By Dennis Mellersh
It’s not very often that you will see a major, mainstream book publisher actively seeking and encouraging even beginner authors to write novels for them. But that appears to be the case with Harlequin (Harlequin Enterprises Limited), which has a significant section of its website titled Write for Us.
Specifically, Harlequin says it is looking for writers to author romance novels, and provides detailed instructions in all phases of the writing and submission process. This section of Harlequin’s website has two main sections; Learn to Write, and Writing for Harlequin.
Here’s a sample of the articles on the site that could help new writers both learn to write a romance novel and also learn how to submit their finished manuscripts to Harlequin for consideration for possible publication:
Learn to Write
Articles
Get Out and Stay Out…of the Slush Pile
Writing the Dreaded Synopsis
Learning to Rewrite
Do-it-Yourself Editing
Proofreaders' Marks
How to Write the Perfect Romance!
Glossary of Terms for the Romance Novel Novice
Writing for Harlequin
Guidelines
Writing Guidelines
Manuscript Format Guidelines
How to Submit a Novel
List of Editorial Office Addresses
Frequently Asked Editorial Questions
Submission Samples
Quick Query Letter Checklist
I read most of these articles and found they contained much worthwhile information, not just for aspiring romance novel writers, but for anyone interested in learning more about how to write, and how to write a novel. Remember though as you go through the material that the specific emphasis is on how to write a romance novel.
If you review the other sections of the Harlequin site, you can get a good idea of what’s involved in the overall romance novel market.
Here’s a link to the section on the Harlequin website:
http://www.harlequin.com/store.html?cid=535
Or go to Google and type in: harlequin write for us – the first item on page 1 of the Google page returns links to that section of the Harlequin website.
Showing posts with label How to Write a Novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How to Write a Novel. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
How detailed should you make your book’s outline?
By Dennis Mellersh
In figuring out how to write the outline for your book, you need to strike a careful balance between too much and too little in terms of the detail of your outline or writing “blueprint.”
If your outline is too extensive, for example, you might expend a lot of your creative writing energy on the outline instead of on your book.
Too sparse an outline on the other hand might result in you not having enough signposts to keep you on track and going in the right direction.
The nature of your outline will also depend on whether you are writing a book of fiction or non-fiction*. In this article we’ll look at creating an outline for a novel.
Numerous established novelists say that they do not make detailed outlines because it would hamper their creativity is they move along in the writing of their books.
I have heard such novelists say that their characters speak to them and in effect write the words for them. In such a case over-planning would inhibit the spontaneity of the writing. Similarly, the development of the plot and subplots will usually be driven by the actions of the novel’s characters, and often, these actions cannot be planned in advance if they are to appear believable, and not contrived.
Writing a work of fiction is by its nature a creative process and the development of ideas is ongoing and dynamic; it can’t be completely planned at the outset of writing the outline, nor perhaps, should it be.
Wrriting fiction is an organic process and for many novelists, writing an extensive and restrictive outline would reduce the actual writing to a formula or pattern, which would severely limit the writer’s creativity.
There are always exceptions of course, but generally, to keep the writing of a novel alive it should be spontaneous and not be bound to a preconceived “roadmap.”
The basic plot can be outlined and the main characters can have their personalities outlined (such as what motivates them); background and physical characteristics can also be roughly drawn in an outline; and the main conflicts in the novel can be established in your overall planning.
But for the most part, don’t over-plan. You’ll have a lot more fun writing your novel if you if you literally make it up as you go along. That’s really what creative writing is all about.
However, if you are only comfortable writing a detailed outline, you should do so. Just make sure that is like a battle plan which you can change and adapt as you move along in the exciting creative process of composing your novel.
Detailed blueprints are for building houses, not for creative writing such as novels.
*Note: Writing the outline for a non-fiction book is a somewhat different process which I plan to discuss in an upcoming article.
In figuring out how to write the outline for your book, you need to strike a careful balance between too much and too little in terms of the detail of your outline or writing “blueprint.”
If your outline is too extensive, for example, you might expend a lot of your creative writing energy on the outline instead of on your book.
Too sparse an outline on the other hand might result in you not having enough signposts to keep you on track and going in the right direction.
The nature of your outline will also depend on whether you are writing a book of fiction or non-fiction*. In this article we’ll look at creating an outline for a novel.
Numerous established novelists say that they do not make detailed outlines because it would hamper their creativity is they move along in the writing of their books.
