Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Writing a Novel: Begin It With A Bullet Or A Sunrise?

Writing a novel: try writing the beginning later

Ultimately, you write as you prefer. You may even change how you write from novel to novel.

Some of our authors who are pantsers write chronologically, but know that they’ll rewrite their novel’s first scene later. I do this.

The biggest discussion that evening however was between the authors who like to start with a bang, in the middle of the action, and the others: those authors who like to set the mood and introduce a character first.

Let’s look at two strategies for beginning your novel.

Will you begin with a bullet or a sunrise?

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Fiction Author: Keep Your Idea Factory Humming From Idea To Novel

Writing fiction? Everything starts with an idea

An idea can come from anywhere. Write them down; if you don’t, they’ll quickly fade because they’re ephemeral, like dreams.

Give your ideas time to gestate, but not too much time. Use the ability of your subconscious mind. As we said, the subconscious mind works in mysterious ways:

Your muse (subconscious mind) takes an active part in your writing. Give her time to do her part of the work.

Let’s look at how to manage your own idea factory.

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Fix Your Novel: From Dud To Fiction Bestseller

1. Remember suspense: aim to intrigue readers (keep readers wondering)

Another E.M Forster quote:

“Scheherazade avoided her fate because she knew how to wield the weapon of suspense – the only literary tool that has any effect upon tyrants and savages.”

SUSPENSE is the only literary tool which has any effect on readers too. Keep your readers wondering, always. Avoid info dumps: as soon as you spot them (they’ll proliferate in your first draft), move them to another file, out of your draft.

Here’s what I do.

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Struggling With Fiction Outlines?

Do you find outlining fiction a challenge? Many authors do.

Authors want to:

• Hook readers from the first page… This makes the first scene important; it freezes authors into endless procrastination;
• Avoid reader-boredom in the sagging middle of their novel, so procrastination strikes again.

Outlining fiction: the most important tip

Please don’t let your inner editor take charge, telling you what you “should” do.

Nothing comes from nothing.

Write.

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Self-publishing? 3 Reasons To Write Series Fiction

One author had published eight novels; the other eleven. It’s very, very difficult to build an audience which recognizes your books and is eagerly waiting for your next book — in other words, build a platform — when you write standalone novels.

Self-publishing: get visible — you’ll build your audience one reader at a time

A few years ago I read a study which stated that authors who headed bestseller lists year after year had published at least 47 books… and many of those books were in series.

Writing in series made the authors more visible.

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Journaling Is For Everyone: 3 Tips To Create More And Sell More

Maugham traveled, and journaled, then wrote novels and short stories inspired by his travels and journaling.

Some writing quotes from the inimitable Mr Maugham…

• The best style is the style you don’t notice.
• I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.
• If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.
• To write simply is as difficult as to be good.

Let’s look at how journaling helps you to create more and sell more.

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Self-Publishing Serial Fiction: 4 Answers To Popular Questions

Serial fiction: start with an idea which excites YOU

Over the years, I’ve discovered that a serial needs to start with an idea which gets me excited, so I’m eager to write.

In my experience, publishing a serial (a part-work, if you like) has more in common with publishing short stories than writing a novel. Although I enjoy it, I know that I need to keep my initial enthusiasm at a high pitch, so that publishing every two weeks won’t become a royal pain in the you-know-what.

If you adore an idea and you think it would work as a serial, you’re good to go.

Let’s look at the answers to some popular questions I receive about writing and publishing serial fiction.

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Writing Fiction: 3 Reasons To Write In Scenes

Generations of readers, over two centuries, have read Pride and Prejudice with pleasure. Jane Austen wrote the novel dramatically; she relied on her scenes. The Victorian novelists writing after Jane Austen could have learned from her elegant prose. (Here’s a link to the novel’s text.)

Austen begins the second chapter of Pride and Prejudice, like this:

Mr. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid she had no knowledge of it. It was then disclosed in the following manner.

The entire chapter is one scene — if you’re not sure how scenes work, read that chapter.

