How to Write a Novel in Three Simple Steps

If you're new to novel writing and haven't even put a single thought to paper just yet you may be feeling overwhelmed when you try to do a simple internet search for "How To Write A Novel.'

What you thought was going to be a simple answer in turn gives you hundreds of thousands of answers each with its own outlining or writing method when in reality you're just looking for the bare bones of well - how to write a novel.

This task that seems monumental can be broken down into three simple steps that are easy to remember, though they may not be all that easy to complete. 

Writing a novel is a task anyone can start, but only a few finish due to disinterest over time or the stress of not knowing what to do next. 

Well for you here is the bare-bones answer of how to write a book, using only three simple steps. 

Step 1: Planning and Preparation

So you have that small thought in your head that you think just needs to be made into a novel, but you're not sure where to start? 

Look no further than a pen and a piece of paper, the minimalist way to outline. 

You don't need any of those facey methods or to buy anyone's writing course to know how to find the outline of your novel. I also mean outline in the loosest of terms because your 'outline' is everything you write down about your novel before you actually start writing your novel. 

This can be anything from just a few scribbled pages of notes to an entire document of everything that ever happens or might happen in your story.

Before you begin writing you need to know what it is you're going to write - the who, the what, the when, the where, and most importantly… the why.

Use a few pieces of paper or go out and buy a notebook and fill it with everything you think may go into your story, from characters to pieces of dialogue you've thought about, put it all in this one place so that you have it on hand when it's time to write which brings up to the second most important part of writing - writing.

Before you begin typing away at a novel try to know when it is you are going to write in a time that you can consistently dedicate it to writing. This will help you in the long run so you're writing doesn't just become a forgotten idea you once had. 

Step 2: Writing the First Draft

Sure some may call the next step the first draft, but we all really know it's the shit draft. 

The very first time you put pen to paper or type away at your keys into a document you're not going to come out the other side with the world's next NY Bestseller - this happens in the final step of writing. 

Think of your first draft as the way that you are going to get your thoughts into something a little more organized than that first notebook. You'll start at what you think now is the beginning of your story and try to make your way to the end in some shape or fashion, but this doesn't mean this is how your story is going to end up. 

This first draft isn't going to be perfect and one of the major things that hold writers back from writing is the expectation that when they read back those paragraphs they just typed out they are going to look like all those ones in the books they have read over the years forgetting that there is still a whole other step for it to go through before it looks anything like that. 

Put your pen to the paper, or get your keys ready and try to just tell the story as you know it, don't look back at what you've written, and don't compare it to anything else. Keep going until you've felt you've reached the end and then go celebrate. 

You wrote a thing that sort of resembles a story- now it's time to take that pile of -x -  and turn it into a book. 

Step 3: Revision and Editing

Step three will be the longest and most complicated of the three steps, it's where you take all those words you've written and you cut them up, rearrange them, and glue them back together into the masterpiece it is meant to be. 

After you've waited a while, a few weeks minimum after writing the first draft, it's time to print out your story if you can and read it again - and - again - and again. 

You're looking at structure, pacing, and character development, ensuring consistency and coherency while also polishing your prose, refining dialogue, and eliminating any inconsistencies or plot holes.

It's going to take quite a few read-throughs to make your story into the perfect book and even then I recommend always getting help with this step in the shape of beta readers and professional editors who actually know what they're doing. 

Writers are good at making up words - editors are good at making sure those made-up words make sense so there's no shame in having someone else review your work. 

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When you break down writing a novel into three simple steps it doesn't seem like such a daunting task as many on the internet would like you to believe. Heck, you can even eliminate that first step entirely if you prefer the approach of book writing known as writing by the seat of your pants, but I don't recommend this approach to new writers because the age-old saying of learning to walk before you can run applies to storytelling as well. 

Learn to get the words onto the page in the correct order using a guide map before attempting to take off from the starting point with no sense of direction. 

The most important thing to take away from this article though is this - 

It's time to get to writing, Your story is waiting for you. 

With love, 

B. King xo xo

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