- They want the characters to develop on the fly
- They want their characters to develop in ways that are unplanned
- They want the plot to take unexpected turns
I have heard such novelists say that their characters speak to them and in effect write the words for them. In such a case over-planning would inhibit the spontaneity of the writing. Similarly, the development of the plot and subplots will usually be driven by the actions of the novel’s characters, and often, these actions cannot be planned in advance if they are to appear believable, and not contrived.
Writing a work of fiction is by its nature a creative process and the development of ideas is ongoing and dynamic; it can’t be completely planned at the outset of writing the outline, nor perhaps, should it be.
Wrriting fiction is an organic process and for many novelists, writing an extensive and restrictive outline would reduce the actual writing to a formula or pattern, which would severely limit the writer’s creativity.
There are always exceptions of course, but generally, to keep the writing of a novel alive it should be spontaneous and not be bound to a preconceived “roadmap.”
The basic plot can be outlined and the main characters can have their personalities outlined (such as what motivates them); background and physical characteristics can also be roughly drawn in an outline; and the main conflicts in the novel can be established in your overall planning.
But for the most part, don’t over-plan. You’ll have a lot more fun writing your novel if you if you literally make it up as you go along. That’s really what creative writing is all about.
However, if you are only comfortable writing a detailed outline, you should do so. Just make sure that is like a battle plan which you can change and adapt as you move along in the exciting creative process of composing your novel.
Detailed blueprints are for building houses, not for creative writing such as novels.
*Note: Writing the outline for a non-fiction book is a somewhat different process which I plan to discuss in an upcoming article.
How much rewriting will your novel need?
By Dennis Mellersh
The amount of re-writing or revision your novel will need doesn’t necessarily depend on your writing methods and practices.
It’s more a matter of deciding when and how you want to edit, polish, or revise rather than any particular writing method necessarily resulting in a need for more editing and revising than a different writing method.
Some experienced writers recommend, for example, that beginner writers should write quickly, and “get it down”, not stopping to ‘over-think’ or over-polish their words as they go. The idea is that by doing this, the writing will be more alive, fresh, and passionate.
Some established writers feel that in addition this approach keeps the plot and character development moving along more quickly.
In this writing method, you might not edit at the end of your composing day, and the next day you do the same thing; you again write quickly, getting your ideas down before they start to fade.
If as a new writer you take this approach every day and don’t take any time before your manuscript is completed to edit and revise, you are going to be faced with a big editing and possibly rewriting challenge that has to be done all at once when you complete your first draft.
If on the other hand, you write carefully, weighing each word and sentence, and then edit and revise at the end of each day of day, you will obviously have less editing and rewriting to do all at once when the first draft of your novel’s manuscript is complete.
In looking at the two methods, writing quickly and not revising each day, or writing more carefully, and revising as you go, it’s difficult to say which method would require the most overall or total revision time.
Most probably the time involved with each approach would be roughly equal.
So, it’s more a matter of making a personal choice based on your comfort zone and which method you feel best brings out your creativity gets your novel’s message out in a way that will interest your potential readers.
The amount of re-writing or revision your novel will need doesn’t necessarily depend on your writing methods and practices.
It’s more a matter of deciding when and how you want to edit, polish, or revise rather than any particular writing method necessarily resulting in a need for more editing and revising than a different writing method.
Some experienced writers recommend, for example, that beginner writers should write quickly, and “get it down”, not stopping to ‘over-think’ or over-polish their words as they go. The idea is that by doing this, the writing will be more alive, fresh, and passionate.
Some established writers feel that in addition this approach keeps the plot and character development moving along more quickly.
In this writing method, you might not edit at the end of your composing day, and the next day you do the same thing; you again write quickly, getting your ideas down before they start to fade.
If as a new writer you take this approach every day and don’t take any time before your manuscript is completed to edit and revise, you are going to be faced with a big editing and possibly rewriting challenge that has to be done all at once when you complete your first draft.
If on the other hand, you write carefully, weighing each word and sentence, and then edit and revise at the end of each day of day, you will obviously have less editing and rewriting to do all at once when the first draft of your novel’s manuscript is complete.
In looking at the two methods, writing quickly and not revising each day, or writing more carefully, and revising as you go, it’s difficult to say which method would require the most overall or total revision time.
Most probably the time involved with each approach would be roughly equal.
So, it’s more a matter of making a personal choice based on your comfort zone and which method you feel best brings out your creativity gets your novel’s message out in a way that will interest your potential readers.
