Writing a Novel: Understanding the Arc of the Story

Novels are funny things. If you do it just right, your readers will be hooked from the opening line. They'll continue reading just to find out what happens next. And they'll even forgive those minor errors that all writers make from time to time. But if you do it wrong, you'll find that your readers not only put down what they're reading, but they won't pick up something with your name on it ever again. And that was your career as a writer.

One of the ways to grab and keep a reader is by understanding the traditional arc of the story. Now, I'm not advocating that you adhere to this arc. But you should be aware of what it looks like so that you'll be able to tinker with the arc as you see fit. You don't want to be too traditional, after all. It could bore the readers you're trying in engage.

The arc of the story can be seen as an inverted "V" that's a little lopsided. You typically start your novel with your main character doing something that he or she does every day. Then something happens to disrupt that. Perhaps it's a result of something the character does or maybe it's some outside influence. Whatever. Something has to happen (unless you're writing a "Day in the Life" kind of story, which I personally find a little boring). So, something happens to disrupt the equilibrium and something has to be done to solve the problem that's cropped up. And so begins your arc, your climb up the long side of the inverted "V."

If you're writing a novel, you'll probably have to throw in a few more obstacles. Just one probably can't sustain the entire novel. A short story may only need a single obstacle. Regardless of how many problems you introduce to your plot, they eventually come to a head, to a climax, to use the common term.

After the climax comes the little bit of wrapping up that's necessary to most plots. Here you'll often find emotional resolutions, people settling down, and just a general calm feeling. Unless it's part of a series, in which case you'll probably have to leave an opening for something else to happen (otherwise, what's the point of writing a series of novels).

This is just a very basic idea of the action in the story. Sometimes the action will be action/adventure related and sometimes it will be more emotional, but there's always something that needs resolving in a novel. That's what brings in readers. Play with this arc until you have something that will work for your story. But always write with your readers in mind.

Novels Versus Short Stories: It's More Than Just Length

Novels and short stories are similar in many ways. They both tell a story, usually involving characters and plot. They both entertain, engage, or educate the reader. And they are both written by a (hopefully) diligent writer.

But writing a novel is simply not the same as writing a short story, and it's not all about length. I will be the first to admit that many of the differences between novels and short stories are related to length, but it's still worth looking at these differences.

The first difference is in the amount of material that can be presented in a novel. A short story is under 10,000 words. Any longer than that and it should be more accurately termed a novella. With only 10,000 (probably less) words to work with, you have to be selective. You can't have hundreds of characters and twelve different subplots. You simply don't have the room. So, writing short stories means you'll have to learn how to choose what's important to the story itself. Your plot and your characters will be limited. In essence, a short story ask for economy of the writer.

In contrast, novels have really no upper word count. If it's over 80,000 words, it's definitely a novel. But you could write as many as 500,000 words. That's a lot of space to do whatever you like. You can have a thousand characters and multiple plots and an infinite number of subplots as you craft your novel. A novelist can afford to create new problems and obstacles for characters to solve simply because there is room to solve those problems. As long as the core of the story remains intact, and the readers don't lose sight of this core for very long, the novelist is free to move about and create according to whatever whim happens to appear. Not every word in a novel have to mean something. Words can exist in a novel purely because the writer wants the reader to experience them. As long as the readers aren't lost, it works.

Short story writers don't have that luxury. If a short story deviates from its core, even if it's just for 1000 words, it's very hard to recover. Deviations from the core tend to be edited out or survive as a weakness in the story. Short story writers have to economize, so every word has to count. Not a single word in a short story can exist just because the writer wants it there. Each word must serve a purpose.

Which is more difficult? Both have their challenges. Short stories demand economy and novels demand that the writer be in it for the long haul. They are both valid and beautiful art forms. Pick the medium that best fits your story and craft it well.

