How To Write A Novel In 6 Months by Thomas Emson

Author:Thomas Emson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: how to write a novel, writing novels, how to be a writer, creative writing, self-help, writing a book, writing community, writer
Publisher: Thomas Emson
Published: 2020-02-21T00:00:00+00:00

Breaking it down

So you have your A4/8.5x11 sheet like this:

How many scenes do you need? Well, as I said, I use 60-80. For a 50,000-word novel, aim for between 30 and 40 scenes. Let’s give it a number — 35.

I would say that your “beginning” requires about 9 scenes. Your “middle”, where the meat of the story is, where the action takes place, is probably around 18 scenes. You should be able to tell the “end” in 8 scenes, maybe fewer.

There are challenges with every section of course. The middle really needs to carry the story. It is where many novels, films, and plays can fail — a sagging middle kills your story. Make sure it doesn’t get obese. Instead aim for a lean middle. No padding. Just good storytelling based on well-worn paradigms like the Hero’s Journey or the 8-sequence structure.

The end can be tough to work out, too, but later on I’ll give you some advice from one of the best screenwriting experts on how to structure your finale.

But for now spend some time thinking about your scenes. If it helps, write a synopsis of your story. A synopsis, to me, is different from an outline. A synopsis is you telling the story as if you were telling a friend or family member. It is a good way to start. Scribble anything down. Write a couple of pages, telling your story in about 500-800 words.

That will give you something to work from, even if you don’t have all the details just yet.

Remember, be as brief or as detailed as you want in your outline. If you are writing a mystery, and the first scene is the discovery of a body, you can be as succinct as: Jack Finds Corpse in Bedroom. Or you can add more information about how you think Jack will react, what he does, how he feels, what the scene-of-crime looks like.

Perhaps you prefer to do that when you are actually writing the first draft. That’s fine. The only thing I suggest is that you have that map. The kind of map — meticulous, sketchy, or somewhere in between — is up to you.

But you have two weeks. Start writing. This is the first two weeks of your novel-writing process, so get to it.

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