Write 250 words a day and you will soon have a novel
By Dennis Mellersh
One of the best ways to improve your writing, and to reach your goal of writing a novel, is to discipline yourself to write something every day.
Writing every day has two main benefits:
(1) Becoming a writer takes practice, and by working on your writing every day you keep your creative juices flowing and you establish a rhythm of creativity
(2) By writing a specific amount each day, such as on your planned novel, you will be surprised how quickly you will have composed a book
Few of us are born with a natural talent that would allow us, without any training, discipline or practice, to simply sit down and write a good novel straight off.
For the vast majority of people interested in writing a book of fiction, learning to write is an ongoing process of absorbing techniques and putting those techniques to work in our writing.
Writing something creative every day is the way to achieve this. You perfect your art by practicing it every day.
With the average length of a novel ranging from about 60,000 to 100,000 words, it can seem an overwhelming challenge. They key to meeting this challenge is to break it down into bite-size tasks.
By writing 150 words every day, you can write almost 55,000 words a year
By writing 200 words a day you can write 73,000 words a year
By writing 250 words a day you can write more than 90,000 words a year.
Do the math if you want to reach your goal sooner.
So, set a word count for your daily writing goal and stick to it. Before you know it you will have a completed the first draft of your manuscript.
One of the best ways to improve your writing, and to reach your goal of writing a novel, is to discipline yourself to write something every day.
Writing every day has two main benefits:
(1) Becoming a writer takes practice, and by working on your writing every day you keep your creative juices flowing and you establish a rhythm of creativity
(2) By writing a specific amount each day, such as on your planned novel, you will be surprised how quickly you will have composed a book
Few of us are born with a natural talent that would allow us, without any training, discipline or practice, to simply sit down and write a good novel straight off.
For the vast majority of people interested in writing a book of fiction, learning to write is an ongoing process of absorbing techniques and putting those techniques to work in our writing.
Writing something creative every day is the way to achieve this. You perfect your art by practicing it every day.
With the average length of a novel ranging from about 60,000 to 100,000 words, it can seem an overwhelming challenge. They key to meeting this challenge is to break it down into bite-size tasks.
By writing 150 words every day, you can write almost 55,000 words a year
By writing 200 words a day you can write 73,000 words a year
By writing 250 words a day you can write more than 90,000 words a year.
Do the math if you want to reach your goal sooner.
So, set a word count for your daily writing goal and stick to it. Before you know it you will have a completed the first draft of your manuscript.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Use action, not “telling” in developing your novel’s characters
By Dennis Mellersh
In learning how to write a novel, the art of character development is a skill you will need to acquire.
Although many books on writing techniques have been published on this literary topic, there are a few main points on character development to keep in mind when you are in the early stages of the learning to write process.
As best as you can, try to develop the personality of your characters through the actions they take in your novel, rather than through non-dialogue or non-action description.
You don’t want to tell the reader that a particular character is mean or evil, for example; you want to show it by the character’s actions.
Sometimes you may need to use purely descriptive prose to portray the physical features of a character, such as the color of their eyes, but to show their personality, do it through the action of your novel.
Here’s a too-obvious example: (“name of your character) roughly pushed his wife out of the way.”
Or, “It wasn’t the first time that (name of your character) had insulted his wife in front of their friends.”
Overly simple, but you get the idea. It builds a descriptive image of the character without simply telling/saying that he was rude and abusive.
And, even with prose description you can find ways to add action and avoid just “telling.”
Here are a few oversimplified examples:
“As he walked quickly through the doorway, (name of your character) had to duck to avoid hitting his head.” (Conveys that the character is tall without just saying he is tall.)
“(Name of your character) took her wrinkled slacks and blouse out of the laundry basket and dressed quickly.” (Describes how she looked without simply saying her clothing was wrinkled.)
“(Name of your character) looked in the mirror and was shocked at how bloodshot her eyes were.” (Better than “Her eyes were bloodshot”)
Overall, by using the more indirect or oblique methods of developing a character such as through action or action-oriented description, it leaves more up to the imagination of your readers and will help get them more involved in your novel.
In learning how to write a novel, the art of character development is a skill you will need to acquire.
Although many books on writing techniques have been published on this literary topic, there are a few main points on character development to keep in mind when you are in the early stages of the learning to write process.
As best as you can, try to develop the personality of your characters through the actions they take in your novel, rather than through non-dialogue or non-action description.
You don’t want to tell the reader that a particular character is mean or evil, for example; you want to show it by the character’s actions.