Practice Writing: Creating Fiction From Non-Fiction

Creative writing is an art and a process of discovery, but it is also a skill that can be acquired with practice. Everyone once in a while I give my readers a practice exercise designed to help hone the craft of writing fiction. While my focus is usually on how to write a novel, you can take these same tips and apply them to short stories, flash fiction, or other works of fiction.

Some of the best stories have an element of truth to them. Even though I write fantasy novels, my characters and the situations they find themselves in are usually based around things that have happened to people that I change and exaggerate beyond recognition. So, for this practice exercise, recall an incident that happened to you or to someone that you know. Write it down as it happened, fact for fact. Don't change anything and don't get creative. Just the facts.

Now, take that incident and turn it into fiction. Change and embellish until you have a story that captures your readers. At the moment, your reader might only be you, and that's okay. Create a story that you enjoy reading based upon factual events. Your finished story might look nothing like the factual account, and that's fine. The point is to find inspiration in real life and change it into something people might like to read. That's the point of being a writer, really. To have someone read the stories you've written.

You can repeat this exercise as many times as you need to. You might find that certain events lend themselves to becoming fiction and others are better off as non-fiction. This is normal. Experiment and see what works.

Dealing With Distractions While Writing a Novel

So, I've spent the last four days working on a book. And I'm no further ahead than I was four days ago. Okay, maybe I'm 200 words further ahead, but for someone who normally writes 5000 a day, 200 in four days is just not good.

The problem? Distractions. All kinds of distractions. The dog threw up. My nephew was over two days in a row and it's not easy to write with three boys under nine years running around. The cat got himself stuck in the ducting and had to be extracted. The dishes looked like they needed to get done. I suddenly realized that someone had touched my bookshelves and things were out of place so I had to reorganize the entire thing. I had presents to wrap. The laundry needed some attention. And I had 15 e-mails from clients to deal with.

When reading this list, it seems like I was simply busy. But the problem really was one of focus. When you work from home and have ready access to the Internet, it's very easy to get distracted. You turn your head and suddenly there's something else you could be doing. And maybe it's something that really needs doing.

In the short term, getting a little distracted now and then isn't going to kill me. So I basically did nothing for four days. So what? The truth is, if a writer allows him or herself to be distracted too often, nothing will get done. Nothing productive, at any rate. The real trick is avoiding distractions to begin with.

If you're going to write professionally, you have to take yourself seriously. Set up a time and place to get work done. Real work done. Have a space that is free of possible distractions. Unplug the phone and certainly turn off your cell. And unless you need the Internet for research, disconnect. Better yet, go somewhere that doesn't have Internet. This is becoming more difficult now as most coffee shops and libraries have Internet access. Check your e-mail once before you start working and once after. Not during your work hours. Surely your e-mail will keep for a few short hours while you get some writing done.

Not all distractions have something to do with phones or the Internet. Housework and kids might be interrupting you. The housework can probably keep. Give yourself permission to NOT do the dishes right this second. They'll still be sitting there for you a few hours from now.

Kids are a different story. If possible, try to get the kids out of the house. Maybe they're off at school or you can get your sister or neighbor to watch them. Whatever works. You're trying to get something accomplished and it's not always easy to do with children running around. If you must work while the children are at home, try to get them to participate in an activity that is quiet and engaging. Coloring, molding Plasticine, or playing with blocks all work wonders for younger children. Older children might want to read. Whatever works for your children.

The point is you'll never finish that novel if you don't sit down and write it. A little time off here and there is fine. I look at the last four days as a vacation. But the vacation is over now and it's time to get back to work. And I do mean work. 5000 words today, 5000 words tomorrow, and I'll have tackled a large chunk of what I'd meant to tackle four days ago.

So how do you deal with distractions? Avoid them in the first place. You won't always be successful, but if you keep your focus and remember what your goal is, you should be able to fight off those distractions most of the time.

And remember this: any day that ends with the sure knowledge that you accomplished everything you could is a good day.

