The Definitive Manual for Creating Any Fiction From Scratch

In addition, this guide includes the innovative way of creating and developing stories that everyone is talking about, the famous, fresh and new Fiction Creation Board . A method as brilliant as it is functional.

In Writing Fiction you will find all the explanations you need to start writing, accompanied by examples and exercises that will help you approach writing in a dynamic, simple, entertaining and fun way.

Discover the essential elements shared by all those fictions you admire and learn how to put them into practice.

Do you have a story to tell and don’t know how to tell it? This is your perfect guide.

How to write a novel

Have you ever had an incredible idea, started writing a novel , and ended up, weeks later, abandoning it half finished? You are not the only one. Writing a book is not easy; You have to take many elements into account: the plot, the characters, the dialogues, the structure… that can be overwhelming for anyone.

The good news is that writing novels is a technique and can be learned.

The first thing you need is an idea . This can come in the form of a character, a voice, a place. Maybe you’ve come up with a best-seller about teenagers learning wizardry at a boarding school (sorry, that’s already taken).Now, how to write a novel starting from that initial spark of inspiration?

Key elements for writing a novel

These are some of the essential elements that you should take into account before sitting down to write.

issue

What are you going to write about? Don’t tell me you want to write an epic fantasy novel yet. It is important not to confuse the theme with the plot. Here we can not be very original.

All the books stir around the same universal themes : love, death, mourning, guilt… In every story there is an underlying theme and it is your way of approaching it (that is, the way in which you capture it on paper) . ) which will make your novel unique.

For example, in the now legendary film American Beauty , a protagonist in the midst of a mid-life crisis falls in love with his teenage daughter’s friend (plot). However, this story tells us about a man who lives a solitary, materialistic life and surrounded by false appearances and decides to search for authenticity and beauty (theme).

Plot

Now yes, it is time to develop your idea and turn it into action. We can refer to the plot as the chronological thread of events presented in a narrative work to the reader. And this is where you have to start breathing the next word. CONFLICT .

“ Conflict, light of my life, fire of my entrails. My sin, my soul. Con-flic-to ”.

Nabokov aside, don’t be afraid to get your character into some serious trouble. And when he gets out of it, let him fall into another even worse one. Readers love to read how the protagonist overcomes his fears and flaws from him to solve his problems from him. A novel with little conflict (internal or external) will only make readers doze off and abandon the book halfway. How To Write A Fiction

documentation

Are you going to write a historical novel about a Nazi concentration camp in the 20th century? investigate. Read books, watch movies, visit the library (yes, they still exist!). Get well informed of the facts. You can only write a good novel if you have authority over what you are telling. The more information you collect, the better. You will appreciate it when you sit down to write and doubts pop up.

Planning and structure

On this point there is debate, because many writers affirm that they do not plan their stories, but prefer to “discover” them as they write. OK. But if you are a new writer , I recommend that you plan point by point.

Planning a novel can be boring, but it’s not difficult, since they all follow a similar three-act structure. If you don’t, you run the risk of writing 40, 60 pages of a story that you won’t know how to continue and you’ll end up with the dreaded writer’s block . And again, abandoned novel in a corner.

character creation

The protagonist is the central element and must be given the importance it deserves. In my opinion, creating characters is one of the most complex and interesting elements when it comes to developing any type of story.

Not only do you have to think about his physique and his personality, but also about his evolution throughout the story. For this reason, it is not worth giving him characteristics at random ( he is tall, blond, shy but not very, he has a parrot as a pet, he loses control when he drinks…) but rather his characteristics, and more specifically his WEAKNESSes , must be closely related to the theme of the novel.

The deeper and more complex your characters are, the more believable they will be to the reader .

narrative voice

An essential element that many writers overlook. Who narrates the story? Is the protagonist an observer or is he an omniscient narrator? How much time has passed since the action occurs until the narrator tells us about it? Can we believe at face value what he says? What feeling does the narrator have about the action?

The types of narrator are very varied, and if you don’t define it well from the beginning it will be very difficult to correct it later.

dialogues

Dialogues move the plot forward. Learning to write amazing dialogues will have your readers hooked and turning page by page until you reach the end.

You should also consider the voice of the characters before you sit down to write. How do they express themselves, what tone do they use, what is their socioeconomic level, level of abstraction, etc. In good novels each character has a unique voice (at least the main characters). Personally, few things make me more angry than perceiving the writer speaking through the voices of his characters.

How to write a novel step by step

Once you have the above elements well defined (or at least a general idea), it is time to sit down and work on your manuscript.

1. Start with a summary

Making a detailed summary of the action of your novel will help you have less doubt during the process and finish it faster. Develop and expand the Outline into a five to ten page summary. Having this guide with all the events that happen in the plot will be very useful once you have finished the first act of the novel, which is the moment when things tend to get complicated and many writers begin to doubt the direction the story should take. history.

From my experience, I would recommend you not to skip this step and spend the necessary time on it. Think of the writing process as a marathon, and going back to these early documents will help when you’ve lost the motivational boost that often accompanies starting a new project.

2. Work scene by scene

You don’t have to write from start to finish. Not even end at the end. Every writer has a different process. By forcing yourself to write linearly you may end up getting stuck and not knowing how to continue.

An alternative idea is to write the most important scenes for your story first. The opening scenes, some scenes from the middle of the story and some final scenes. From there, you can link from one to the other in the way that is most natural for you.

3. Develop your novel according to a structure

Both fictional novels and movies are normally composed of three acts that correspond to the presentation, middle and end. The Three Act Structure of the Novel is the Lord’s Prayer for writers, and if you want to write a successful novel you will have to learn it by heart.

A classic structure you can follow to tell your story is known as The Hero’s Journey , which has been used in novels, movies, and other types of storytelling for centuries.

4. Write a first draft

writes. writes. writes. I can’t say it enough times. And when you finally put that long-awaited full stop to your manuscript, don’t get too excited.

It is a very common mistake among new writers to think that doing a single draft is enough and that the next step is to send it to a publisher and become the next best-selling author.

Stop fantasizing and come back to earth. The first draft is just the writer telling himself the story and it is not a product that is ready to reach readers yet. Not even zero readers.

Let your manuscript rest for a couple of months, rest, treat yourself. Removing emotionally from your novel will make you look at it with fresh eyes when you read it again.

5. Edit to refine

From here the hard work of editing begins, where you will have to give solidity to the plot, detect possible flaws in the structure and evolution of the characters and polish your manuscript until it is impeccable. At least one edition will be necessary, but I would recommend two or even three, before seeking a second opinion on your work. The goal is to leave your manuscript as polished as possible (which also includes typos and misspellings).

Once here, lend your manuscript to a friend or guildmate you trust and ask them to comment on any points of improvement or failures they notice. Ask him to be as honest as possible. Collect one or several opinions and edit again those points that you think are necessary.

next steps

This already depends on you. Do you want to submit your novel to a contest? Looking for a literary agent? Self-publish it? There are many paths that can be taken from here and it is best to inform yourself well before making a decision.

After all, your book is your baby and you don’t want to leave it in the hands of just anyone, do you? Whatever path you choose, good luck!