Sometimes you may need to use purely descriptive prose to portray the physical features of a character, such as the color of their eyes, but to show their personality, do it through the action of your novel.
Here’s a too-obvious example: (“name of your character) roughly pushed his wife out of the way.”
Or, “It wasn’t the first time that (name of your character) had insulted his wife in front of their friends.”
Overly simple, but you get the idea. It builds a descriptive image of the character without simply telling/saying that he was rude and abusive.
And, even with prose description you can find ways to add action and avoid just “telling.”
Here are a few oversimplified examples:
“As he walked quickly through the doorway, (name of your character) had to duck to avoid hitting his head.” (Conveys that the character is tall without just saying he is tall.)
“(Name of your character) took her wrinkled slacks and blouse out of the laundry basket and dressed quickly.” (Describes how she looked without simply saying her clothing was wrinkled.)
“(Name of your character) looked in the mirror and was shocked at how bloodshot her eyes were.” (Better than “Her eyes were bloodshot”)
Overall, by using the more indirect or oblique methods of developing a character such as through action or action-oriented description, it leaves more up to the imagination of your readers and will help get them more involved in your novel.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Too much descriptive detail can hurt your novel’s power
By Dennis Mellersh
Sometimes when you are in the process of writing a book, such as a novel, it can be a temptation to include virtually everything you know, everything your research has uncovered.
To include too much descriptive detail, however, can weaken your book.
By compressing your knowledge and by leaving out some of the details that you would like to include, the writing in your book can become more powerful and compelling.
If you read book reviews and commentary (which you should be doing as part of your program of learning to write a book) you will find that reviewers sometimes criticise writers for including so much detail in their books that they become tedious, boring even – “more than I ever wanted to know.”
For example, if you are writing a novel with the action centered on a specific locale or a geographical area you are familiar with, too much descriptive detail about that location can take away from the strength of the action and the flow of the plot in your book.
Overuse of description, with detail piled upon detail, can also detract or interfere with the imaginative powers of your reader. You need enough detail in your novel to give the reader an appreciation of the surroundings in which the action takes place, but not so much that it slows down the action and plot development.
Most of us have had the experience of reading a novel loaded more detail than we want, and the result is that we find ourselves flipping pages, or reading them cursorily so we can get to where the action picks up again.
This is one reason that movies based on books often seem to move along much quicker than the books they are based on. Instead of page after page of descriptive detail, such as in a novel describing scenes where the action takes place, a movie can show these elements visually and quickly , and they are equally quickly absorbed by the viewer.
It is the quality of compression that will add strength to your novel. Although you have detailed knowledge, gained through either first-hand experience or extensive research, you will need to discipline your writing to include only the essential elements that enhance your novel’s action.
Ernest Hemmingway was noted for conciseness of dialogue and description in his novel writing, yet it was this brevity that gave his writing power. His novels are not considered long, short even, yet they are memorable, and the images his novels created in our imagination stick in our minds.
Here’s how Hemmingway once described what we might call the power of leaving things out, or the power of less being more:
“If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.”
Sometimes when you are in the process of writing a book, such as a novel, it can be a temptation to include virtually everything you know, everything your research has uncovered.
To include too much descriptive detail, however, can weaken your book.
By compressing your knowledge and by leaving out some of the details that you would like to include, the writing in your book can become more powerful and compelling.
If you read book reviews and commentary (which you should be doing as part of your program of learning to write a book) you will find that reviewers sometimes criticise writers for including so much detail in their books that they become tedious, boring even – “more than I ever wanted to know.”
For example, if you are writing a novel with the action centered on a specific locale or a geographical area you are familiar with, too much descriptive detail about that location can take away from the strength of the action and the flow of the plot in your book.
Overuse of description, with detail piled upon detail, can also detract or interfere with the imaginative powers of your reader. You need enough detail in your novel to give the reader an appreciation of the surroundings in which the action takes place, but not so much that it slows down the action and plot development.
Most of us have had the experience of reading a novel loaded more detail than we want, and the result is that we find ourselves flipping pages, or reading them cursorily so we can get to where the action picks up again.
This is one reason that movies based on books often seem to move along much quicker than the books they are based on. Instead of page after page of descriptive detail, such as in a novel describing scenes where the action takes place, a movie can show these elements visually and quickly , and they are equally quickly absorbed by the viewer.
It is the quality of compression that will add strength to your novel. Although you have detailed knowledge, gained through either first-hand experience or extensive research, you will need to discipline your writing to include only the essential elements that enhance your novel’s action.
