Q: Do I have to have a title before I start writing?
Nope. My manuscripts sometimes have a title before they have a first page, and others I'm still struggling with titles for even after they've been drafted and revised. Titles often change during the publication process anyway, so I wouldn't get hung up on finding the perfect title. I'd just start writing, and it may come to you as you go. Lots of authors find their title while writing out those gorgeous lines.
Q: Do I have to have a thorough outline before I start writing?
Nope. Some authors have to have one, and some find it drains the inspiration from the creative process. I'd say you definitely need a firm idea of what the story is about-- what's the main character's problem? Figure that out, develop it, find out what stands in the way of him/her solving that problem. Basically, know the big events that have to happen. If you don't like outlines, that's okay. Just be sure you have a solid concept in place so you aren't writing enormous tangents or piles of words with no goal. That can be discouraging.
If you have a clear conflict in mind for your characters and you know what's keeping them from solving the conflict, that's a great place to start. I use a method that works great for me: I get to know the conflict and the characters, then I start writing, treating my outline like I'm driving in the dark; I only need to see as far ahead as my headlights will show me. Each step shows me a little bit more of what's ahead, and that's enough!
Q: Is it a good idea to let family and friends read my manuscript?
In the early stages, I say no-- for similar reasons that it's not a good idea to let your friends and family name your children. They won't want what you want for the book, if you don't take their advice, they may be upset, and quite frankly, you love them too much. The opinions of family and friends usually mean so much to us that it can make filtering their feedback difficult, and it also puts you in the awkward position of having disagreements with them over what's best for the story and potentially doing exactly what they said was a terrible idea. On the other hand, well-meaning advice can set us off on the wrong path. I'd look for feedback from people who are writers, too.
Lots of us are plenty strong enough to not let relationships cloud what's best for the book, but even when that's the case, it's hard to deal with. Save yourself the angst, and have them read, if you must, once it's done and you're no longer accepting feedback. Chances are, they'll tell you they love it and it's perfect, anyway. :)
Q: How long should my novel be?
The first thing to know is that writers almost always measure book length in words, not pages. How many words fit on a page can vary so much that it's just not an accurate measure. Most word processors track the word count of your document for you, so check (probably at the bottom) for how many words you have. How long your book should be depends on the category and genre. Here's a pretty solid breakdown from Writer's Digest. Keep in mind a standard page is about 250-300 words.
Q: What if I screw it up by writing the wrong thing?
You will write the wrong thing. Trust me. Don't be afraid of it! Here's the thing: you're smart, motivated, and creative. Anything you can write, you can un-write. So much of writing is rewriting that I like to think of it as a puzzle. I've got all these pieces, I found the corners, and now I'm shifting them around to see what fits where. That's what drafting is all about. Don't pressure yourself too much to know everything before starting to write pages. Legos is a good comparison, too. They can be taken apart and shifted around to fit a different way if I discover my creation isn't looking like I want it to, or the structure isn't holding up. It may be painful at first, but you'll learn from it, and you know your characters and plot better now than you did before. This one is going to be better because of it. Trust yourself-- if you made something good once, you can do it again, so if you need to rework something, that's okay. You can take it down and make something else good, too. Trust yourself to find a good thing in all those building blocks and make it take shape. Reshape as you go. Jump and and do it. And redo it. Good writing is rewriting!
Q: How much revising should I plan on doing?
Well, I like to compare drafting and revising to raising a child. You put months into planning, developing, and writing that book, and when you finish drafting it, you have a brand new book baby! Congratulations. It's a huge moment. But just like you're not done when you've successfully created a brand new person, you're not done with that book yet. You have to shape that child and spend 18 years teaching him or her how to be a successful, happy adult (who are we kidding? We need our parents well into our thirties), and you have to shape, focus, and polish your manuscript. It's a book now, but it needs a lot more love before it's ready for the world. Now, hopefully, this won't take 18 years, but it usually does take 3-4 thorough rounds of revisions with beta readers and critique partners to really make the book live up to its potential. And that's before agent revisions and editor revisions. However: here's the great part. All this work can be so much fun. Just like parenting, there are parts we hate and parts that make us cry and parts we wish we didn't have to do. But it's worth it.
What questions do you have for me? Ask in the comments, and see them answered in the next Writing a Novel 101 post!
Kate Brauning writes adult and YA suspense, reads everything, and never gets over a great story. She's represented by Carlie Webber of CK Webber Associates, and is an associate editor for Month9Books. She believes wine is best rich and red, chocolate is best smooth and dark, and books are best bittersweet. She's almost always listening to music, and one of these days, she'll learn to play the guitar.Find Kate on Twitter or on her Website.
Your parenting example is SPOT ON; can't believe I didn't think of that analogy before!
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of letting family and friends read your work: I'd say it depends on the person. One of my good friends is also a writer (though she mostly writes screenplays while I write novels), and she always gives me great feedback on my work. Not only does she understand the writer mindset, but we're close enough that I know not to take her comments personally, so she doesn't feel the need to hold back to spare my feelings. It doesn't affect our relationship at all. I've heard other writers say they let their spouses read their work, probably for the same reason. I think writers considering letting people close to them read their work should gauge the individual person and situation.
ReplyDeleteSometimes close friends and family can be excellent, trusted sounding boards; that's definitely true. If someone can keep his relationship separate from the feedback, that's great.
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