How to Start Writing a Novel 3 Key Elements a Novel Needs to Succeed

How to Start Writing a Novel 3 Key Elements a Novel Needs to Succeed How to Start Writing a Novel: 3 Key Elements a Novel Needs to Succeed Want to write a compelling, dramatic story?One that draws readers in, takes them on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and thrills,  then leaves them hungry for you to publish your next book, and your next, and your next?If so, then I have good news:With the right understanding of story structure, I believe anyone is capable of writing an amazing story.Yes, that includes you.And the key to making this process as easy and natural as possible is to start every novel with a good story foundation.This is where most new writers struggle. Either they have trouble getting their story off the ground, or they can get it off the ground, but it nosedives partway through the book.Either way, the cause is the same: they didn’t start their book from a good story foundation.In other words, they were missing one or more of thethree critical elements that every novel needs to succeed. I call these foundational elements, â€Å"The Story Foundation Trifecta.†Let’s talk about itNOT E: We cover everything in this blog post and much more about the writing, marketing, and publishing process in our VIP Fiction Self-Publishing Program. Learn more about it hereHow to Start Writing a Novel for BeginnersIf youre new to the world of writing, its really easy to get overwhelmed. Its normal to feel that way. Youve never done this before and its a major task to learn how to write a book.What advice do you listen to?How will you even sift through all of the ideas you have?What steps do you actually need to take to start writing a novel?The best part about being a beginner is that you  can  only  make  progress. Theres really nowhere else for you to go but up.The tricky thing, however, is knowing how to get started. After all, that step is the most important, but also the most difficult.These are among the first things you have to do in order to start writing a book as a beginner:#1 Choose a book idea to write aboutIf youre ready to write a book, chances are you hav e more than a single idea in mind thats just how the minds of creatives like yourself work.But how do you choose which to write and which to save for later?The good news is that any and all of your book ideas can get written, its just a matter of choosing which goes first.These are a few questions I like to ask myself when it comes to deciding which idea to start next:Which do you find yourself thinking about most often?Which has a theme/message that means the most to you?Which do you have the most content developed for?Which will be the fastest to write?Once you have an idea in mind that fulfills these questions, youll know that that is the one to write about.Essentailly, in order to choose a book idea, think about which one youre most passionate and excited about. #2 Start your mindmap and outlineOutlining is necessary no matter what type of book youre reading. Even if you think youre the type to write by the seat of your pants, an outline of some sort will come in handy.Even St ephen King has the end of his stories in mind and a few plot points along the way, and he self-identifies as a pantzer, or someone who writes by the seat of ones pants.Now this does NOT mean you have to go through every single part of your story and create a step-by-step outline of everything that will happen.You can do that, but you don’t have to.Generally speaking, there are two kinds of writers out there:Plotters (like James Patterson)Pantzers (like Stephen King)Plotters are people who like to plot their stories in advance, while pantzers are people who don’t- they â€Å"fly by the seat of their pants,† coming up with their story ideas on the fly.You might think that outlining is only important for plottersbut actually, that’s not the case. EVERY writer needs to come up with at least a basic outline before they start writing.Even Stephen King, the most well-known pantzer out there, has admitted that he writes his stories with an end in mind.Knowing whe re your story is going can help you develop the plot to be more complex, exciting, and allow you to hide foreshadowing within the book.This will help you craft your twists to be even harder to see coming something all bookworms love.We have complete guides for learning how to fill out a mindmap and then complete an outline based on it. Check those out before moving on to the nexts steps because its essential to have those details done first.#3 Consider how long you want your book to beThis is also the stage in which you figure out if youll be writing a standalone (a single book) or a series (2 + novels of the same storyline).But first, how long do you want this book to be? Some authors will tell you to just write as much as is needed, but its often a good idea to know your baseline so you can stay on track.This is a table of the average word count for different types of novels to help you get an idea for what to shoot for:Type of WritingWord CountPages in a Typical BookExampleShor t story100 - 15,0001 - 24 pages"The Gift of the Magi" by O. HenryNovella30,000 - 60,000100 - 200 pages"A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony BurgessNovel60,000 - 100,000200 - 350 pages"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone": by JK RowlingEpic Novel120,00 - 220,000+400 - 750+ pages"Game of Thrones" by George R.R. MartinOnce you have an idea as to how long you want your book to be, you can better plan out each chapters length and formulate a writing schedule that will allow you to make real progress.How to Start Writing a Novel with the Story Foundation TrifectaFirst off, what IS the Story Foundation Trifecta?It’s a combination of  three things:An interesting premiseA sympathetic heroA clear compelling â€Å"A-story†As you’re about to learn, these are the most critical and fundamental pieces to any successful story. As long as you have these three things in place, your story is bound to be engaging and entertaining.In the rest of this post, I’ll explain what th ese things are and how you can improve these elements in your story idea. And to help you understand, I’ll be using examples from well-known stories such as The Hunger Games, The Matrix, and my own series GoneGod World.Foundation #1: An Interesting PremiseYour premise is the foundation of your plot. The collection of situations or presuppositions that make up your story world.That sounds complicated, so let’s put it in simpler terms:Your premise consists of 2-3 seemingly unconnected ideas that have been meshed together to make something truly unique.If you analyze really popular stories like The Hunger Games and The Matrix, you’ll realize they have great premises. And that’s a big part of the reason why they were so successful.So how do you come up with an awesome premise of your own?One common method is to use the â€Å"What If† technique. Here’s how that might look using The Hunger Games as