Ernest Hemmingway was noted for conciseness of dialogue and description in his novel writing, yet it was this brevity that gave his writing power. His novels are not considered long, short even, yet they are memorable, and the images his novels created in our imagination stick in our minds.
Here’s how Hemmingway once described what we might call the power of leaving things out, or the power of less being more:
“If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.”
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Writing a novel? Some thoughts from James A. Michener
By Dennis Mellersh
If asked about how to learn about writing novels, many masters of the craft would probably tell you:
If you want to learn how to write a novel; read a lot of novels.
And not just good and excellent novels; read some average ones, and even bad ones. At least that’s the way famed and prolific novelist James A. Michener (1907-1997) says he learned how to hone his art.
Some of the novels he read were deceptively simple and he had to re-read them to understand how they were constructed so effectively. Other novels that he read were bad or mediocre, but Michener says he learned from those what not to do in his writing.
The excellent, outstanding, and more difficult novels, the classics, were the ones that Michener studied the most carefully. From these, he not only learned about the techniques of writing a novel, he also acquired a great deal of knowledge about life.
Here is what he had to say in his book, Literary Reflections:
“Over the decades I analyzed hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of the literary masters, near masters, and never-to-be masters, dissecting their styles and probing their techniques. What did they do to make their writing sing? What mistakes did they make which doomed them to failure? By this means I discovered elements which I could adopt to form my own style and technique or [which to] avoid…”
Michener is one of the most modest artists in the pantheon of famous wordsmiths and considers his art to be a learned craft, rather than being mystical or something in which he was gifted and which just came to him intuitively. He doesn’t believe in describing his vocation as something grand:
He simply says, “I am not an author, I am a writer.”
If asked about how to learn about writing novels, many masters of the craft would probably tell you:
If you want to learn how to write a novel; read a lot of novels.
And not just good and excellent novels; read some average ones, and even bad ones. At least that’s the way famed and prolific novelist James A. Michener (1907-1997) says he learned how to hone his art.
Some of the novels he read were deceptively simple and he had to re-read them to understand how they were constructed so effectively. Other novels that he read were bad or mediocre, but Michener says he learned from those what not to do in his writing.
The excellent, outstanding, and more difficult novels, the classics, were the ones that Michener studied the most carefully. From these, he not only learned about the techniques of writing a novel, he also acquired a great deal of knowledge about life.
Here is what he had to say in his book, Literary Reflections:
“Over the decades I analyzed hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of the literary masters, near masters, and never-to-be masters, dissecting their styles and probing their techniques. What did they do to make their writing sing? What mistakes did they make which doomed them to failure? By this means I discovered elements which I could adopt to form my own style and technique or [which to] avoid…”
Michener is one of the most modest artists in the pantheon of famous wordsmiths and considers his art to be a learned craft, rather than being mystical or something in which he was gifted and which just came to him intuitively. He doesn’t believe in describing his vocation as something grand:
He simply says, “I am not an author, I am a writer.”
Monday, February 18, 2013
Editing, rewriting, or even abandoning your novel
By Dennis Mellersh
It’s tough work learning how to write a novel
.
And it can be even more difficult to edit and rewrite passages that are not going well. But, you decide to keep writing to bring your novel to completion.
However, what can be the hardest decision for a novel writer is reaching that point in the writing when you realize that, for whatever reason, the thing just isn’t going to work, and you need to abandon it.
Such a situation is not ‘writer’s block.’
You were in a strong creative mood during the writing – you felt inspired.
And although the writing may have been difficult, you have made every effort possible to re-work your manuscript.
But it simply is not coming together. Should you now simply abandon it – let it go?
You are not alone in reaching this creative impasse
.
This point in the creative process is encountered by experienced novelists as well as beginners.
Shedding some light on this are the words of Thornton Wilder, who wrote the novels The Bridge of San Luis Ray; The Eighth Day; and Heaven’s my Destination.
.
Wilder was being interviewed by the Paris Review* and had just been asked by the interviewer: “Do you find that the writing of fiction is a painful and exhausting process, or do you write easily, quickly and joyously.”
Wilder answered as follows: “You see, my waste-paper basket is filled with works that went a quarter through and which turned out to be among those things that failed to engross the whole of me. And then for a while, there’s a very agonizing period of time in which I try to explore whether the work I’ve rejected cannot be reoriented in such a way as to absorb me. The decision to abandon it is hard.”
