A Novel Idea

Why are you writing? What is your purpose? To entertain? Inform? To make money? (by the way Christians have more hang-ups about making money –from writing- than any other group I teach). Back to your motivation. Let’s say you have this clever idea for a mystery novel. _Actually, you’ve written the opening scene a couple of dozen times already. But you need help. Okay, here it is. Unless you want to hire a ghost writer, you’re going to need to sit down and write that what you know about the story. All the way through. Keep typing, forget about word count, spelling, and grammar. Don’t stop to edit. Just simply write as much of the story as you can.
_Now sit back. Breathe. Okay, you now have something to work on. You have created the "bones" of a story. Of course it is bad. It has plenty of holes. So what. Only two things can happen now. You can abandon the project. Or you can improve the story. Assuming you want to write, the next step is to make a plan. Start by asking what if. What if my main character did this … or what if this happened next … or suppose somebody dies … or gets married … or runs away. Think about the ending – it is important to know where you are going - and how you will get there. Make an outline. An outline will keep the project focused and save you time. A well-thought through outline is like a mini-guarantee for success.
_Yet many beginning writers feel that an creating an outline is, well, anti-creative. They would rather simply let the story unfold. Nice work if you can get it. Waiting around for the story to unfold can be unproductive, time consuming, and unreliable. A little work now, can save a whole lot of work later. Consider the cliché fail to plan, plan to fail. A thoughtful plan can help insure success. A few sessions with a developmental editor can help create a solid writing plan. If you are serious about writing that novel think about your purpose. To entertain? To inform? Make money? Stopping to answer these questions just might be your answer to success.