How to Start a Novel (pt.3)
And here we are, at Part 3 of the little series we started! I've shared what I can in Part 1 about plot, and in Part 2 about characters. But you can never really stop learning, so I picked up some new stuff to share with all of you! Some of them are leftovers--little things that are handy to know but not big enough to make into blog posts of their own.
Think of Part 3 as the final post for tying up loose ends.
I'd like to thank you quickly for sticking with this site, and reading How to Start a Novel.
I hope all these little extra tips and tricks help you!
PT.3: OTHER TIPS AND TRICKS
Here are 6 little tips and tricks for you--a few things it might help to know about before you dive headlong into your very first novel. A couple may seem a bit vague, but I really felt that everything here was worth mentioning.
Make sure to check out the link at the very bottom of this post for a great list of important writing lessons I got from TheWritePractice.
~1~
There's this awesome writing principle I've heard about called 'Chikov's Gun.' Basically, it goes like this:
"If a shotgun is hung over the mantle in the first act, then it must be fired in the second."
Do you understand the meaning? 'Chikov's Gun' is talking about bunny trails, or misleading hints at a secret or backstory in fiction. Sometimes writers of books and even movies make the mistake of setting their audience up for disappointment. You're made to think that something big is about to happen, either good or bad, and when it doesn't happen you're left unhappy. So keep this in mind when writing your own fiction, and be very careful about whatever your readers might be led to believe. And don't make pointless scenes either. Every sentence of your story must reveal character or advance action in some way.
~2~
I understand how hard it can be to pick the perfect name for your main characters. It needs to be something that fits--something that just feels right. The name needs to go with the character's personality, age, overall vibe.... You probably get what I'm saying. Sometimes, when I'm coming up with the perfect name, it just comes to me and sticks. But other times I turn to a couple of name generator sites:
(Behind the Name)
https://www.behindthename.com/random/random.php?number=1&gender=f&surname=&randomsurname=yes&showextra=yes&all=no&usage_afr=1
and...
http://random-name-generator.info/random/?n=10&g=3&st=3
You can also do it yourself by finding a long list of names belonging to real people--maybe in a phonebook--and combining random first names with different random last names. This way you're getting ideas, without danger of using someone's actual name in your novel.
Oh! And those baby name sites can become your best friend. They'll tell you all the meanings to unique, beautiful-sounding names for both genders.
~3~
Something also worth mentioning is the problem of picking a point of view, or POV, for your story. Just to review, there's 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person.
1st person is where the narrative's "I did this" and "I said that".
3rd person is where the narrative is "she (main character) did this" and "she said that".
And let's just say the 2nd person, or Omnipresent, is a bit tricky to explain. Tricky to use, too. It's not often used in writing fiction, anyways. But if you're still interested, ask your English teacher for details.
Related to that is picking a genre, and maybe a sub-genre, for your novel. All this deserves a whole article on its own so look out for that.
~4~
And what about finding your own style? It's called a writer's 'voice'. It's what sets you apart from every other book on the shelf--what makes your writing particularily interesting, even among compelling characters and an exciting plot. Your voice is basically your unique personality bleeding off of a pen and dripping into the words on a page. And you need to find and identify it so you can be able to use it.
Check out this article for more:
https://goinswriter.com/writing-voice/
~5~
A quick tip about characters: A strong protagonist doesn't always have to be likeable, but must be relatable.
Think about it.
~6~
Now, what about grabbing your readers' attention? You've gotta be swift and sneaky about it. I've heard that potential publishing agents and editors will give you the very first chapter to impress them. Readers will give you even less--you've gotta hook them from the very first few lines!
I've heard a lot on this subject, so there's a lot to talk about. I'll be writing something soon about the top 5 things to never do in your first chapter, and the 5 things that'll work brilliantly for you in the first chapter. It'll be called 'Your Book's First Chapter' (surprise, right?), so stay tuned!
So this wraps up the little 'How to Start a Novel' series. I hope everything helped you.
Thanks for reading!
http://positivewriter.com/writing-lessons/
~Kawiria