The Difference Between Fiction and Non-Fiction

I was listening to a couple of academic friends the other day as they had a rather heated discussion. They were talking about the difference between fiction and non-fiction, specifically as it applies to novels. They were trying to define literary fiction and literary non-fiction. At first, I wondered why it mattered, but left them to their discussion (read this: argument).

But the topic stayed with me enough that I got to thinking about it. How do you decide if a novel is fiction or non-fiction? With my own novels, it's easy enough. I write fantasy. I write thing that cannot happen, at least not in our world. But what about novels that take place in the real world full of events that could actually happen? How could you tell by studying the text of the novel if it was fiction or non-fiction?

The answer is simple. You can't. You might be able to make an educated guess, but you could still be wrong. There have been cases that prove this. For example, in the 1980s a writer published a book that he claimed was a slightly edited version of an authentic diary kept by a 19th century Irishman by the name of Gerald Keegan. People accepted this diary as a non-fiction account of Keegan's life. It was studied and used as research by the most respected institutions.

However, it wasn't long before research led to an interesting discovery. The Keegan diary had been published almost a century earlier as a novel, Summer of Sorrow. Many people were fooled into believing that it was a work of non-fiction, accepted it as a work of non-fiction.

So what's the answer, then? Well, I guess that a work is whatever it purports to be, whatever the public accepts it as. Summer of Sorrow was accepted as fiction, claimed to be fiction, and so it was fiction. When it was republished as a diary, it claimed to be non-fiction and was accepted as such. Later, it was again moved back into the realm of fiction.

When determining whether a work is fiction or non-fiction, use this purport test and you'll find the job made much easier. If you care about such things. I read for the pleasure of it, not because a work is either fiction or non-fiction.

The Importance of a Writing Journal When Writing a Novel

I'll be the first to admit that I often ignore my writing journal, at least for certain projects. Of course, those are also the projects that never seem to get finished or, if they do get finished, they take years to get anywhere near completion. So I understand as well as anyone the logic behind keeping a writing journal. Keeping a writing journal almost forces me to work on my project of the moment every day simply so that I have something to record in my journal.

Sometimes my journal reads "4100 words written, Thief's Heartache. Subject to revision" In fact, this was my only entry from yesterday. It's not a very helpful entry, but I had been just writing and not thinking about what I'd written. Therefore, what I wrote on that particular day will have to be heavily revised before anyone ever gets to read it. Very heavily revised. It's not my best work, but it has the potential to be very good. Somewhere.

But my most useful entries usually include reflections and observations about what I wrote. What's working, what's not, and what might work in the future. If I'm writing a novel, I might keep track of the plot. Even if I have a fully formed plot in my mind before I begin writing, it usually changes before the end of the second chapter. So it's a good idea if I keep track of important changes. Like names. I change the names of minor characters quite frequently. And if I don't write them down, I can forget and keep using a name I've long since discarded.

So a journal keeps me motivated to finish a certain project and helps me keep track of changes I might make to an overall plot. But it also helps me keep track of other things that relate to my writing. Did I read a book or article that can serve as inspiration, now or in the future? Maybe I watched a TV show or movie that could serve the same purpose. Or maybe I found a particular spot in the local park that inspired me to write 5000 words in one shot. These are all things worth keeping track of. My memory might be good, but with over 20 story lines and hundreds of characters running around in my head, I forget things. A journal makes me write it all down, and I can always go back later if I have to.

This isn't to say that I reread every writing journal I've ever kept. Hardly. But it's all there, organized on a bookshelf, waiting for me to need it.

Writing a Novel: How Much to Write a Day

I got an e-mail today from an aspiring writer. She wanted to know how much she should write each day if she wanted to call herself a novelist. My first instinct was to tell her to do the math. You want to finish your novel in X number of days, and you want it to be Y number of words long. So do the math. Then I realized this wasn't really a helpful answer. Anyone can do the math.

