Can anyone offer practical advice on how to become a novelist?

I'm just wondering if anyone has any practical advice to offer on becoming a writer, especially of novels (science fiction, fantasy, etc.).Can anyone offer practical advice on how to become a novelist?
I've often thought about writing my own novel. To be honest, I don't think you need to do an awful lot besides be a good writer, so long as you have the ability and the imagination. You're on the internet so I assume you have a computer. A programme like word is perfectly adequate for writing novels.





You're into fantasy, sci-fi, so you wouldn't need to do loads of research (although it would help a lot for certain sci-fi stories). Just try and think of something original. I think I would spend several weeks or months just brainstorming, i.e. jotting down random thoughts and ideas that I might think would make a good story.





After the brainstorming (when you have the basis of a good story) you should plan out the basic narrative of your novel - how it begins, how it ends, the characters etc before putting pen to proverbial paper.





You could try writing short stories first. They're easier to write and you could still get them published if they're good enough. Many of the best writers have done short story compilations.Can anyone offer practical advice on how to become a novelist?
It takes a lot of work. I';m working on a novel now, but it's more then just writing words. You also have to create a name for yourself. Get stuff you've written in magazines and contests, get your name out there. That way, when you do try to publish, you have some standing.





Research your material, but don't lord your knowledge over your reader or assume your reader is too dumb to understand what you write. Show more then tell. There are several wonderful research books out there. Use them.





Good luck.
I once read a quote:


';There's nothing to writing. Just sit down and slit your wrists.';
I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but this is an e-book by Holly Lisle - a woman who quit her day job and supports herself and her family by writing novels. It has some great food for thought - even if you're not interested in doing it as a full-time career.





http://www.envisionsoftware.biz/hollylis鈥?/a>
Write down what inspires you and when you do make sure you date it. In other words keep a writer's journal. It can also be your personal journal.





Take the inspiration for your writing from life itself. If you have one person or thing that permeates the very basis of your writing then write about that in as many genres.





I would also see if you have any poetry and see if it can be legnthened into a novel or at least an epic poem. Epic poetry can be considered as literature look at ';The Oddessy'; and ';The Illiad'; by Homer. They are epic poetry and are considered to be novels in some English classes today.
Stick to your story!!! That doesn't mean don't be descriptive, but I've already read books where they take no less than eight paragraphs to describe the sun! I hate that.
The best place to start would be to make sure you're able to compose a complete (and correct) sentence.
Read a lot, write a lot, and never ever give up trying. Persistance is everything.





Good luck
Unless you are driven, with burning desire, to tell a story, you need to realize it is not for everyone. When they sat around camp fires, and listened to a story teller, chance told you that the story teller had a certain talent. The story teller drew from travel experience, life's stumble, and bolders thrown his way. The deeds he took a part in (good %26amp; bad ) and the curiousity, that had him skip a meal or two, to be in the right place at the right time. Now, not all of these were able to form the written sentence, and the rare exceptions that could, became authors, and took their rank in the page of history, that has still to be written. Go and do some living and gain experience, research novelist's great and less than great alike, because there were always critics out amongst the story tellers, and they had their warped oppinions, and tastes.
there are several books out there to help you format your thoughts and get you focus on the objective of your story. Such as the guide to good writing by randon house. Also there are books that help outline and formulate your story in a step by step fashion.
Sit down and open a vein. (metaphorically speaking, of course)
write what you feel and what you know and adjust personal experiences to pen with


it will come to you not you to it


when it starts spewing


you'll know its right
This is a common question in this category. Essentially, you need to tell a story that says ';life is like that!'; regardless of genre.





Stories are a metaphor for life. Before you even begin to write you must have something to say or else your characters go from scene to scene without any meaning. There are three things that I believe are important and these three things are often confused with each other. Learning about these I think will help you to move your story:





1) Premise


2) Setting


3) Theme





Let me illustrate the difference so you can easily find the theme and understand its difference from the setting and premise. By seeing how a writer creates stories, you can see it from his or her point of view and clearly find the theme, create a premise and setting and learn to do it yourself.





The controlling idea is the meaning of your story. It is another word for ';theme';. The premise is what happens. The setting is the place and time where it's set.





For example, when you ask someone who just watched or read ';Lord of the Rings'; what it's about, they'll probably say something like, ';it's an epic story about a hobbit who is given a huge responsibility to take a magical ring into a mountain to destroy it and save the world and elves and men unite to....etc..'; Or they may answer ';It's about Middle Earth';. These are not themes. The first is simply the premise. The latter is the setting. What the story is *really* about is: ';Freedom is attained when we risk and sacrifice ourselves.'; That is the controlling idea (the theme) of the story. Of course, we can debate if that is the true controlling idea but I'm only giving you my interpretation.





Harry Potter's premise contains magic, and the setting is in a fantasy land, but the theme is not about magic nor fantasy. The theme of Harry Potter might be: ';Happiness prevails when we are confident of our own gifts and individuality.'; Discuss. =)





Now you can apply this understanding as I'll explain below with a story to any story you read.





First, I'll explain the premise. This way you'll see the difference.





A writer finds a premise through research and asking ';what if'; for any situation. If you read the news, one can find many ideas if you simply ask yourself ';what if'; as you read through it.





For example, I randomly selected a news article on Yahoo News:


Survivors recall horror of flu pandemic





As I'm reading through each line, I'm thinking about story ideas and asking ';what if';. For example, I read this line:





%26gt;%26gt; The flu swept through the nation's capital, which had attracted thousands of soldiers and war workers.





