When you get an idea in your head that you want to write about, how do you go about doing it? How does it all start? What is the process of writing? I would like to share with you my experience with the process and what I learned along the way.
The Idea
The first step is to come up with an idea. It doesn’t matter what genre you decide on exploring, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, children’s or young adult, drama or comedy, as long as you have an idea. An idea is not a plot. It is not the setting. It is not the characters. It is not the premise. It is simply an idea that you have for a story. When I first got the idea for my novel, The Tree, I didn’t know much about trees and I certainly didn’t know how to write about them! I did, however, know how to write about kids and family, which is what my novel is about. I also knew that I wanted to write about a group of friends who had recently gotten into a fight about something – family problems, drug abuse, alcoholism, etc. They were at a crossroads in their friendship, and I thought it would be interesting to see how they got out of the deadlock that they were in and managed to heal each other’s wounds. Unfortunately, my submission was not accepted by any publishing house, so I decided to go ahead and publish it myself. The downside was that it took me a lot of time to write, edit, and get it done, financially speaking. It was a labour of love though, and I’m glad I could share it with my friends and family.
Putting It On Paper
Once you have your idea, you need to put it on paper. That is, you need to free-write, without any editing or self-judgment, what you have in your head. This is different from how you would normally write. When you’re given a piece of writing to do, you would go through and edit it, spelling and grammatical errors and all. With free-writing, you are not editing yourself, so there is no fear of falling into bad habits. When you are editing a piece of writing, you are also thinking about what you are writing, which is why it is so important to get the thoughts out of your head and into the page. Get everything you can on paper, no matter how messy or unstructured it may seem. There are many benefits to writing things out, including the fact that it helps you get everything you need out of your head and into the page and that it allows you to see your story from different perspectives, which can help you develop it further. Finally, you are not restricted by the rules of standard English – this is something that can always be fixed later with a little bit of research into using formal English correctly!
Fiction Vs Non-Fiction
Fiction is, in general, written in a style that is similar to how you would speak. For instance, people talk all the time about how hard it is to create a fictional storyline that sounds genuine, but at the same time, makes sense within the story’s world. This is why there is often a bit of an unnatural quality to fiction. Non-fiction, on the other hand, can be more academic in nature and can use a standard written style, which makes it easier for the listener to understand and follow along. It is also important to note that non-fiction can be much thicker in content than fiction – sometimes a book about science can be as long as a novel!
Naming Your Characters
Once you have your idea for a story, you need to start thinking about your characters. It is important to have a clear picture in mind of who your characters are and what they are like. Even if you have not yet finished your novel, you can start by brainstorming names for your characters. There are, of course, many different ways that you could go about naming your characters, but the main thing is that you have unique names for each of them. This will make things easier later on when you are trying to figure out whom you are talking about. When you are taking a stroll through the park and you come across three characters, who all have unique names, you will be able to easily identify which one is which – even if you have never met them before!
Writing a detailed character profile for each of your main characters, including physical characteristics, is also important. You can find a lot of help on the Internet with this one, including detailed character profiles for your favourite writers!
The Research
If you want to make your novel scientifically accurate, then you need to do your research. This can be anything from simply looking up the nearest coffee shop to doing your own private experiments to see how a specific chemical affects the human body. The important thing is to make sure that you do your research and that it is relevant to the story that you are trying to tell. For example, I read an article that suggested that if you want to write an intelligent and educated novel, you should base your research on real-life scientists and their published work, rather than just on what you might consider to be ‘common knowledge’. This can help add a dimension of depth to your story and make it more believable. Remember: the readership of your novel does not necessarily consist of scientists, so make sure that your science is accessible to everyone else too!
The Structure
Now that you have your wonderful, long-overdue novel, you need to start thinking about the structure. The structure is basically how you are going to tell your story, in order to make it interesting and easy for the reader to follow along. There are many different ways to structure a story, but the most common ones include:
- The introduction
- The rising action
- The climax
- The falling action (also known as the ‘climax’ in some other books)
- The conclusion
Each of these elements is important and will, in one way or another, affect how your story is perceived. The introduction sets the scene for the story, which is important. Make sure that you give the reader a little bit of information about what is going on, but make it interesting and easy to understand. The rising action is what happens right before the climax, which is key to keeping interest levels high. The climax is what happens right at the end of the story, which is why it is sometimes also referred to as the ‘dénouement’. The falling action is what happens after the climax and will either build up to the next climax (in a series), or will be the final act of the story. The conclusion sets the scene for the ending, which could be a new beginning (in some stories), and will often include some form of pay-off, followed by a denouement, which brings the story to a close.
The structure can be extremely helpful in shaping your story and helping you figure out the sequence of events. It can also help you see the journey that your characters go on, as well as the obstacles that they encounter along the way. Having a clear idea of how your story will pan out, from beginning to end, makes it easier to write, which can help you bring your novel, The Tree, to life and make it as good as new!
Revision
Once you have a first draft of your story, it is time to start revising. Take your time with this stage and go over everything carefully, from the big picture to the smallest detail. Once you are happy with the way things are turning out, it is time to start moving forward towards publication. Don’t be afraid to rip up large sections of your story and start again. This is actually a good thing, as it can help you find the weak points in your work and make it better. A lot of people think that rewriting is a sign of weakness, but in reality, it is just a part of the process and it makes your work that bit better – not to mention that it is usually a lot cheaper to write something new, than to try and fix something that is already there!
The Publication
When you have finally finished your novel, it is time to start thinking about publication. This is going to be the final step before you can actually put your words out into the world, so it is extremely important that you take your time with it and make sure that everything is done properly. Your publisher will usually take care of the distribution of your book, so all you have to do is sit back and wait for the phone to ring – or, if you are really lucky, the email to come in. As with the previous steps, there are many different ways to go about publishing a novel, so make sure you follow the proper procedure and do everything by the book.