Writing a Fiction Book Starts With 4 Fun Steps

Writing a fiction book can seem like a difficult task unless you have a clear idea of where you want to go with your novel. There are so many pieces of a novel to balance as you write: developing characters, writing believable dialog, weaving plots and subplots, juggling multiple points of view, and more. That's why it's so helpful to begin with a clear plan in mind. Everything else you do will flow from out of that.

Getting Started Right

With what I'm going to show you in this article, you will be able to start writing your novel today. As with most things we do in life, it's the first step that's the hardest. Once you've completed the first step, you find yourself carried forward on the momentum of your well-conceived idea. You feel your enthusiasm building and you have a much better sense of where you're headed with your writing.

Step 1: What's Your Genre?

The first thing to do is decide what genre is right for you. There are so many possibilities, so how do you decide? The answer is easy: the key to writing well from the beginning is to write what you love to read. Think about the kind of books you love and start there. Why?

If you've read a lot of books of a particular type or genre, you'll naturally have a good feel for how this type of book should be written. As you've read, you've absorbed the typical way these novels are structured, what the lead characters are like, what they want, and what they tend to go through before they get it. This puts you way ahead of others who are not familiar with this genre. Plus, If you love reading this kind of novel, then you will love writing this kind of novel as well. Plus, your enthusiasm and genuine interest will be reflected in your writing, not to mention that it will help keep you motivated to finish your novel, just because you're having so much fun with your story.

Step 2: Deciding On Your Lead Character

Now that you know your genre, it's time to choose your Lead. Decide on their name, age, and gender. That's enough to get started and give you a feel for who they are. Make sure that your Lead matches the general tendencies within your chosen genre: i.e. young adult fiction typically has a young adult as the Lead character and that's what readers will expect.

Step 3: Decide on the Big Crisis

Early on in your novel, your Lead will be confronted with a major crisis that throws everything in their lives out of order. Evan Marshall, the author and literary agent, gives this suggestion to writers about creating this crisis:

It should fit your genre

It should throw your Lead's life into a state of chaos and confusion

It should create interest in your novel and make you want to know more

Step 4: Setting the Overarching Goal

The crisis forces your Lead to figure out how to solve this crisis and bring their life back into order. As a result, they set their Story Goal that they will strive to achieve throughout the novel.

Marshall recommends that novelists adhere to the following four criteria to create a goal that is powerful enough to hook your readers into wanting to see how it all turns out. From his perspective, your Lead's goal should be about:

Getting something your main character wants or getting relief from something they don't want.

If they fail, there should be terrible consequences.

Your Lead's intentions must be admirable and positive so your readers will really like them.

Your lead's chances of success must seem virtually impossible.

Follow these four simple steps and you will have established a solid foundation to build your novel upon. It will be fun to write and the resulting novel will be engaging for yourself, for potential publishers, and for your future readers.