How do you write?

Ronovan Writing, , , , ,

How does one go about writing a novel or an article? They’re both the same thing of sorts, just one is a shorter story than the other. So how? That’s a question a lot of people hit search engines and begin asking. And you will find so many different answers you wonder how a book gets to be written at all. To be honest, every way you read is the right way and the wrong way. It all depends on who is doing the writing. In fact the right way for you to write a novel may not have been written yet. You haven’t written your novel yet. Until then you don’t know for certain what way is the right one for you.

Of course I have an opinion on the subject, sort of. Well I guess I do when it really comes down to it.

First of all, find a good source of how to do the basics of writing the correct way.

I read Self-Editing for Fiction Writers recently before starting my most recent project. The book showed me some things that are signs of a professional writer and an amateur writer. Taking care of a few of those basics from the beginning makes it so much easier going in to the next draft.

I listened to my book on a free text to voice download from Microsoft you can get.

I can choose male or female and even robotic sounding voices. You can also change the pace of the speech. I was happy to hear the dialogue and everything flowed well. The aforementioned book really helped. You need to listen to your book before you are finished with it. Whatever software or app you use, use one.

Things I’ve learned to do, especially that helps me:

I keep a separate word document open or even two. I keep them open for Things to Remember for the next draft and URL’s to websites that I find useful. What I am currently writing I need maps and some diagrams of types of transportation. I recalled finding one great site and I lost it. I didn’t copy the URL down. Now, if something looks even remotely good I copy the URL before I go any further. You may not think you will need that site again, but until your book is finished and in the hands of the reader, you will need it again.

Another thing I keep up is a spreadsheet.

As I create a new name, city or anything that has a name I make note of it. I do so in order of creation. I even make note of relationships if need be. This saves a lot of time when trying to recall the name of someone or where they appeared in the book.

But you still want to know how to write a novel.

Styles vary. Another author and I are writing books at the same time and we read for the other just to see how things are going. I write chapters of a certain length while they do it another way. Our genre is the same but my story has an entirely different feel to it than the other author’s story. Both stories work. Both stories tell what they need to tell and fit the type of story being told. We both like the other person’s story.

One thing you MUST do is find your writer’s voice.

I think I have created my own style of storytelling and so has the other author. Which way should you write? What length of chapters will work for you? You need to ask yourself a few questions.

  • What type of books do you like and how are they written?
  • What type of story are you going to write?
  • What voice are you going to use?
  • Who is your audience?

After you determine all of that, start writing and let the story tell you where the chapter ends and what voice to use. It doesn’t matter who your audience is. It matters how you tell a story. Can you tell a story? And if not, don’t worry, you will.

Why do I say you will? If you have a disappointment in something you write, that dream novel of yours and no one signs you to a deal, start writing. One thing you want to do is write everything. Dabble in every kind of writing genre you can and even every length of writing. Once you find that writer’s voice you are almost there. To me that is the key to it all, finding that voice.

People that have read the novels I’ve written have told me that even though there may be different genres involved they still hear me. I take that as a compliment. The genres work, but my storytelling comes through even if it is a Romance or a Middle Grade Fantasy.

One place you can try out your writing chops so to speak is writing.com. They have prompts of various kinds. It takes a little getting used to but I took steps outside of my comfort zone and wrote some stories I never would have otherwise. It’s a good way to have people review some of your writing and just write.

So how do you write a novel? The way to write a novel is to write. That’s it. Just write and learn to write the correct way. You know, an imagination is a terrible thing to waste when all you need is to know how to properly put it into words.

 

Much Respect

Ron_LWI

 

 

 

 

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17 thoughts on “How do you write?”

  1. Thank you for such a usefull post. I use the program Writer 5 (i think it is called, don’t have it infront of me now) but it makes organizing things easier. You can divide your chapters into scenes, which makes it all just a little bit more managable.

    Then there is a place for you to put in your characters name, bio etc. There is a place to put notes on places. Notes on general stuff. Notes on items… it really has been a huge help to me keeping track of the big story I want to tell. 🙂

    But I will definatly save this post somewhere so I can come back and refear to it later. Maybe I’ll check out that editing book you mentioned. Since I’m about to start with that. 🙂

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  2. Thanks so much for this very practical and useful post. Have you heard of a book called The Outliers by Malcom Gladwell? It’s been a real life changer to me. It talks about the 10,000 rule and that to succeed you need to at least put in 10,000 hours of practice and it also needs to be proper practice. A study was done of violinists around this 10,000 hour rule and I had just taken up the violin at the time. The way my teacher has taught me how to practice is to go over and over the bits you struggle with rather than playing the piece through the whole way. Practice is very particular.
    What I’ve appreciated through blogging is that I’ve been able to get those hours up and in many ways I am doing the kind of writing a feature journalist would be doing along with also supplying my own photos.
    This forces me to think about the structure and in my case, I am constantly trying to be more succinct, which is something I need to work on.
    I was quite surprise to find, after a couple of years of blogging, that my voice can have quite a lot of humour. This really surprised me because I see myself more as a sensitive, emotional type but I’ve also been through alot and have become more resilient and humour has definitely been a prime survival mechanism.
    I am working on a motivational style memoir but one that is very real and looking at the ups and down we face along our journey. I’m certainly not telling a fairytale. Writing about real events and then developing a voice or perspective took quite a lot of time because things kept happening and it was hard to see the bigger picture but at least I’ve broken through. I think I just needed more time. More ups and downs to see the pattern.
    Sorry that I’ve written an essay but your post obviously got me thinking. Thanks!

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  3. Love this post Ronovan! I find that the more I write the more I HAVE to write. I crave my storytelling time. And each draft is written so differently. Sometimes I plan and sometimes I just start writing. It all still has my voice but some projects are just finicky and demand to be written differently!

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  4. Are great writers born or can they be made? Both? Serious question. I started blogging a couple months ago (not to write but to offer sewing tutorials) but took off with the writing and haven’t looked back since. This week I had the thought “I’m a writer”. This after story lines continued to form in my head. I bought a notebook small enough to carry in my pocket. I have always loved words, grammar, spelling, even misspelling and making up my own words. I went through a phase over ten years ago where I was fixated with suffixes. I sound a bit loony as I reread this but I will send it anyway and will add–Great information here. Your explanation of style and voice is helpful. I may not desire to write a novel, but I can still appreciate that last line of yours 🙂 . With appreciation, Melissa

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  10. What a great post and I’m very impressed with your process. I started as a novelist– meaning I didn’t know how to write a short story. Blogging helped me with the learning. Everyone, now days, speaks of breaking the rules, but there are rules to writing so that readers will get the most out of a story. There are many good books on writing and one can glean the information they need to polish their voice. Readers can tell the writers that have learned and the writers that only want a book with their name on it.

    Even with all the rules of ‘how to write a novel’ it still takes the writing of them to bring out one’s voice.

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  13. Thanks for the links and suggestions! I’m using Evernote to stay organized. I just posted a short story on Writing.com. I might be using the review process to see how the first chapter and others appear to readers.

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  15. Having just read this post, it reminded me that it’s not only how do you write your novel or article, but how do you write everything else, including emails? I only say that because somebody once told me that the way I write my emails was exactly the way I would have said what I was saying in the email had I been talking to them directly about it. That never made any sense to me until I really thought about what they were saying and it clicked that maybe what they were saying was correct.
    Of course you’d have to hear me speak to be able to agree with what they said.

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