Creative writing | Five tips to help you start - and finish - that novel

So you want to write a novel? Here are five suggestions to help you compile that story and get it right from the start…

1. Grab the Reader, Right From the Start.
Understand that most editors make the decision to buy or reject a manuscript after reading only the first few pages, and often just the first few paragraphs. You have one page to really hook the reader therefore start with a bang. Begin your story with a situation that is designed to excite the reader’s natural curiosity and make her want to read more.

2. Develop Main Characters Who Are Absolutely Fascinating…and Imperfect. 
Readers will not tolerate bland main characters. We meet boring people every day. Make your characters breathe by giving them traits we can all identify with. But be sure to give them strange habits and make them less than perfect. Give them hang-ups, phobias and issues. Sherlock Holmes does drugs, James Bond drinks too much and the average Jane Austen heroine is less than statuesque.  Readers love flawed characters, don’t you?

3. Give Them Problems They Must Solve: 
What drives a novel? A great character solving a great problem. Before you start writing, ask yourself what your character really wants. What is she willing to sacrifice?

4. Don’t Give The People What they Want:
Do not cave in and make things easy for the character or the reader. If your main character badly wants Mr. Right, make him come from a family that hates hers (think Romeo and Juliet) or impossibly rich and in love with the character’s sister (think Jane Austen).  If a shark attacks a sleepy community, make it really hard to kill (think Jaws). Readers like to see characters they admire get the things they hope for after a long, bitter struggle and they read on until this happens….on the last page.

5. End the Novel…Right at the Beginning.
Start ending your novel right from page one. Your novel should build to the ending from page one, not in the last few paragraphs. 

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