Writerly Advice--how to start a new novel

HOW TO START A NOVEL

Starting a new novel can be intimidating, especially if you’ve never written one before. What can be even worse is when you get conflicting advice—“you can’t do this,” or, “you must do that.” It’s enough to make anyone freeze up and freak out (myself included!).

So, I’ll preface this loooong post by saying, anything mentioned in here is just MY OPINION ONLY. In fact, I don’t even do these for every book I write, so there! Variety exists even within an author’s own working style. I’m sure you’ve all figured this out by now, though.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go through a few different methods of how to come up with book ideas, just in case you’re not sure what you want to write yet:

1—use events that happen in your life (or to someone you know) and make them over-the-top (and also unrecognizable as much as possible, if it happened to someone else, LOL). I did this with my first YA, Nibbling Nirvana, where the girl dies while eating a pulled pork sandwich and has to accomplish certain deeds to get into heaven. Here's how that one came about--I was at a restaurant, minding my own beeswax and eating a pulled pork sandwich, when a chunk lodged in my throat. I almost blacked out, but managed to hack the piece out just in time. The incident didn’t leave me, and I thought, WHAT IF I had died, but God wouldn’t let me into heaven yet? The “what-if” question helped me take this incident and push it over the top to make it more high-concept.

2—look at an old story and see how to revamp it in a new, refreshing way that makes it all yours. Fairy tales are great fodder for material, as they can be revamped quite nicely. People do this with Jane Austen's material, as well—the movie Clueless was a remake of Emma, a Jane Austen novel. Bridget Jones’ Diary was a “remake” of Pride and Prejudice. Cinderfella (remember this classic movie starring Jerry Lewis?) was an obvious remake of the fairy tale Cinderella. Figure out how you can put interesting twists on the story, though setting/era changes, different characters, fun plot twists, etc.

NOTE--respect copyright laws and DO NOT plagiarize someone else's material, characters, etc! I'm not an attorney and cannot offer any advice, but make sure you're familiar with all the legal aspects of being a writer. This is vital!

3—take a familiar story (e.g., like we talked about in #2), and set it in a VERY different locale to mix things up. E.g., what if you took the general story of Titanic and set it on Mars, 2000 years in the future? Or what about taking The Lord of the Rings and setting it in urban New York? Instantly putting a story in a different locale is going to open up new opportunities for you to make a story that's all your own.

4—the mixed-movie idea can be a WONDERFUL tool for brainstorming quick, high-concept ideas. Movies naturally have those great, over-the-top ideas, and finding weird blends of them can supercharge your brainstorming! The crazier the blend, the better to force you to think creatively of how to make them work. E.g., what if you mixed the movie The Shining with Spiderman? Now there’s a weird combination for you...LOL

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Once you have your idea, you can start developing it and ensuring that it's uniquely yours. One thing I do is go to Amazon.com to see what books have been written that are like this story, and also to make sure mine is different enough. You can do keyword searches to help you navigate through.

Okay, let’s say by now, you know a general idea of what you want to write. You’ve figured out the genre, but you don’t know how to figure out what’s the right length, or what publishers want to acquire. Here are some tips:

--A full-length adult manuscript should be approx. 300 to 400 double-spaced pages (75k to 100k words).

--A full-length young adult manuscript will generally run 180 to 300 double-spaced pages (45k to 75k).

Courier New size 12 is a commonly used font in publishing, but I've recently started using Times New Roman 12 at my editor's request. Using this font means I have to write more to fill up a page (courier new is fixed, so each character has the same space; TNR is not), but I think some editors/agents are leaning away from Courier now. So, it's up to you--you can always ask if you're in doubt!

And some publishers, in fact, are going by exact computer word count only, so what font you use is irrelevant. haha

NOTE: Don’t go by what you see printed in books, because each book varies in # of lines, page size, font style, etc!

Publishers often list word count on their submission pages, so if you have specific publishers in mind, you can even check out what they’re looking for. If you’re searching for an agent first, just make sure your manuscript falls around that range I listed above (and yes, there are exceptions to EVERY rule--these aren't set in stone).

Some people like to plan where a book is going to be submitted before or while they’re writing it, just so they make sure they hit that publisher's requirements during the drafting/revising stages.

NOTE--if you’re looking to sub directly to adult romance publishers, here’s a great website that compiles submission information for most of the big romance publishers. I HIGHLY recommend checking it out! http://www.karenafox.com/publishers.htm

MANY publishers only take agented material, or material they’ve requested from conferences. Just be aware that you may hit the slush pile because of being unagented if you do your own submissions (that doesn’t mean it won’t sell, though!!).

NOTE—Karen Fox’s website also has a page called “Show Me the Money”, where she shows how much authors who contributed to the survey have made for each romance publisher. Check it out! http://www.karenafox.com/money.htm

Also, one quick note—it’s tempting to write to the current market trends, but make sure: #1, it’s actually the story YOU want to tell, and #2, you don’t just chase trends. Your story needs to be good enough that it can sell even if a trend tanks (and they do!!!), so make sure you write a killer story.

NOTE--if you’re looking to sub directly to agents first, there are several good reference sites on my website -- http://www.rhondastapleton.com/goodies.htm

Lots of agents and publishers are jumping on the bandwagon and blogging. This is a FANTASTIC way to get the latest news, trends, and info. If you don’t read industry blogs, you really should. You can google for them, but here are a few (this is a mixed bag):

Publisher blogs:
http://avonromanceblog.blogspot.com/ (Avon)
http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/ (Cheryl Klein--she’s a children/YA editor)
http://isabelswift.blogspot.com/ (Isabel Swift—I think she’s a Harlequin editor?)
http://redlinesanddeadlines.blogspot.com/ (Ellora’s Cave)
http://samhainpublishing.com/blog/ (Samhain)
http://paranormalromanceblog.wordpress.com/ (Harlequin Paranormal Romance)

Agent blogs:
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/ (BookEnds)
http://arcaedia.livejournal.com/ (Jennifer Jackson)
http://knightagency.blogspot.com/ (The Knight Agency)
http://litsoup.blogspot.com/ (Jenny Rappaport)
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/ (Kristen Nelson)
http://nephele.livejournal.com/ (Nephele Tempest)

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Now, you have your story idea, you’ve researched the publishers or agents, and also have checked out the market to see what kinds of stories are hot right now. What’s next is to actually do your story!

You can “pants” away if that’s the way you work (which is where you just sit down and write, letting it flow out of you organically). Or, if you’re like me, you need to plot it, whether it’s just a little or a lot.

A couple of different ways to plot:

1—figure out the beginning and the end, and then just write your way to the finish line. Some people also do this, but use the end to help them plot backwards and see how they got there (think like "Memento", the movie—if you haven’t seen it, check it out! Basically, you plot each scene backwards from the end to the beginning).

2—figure out each major plot point (e.g., approx. one major point each ¼ of the story—so you’ll usually have 3). This divides your book up into segments, making it easier to plot and less overwhelming to work on. E.g., if you write a 300-page story, you’re going to have plot twists happening around pages 75, 150, and 225. This can help you feel a little more like it’s not so massive and intimidating—you figure out the three big events you want to happen in your story, then slowly build each segment towards those events. It's easier to manage 3 75-page chunks than 300 pages sometimes.

Now, have at it! If you have any additional tips for starting a novel, I'd love to hear them. Thanks for reading this entry!