Wilder on another occasion made this point even more succinctly:
“An incinerator is a writer’s best friend.”
* Writers at Work, The Paris Review Interviews, The Viking Press, 1959, New York
It’s tough work learning how to write a novel
.
And it can be even more difficult to edit and rewrite passages that are not going well. But, you decide to keep writing to bring your novel to completion.
However, what can be the hardest decision for a novel writer is reaching that point in the writing when you realize that, for whatever reason, the thing just isn’t going to work, and you need to abandon it.
Such a situation is not ‘writer’s block.’
You were in a strong creative mood during the writing – you felt inspired.
And although the writing may have been difficult, you have made every effort possible to re-work your manuscript.
But it simply is not coming together. Should you now simply abandon it – let it go?
You are not alone in reaching this creative impasse
.
This point in the creative process is encountered by experienced novelists as well as beginners.
Shedding some light on this are the words of Thornton Wilder, who wrote the novels The Bridge of San Luis Ray; The Eighth Day; and Heaven’s my Destination.
.
Wilder was being interviewed by the Paris Review* and had just been asked by the interviewer: “Do you find that the writing of fiction is a painful and exhausting process, or do you write easily, quickly and joyously.”
Wilder answered as follows: “You see, my waste-paper basket is filled with works that went a quarter through and which turned out to be among those things that failed to engross the whole of me. And then for a while, there’s a very agonizing period of time in which I try to explore whether the work I’ve rejected cannot be reoriented in such a way as to absorb me. The decision to abandon it is hard.”
Wilder on another occasion made this point even more succinctly:
“An incinerator is a writer’s best friend.”
* Writers at Work, The Paris Review Interviews, The Viking Press, 1959, New York
If you want to write a novel, you should be keeping a notebook
By Dennis Mellersh
If you are taking steps to learn how to write a novel, many experts suggest there are important reasons why you should buy and write in a notebook on a regular basis.
Lou Willett Stanek, for example, in her book, So You want to write a Novel*, suggests, “If you’re serious about writing a novel, or any type of fiction, you should zip out to buy a notebook before you read any further. A writer never leaves home without one. Ideas pop up at the weirdest times and places but often don’t last any longer then soap bubbles.”
And, Stanek emphasises, “The first step in becoming a writer is always having your notebook within reach.”
As an aspiring novel writer, the importance of having a notebook handy can be illustrated by answering the following question:
How often have you thought of an interesting idea for you’re the novel you’re planning to write, only to have the idea vanish before you are able to write it down?
Likely very often.
And the same applies to anything interesting you observe as you go about your day that could be good material for you to use as a writer, in your novel or other material.
If you have your notebook handy, you can write the idea down immediately and then reference it later and perhaps expand on it.
It’s not always possible to determine when something interesting you come across could be used in your writing, so it’s best to write it down while the information and the desire to record it is still fresh.
So, keep your notebook and a pen handy when you are: reading the newspaper or a magazine, watching TV, browsing the Internet, listening to a Podcast, watching You Tube, or in any situation where you are taking in information.
* Lou Willett Stanek: So You Want to Write a Novel, 1994, Avon Books, New York.
If you are taking steps to learn how to write a novel, many experts suggest there are important reasons why you should buy and write in a notebook on a regular basis.
Lou Willett Stanek, for example, in her book, So You want to write a Novel*, suggests, “If you’re serious about writing a novel, or any type of fiction, you should zip out to buy a notebook before you read any further. A writer never leaves home without one. Ideas pop up at the weirdest times and places but often don’t last any longer then soap bubbles.”
And, Stanek emphasises, “The first step in becoming a writer is always having your notebook within reach.”
As an aspiring novel writer, the importance of having a notebook handy can be illustrated by answering the following question:
How often have you thought of an interesting idea for you’re the novel you’re planning to write, only to have the idea vanish before you are able to write it down?
Likely very often.
And the same applies to anything interesting you observe as you go about your day that could be good material for you to use as a writer, in your novel or other material.
If you have your notebook handy, you can write the idea down immediately and then reference it later and perhaps expand on it.
It’s not always possible to determine when something interesting you come across could be used in your writing, so it’s best to write it down while the information and the desire to record it is still fresh.
So, keep your notebook and a pen handy when you are: reading the newspaper or a magazine, watching TV, browsing the Internet, listening to a Podcast, watching You Tube, or in any situation where you are taking in information.
* Lou Willett Stanek: So You Want to Write a Novel, 1994, Avon Books, New York.
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