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Your steps to write a novel

Gryffin

Scribe
Some of us start with an idea, some of us begin freewriting, some of us write an outline, and some of us start in the middle and add a beginning and an end. What are the steps that you plan to take in order to complete your novel?

I tend to freewrite lines and random ideas in a notebook and then turn them into a bigger piece later on, usually after I finish the notebook.
 

Johnny Cosmo

Inkling
An idea, from which I'll create an outline. I've got a vague outline at the moment, but I developed a severe case of world-builders disease, followed by a loss of interest, so now I'm trying to take it slowly and let the ideas brew in my head.
 
I used to write outlines, but then Steven King told me how I was doing everything wrong, and because, frankly, the outlines got me stuck in a rut (was I making a novel or a business proposal?) I believed him and now I just write. I get it all out. My general plan is:

1) Write.
2) Write more.
3) HAVE YOU WRITTEN ENOUGH?
4) Edit.
5) Edit more.
6) Get others to edit.

Also I feel like there is a "??? > Profit!" joke to be made here.
 
Mine always start with an idea, then I add characters, which is easy for me. Then I have an epic wrestling match with plot, my dreaded enemy and why I MUST outline or never finish anything (I need to know what I'm working towards). The world building tends to come as I write, but that may be part of the reason I wrote an entire novel and now want to start from scratch with the rewrite; it wasn't as smooth as I wanted it to be. Also, I noticed that I tend to go into stories as fantasy/romances and come out with adventure/hero's journey/romance-as-subplot types, which are more fun.

I've tried writing with no plan (abandoned halfway through) and a semi-developed plan (crappy but complete), but I think I'll do my best work with a meticulous, detailed plan. I'm not smart enough to keep it all in my head; this way I can make sure I have all the information, foreshadowing, etc. that I want and know exactly what I want to accomplish in a scene.
 

Xavorn

Minstrel
Hello,

On the 1st post one option was to start from middle and then add a beginning and an end.
Fits pretty well for me;

#1: Middle
#2: Ending
#3: Beginning

Writing goes pretty much freely, but I have a few major ideas, still.

-Xavorn
 

Gryffin

Scribe
I used to write outlines, but then Steven King told me how I was doing everything wrong, and because, frankly, the outlines got me stuck in a rut (was I making a novel or a business proposal?) I believed him and now I just write. I get it all out.

I've wondered about outlines for this reason. They do seem kind of formal and I always think writing should just be writing. It I do try and write an outline I tend to get stuck too. I really want to read Stephen King's On Writing but just haven't yet.
 
This is the basic for what I did for my first published novel.

1. Conjured some basics in my head.
2. Wrote till I lacked direction - probably about 35000 words or so.
3. Did some editing and thinking.
4. Created a story arch to blueprint the main ideas of my novel and the series as a whole.
5. Wrote the remaining 100000/plus words of the novel.
6. Edited with my writing consultant/partner/buddy
7. Edited more, then more.
8. Passed it along to my publishing company
9. They edited it...a couple times.
10. Passed edits to me. I made changes where necessary, we dicussed other concepts.
11. Final edits from all parties.
12. Done
 

Noda

Dreamer
I dream.... Before I go to sleep I tell myself what novel I want to dream to finish a certain scene or I ask for a new one. It seems odd. Sadly, since I can't explain things as vivid as they are in my dreams it's always disappointing. In my dreams, I'm literally locked in that world. When the character I am or I'm playing as goes to sleep I will still wake up as them. Sometimes I'll remain in that world for weeks, maybe even months but it's only a night here in reality. It would seem amazing and interesting to some but after years of violent novels I'm kind of tired of feeling every pain from theses dreams...
 

Shadoe

Sage
I get an idea, put it in the idea file until it finds a mate (or three), then roll them all together into some kind of story plot. Then I add things to it here and there until I have what I call an "outline" - though it's just a listing of scenes and objectives I want to accomplish. Once I know what's generally going to happen, I sit down and write.

Then, after I've gotten about 90% of it down, I realize it's a mess, then I go back and edit, rearranging everything, adding new stuff, killing off characters with wild abandon... Then I'm ready to finish writing. :)
 

DameiThiessen

Minstrel
98% of my time is planning. Writing is the last thing I do. I need a firm outline of what I am writing about or else by the time I'm three paragraphs in, I'm already drawing a blank. I'm always so consumed by wanting to write it well that I get writer's block almost as soon as I start and end up deleting everything. Everybody tells me to "Just get it out! Don't worry about editing! Just WRITE!" So right now I am writing an outline that is steadily getting more and more detailed. My hope is that eventually I will have added so much detail to it that all I have to do is add some verbs and description and be done. xD It's a stupid, weird system that I've never heard advice on doing, but it works for me.
 

Lia-Art

New Member
I dream.... Before I go to sleep I tell myself what novel I want to dream to finish a certain scene or I ask for a new one. It seems odd. Sadly, since I can't explain things as vivid as they are in my dreams it's always disappointing. In my dreams, I'm literally locked in that world. When the character I am or I'm playing as goes to sleep I will still wake up as them. Sometimes I'll remain in that world for weeks, maybe even months but it's only a night here in reality. It would seem amazing and interesting to some but after years of violent novels I'm kind of tired of feeling every pain from theses dreams...

This happens to me too, unfortunately I never know how to write it down, I can never think of the right words to explain it. most of the time I'm only in these worlds for a few hours maybe a few days. But I have been in at least two where I was there for a whole year and another I had was around 10 years (waking up after that to find that only a few hours have past, not a decade was extremely strange)
I wish I remembered that one well enough to write a novel out of it, it would have made an excellent book.
 

JCFarnham

Auror
My usual steps go something like this:

1. Get a vague idea. (Some times a dream, or worldbuilding may set it off)
2. Plan and outline for at least a year.
3. Write a chapter and Give up.
4. Decide to try out Nano.
5. Tidy up the plot and character with various structuring formula recommend by trust authors.
6. WRITE!

This would also go a long way to explaining why I've never completed a Novel!

On the dream front I'm saddly not as lucid as some of you guys seem to be and most of the time my dreams make literally no logical sense ... or maybe I'm just not reading them correctly ;)

Also... 200th post. Woop.
 
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