How to Start and Finish a Novel

How do you get off to a flying start in writing a novel? Can you maintain your enthusiasm until the end?  If you want to be successful with starting and finishing a novel, read my tips which come in a series on this blog about what experienced writers of novels give novelist wannabes. We’re all in this together fellow novelist wannabes.

First Step –  Make your blueprint. 
Plan your novel’s design or structure. Ask yourself this question: What will be my novel’s structure?

          When it comes to planning the design of my novel, at first, I thought it was ok to just write whatever scenarios come to mind and see if the other day  can give me better crispy concepts. I thought it was ok to write first because eventually, it will lead me to  my novel’s story. It will eventually take its shape.

However, after reading the Snowflake method of Randy Ingermanson on his blog (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/), I realized I should be methodological in crafting my novel. I should be organized so that I know I’m going somewhere. Although he mentioned that the best one for us to follow is the one that we think works best for us, I still find his method encouraging. I feel like if I follow it, I will be enthusiastic until the end.

 So what does he say about it?

Basically, what his Snowflake  method taught me is to work on an organized novel. Organization of course, starts from shaping up your little ideas into a big one. Right now, I have a 70-page novel introduction that is going nowhere. That is because I just kept on writing stories and ideas that come to  mind everyday. I don’t know what to do with it simply because I skipped the first part. I forgot to make a simple layout. What is my story about? Who is my protagonist? How am I going to begin and end it? If my colleague asked me about the plot of my novel, what will I say.

Even before starting  my novel, I actually knew that I had to make the story’s layout first.  I just get hassled doing this process because I thought it was not necessary  since the plot is just always in my head and I can modify it anytime I want. However, the advantage of doing it is being more encouraged to think of a sensible plot, knowing that I have a good picture of my story to start with. So my next question is how do I write my layout?

Since you want to write a novel, I bet you know the important parts: setting, characters, plot (introduction, climax, and conclusion), and conflict. However, I am not going to include each of them right out in the blueprint that I am making. So how do I know what to include in my structure?

Forget about it first and start writing the summary of your story. Yes, let’s start with the summary first. That is what sir Ingermanson suggested and that is what I am doing. Reading his blog is very helpful so I highly recommend it.

 My Sample of Structuring a Novel

 My novel’s summary should go like this: 
                                  A typical woman in her 30s in the corporate world ponders the possibility of her being a psychic, visionary, clairvoyant or anything related to supernatural. She actually didn’t how to call herself since the descriptions of the words mentioned above don’t fit. An over-thinker that she is, she recalled her experiences of the supernatural from the time she had her first encounter of strange occurrences in childhood up to her lucid dream experiences at the present. In her discovery of the strange truth about herself, she had to go back to the memories she had with her grandmother. She suspects that the remark of her grandmother about how the world is layered into seven strata has something to do with the mystery of her supernatural experiences. In her journey to finding out what to call herself and the truth behind the supernatural battle she is experiencing, she will meet an esoteric artist, a spiritual warrior, and a nerd psychologist who will help her reveal the truth about her mysterious being, the bizarre  world she is living, and the wavering belief she is questioning.

I know it sounds really vague but remember, we have the second step. We can always polish and improve it.

            
Reference: 

Ingermanson, R. (2003). The Snowflake Method For Designing a Novel. Retrieved from