You want to write a short novel in no time at all? Too time consuming, isn't it? With this guide, you can write a really good short novel which you can do for money or for fun.
Step 1
Choose your genre. Crime, Horror, Romance...you decide. If you don't know, just start writing.
Step 2
Create the main cast. Think of one to three main characters who are interesting. Write a Character Breakdown (describing the looks, personality and history of each major character). They should be as familiar to you as your best friend, brother, sister, mother and/or father. Once you do this, your characters will talk for themselves and they may even surprise you by what they say. When this happens, you know your characters are interesting.
Step 3
Plan your short novel in a notebook or on your computer. An outline of plot points (places where important events happen) can be detailed as you want. Some deviation may happen, but that can keep the feel of the book more organic, but be careful of getting too far off. You can't have a character trying to solve a murder, then decide to go to Comicon to hang out with Star Wars peeps, then come back and pick up where he (or she) left off.
Step 4
Choose a place and a time for the setting (say New York 1929). Make it as interesting and attention grabbing as you can!
Step 5
Develop the plot. Think of a really good and original storyline for the characters to be involved in. This can be done with the epitomous 'fish out of water' story where the character suddenly is in a situation they know nothing about (ie: Castaway). Or perhaps something happens to them or a family member and they have to deal with it. But be aware of obvious storylines. If your reader knows what's going to happen before they read it, you might as well be drawing quadratic equations on Hooters bathroom toilet paper.
- Remember, don't go over the top with the storyline! The simple ones are usually the best.
- There are four parts of a story: setup, conflict, climax and resolution.
- Your set up shouldn't be very long; just long enough to introduce the characters and the situation. (Scrooge is a real jerk; then his old friend comes back as ghost to let him know three more will visit him).
- The conflict is then what the character has to deal with and solve. (Ghosts show up and torment Scrooge).
- All this leads to the climax of the story where the situations reach a head. (Scrooge sees his own death and has a change of heart).
- The resolution ties up loose ends and sends the story out. (Scrooge gives Cratchet a raise and a turkey).
Step 6
Write. Remember a book should have a minimum of one hundred pages, but more would be preferable. Remember, you do not have a deadline so take your time! If it goes over 250 pages, go to How to Write a Novel.
Step 7
Keep writing and then, once finished, put it away for a few weeks, a month even. Come back to it and then rewrite, rewrite and then rewrite some more. First draft publications are rare, impossible even. Much of the magic of prose come from rewriting anyway.
Step 8
Once you've edited and finalized your short novel, find a publisher to show your short novel to.
- Consider an electronic publisher for your short novel. Many of the the online publishers have digests or anthologies that are well suited to shorter works.
Tips
- To get ideas for stories, sit down with the newspaper, read magazines, eavesdrop in public places, revisit your diary, go for a walk and watch the news.
- To get character names, use the phone book.
- If you're writing a dramatic novel, or one that is fast paced, you must, absolutely just, get your character into desperate and deep trouble within a few pages. Nothing will kill a short novel or story if you don't get to the conflict right away. Read Dean Koontz to fully appreciate this. (Tick Tock, Strangers, Lightning and Phantoms are prime examples).
- Writing is fooling the mind into thinking it's there, thus you must make your writing "sensual," or, in other words, giving the readers a sense of place through the six senses: smell, touch, taste, sight, sound and impression.
- Minimize or avoid static words such as: is, was, has, had, be, been, has been, had been, to be, would be and so on. This will add some action to your sentences and they'll be less stale.
- Watch for cliche's: dead as a door nail, scared to death, out the window, tough as nails, and the like. It's amatuerish. However, if you're on a roll, use them and rewrite them later.
- Show your completed short novel to family and friends first. They are the toughest critics and will help you improve it.
- Or don't show your story to friends and family. They may not want to hurt your feelings if they feel strongly opposed to passages or may know too much about what your writing about to sort out inside events, comments or jokes. Also, they tend to want the story to be 'safe' or 'nice.' Instead, join a writer's group that are tough and honest; it's the only way you'll get better. Learn to take, accept, and use advice, criticism.
- If you write a part of your novel each night for at least one hour, that'll be enough time to work on it and do your usual job or routine. Shoot for getting three pages done a night; after 60 days, you have a 180 page novel.
- Do your best not to edit as you write. You'll get stuck with sentences and paragraphs and eventually lose confidence in your writing. Write at least 30 pages before rereading it again; just like someone else said, just plow through it and worry about getting it right later.
- You might want to try the snowflake (snowball?) method- write out the bare bones of your story, then read through it, embellishing and improving along the way. You may have to do it repeatedly, but it is worth it when you get 50+ pages!
- Some publishers base their story categories on word counts. short story up to 10,000 words. Novella up to 25,000 words. Category Novels have 25,000 to 50,000 words and Novel works are over 50,000 words. Most word processing programs can give you a 'word count' or you can estimate it at 250 words per double spaced manuscript page (standard paper) with 1" margins.
- Research publishers that would be interested in your work. Review their submissions pages carefully and even hang it on your wall for additional inspiration. Most will never accept gratuitous violence but it likely won't be rejected just because your horror story contains violence, or your romance contains sexual content. There are markets for serious stories.
- Check out Nanowrimo - National Novel Writing Month. the website is www.nanowrimo.org and this organization encourages you to create a first draft of a novel with a 50,000 word count. It can be done! Don't be neat, and edit in December!
- Take time to edit. It will save your patience with an editor later.
- Get friends to read it. If they enjoy it, keep writing, if they don't ask for some advice on how to make it better.
Warnings
- Writing a short novel is time-consuming so be prepared to work on this for a while.
- If the story is crazy or over-the-top, people won't buy it, so be realistic.
- Do not obsess over an editor's comments if your work is rejected. If you have made a serious submission, take serious comments to heart and use it to improve your work. Some editors can be harsh- if you received a nasty rejection letter, think about whether you would want to seriously work with that house at all.
Things You'll Need
- A notepad with a few pens and pencils.
- A computer or typewriter.
- A camera for photography (this might help you get some inspiration).
- Creativity and inspiration!
