So my novel takes place in an afterlife and focuses on one major character, as they try to heal from childhood trauma, learn helpful mental health tools, and newly take in this beautiful universe.
The other major characters are also developing ethically and emotionally, and we need to see inside their minds and watch them learn.
Meanwhile the past was literally a different life, and there’s not a lot of past talked about in the narration— more thought about or talked about by the characters.
So with that, I’ve decided that the best way to write my novel is first-person present tense with the main character; and then with the occasional times where I need to focus on other characters when the main isn’t around, third-person present tense.
This is not a common choice, but I think it is the best choice for my particular novel. I think it’s the best choice for my novel’s sense of immediacy, for getting inside characters’ heads, and for experiencing many new things from the main character’s viewpoint.
Also also, I intend to make my main character Chris/Solemn completely-ambiguous when it comes to gender; so that really works with the first-person perspective.
Tell me your opinions or tangents!
So everyone’s different, and I am autistic. I have an extensive memory for details, quick and sometimes instinctive understanding of many fiction principles, and a lot of visual thinking. (I have my shortcomings too, especially over-thinking and over-explaining instead of showing.) But I think at least some of what I do can work for you.
Discipline is better than motivation. Motivation ends, discipline stays. Eventually, hopefully like me, you’ll get to a point where you feel wrong if you didn’t write every day (or 5 days a week in my case). This hugely helps keep you motivated
I am a one-trick pony with it; but I always started with a theme, a feeling, something important I want to share and say. For me it was a terrible childhood, my desire for healing and family, my idealism towards wanting a greater world, and how we all need to become better and happier people to achieve it. I wanted to capture that idea and feeling since I was like six. While for my novel the lesson may be larger than life, every fiction should have a point to make, even if that point is “things in this book are awesome; here, have a good time because you deserve it”. Your point should be memorable even if small.
Once you have a theme, start coming up with characters and scenes that support that theme. Write down the things that look or feel awesome in your head, the things that you always wanted to share and show, and come up with your best scenes first. Try to build a story around them. If you have important messages to say, build your plot around them. Have the characters’ stakes revolve around those scenes. Once again this is just my method; but I don’t think you can go wrong writing heart first.
For me, I found it easiest to quickly just outline scenes and jot down what you want to happen, what you want said. Finish all the basic sentences, events, and ideas for that scene, move to the next scene. Once you have all the chapters, this will be your first “outline”— even if you end up doing a little (or more) prose in that outline, like I did. Once you have that full story (which probably won’t be good yet!) you can start figuring out where it needs fixing.
This is my first novel, and I’m technically still doing the second draft. But I learn very fast and retain a ton of helpful information; so I mostly know what my next phases and fixes are, all the way through my first and later drafts. I made a little changelog of each thing I want to focus on in future versions, all numbered in preparation, as if this was a piece of software.
Once I’m done with the versions that I call “outlines”, I will finally start drafting in full prose, allowing me to focus on the flow and beauty and clarity of my words, since the story itself will already be figured out and awesome.
One way I think of the whole process of noveling is this, modified from game development advice:
There’s a lot of other advice I can give, but I wouldn’t exactly know where to begin! The most important thing, I think, is to figure out what time of day your brain writes best, and create a routine around it. No novel was ever finished without persistence! <3
Also, I recommend reading https://mythcreants.com/ and getting lost in https://tvtropes.org/. They can really help! Try watching Lindsay Ellis on Nebula, or http://atopthefourthwall.com/. Some of these may not be about novel-writing, but you can learn a lot about good stories through any of these platforms, and all of that helps!
So much of that was like “is this me?!” Lol. Especially 2. And the other stuff was like “you need to be doing this!”
This is about to be all over the place.
Firstly I’m saving this whole list.
I write every day because if I don’t I feel awful. But I need to discipline myself into just writing my story out and then doing the prose. Sometimes I can do the right order, and sometimes I can’t. I hate my brain sometimes!
Over here I’ve got ADHD and OCD going on. So I keep fixating on particular things. And it’s so hard for me to make the whole outline.
It’s like it hurts to move on until the writing is perfect. Which it never is.
I have scenes that I have to write in totality because the scene is there in my brain. I have chapters completed far down the line because the scene is stuck in my brain. Will it fit later? No idea. Ugh.
I think I will do as you do and write out the damn outline. It’s hard for me to move on without constant editing. It’s so exhausting.
Sorry! That was one big old ramble. 😭
It’s okay to skim-write scenes that you don’t know so well. Sometimes I go back to them to realize that they were just going to be replaced with something much better! That they felt empty because they were. <3