I’m more than 42,000 words into my novel and I can safely say that next time around I’m doing things a little differently.
I’m not going to give up on the book I’m currently writing but I can say that it’s going to need a substantial edit. My 42k words closes out Act 1. Yep, that bad. If it’s going to be a 90k book (most YA fantasies for first time authors are around that), it’s going to need at least 20, of the 40,000 words lopped off. Oof, yeah.
I didn’t give myself the easiest task either given it’s a mystery and I need to ensure that the real timeline and the timeline of discovery make sense. I’m having to go back now and tweak some of that but really won’t be doing any more rewriting until I’m done. I just want to finish it. There’s still much to learn in the process.
However, if I took what I’d learned up until this point, here’s how I’d start over:
1. I’d start, same as usual, with a story idea
When readers ask authors how they come up with story ideas, I’m baffled. How does any one come up with an idea? Your brain just makes connections. You read diversely. You think. You join disparate ideas. You ask “what if” questions. What if fairy and vampire smooshed together, what if demons were all good and angels were all bad?
Usually, the answer isn’t that interesting. It’s someone looking at a billboard ad for Ocean’s Eleven and thinking I want to write a heist novel in my pre-established world (Six of Crows). It’s someone thinking what if that castle up on the hill is secretly a magic school and none of us know (what I suspect J. K. Rowling thought looking up at Edinburgh Castle). What if the world were overrun by ghosts and kids were the only ones capable of seeing them and thus eradicating them (Lockwood and Co.)? Ideas are everywhere.
I think the most important thing to do is to always be ideating. Make a practice of it and save them all. Today I add all my story ideas to my Google Keep. It’s a great place to store them as I frequently go back to noodle with them. Plus it gets them out of of my head. When I next want to write something I’ll probably skim through those and spend a bit more time playing with them, see if any stand out. If you do this, help yourself by labelling them with “story ideas” or something like that as if you’re a heavy Keep user you’ll quickly lose track of them.
If you don’t feel very good at this, you could always read Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson. I read it over 10 years ago when I was working for a software company and writing an article on how to come up with hundreds of business ideas. It gave me lots of great ideas for products and businesses but it’s sure to give you insight into how your brain comes up with ideas. Alternatively, read and then think about what you read. Probably the most useful thing to do.
2. I’d focus on in-depth worldbuilding
That is to say, I’d create and flesh out my fantasy, sci-fi or dystopian world in full. I’d know what the world looks from a birds eye view. I’d know what industries exist. I’d know the magic system (high or low, ie. more logical or more suspend-your-disbelief). I’d do this all first because it’s so integral to the genre and because I think it should impact character creation. It will also make writing easier because you’ll have a better idea of what your characters surroundings look like and can thus move more easily about them.
To this day I’ve never found the perfect worldbuilding questionnaire to help me do this but this gist of it is that you need to understand what your world looks like, feels like, smells like and sounds like. You need to know the culture/s. You need to know what industries it contains and what the people and animals within it look like. You need to know your magic systems. You’ll certainly adapt some of this as you write, and likely invent new things too (what would be the fun of knowing it all before anyway?) but it’s good to have a solid grounding.
If you don’t do this you risk having things crop up that suddenly don’t make sense to you, or you risk missing the fact that your character is doing something or behaving in a way that makes sense to our world (your lived experience) rather than their world. Personally, I don’t think I spent enough time on this part before I started writing because I just wanted to get going and I also didn’t think it would be as important as it turns out it is.
3. I’d create my characters
Not all characters fit a certain world or story. It would be awful to find this out too late. As such I’d create characters who are products of the world. I’d also think carefully about who the best person to tell the story is. Don’t immediately assume it’s who you think. Test it out and ask yourself how the story might change depending on who is telling it.
I’d map out my characters wants and goals and I’d ensure they all had “needs,” that is, things they needed in order to grow. For example, my protagonists needs patience. She also needs to learn to work on a team rather than independently. Her inability to do this causes many of the problems that arise in my story. This needs category informs the character arc and is very important.
The goals and wants are the things that prompt action and move story forward. I’d work on creating deep emotional backstories at this stage. Why do they want these things so badly? Ensure there’s a believable reason even if you only tell your readers the surface level of it. It will make writing easier.
4. I’d test character interactions
I do believe this is the crux of tension, as is things not going to plan, and character needs obstructing the character’s goals.
Characters are the ones that technically create story so having characters that interact in different and interesting ways is, in my opinion, of paramount importance. I like to think of this as the fanfiction stage of planning a novel. Basically, you write scenes in which your various characters interact that possibly don’t fit in your novel. They’re just for you to get to know it. If something feels broken, you still have time to change things before you’re sunk into writing. If it’s hard to write a character’s interactions you might not have properly fleshed out goals, wants and needs. Go back to the drawing board!
5. I’d lay my cat’s eyes
Whether you’re a plotter or a pantster, I still believe most writers lay cat’s eyes, even if subconsciously. Let me explain.
A cat’s eye is a vivid-to-you scene in your story. You probably have a bunch of them. They’re points you know you need to get to. The more you think about your plot and plan it, the more cats eyes you’ll have. Everything inbetween can be character building, scene setting, etc. But those cats eyes can help you guide you in the right direction, even going so far as allowing you to have fun between them.
Some people call these beats, some people call these cookies, some call them pivotal points on the three arc structure. Whatever you call them, they’re the scenes that ensure your story has a structure that makes sense. Many of us do this instinctively if we’re avid readers but the truth is, humans are story animals. Our brains are wried for making connections and understanding so have a little faith in yourself. And, if all else fails, learn the 3 Act structure. It will help you write a well-paced novel.
But, I’m curious…how would you go about writing a novel?
