stays fresh.

Stephen King

[firstdraftwithsarahenni-deactiv]

If you keep saying, ‘I want to write a novel,’ and then you never do, well then maybe you really don’t want to write a novel.

Erin Bowman, author of the TAKEN trilogy—the final book, FORGED, is out now!—and the forthcoming VENGEANCE ROAD, on putting your money where your mouth is.

Listen to her full interview here, or download it on iTunes or Stitcher!

(via bookphile)

[latenightnovelwriting]

Outlining a Novel in 31 Days

October is here! With that, it’s to time to start outlining for your NaNoWriMo novel. Here is an outline I came up with that will take me from having only a vague idea of my story to being prepared for November. I hope it does the same for you.

Day 1: Main Character Day 2: Antagonist Day 3: Two supporting characters Day 4: Five minor characters Day 5: Initial problem Day 6: Protagonist and Antagonist’s biggest motivations Day 7: First scene of the story Day 8: Exposition - problem introduced Day 9: Relationship between supporting characters and protagonist - and between protagonist and antagonist Day 10: Protagonist backstory, antagonist backstory Day 11: Choose the “tone” of your story through five emotions Day 12: Identify the hook Day 13: What is at stake? Day 14: Describe main physical setting. (If there are more than one main settings, describe them.) Day 15: Outline acts in 3 small paragraphs and then try to outline story in one sentence. Day 16: Decide on two subplots. Day 17: Outline act I. Day 18: What is a temporary triumph for the protagonist? Day 19: What makes the problem worse? Day 20: How will roles reverse in act II? Day 21: Protagonist - a positive decision and a mistake. Day 22: What is the climax? Day 23: Outline act II. Day 24: What’s the final obstacle? Day 25: Decide on winners and losers. Day 26: Describe final tone with five senses. Day 27: How does protagonist change from start to end? Day 28: What is the resolution? Day 29: Resolve any subplots. Day 30: Outline act III. Day 31: Final scene

[bookshavepores]

[latenightnovelwriting]

J. R. R. Tolkien’s handwritten letter discussing the motivation behind the Lord of the Rings.[x]

“I wrote The Lord of the Rings because I wished ‘to try my hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them.”

[latenightnovelwriting]

People often ask me why my style is so simple. It is, in fact, deceptively simple, for no two sentences are alike. It is clarity that I am striving to attain, not simplicity.

Ruskin Bond

[maxkirin]

If you are using dialogue, say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.

John Steinbeck (via maxkirin)

[waitingforanewname-deactivated2]

15 Kinds of Journals That You Can Start Today

[latenightnovelwriting]

Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty.

Muriel Barbery

[maxkirin]

Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work. Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand for everything.

Stephen King (via maxkirin)

[writingquotes-deactivated201509]

If you’re writing about a character, if he’s a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don’t think he’ll be as interesting to the reader.

Stan Lee (via writingquotes)

[writingquotes-deactivated201509]

I did ask a number of writer friends about outlines though – actually what I asked was whether they used them or did they believe ‘outline’ was to ‘creativity’ as ‘cirrhosis’ was to ‘liver’. I found some people outlined and some didn’t, but even writers who didn’t had a sense of destination before they began.

Marcia Golub (via writingquotes)