Novel

[Alexander III]

Greetings all, I have recently decided to try my hand at writing a novel. However I find the immensity of the task to be daunting, and my greatest fear is to keep consistency up trough a 100 pages.

I would appreciate if any of those who have written a novel, could offer any advice on the do's and dont's before I Begin.

Thank you all for any comments :)

[breathtest]

Although i haven't yet tried writing a novel, i would say do not plan too far ahead. That way you will stay interested in the story as much as a reader would. Just let the story come as it comes, trust your instincts. You will know what sounds good

[OctopusGarden]

A famous local poet told me this once and I think it applies to novels as well:

When you have an idea that you want to write about and you feel strongly about it, write it down in as few words as possible. Look at what you wrote and the first thing that comes to your mind, write that down, and continue doing that until you have a ton of ideas.

For example:

Dog, cat, hair, comb, brush, trees, wood, fire, oil, death

or more with ideas rather than concrete:

Anarchism, from chaos comes order, evolution, time, time travel, impossibility, dreams come true, aspiration.

Doing this gives you an opportunity to relate different things. It helps me a lot.

[WingedWolf]

My advice is to just start writing. You can easily worry too much about what to write and never get started. If you come across a block write whatever comes to mind and you will eventually get back on track. You can always come back and edit, so just let the words flow and the story will begin to come to you.

And above all else, make sure you are writing about a topic or character that you feel passionately about and then you will keep your interest up and be excited to keep adding to your story. Pretty soon you'll have the opposite problem and you'll need to cut things out!

Happy writing :)

[blazeofglory]

Writing a novel demands of us more than anything else is simply patience and with lots of patience only you can write a novel.

I have heard great writers like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky took years and at times a decade to complete a novel. Of course the novel as big as War & Peace could not have been written in a shore while and definitely it could have taken lots of time, endeavors and of course endurance.

No matter how difficult to complete a novel it is worth taking in life.

[xtianfriborg13]

I write on a separate document the plot of what the book will be about. The stories, the twists and all. After that, I try to keep focus and make sure I finish it.