Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

Adding a close friend for our story's protagonist offers many benefits.  Here are some thoughts on buddies.  And: how did novelists Willa Cather and Nathaniel Hawthorne work?  Plus, techniques for avoiding interior monologue when our character is alone in the scene.  And: should we write the story that's loudest in our head or should we aim for the market?Support the showBuy the master class.

Bland settings works against the story, and riveting settings propel the story forward.  Here are techniques for creating powerful settings that will engage the reader.  Also, the Wall Street Journal's interview of best-selling Ken Follett is fascinating, and here is some of it.Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.Support the showBuy the master class.

Here are thoughts on how to avoid early mistakes in our writing,  those blunders we might make before we write the first sentence of our story.    Also, a couple of wonderful quotation about writing.  And: new technology tools to help us writers.Support the showBuy the master class.

Action is the most interesting element in most novels, and a fight is action.   Here are some techniques for writing a fight scene.   Also, here's an almost sure-fire way to prime the pump of our plotting, a way to invent more plot for our story.   And: thoughts about naming our characters.Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.Support the showBuy the master class.

The first sentence of our story should suggest to the reader, "Come on in and listen."  A good first sentence propels the reader into the story, and here are some ways to write them.   Also: Stephen King's twenty important techniques for writing.Support the showBuy the master class.

Why should we keep a tie-up later list?   How to create one and their importance are mentioned.   And Angelou, King, and Tolstoy.  Also: should we plan a sequel?Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.Support the showBuy the master class.

Learn the three most important techniques for writing dialogue in fiction, including why arguments make for the most interesting conversations for readers. Discover how to make third-person narrators as intimate as first-person narrators. Explore Mark Twain's daily writing habits and his unconventional methods for promoting sleep.

Humorous characters are fun to read about and fun to write about.  Here are some thoughts on why funny characters are important in our stories, and some techniques for creating funny characters.  Also: Charles Dickens' daily work schedule.Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.Support the showBuy the master class.

Here are ways to show with action and dialogue what our character is thinking so we can avoid visiting the character's mind for interior monologue, usually the least interesting element of a story.   And we visit Somerset Maugham, Truman Capote, and Herman Melville.Support the showBuy the master class.

Do we need courage to write our first novel?  If so, where do we find it?  Also, writing the physical description of our hero in a first-person novel can be tricky.  Here are thoughts on how we might do so.Here is a 20-episode master class on fiction writing—a start-to-finish course covering plot, characters, dialogue, scenes, sentence-level craft, and much more.  Each episode is focused and about 30 minutes.  The full class—all 20 episodes—is available now for a one-time price of forty-nine dollars.  If you want structured, concise guidance, click the Buy the Master Class link in the show notes to get started.Support the showBuy the master class.