She wanted a goal for writing a novel, and I have a really hard time setting goals for other people. I'm not the one writing her book. But an answer like that is maddeningly unhelpful. So I thought about it a while. I thought about it as I composed an article I'd been meaning to get to. I thought about it as I worked on a rough draft for my third novel. And I thought about it as I edited the manuscript for my second non-fiction book. Then, realizing I'd been awake for 27 hours, I took a nap.

When I woke, the e-mail was still sitting there. The e-mail gremlins hadn't  answered this girl in my absence. It was time to come up with a real answer. I realized that I had one that came straight out of my own experience. When I started writing my first novel, Arianna's Tale, I wrote maybe 500 words a day. 500 usable words. Sometimes that meant I'd write 2000 but only keep 500. So that seems like a good answer to me.

Sort of. Finally, I decided that the answer was this: Start by writing 500 usable words a day. Every day. Holidays, weekends, days you feel so sick you can't sit up. Type them, scribble them on notepaper, whatever. But get 500 words done every day. If you think you can't write tomorrow, write 750 today and 750 the day after tomorrow to stay on track. Deal with writer's block in any way that allows you to meet these goals. But meet them. No excuses. If I made excuses, my first novel never would have been completed.

Over time, and well before I'd finished the first novel, those 500 words became too easy. I'd have them done shortly after breakfast. Then I'd waste the rest of the day doing whatever came into my head. So I upped my goal. I decided that I could write 1000 each day (not including all the discarded junk, of course). I was getting better at putting my idea, my story, onto paper (actually, into the computer). By the time I approached the end of Dragon's Tempest, I was writing 2500 usable words a day. Now, halfway through Thief's Heartache, I'm writing an average of 4000 words a day. Some days I allocate some of this word count to another project, but I always meet this goal.

So my answer to the question would be this: start with 500 words every day. When that become too easy, adjust it so that you're still writing, still working towards that finished product. If you don't miss a day, you'll soon find yourself with a completed novel on your hands.

The Fifth Mistake of Professional Writing

If you're going to be a professional writer, you have to learn how to manage your time. Not doing so is the fifth and possibly the most damaging mistake a writer can make. Of the top five mistakes a professional writer can make, this is the one I'm guilty of on a faily regular basis. This mistake is sneaky and can take many forms.

The most obvious way this problem manifests itself is in distractions. If you're spending 4 hours on Facebook or Twitter, or simply sufring the web for no particular reason, then you're gulity of allowing yourself to get distracted. You can't write while you're ready every status update posted on Facebook in the last 4 hours. It's just not going to happen. You have to learn to close your web browser and get back to writing. Better yet, don't open the web browser in the first place.

There are other ways that time management becomes a problem, at least for me. I'm an incredibly impulsive person and I get e-mails from clients all day long. I check my e-mail (which I should probably only do once a day anyway) and accept virtually all requests from my clients. Need a 2000-word article by noon? No problem. Generally. But when I accept 6 requests for articles to be completed by the end of the day, and lengthy articles at that, I might just have a problem managing my time well enough to get them all done.

Fortunately, solving time management problems isn't that difficult. You simply need to be able to see the projects you've accepted, their deadlines, and have them broken down into smaller tasks. You can do this easily enough with a large whiteboard or even an oversized calendar. Put it up where you'll see it constantly. When you start getting distracted or you're tempted to take on too much, just look up at your calendar and remind yourself that you have a job to do. Now. Not tomorrow.

I don't like whiteboards and my calendar is pretty and too small to help. But I do love post-its. I write tasks on post-its and plaster them like a calendar all over my window, right in front of my computer. This way, I can look up when I'm wasting time on Facebook and realize that I really do have to get a chapter done. Now! Then I can close my browser and get something done.

Admittedly, managing your time takes a degree of will power. But, if you're going to be a professional writer, well, you have to learn to discipline yourself and get something done. Get a lot of somethings done. It's the only way you'll make any money as a writer. Writing is a great career, but you have to work at it.