Necessary Items that Make the Novel You're Writing Work

by Cindy K. Sproles @CindyDevoted

Writing a novel isn’t easy. However, there is an abundance of new writers who have completed their first one. I say kudos to them. These new writers have stuck to the time constraints of writing. They’ve fought through getting every word on the page until they can type, The End on a finished work. What an accomplishment. The next step in the new writer’s eye is to pitch this work to a publisher or agent. 

STOP! Do not pass go. There are steps you may have missed. As I said earlier, writing a novel isn’t easy, and just putting the words on the page doesn’t a novel make. New writers often assume that once the work is written, it’s ready. 

6 Essential Details that Must be Included to Make a Successful Novel

1. A winning idea: Everyone assumes their story is the berries, and it may be in their imagination, but it has to be special. Your story idea must be strong enough to warrant 75,000 to 100,00 words. Through all those words, your story must be interesting enough to hold the reader from beginning to end. Your idea should be filled with conflict. Conflict is the tool that pushes the plot (story) forward. Ask yourself the question, “Is this a story I would read?” It should excite you every day. This is what makes you want to write it. If your story doesn’t excite you, why would it excite me?

2. Decide what kind of a writer you are: Are you a Pantser or an Outliner? You should understand the type of writer you are so that you can form your story properly. A pantser allows the story to unfold as they write, while an outliner outlines every point in the story. There are advantages to both styles but understanding your style will help you best write who you are on the page. I’m a pantser. I let the story guide me, and when opportunities for a sudden turn in the plot can happen, I get to choose the path. Having said that, it is advantageous for me to chart my twists and turns so that I can see my story arc and be sure the arc doesn’t become a flat line. Every writer needs to grasp some sort of story structure so that work remains fluid and well-formed. Whether it’s through an outline or by journaling twists and turns as they happen, a writer must have a structure that they follow to shape a good novel.

3. Create a protagonist that wakes you up in the middle of the night: We want our protagonist/hero to be amazing. I say amazing doesn’t cut it. You want your protagonist/hero to be memorable. They become amazing when they are so developed that those scutters wake you up from a deep sleep. Memorable is what you want. Unforgettable. In order to achieve this, it’s important that your protagonist has flaws. If he/she is perfect, then we have no reason to follow their plight. He/she needs to experience a life change of some sort. They need to have flaws that hinder and tempt them—things that make them real to the reader. Snow White would be boring, flitting around the forest and singing all day unless she had a flaw that put her in danger. Her flaw is curiosity. If she’d only had left the apple alone. (I wonder if she was based on Eve?) A good protagonist will occasionally make a bad decision and, as a result, pay a price. What makes a hero a hero is their ability to overcome their personal hardships and flaws, to learn from those mistakes, and to apply their life lessons. 

4. Oh yeah, you’ll need an antagonist (bad guy) who is equally as impactful: We’ll need to see the reasons your bad guy is bad. He can’t just be bad. Your reader needs to understand why your antagonist is bad. This makes him a worthy and memorable foe.

In my first novel, Mercy’s Rain, I made the pastor so bad, so horrible, that my reader could have easily said, “Forget this,” and laid down the book. Instead, I gave the reader a breath and allowed them one short glance into the pastor’s past, one incident of obviously many that made him the way he was. It didn’t justify his atrocities, but for an instant, the reader saw why he was the way he was, and this allowed them to tolerate him for the duration of the novel. They didn’t have to like him or feel sorry for him, but they saw a glimpse of what made him bad. Hence, keeping your reader in the dark about everything is not good. They need appropriate information to keep them reading.

5. Plot: Yes, you must have a plot. Lots of talking, eating, and sitting in a restaurant do not make a plot. As a writing coach, this is where I see new writers flounder. When I ask the question, “What is the point of this story?” and the writer can’t tell me. This tells me two things: 1) the writer has a weak story idea, and 2) they don’t know what the journey of this story is. If the writer doesn’t have a clear snapshot of what their story is truly about, then they cannot put together a successful novel. Know your story. Flesh out the whys and how comes. Without them, you have no story.

I’ve had first-time mystery writers tell me they don’t want the reader to know who the killer is, and they fail to introduce us to all the characters in the story. It’s important we know ALL the characters and even their motives. That information doesn’t give away the killer, but it gives us enough information to begin to formulate an answer. Just watch an Agatha Christie movie. Of course, we have to continue to read and put together the clues to discover which character is the culprit. Your readers must have certain information that helps them follow the story. 

6. Story arc: I frequently see writers who have pages and pages of dialogue but not an ounce of story. You cannot have a novel without a plot, and just as each character needs a character arc, your story also needs that arc—a beginning, a reason to step out on a journey, holes that trip up the protagonist and force them to work around to reach their ultimate goal, and a resolution. We must have a story, aka. Beginning, middle, and end. Think of your daily life. You have goals and things that must be accomplished in order to reach the point of success. The same is true in a novel. Beautiful dialogue and description don’t tell us a story—a goal, a path to the goal, obstacles that stand in the way of the goal, and attaining that goal, as well as seeing a change in our protagonist, makes for a satisfying and hopefully memorable novel.

A good rule of thumb is to drop your character into trouble asap. Their efforts to escape the trouble only make matters worse until it looks …well…hopeless. That’s when your protagonist finally figures out what is necessary to succeed and follows it to success. A story arc is just that, an arch drawn on paper. Think St. Louis, MO, and the arch to get a physical picture in your head. Along that arch are the plot points that build to the high point or the moment of hopelessness, and then we work our way down to a satisfactory ending.

If you’re a new writer, take the time to learn the basics of writing a novel or a non-fiction piece. Writing the piece is just the beginning. Making sure your work hits all the marks requires you to study the steps. If you’re a seasoned author, backtrack and recheck your work. It always pays to look back. Learning these steps will help you make your work the best it can be.

TWEETABLE

Necessary Items that Make the Novel You're Writing Work from @CindyDevoted on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Cindy K. Sproles is an author, speaker, and conference teacher. Having served for a number of years as a managing editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and Ironstream Media, Cindy now works as a mentor, coach, and freelance editor. She is the co-founder of Writing Right Author Mentoring Services with Lori Marett and she is the director of the Asheville Christian Writers Conference. Cindy is also the co-founder of Christian Devotions Ministries and WWW.CHRISTIANDEVOTIONS.US, as well as WWW.INSPIREAFIRE.COM. Her devotions are in newspapers and magazines nationwide, and her novels have become award-winning best-selling works. She is a popular speaker at conferences and a natural encourager. Cindy is a mountain girl, born and raised in the Appalachian mountains, where she and her husband still reside. She has raised four sons and now resorts to raising chickens where the pecking order is easier to manage. You can visit Cindy at WWW.CINDYSPROLES.COM or www.wramsforwriters.com.