Now I'm asking myself, 'what if someone built a virus and orchestrated a large event so they could infect everyone in it to inflict the most damage?'





That's a start, but sounds a bit cliche, but that's okay. Let your mind race and you'll then ask ';what if'; upon ';what if';. What if the person accidently released the virus and kept silent while everyone around them died? What if the event was organized by a force where people are called to gather in one location but everyone made excuses for going there without realizing they were being forced -- only a supernatural force could do that -- and the reason is the supernatural force wanted to end the human race? hehe...this gets into some horror or science-fiction if that's your bag. But you can see the magic ';what if'; at work.





Let's choose the supernatural 'what if' as the premise in this example. Now we're going to start thinking of the controlling idea. This is what is the heart of your story -- the story you need to tell and what the story is *truly* about.





The controlling idea is not a single word; it's not going to be about ';viruses'; nor ';aliens'; nor ';Civil War';. The Controlling Idea tells us, ';life is like this!';





The controlling idea will be a sentence that tells us how and why life changes from one condition of existence to another (again, theme and controlling idea are the same -- I prefer to use controlling idea). This change will show up in the climax of the last act of your story. That's where you will find the controlling idea.





Concerning how I came up with Harry Potter's controlling idea, I looked at the last acts' endings of every Harry Potter story. What value changed? Harry went from being unconfident to confident and therefore was happy whereas each story opens with him in a situation and the world crumbling around him and constantly being challenged. Look at the last act's value change.





Fine writers filter everything they write through the controlling idea and then work up to the last climax -- look at the value that exists throughout the story because there will be themes that come and go. For example in Harry Potter he often seeks to befriend those who try to do him harm so we learn that ';Trust is earned when we love our enemy'; -- or because that didn't always work we could say, ';Evil prevails when we try to love our enemies'; but either of these is not the controlling idea of the entire story.





Going back to my story, by following the writer's work and using the premise that people are being supernaturally led to gather in one location, we need to come up with a protagonist. I'm going to use a ';what if'; and ask 'what if the protagonist is also under this supernatural spell?' That will make it more interesting because it will provide deeper conflict. Not only will he have to try to save the world but also get out the spell himself perhaps.





Some more questions I will ask myself and we're going to come to the controlling idea of the story I created: What is this spell? What is so attractive to force these people to gather without them even knowing they're being forced? Now this is starting to get rich. We know a lot of people do things they don't want because they're manipulated. Cults are famous for doing this. Charismatic leaders and propaganda are also effective. People are manipulated in many ways that many fail to see they're being manipulated. And those who best manipulate do it without you knowing. Life is like that! Now I'm starting to find my controlling idea.





My controlling idea is a sentence, it's not simply ';manipulation';. So, I start with something -- it's better than nothing: ';Evil prevails when we fail to examine our conscious and instead follow others'; or ';Compassion prevails in humans only when we follow our conscious';. Whichever we choose, it must be clear in the last-climax of the last act of your story.





As a writer develops the story, they work to that last act. Many writers paste that controlling idea onto the computer monitor and filter everything they write through it. Your characters may go in different directions, but this controlling idea is the writer's guide.





Concerning the setting, you can place this story in a different dimension, in a different time, or on a different planet. That will change the dynamics of the story but it won't change the controlling idea and that is where the power of the story exists -- it gives it meaning.





For the setting let's place this premise 50 years into the future on Earth.





The character will have an object of desire. In the premise that I've created, the supernatural force is manipulating people to gather in one location so it can infect them with a virus. Because I think this force is intelligent and sly, it's not going to be identical for every peson and is going to feed on the weakness of every individual. I think the best object of desire for the protagonist is going to be his pursuit of power within his sphere of influence. So, let's say he's an oceanographer (I pulled that out of nowhere). He would become famous and influential if he made an important discovery -- perhaps a discovery that can save lives such as tsumani detection technology (but in 50 years in the future we could make a more futuristic device). This is what he wants -- power. The force provides him the opportunity to seek this object and eventually he's going to have to go to this one location where the force intends to infect him. Now we have a lot more what ifs' to ask. As you can see, we're starting a great outline of the story and fleshing it out.





But we need to get back to the controlling idea.





I like up-endings so I want him to become redeemed in the end. I think his pride is too great and his pursuit of power is evil. His idea of saving lives is a great idea, but his reasoning is not -- he's doing it to gain influence for himself, not to help people -- this makes him conflicted and provides excellent dimension to his character. This force is going to manipulate his desire. But I am also going to add a subconscious desire to this. I want it so that he really doesn't want power...he simply doesn't recognize that the work he does already helps to save lives by adding to the research of others who are trying to find effective tsunami detection devices. He'll end up realizing this in the end. And this matches my controlling idea: ';Evil prevails when we fail to examine our conscious and instead follow others.'; His pursuit of power only leads him into trouble as he follows others in trying to please them. But we still have to deal with this supernatural force that is manipulating everyone. Do we make our protagonist one who defeats the force, or do we make him lose by it. Either way, we must know the controlling idea clearly at the end of the last climax no matter what he does.





Although I went off in a science-fiction direction, the controlling idea I discovered can exist in any genre and any setting whether this is based during the time of the Civil War, the present, or on Mars.





Although I wrote a lot, I hope leading you through the writer's process will help you to see clearer how stories are developed and make it easier to find the theme and your premise and then things will begin to fall into place.
I think whatever in life it always takes 99% persirations and only 1% inspirations. But I know if you seek long enough and watch ';The Secret';, it will guide you well!





Hope it helps.





Regards,





Alvin Titus





Director, author


Quachee Enterprise





http://www.batikinspirations.com


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