Let’s look at some reasons to write in scenes.

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Begin A Freelancing Career: Get Paid To Write Today

Want to get paid to write? Sell your skills

You can offer someone your writing services and get hired immediately.

A big tip: selling your time limits your income. There are only so many hours in each day. As soon as possible, write something you’ll sell, like a short story or a nonfiction book.

I mention short stories, because you can write them quickly, and they sell. When you create a product, you can make money 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

Another tip: remember that professional writing is a business.

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Write Fiction: 3 Strategies I Use Every Day

Fiction writing: it’s easy to lose your inspiration and challenging to recover it

We’ve discussed partnering with your muse.

Fiction writing requires not only your imagination, but also that your readers use their imagination—your writing helps them to do that.

If you aren’t using your imagination and your emotions aren’t engaged, your readers’ emotions won’t be either. They’ll stop reading.

Fiction is all about feelings. Imagine, and feel:

Imagine you’re on holiday. You’re in a strange city. You don’t speak the language. It’s the middle of the day. You go for a walk alone to look at the sights, and now you’re lost. Moreover, you seem to have wandered into a bad part of town.

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How To Plot A Novella: 3 Tips

Use “XXX” liberally

Tempted to stop to check the spelling of a word, or to research something? Don’t stop. Mark the spot with XXX and keep writing.

At the end of that day’s writing session, go back to create tasks out of each XXX. Some XXXs won’t need a task — you can look up a word’s spelling in seconds.

Other XXXs take longer. You might want to think carefully about how you introduce a character, or describe the setting of a scene. Create a task for each XXX in your novella’s Trello board.

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Try this. It helps you to be more productive and get into flow.

Self-Publishing: Fiction Bestsellers’ Secrets You Need To Know

Self-publishing: what do bestselling authors know?

Self-publishing authors know their readers. They understand the genre in which they’re publishing.

In the giant romance genre for example, bestselling authors like Nora Roberts have developed a formula which works for them. All bestselling authors who’ve published for years write to their own formula.

This means that bestselling authors like James Patterson and John Sandford can develop outlines and hire ghostwriters to write their novels. (Usually these authors acknowledge that a novel was “written with” or “with assistance from” the ghostwriter.)

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Get Paid To Write A Book: How To Get Ideas For Salable Books

Get paid to write a book: what are you selling?

Listen up. New authors tend to worry most about “who pays and how much do I get paid?” Here’s what’s more important: what you’re selling.

You MUST know what you’re selling if you want someone to pay you to write a book AND want to make a profit. Sadly, the world is filled with scammers who want books and will happily scam you out of months and years of work.

Writers and authors tend to confuse traditional publishing, self-publishing, and ghostwriting.

Think in terms of copyright, rather than getting paid per se.

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Write A Novel FAST: Edit While You’re Writing

The “standard” way to write a novel: write a draft, and revise

The standard way to write a novel, and the best way if you’re a pantser, is to start at the beginning and keep writing until you get to the end. Write your first draft as quickly as you can. Your sole aim in your first draft is to get your story onto the page. You can fix everything that needs fixing in revisions.

For many novels, this method is the safest and best way. Once you’ve written a draft, no matter how much revision you need to do, you have a novel.

But what if you’re on deadline? The draft/ revision method encourages procrastination. You’ve abrogated much of the decision-making that goes into writing your novel until a draft is written.

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DIY Designer: Become Your Own Social Media Image Designer

But… nothing is as easy as it looks. Although you try a couple of the easy, easy! tools , they’re not that easy if you’re a beginner. So, you tell yourself that you’re not a designer.

Shame, right? If only you could design, you’d be marketing your online store and you’d be doing a lot more book marketing too.

In a recent writers’ group meeting we discussed the challenges of using social media today. A couple of writers said that they couldn’t market their books and blog because they couldn’t afford to pay a designer.

I’m not a designer either, but over the years (in my daily life I’m a marketer) I’ve discovered that it’s always substance over form. You don’t need to be a designer to excel in marketing on social media.

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