Q&A for How to Write a Novel

Begin by focusing on small elements of it or the person. If you are describing a field, start with the green grass, move onto the sky, and the background elements in the distance. Using visually descriptive and evocative words will help.

Go for it! Lay out the plot in a graphic organizer, and write a rough draft (or three) before you actually write the final draft.

One popular way to come up with a title for a novel is taking a key point in the story and using that as an element in your title. For example, if your novel were about humans making contact with aliens on another planet, you could title it based on that main event, such as Carl Sagan's book Contact. Similarly, you can also use a title as a form of summary for your novel, for example, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The title of the novel provides insight into the actual focus of the book in that case. Finally, you could take an important word or moment in the book, like Twilight, and make that your title.

Start short. Don't immediately say all the details of the story in the first sentence. Let the readers figure it out. That way the readers will continue reading the novel/book. Start it something like: "I was going to die tomorrow." But it's up to you on what mood you're going to give to the audience. The example above give a thrilling mood which introduces the first part of the novel.

Browse baby naming pages; you can find them online or in a baby naming book. They have thousands of names and are very helpful, even if you're not pregnant. You can also make up an original name if you want your character to be from a different world or just have an interesting name.

Write out the introduction, middle and ending expectations. Write the major points of events that are going to happen in the novel. This will serve as a guide while you write, in case you forget. You can fill in more details around the major points.

You can research publishers online to find out what types of books different publishers tend to focus on. Keep in mind that you only get one chance per publishing company, and that it can be very difficult to publish a novel without a literary agent.

Don't give up! Most of the books you see now weren't famous from the start. As time passes, more and more people read it and then it becomes famous. You could also read more books to get more ideas and to adapt some techniques. I'm not saying to plagiarize, but you could somehow tweak it a bit so that it works for you. Practice writing. Even if it isn't for your novel, writing random stories of different varieties can help out a lot. You could write several more and send out copies to your editor/publisher, your friends/families, or publish it as an eBook for devices such as Kindles.

Get help from a person who can speak the language and English so he can help you translate the novel, or use a reliable translator.

That's the least of your problems. Very few books get known to the point where the authors become mobbed celebrities. You should first focus on writing a good series, and on marketing it so that some people actually buy it and read it. If you want to retain your anonymity, you can use a pen name (a name that's not yours).

There's no "normally". It takes however long it takes. Some writers can finish in months; for others, it takes years.

Try writing a summary of each one, or start the first chapter of each one. Start writing the one that captivates you the most, you enjoy writing the most, or speaks to you the most.

Absolutely. Many authors base writings off of their personal experiences. However, you should be careful when writing a character that is in a similar position as yourself, since you may end up unintentionally favoring them.

Inspiration often starts small, with a single character or a premise. Then, the author can flesh it out to create a world and a cast of characters. Try doing something new, reading a new book, just thinking, talking to someone about it, or looking up writing prompts online.

That depends on you. If you want it to be imaginary, then go ahead and change it. If you choose to use real names of people too, you may want to change the town to avoid legal issues later.

Tweak it so it is more dissimilar than similar. For example. make the alien a fungus that eats away at the host over time rather than an animal or something like that.

If you lost one sense, then your other senses would be heightened. That means instead of saying,"It was an oak tree" you might say,"I could tell it was an oak tree by the woodier way it smelled and its bark was too soft to be a birch" or something like that.

Not at all, this is how Shawshank Redemption is told.

An action/adventure novel hits the adrenaline mode of the reader. So it should be fast-paced in story telling. A collision of good and evil, light and darkness must be there. The thrill should be maintained. You can go through Sidney Sheldon, Dan Brown, Alexander Dumas and so many more for examples. A sense of revenge is also a good idea to put in like Harry Potter.

Essays tend to be more scholarly and about the writer's opinion. Novels are basically a story about a character/event/place. Read novels to help.

If you really want to write a novel, set aside some time during the day to write. It can be as short as ten minutes if that's as long as you have. Just make sure that you keep writing every day. Don't let yourself watch YouTube until after your daily writing time is over or this will eventually become a habit. Tell yourself that you absolutely cannot watch any YouTube videos until you finish writing and your brain will eventually learn to consider your writing time an extension of your day.

You don't necessarily have to pay to publish your novel - unless you're looking into self-publishing. To be published by a proper publisher you'll probably want to find a literary agent first who'll represent your work for no initial fee and will be paid through a percentage of your later earnings. It isn't easy to get published this way and literary agents are hard to get (trust me on that one!) but no, it is not necessary to pay to publish your novel. If you work hard and your book is good, you should be paid for your novel, not the other way around.

Usually at the beginning. You could have a prologue/intro that talks about the setting before it introduces the character.

I would suggest writing more than one draft or at least revising your draft a few times. This makes the quality of the novel improve a lot, and it's more likely that it'll get published. It might be a little difficult to publish a book as a child, but don't give up! Some great books were published by children. For example, Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan was published when she was 14 and written when she was 12.

Main scenes are basically where most of the action occurs, but why does that action appear in the first place? Focus on elements of the plot that could support the progression of events through the story. Use foreshadowing, have someone mention something that could happen during a minor scene, and then describe it actually happening in a main scene. Go ahead and write the main scenes first so you don't forget them, then just plan out how everything will tie in together.

If you want to start writing it, then go for it! You might find that you don't want to stick with it, and that's perfectly fine. Just do whatever you feel is best. Don't be so concerned about whether people like it or not. You can start writing it, then show it to friends and family that you trust to give you feedback. I do this with my friends all the time!

Don't worry about the length before you write the novel; start writing and end the book when you're ready. If you feel that it's too short in the end, consider adding more details, or maybe a scene or two. I wouldn't worry about it being too long. Readers who really enjoy it won't care how long it is!

I don't think that much can be done to help the situation, but I think you could be in luck if not many copies are sold. What I suggest is talking to your publisher and calmly assess the situation. They will be able to provide reasons on why content has been filtered out (e.g. doesn't progress the plot), and if it's a dilemma, try to talk it through with them on if anything can be done.

Only a very experienced author is likely to be able to do that. For the rest of us, it's not unusual to draft and redraft several versions of a story before we hit on something we want to keep.

Just make the new character uncommonly interesting and/or attractive, or involve the character in the plot or a subplot in a fascinating way.