The Best Tips For Writing A Good Novel


By Patty Goff


Writing a novel is often a daunting task even for those that have gathered some experience in the art. It is not easy to keep readers consistently interested in your work. If you are new to the trade and do not know where to start, this article will help you explore a number of tips for writing a good novel. As long as you have a good storyline putting it down on paper will not be as difficult as you thought.

It goes without saying that you need to be well prepared just as for any work of art. The preparation here entails many things ranging from conducting research on your subject matter. Research will be needed whether you are a factual or fictional writer. In some instances, you may need to conduct interviews, visit geographical locations and so on.

Make sure that your story has a captivating plot. It should be something that your readers will remember and narrate to other people easily. When your events are chronologically linked the reader will be interested in trying to find out what follows next and will keep reading the book to the end. If you have several stories in your novel, there should be a general storyline.

Your reader should use all their senses. They should make use of their sense of smell, sight, touch, taste and hearing. This is the only way that they will feel that they are part of your story. To achieve this, you need to describe the characters and the events in your story as vividly as possible; be detailed but precise.

Make use of humor as much as possible but be cautious not to overdo it. With a good sense of humor, virtually anything is readable. Ensure that you use a bit of wit so that the jokes are not so obvious; let the reader use their intelligence to pick out the fun. It is even more interesting when you catch the reader off-guard such that the fun comes in the least expected areas.

Make your stories as emotional as possible. Humans are created in such a way that memories are often related to some form of emotion be it love, hatred or indifference. Let your readers experience these emotions as they read through your work. Creating an emotional suspense ensures that the readers keep remembering the story for many days even after they have read it.

Do not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Even for issues that are frowned upon by society, confront them head-on. We all have peculiarities that come out in our characters and to make your story have some credibility, try to have you characters show some of these irrational behaviors. This serves to give a human element to your work.

When your readers cannot conclusively guess how your story will end up, then you have written something good. The most boring story is one in which the outcome is too obvious for everyone to see. There is no thrill in reading it. A good one, on the other hand, has numerous twists and turns that force you to keep reading to find out what lies ahead.




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