If you are stalled with your novel writing plans, forgive yourself and start moving upward and onward with your writing. Some of you are working on a novel in progress. Just pick up where you left off and begin writing. If the novel is finished and you want to reshape it, then instead of writing, take a red pen and sit down with a print out of the book. And begin to read it. Make notes in the margin as you go. Side note: If you began with your hero or heroine waking up in the morning and getting out of bed, preparing for the day in which his or her life changes, thus setting the stage for the novel, throw out that scene. It’s the kiss of death to begin a novel with that scene.
Is an ending the right one? Only the author can decide that even if a reader might have preferred a different one or think they know a better one. The writer, in fact, should consider a variety of endings to come up with the best and most suitable one. Often we see different endings when a book is made into a movie. Sometimes they’re better and sometimes not. The thing is though, the screenwriter did see an ending that was different than the book.
Example: My purpose in writing about Elvis is to prove that people need heroes so badly they will refuse to acknowledge the reality of the heroes they chose.
The image of a writer pounding out the final words of the next breath-taking read remarried empress novel online free to take the world by storm has a romantic feel that we, as writers, cling to. As hard as it is to accept, that romanticism was no more real then than it is now. In fact, many of the greats came to sad and lonely ends.
Do the Twist. In film scripts it’s called a turning point. In my system it’s called a surprise. Whatever you call it, it’s a major, shocking story development that throws a whole new light on your lead’s situation and makes matters worse in terms of her reaching her goal. A surprise can be a discovery your lead makes; an action by another character that affects your lead; revelation of new information that is truly bad news for your lead; or an event that has a negative impact on your lead’s situation. The surprise should raise the stakes for your lead and thereby make your readers sit up and take notice.
Acquire a step-by-step novel-writing guide, or comprehensive novel-writing software. With the help of a guide that is truly step-by-step, you will always know what to do next. This will go a long way in alleviating writer’s block.
Well, I won’t hold my breath, but it would be nice if we could all get together and let each other know in January 2012 whether or not we wrote that novel in 2011. Just in case you do, let me know. I’d love to read it-especially if anything I said here encouraged you to sit down and do what writers are supposed to do—write!