an example:The Hunger Games: What if, sometime in the future, there is a society which demands children must fight to the death once a year?Immediately, the premise opens up a hundred other questions that your story may or may not answer. What happened to create this world and contest? Why children? What happens to the victors? Your story may not answer all of these questions, and certainly Suzanne Collins – the author of The Hunger Games – doesn’t answer all of them.See how that works? You take a few different ideas and combine them. See how they might fit together.In this case the premise is using the familiar idea of a gladiator storybut it’s mish-mashing that concept by having the gladiators be children.Then when you throw in a couple extra elements, likeSetting the story in the futureIncluding a love-triangle with the main characterHaving a power struggle behind the scenes only the audience knows aboutyou end up with a really great premise for a story.Here’s another example:The Matrix: What if reality isn’t what we think it is, and in fact we’re all connected to computers as human batteries for the robot world?Here we’re taking the idea â€Å"reality isn’t what you think it is† and mashing it together with â€Å"we’re human batteries connected to computers.†These are cool ideas on their own. But when you put them together, they become something really fascinating. With a premise like this, is it any wonder why The Matrix was so successful?And here’s one more example, from my series of books:GoneGod World: What if all the gods are gone, and when they leave they force all their denizens to go to earth?Here I’ve combined the ideas of â€Å"divine creatures† and â€Å"refugees† to create a unique story premise out oftwo familiar ideas.In this story, every sort of magical creature you can think of- dragons, faeries, etc.- is forced to become a refugee on earth. As you can imagine, this opens up all kinds of possibilities for interesting storylines and conflicts.So that’s foundation #1 of the Story Foundation Trifecta: create an interesting premise. Now it’s your turn:How to Start Writing a Book Action Step:Take a look at your favorite stories and identify their premise. Turn those premises into â€Å"What if† statements.Bonus: Among the premises that you have identified, see if you can alter them slightly to turn them into something completely unique.Challenge: Create 3 to 5 premise statements of your own, statements that ultimately create world, you’d love to write in.You’ll be surprised at how quickly you start cranking out really unique story premises.Foundation #2: A Sympathetic HeroFoundation #1 focuses on your plot. It’s a big-picture statement of what happens in your story.But remember, stories don’t just happen by themselves. They happen to characters- to people. To human beings. (And sometimes, to elves and aliens.)At the heart of every story is a hero who strives to meet an important goal. And the more your audience can understand and identify with that hero, the more likely they are to become engrossed by your story.Now when you’re creating your hero, the  three  most important things to figure out are your hero’s:Key traitsOuter journeyInner journeyâ€Å"Key traits† refer to your character’s distinguishing features. Is your hero:Brave?Intelligent?Beautiful?Charming?Underhanded?Strong as an ox?Your character’s journey refers to the challenges they will be forced to overcome throughout the story. And we break that journey up into inner and outer journeys.A few examples:The Hunger Games: Katniss’s outer journey is to survive the games. Her inner journey is to mature as an individual, to let other people in, and to learn to accept help from others.The Matrix: Neo’s outer journey is to defeat Agent Smith and the robot forces enslaving humanity in side the Matrix. His inner journey is to believe in himself and accept that he’s the only one capable of saving the human race.Make sense? Great. Now go figure out who your hero is, give them a few key traits, and most importantly decide on their inner and outer journey. Then when you’ve completed that, you’re ready to move forFoundation #3: A Clear Compelling â€Å"A-Story†Once you know your story’s premise and have identified your hero, your next step is to use those 2 elements to create your â€Å"A-story.†Loosely defined, your A-story is the main storyline in your novel. It’s the one story we need to see resolved in order for us to put down your book and feel satisfied at the end.Your book can have multiple storylines- maybe you have a romance subplot, for example- but your A-story is the main story. The big problem that gets resolved at the end. The big problem that gets resolved at the end.In most cases, your A-story is going t o be the same as your hero’s outer journey. In The Hunger Games, for example, the A-story is Katniss’ trial to survive the games.But your A-story can also tie into your hero’s inner journey. In The Matrix, the A-story deals in part with Neo’s struggle to believe in himself and become â€Å"the one.†Here are some common A-stories for different genres to think about when you start writing a book:Sci-fi: Repel the alien invasionAction: Get revenge on the bad guysRomance: Finally succumb to the love of your lifeIt’s important to know your A-story. This is the storyline that you need to focus on, to keep coming back to. This is the major conflict of your story, so don’t lose sight of it.Exercise: Identifytwo or three unique A-stories that fit could each premise. Spend a few minutes contemplating how the premise and the A-story work together. (And also relish is how your A-story is better than the original 😊.)Bonus: Could you alter o ne of the premises to fit with your own unique A-story? If so, you very well may have the a kickass story on your hands!Challenge: Now that you have defined your premise in step one, identify 2-3A-stories that could work within that premise statement.How to Start Writing a Book Action Step:Identify two or three unique A-stories that fit could each premise. Spend a few minutes contemplating how the premise and the A-story work together. (And also relish is how your A-story is better than the original)Bonus: Could you alter one of the premises to fit with your own unique A-story? If so, you very well may have the a kickass story on your hands!Challenge: Now that you have defined your premise in step one, identify 2-3 A-stories that could work within that premise statement.You Know Your A-StoryNow, What’s Next?OK, so you’ve gone through the Story Foundation Trifecta and figured out your premise, hero, and A-story. What should you do next?Sign up for your free training to guide you through this process with more detailIts not enough to just read about it. What you need is someone whos done it before to take you through this process step by step.When it comes to fiction, those with experience are those who thrive and we should all learn from someone who know what theyre doing because if we can bypass all the mess of starting to write a book, we should.