Ever had a great idea for a story or novel but couldn't materialize it to an actual work? Do you want to develop your skills to be able to write stories and novels? Just scroll down for your answers ...
1Read a lot! Reading different types of literature can widen your knowledge, expand your artistic vocabulary and increase your knowledge.
2Find your inspiration. Try to find out what it is that triggers your talent and maximizes it. Try some of the following inspirations:
- Time of day. Some people write more efficiently or are inspired in certain times of the day like sunset, sunrise, dusk and dawn.
- Season of year. Find out your favorite time of year. Try more at these times.
- Fine arts like music, paintings and sculptures can trigger your senses and talents to write.
- Places like museums, historical places, ancient landmarks, natural places (like forests and beaches) or even public parks can trigger memories, thoughts and feeling in authors. Try to relax and think deeply when in such places.
- Occasions and events like festivals and celebrations can be good times for an author to get inspiration about ideas and concepts. Some authors made their best pieces in the romance of a wedding, some in the tragedy of a funeral.
3Take notes. Write down every thought, idea, feeling and interesting situation. Quotes, funny sentences and interesting facts or news items are also good to store in notes. You never know when they come in handy.
- Store your notes. Do not throw anything away. Select a method of storing your notes like notebooks, computer software or even cartoon/paper cards.
Categorize your notes. Separate ideas from thoughts and thoughts from feelings. Also categorize your notes according to their topic, time and nature.
- If you are using paper based storage, try dedicating separate drawers/shelves for different types of notes.
- For computer based storage, create different directories and files for the different notes. Use specialized note-taking applications.
- Go through your notes every now and then. Some of the oldest notes can come in handy in your newest story/novel.
4Find out your favorite writing genre. There are many genres to choose from, but you can find your own only by trying. Here are some ideas:
- Read more about novel genres and learn the differences between them.
- Read at least a sample from each genre. This will familiarize you with the genre.
- Do not confuse your favorite writing genre with your favorite reading genre. You might enjoy love stories, yet you might be best at writing suspense ones!
- The only true test is experiment. Try thinking of stories in each genre. See how far you can go.
5Create a conception for your story/novel. Conceptions are the guidelines for a stories and novels. They summarize the main theme of the story, so try to be as brief as you can.
6Create the setting for your story. The setting of the story/novel is the general environment of the story. This includes:
- The time/era/historical period of the story.
- The place that the story takes place at. This might be a town, a country, a village or a fictional place or even plane/planet.
- Characters of the story. Create a list of the main characters. This include protagonists and antagonists. Give your characters names and personalities. Tie the characters to places and events.
7Start writing the different parts of your story/novel. Stories and novels vary in size from several few pages to volumes of thousands of pages. However, they all share the same basic structure:
- An introduction/setting. This does not mean this part come first in the story or is written first. It is the part that introduces the reader to the elements of the story. It gives the user a brief about the time, place, and characters.
- A beginning. This is usually underestimated, but adds great value and is an integral part of the story. This is the point in the story when the main events begin to occur. That might be the party that makes the two main characters fall in love. It can be the war that separates two lovers.
- A conflict/tie/knot. This is what the story is mainly about. This is usually a mental, moral, ethical, or physical challenge or dilemma. Well the two lovers continue to love each other, well the man stop himself from stealing. It's usually a question you will keep wondering most of the story.
- A Climax. This is where the events reach the maximum sophistication. Things are usually rather unclear at this point. Readers must be holding their breath waiting for the results and outcomes of these moments. Major events (like death, disaster and maybe marriage!), decisions (deciding to leave the fiancé, deciding to leave town and deciding to accept a marriage proposal) and the partial/full revealing of hidden information from the reader are all candidates for being the climax of a novel/story.
- The ending/resolution. This is usually where all the answers are decided. They might be answered or not, but a clear understanding formulates in the mind of the reader about what this all has been about.
8Review your work! This is the most important step. Every time you edit and review your work, it becomes better. Sometimes it is hard however to criticize one's self so here are some guidelines.
- Start by proofreading. Do your own spell and grammar checks. This encourages you to correct things later on.
- Leave a certain work for a while, do some other work and come back to the first. It is sometimes hard to edit works you are currently working on, so detach yourself from the work for a while.
- Show parts of your work (never the whole thing) to people you trust. If you gave them the whole thing, they might refrain from telling you the truth thinking that this will hurt you especially when they see the whole work and the effort you've done on it.