What Drives A Great Novel?

We’ve all done it. Read a book and thought, “That was brilliant.”

And do you know what it usually is that makes a book great?

It’s a great character.

Novels are character driven.

This is because whatever is happening in a story is based around a main character and several other characters too.

Even in movies that seem to be action driven, there is always a character’s personal life to care about. Even in Batman there is Bruce Wayne and in Spiderman everyone wants to know what is happening to Peter Parker.

And it’s the same with a novel.

Readers don’t even have to like your characters but they do have to care what happens to them.

That’s why it’s important for you to know your characters intimately before you put them in your next novel. You need to write out a complete bio for each of them including their life history, their looks, their fears, their goals, their age, their families, their likes and dislikes, and everything else about them so that they seem real.

Then make sure that everything that happens in your novel affects them in some way.

Then readers will finish your book and think, “That was brilliant.”

And then they’ll be eager to read your next book.

Read more about writing a novel at How To Write A Novel When You Don’t Know How Or Where to Start.

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See my latest romance novel at mybook.to/TWIC

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Start Writing Your Book Today
http://ruthiswriting.com/links/writequickly.html

From Blank Page to Manuscript

Writing fiction is fun. But sometimes it can be hard to know what to write about and where to find ideas.

So what you need is to have a workflow for this kind of writing.

You need to have a way of coming up with story ideas or knowing where to find them.

Next, you need to know how to take your idea and turn it into a novel.

I work by taking just one idea and expanding it by asking questions about where it will happen, why it will happen and who it will happen to.

Then I get my chapter ideas and figure out how one will flow into the other so that they all end with a hook to keep the reader turning the pages.

But I usually start with just one idea and I write it on my blank page.

Then I let the creative juices in my marvellous monkey mind get to work and before I know it, I’m filling page after page with settings, plot lines and characters.

And I’ve written about it in my latest article, How To Write A Novel When You Don’t Know How Or Where to Start

http://ruthiswriting.com/books/WB.html

Want to Write a Story? Get Lost!

When it comes to writing a novel, it’s important to get lost in your story.

What I mean by this is that it’s important to write consistently. Daily.

The only way to write a good story is to completely immerse yourself in it as you write so that you can ‘feel’ it and the story flows.

And the way to do this is to write every day.

If you don’t, you’ll have to re-read what you’ve previously written and you’ll forget whether or not you’ve mentioned things before or if one of your characters knows something already or whether you still need to write about how they find out.

But if you write your story consistently and write daily, you’ll stay in the flow of what’s happening and feel like you’re actually living your story which will make great writing.

And great writing makes easy reading.

So when you write your next story, immerse yourself in it daily and really get lost in it.

You can see my latest romance novel at mybook.to/TWIC.


http://ruthiswriting.com/links/writequickly.html

How to Start Writing a Novel Quickly

I recently publsihed my latest novel, Two Weeks In Corfu, and it feels like a great achievement.

And today I've been busy catching up on some freelance work before I dive into my next book.

And it occured to me how many people ask me about how to start writing a book, especially a novel, which most people believe is already in them and just waiting to burst out (yeah, yeah, we all hear about that all the time).

But for the serious writer, beginning a novel can seem daunting.

Yet the reality is simple.

You just start with one idea.

That's it.

Just one short sentence is all you need, like, "Aliens land on earth and want to set up their own colonies."

Then from there, you simply expand that one idea and flesh it out until it becomes your next best seller.

You see, the mistake most people make when they think about starting to write a novel, they think they have to know the whole plot line at once.

But that's not true.

You just start with an one idea and flesh out the whole story from there, piece by piece till you have your whole outline.

And you don't even have to know how it will all happen.

You only have to know what will happen.

And as you work, it all comes together effortlessly.

So to begin with, all you have to do is begin.


http://ruthiswriting.com/links/writequickly.html