Ten Quick Steps to a Finished Novel

By: Dianna Crawford

This is not an article on time management.  I’ve never managed to make the time to do anywhere near everything I needed or wanted to do.  Instead, this is an article on how to organize your novel so you can write it in those snatches of time you are able to steal.

A novel is a complex body of work.  If a writer tries to employ all the elements at once, it’s akin to juggling a dozen balls in the air while holding that proverbial tiger by the tail.  And if tonight, after a long day, you’ve finally managed to carve out an hour, that hour can shrink to nothing while you’re trying to catch that blasted tiger.  And where are all those delightful balls you’re supposed to be juggling?

I was caught in an extreme time-crunch when my personal life became very complex just after I’d sold novel proposals to two different publishers.  I needed to complete twice the novels but had one quarter the available time.  I no longer had the luxury of staring at the computer screen, mulling over what I wanted to write today.  Out of necessity I evolved a step-by-step plan for streamlining my writing and minimizing wasted moments.  I call it:

10 STEPS TO A FINISHED NOVEL

1. THE SEED.  This is probably the easiest step for most writers, or else we wouldn’t have that burning desire in the first place.  The idea for a novel can come from anywhere.  I often discover ideas for later books while researching the present one.
   
   
2. LIMITED RESEARCH OF TIME AND PLACE.  Determine the exact time and   place where the story could logically take place.  No matter how fanciful your story, if it’s illogical within its perimeters you’ll lose your target—the reader.
   
   
3. WRITE A ROUGH SYNOPSIS.  Kick back and let your imagination take your main characters through a sketch of the basic plot and conflicts.  Don’t frustrate yourself by trying to write a professional-sounding synop.  If you have a critique group, read it to them for feedback.
   
   
4. DETAILED RESEARCH.  For instance, if your story takes place in a Shoshone village, research the terrain, climate, daily life, customs and philosophies of the people.  You won’t use a tenth of it, but just knowing it will help you to get inside the people’s heads.
   
   
5. CHARACTER CHARTS.  Use these to name your principle characters and really get to know them.  Not only their age and looks, but: Who are the hero’s parents and what affect they had on his life?  What was his birth order in the family? What are his quirks, habits and fears?  What motivates him and why? And aside from deciding what he likes to eat or read, what’s his deep dark secret?  And don’t forget your villain.  Be as detailed with him as you are with your hero and heroine.
   
   
6. SCENE-BY-SCENE SHORT ROUGH DRAFT.  Again, kick back and let your creative juices flow.  Don’t write any details or descriptive tags unless they pop readily into your head.  Concentrate on the plot.  Don’t worry about punctuation, etc., but do know in whose point of view each scene will be.  This should take 2-4 weeks.  Read what you have each week to your critique group to see if the plot and conflicts are sufficiently motivated and developed.
   
   
7. RESEARCH SPECIFICS FOR EACH SCENE.  Now you know where each scene will take place.  If the heroine goes to live in a Plains teepee, find out what’s inside one.  If she cooks food, what’s in the pot?  She witnesses a ceremonial dance—what does she see?  Find a Shoshone to English dictionary, etc.
   
   I call my researched, logical, exciting plot, my tiger by the tail.  It usually takes me six to eight weeks to reach this point in the construction of my novel.  I always celebrate at this point because I feel I’ve hogtied my tiger.  (I’m an obsessive editor, when at the computer, worrying each and every sentence to death and losing my creativity in the process, therefore, I don’t allow myself to go near the computer during the first seven steps.)
   
   
8. A FULL-LENGTH DRAFT.  Using your scene-by-scene rough draft as a guide, along with your research material, start composing.  Start with a bang, providing unanswered questions to whet the reader’s curiosity.  Breathe life into your skeleton of a story and into your stick characters.  Put flesh on those bare bones, dress your people and locations, let the heroine dance and sing to music wafting on a cool breeze as the hero watches from the inky shadows.  In other words, start juggling those balls: tone, theme, voice, P.O.V., reactions, immediacy, internalization, descriptions, and if it’s a romance, don’t forget the constant thread of sexual tension.  If it’s a thriller or mystery, keep the danger or the questions coming.  Always provide a hook at the end of each scene, so the reader will want to read the next one.  It’s also time to properly punctuate and watch out for redundancies, and time to let your critique group get out their red pens.
   
   
9. EDITING READ-THROUGHS.  To save time, don’t make critique changes until you’ve finished the book.  You’ll be far more objective and receptive to helpful criticism by then.  Plus you’ll know exactly who your characters are, and you’ll have a better handle on the theme and the tone of the book.  Combine the critique suggestions you’ve selected on one hard copy.  Again, to save time, I don’t put the changes into the computer until I’ve read my hand-edited copy over and over until it flows, the redundancies are gone, the characters consistent, the plot or description flaws are caught and the tension is tight.
   
   
10. PUT ALL THE CHANGES INTO THE COMPUTER and read through for typos.  (Spell Check doesn’t catch everything.)  I hate this part, but I try to think of it as being in a delivery room.  It’s this miserable labor that at long last brings forth a healthy full term novel.  And it feels SO GOOD when it’s over.

Note:  I do only steps 8 & 10 at the computer.  Because of this, a tremendous amount of work can be done in snatches of time wherever I am.  A pencil and tablet, a research text, one of my chapters, can go just about anywhere with me—to a soccer game, a boring school program intermission, during lunch, in the bathroom, at the airport, on a plane.  If you, too, decide to give this method a try, you’ll never be at those boring loose ends again, with nothing to do but twiddle your thumbs…which reminds me, watch out for those clichés.

Courtesy of www.fiction-writing-tips.com