Joyce Lavene - The Everything Guide to Writing a Novel

THE
EVERYTHING
GUIDE TO
WRITING A NOVEL

From completing the first draft
to landing a book contract
all you need to fulfill your dreams

Joyce and Jim Lavene

Copyright 2004, F+W Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced
in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions
are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

An Everything Series Book.
Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of F+W Publications, Inc.

Published by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN: 1-59337-132-2
eISBN 13: 978-1-44052-303-8
Printed in the United States of America.

J I H G F E D C B A

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lavene, Joyce.
The everything guide to writing a novel / Joyce and Jim Lavene.
p. cm.
(An everything series book)
ISBN 1-59337-132-2
1. Fiction-Authorship. I. Lavene, James. II. Title. III. Series.
PN3365.L38 2004
808.3-dc22 2004005403

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the
American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
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The EVERYTHING Guide to Writing a Novel

Dear Reader:

We began this book because so many people ask us about different elements of novel writing. In every workshop we give, there are collected Weve questions that all deserve good answers. Weve collected a great deal of knowledge through the course of writing more than forty books. The problem was finding a way to put all of those answers together.

There are plenty of workshops and seminars for writers that break down many of the answers. But small chunks of information gathered from hundreds of different sources are sometimes confusing and difficult to remember. We wanted to put as much as we could in one place.

We hope the information contained here will be easy to use. Writing and publishing can be a strange and mysterious world. Our goal here was to take away some of the mystery with clean, straightforward answers. Hopefully, weve accomplished some part of de-mystifying the process for everyone who reads this book.

The EVERTHING Series

Editorial

Production

Visit the entire Everything Series at www.everything.com

For Sandi Starrette; a great writer, artist, and friend.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Our appreciation to our agent, Jacky Sach, whose help and guidance were essential in creating this work; our editor, Kate Burgo, without whose helpful suggestions we would have been lost; and the wonderful writers who paved the way for todays authors with their timeless works of novel-length fiction.

Top Ten Reasons to Write a Novel

You have a story to tell. You have to write it or you just might explode.

You have a passion for words and you love to write.

Youve experienced something you feel the world should know.

Youre dissatisfied with the books you read. You believe you can write better.

The story you want to tell is too detailed and involved to fit into a short-story format.

You want to have the satisfaction of knowing youve completed a manuscript.

You want to try your hand at getting a novel published.

Youre looking for a career that you never have to retire from.

Youre looking for a career that can travel with you, no matter where you go.

You want to see if you can capture a piece of the fame, wealth, and glory that a successful novelist can enjoy.

Introduction

WHEN THE FIRST NOVEL WRITER sat down with his parchment and a quill in hand, the entire world shifted. It was 1605. Miguel de Cervantes had written Don Quixote. Nothing would ever be the same again.

In the seventeenth century, epic poems and lengthy short stories were already in vogue. There were plays and sonnets galore. But no one knew what to expect from this new art form. What could a longer, more complex story offer a reader?

As it turns out, novels have offered millions of readers around the world a means of escape from their familiar, sometimes humdrum lives. Even though over 100 years passed before the next great literary novel would appear, the concept eventually flourished. Writers like Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, and Henry Fielding kept scribbling away, creating works like Robinson Crusoe (1719), Gullivers Travels (1726), and Tom Jones (1749). Imaginations took flight and publishers soon learned there was money to be made from the prose of these talented masters.

Readers have gone to the ends of the earth with daring explorers like Phineas T. Fogg and Allan Quartermaine. They have witnessed the colonizing of Mars before it ever seemed technologically possible. A reader was onboard the first manned space station years before the human race ever went into space. Readers have fought in the foxholes with soldiers and have been present at the coronation of kings and all without leaving the comfort of their armchairs.

Millions of novels have been published since the idea for one first crossed a writers mind. Thousands of writers have made their mark on the wall of literature. Many of them spend their entire lives working on their masterpieces. Many more dont get started until theyre past the responsibilities of family and job. Other writers of all ages give up before they ever see the end of their first novel.

This is understandable: Writing isnt always easy. Long hours in a solitary dream world can wreak havoc on a persons life. Creating just the right form, character, and plot can be as hard as trekking up the side of a mountain. But like any other good climb, its the view from the summit that takes your breath away. When youve seen the sun rise at the top of the world, nothing else will do. There is an unbelievable exhilaration that accompanies the completion of every new book.

In essence, novel writers have the power to give birth to people, worlds, and ideas. They can ask the most daring questions and propose the unthinkable. Novel writers make all of us take a hard look at who we are and the stuff were made of. They challenge the bounds of society and the boundaries of the imagination. Novels stretch our minds and quicken our pulses.