Beginning to Write a Novel at www.innovativeliteracy.com

Before Beginning To Write A Novel

Before beginning to write your novel. you should consider several important questions. One of the first questions you need to ask yourself is who do you want your audience to be. For example, do you want your audience to be adults?  Okay, which adults? Men in their 20’s or women in their 60’s? After all, wouldn’t you write each one of these novels differently? After you choose, look at books written to that audience and see what is popular.

 

What Type Of Novel Are You Writing?

This might help you narrow down the type of novel you want to write. If you are writing for middle school students, you might not want the story to be too scary or too graphic. They might prefer adventure, fantasy, or something funny instead. Knowing what type of book you want to write is essential. Do you want to write another young adult dystopian future novel, a paranormal romance, or something else?

 

What Type Of Tone, Mood, Or Atmosphere Will The Novel Have?

Before beginning to write a book, you will need to consider the tone, mood, or atmosphere you want to have in your novel. This will partially be determined by the type of novel you want to write. For example, if you are writing an elementary age book like Junie B. Jones, you probably don’t want to make the story too dark or scary. Dark and scary would work for an adult horror novel or a young adult dystopian future novel, however. Imagine what type of music would be playing in the background of a movie based on your novel.

 

What Are Your Bringing To Writing The Novel?

If you are writing a story about Dracula, which type of novel is it going to be? Is Dracula the main character who leads a tragic life in the modern world? Is Dracula the villain who the hero in your story has to overcome? If you are writing a dystopian future, how is the future messed up an how will the hero try to fix it? You will need something new to set your novel apart from all the other novels out there.

This is why you might want to consider telling a story with a twist. How many movies have you seen where something happened to the good guy, such as a family member being killed or kidnapped? The hero then went to get the family member back or to get revenge. Instead of this, you need to do something to make your story stick out. If you are writing about Peter Pan, are you making him an adult, such as in the movie Hook? Maybe you are telling the story of a Lost Boy named Hook who Peter Pan tried to “thin” when he got too old.

 

What If I Don’t Have A Twist In My Novel?

If you don’t have such a twist, that is fine, as long as you have something to bring to the table. For instance, Harry Potter is the child of destiny who must kill or be killed by the evil villain. Nothing new there. However, J.K. Rowling created a fantasy world full wonder and magic so vividly that some people now play a new sport which was created in the novels. If you don’t have a twist or something new, be careful not to fall into a copycat novel. Do something a little different.

 

Beginning To Write Your Novel

Now that you have thought about some of the considerations you need to think about before writing, you can actually begin. Start by writing a sentence about what you have decided about your novel so far, such as, “I am writing a light-hearted comedy for middle school student about the adventures of a superhero and sidekick who are too old and should retire.” 

If you need an example of an outline for your novel, you might want to look at the Magic Mirror writing prompts. They follow the hero’s journey, which forms the basis of most novels.