Being a writer has always been a dream of mine. At the age of 10, I started writing poems and stories which involve love and comedy. I even submitted love articles to an international dating blog when I was in junior high already. Just recently, I was inspired by how James Patterson wrote his novels. This inspired me to write novels. And I’m planning to write my very first one. My genre would be about romance-comedy. Any suggestions about it? I badly need your responses here. Thanks!
I literally have no idea what to say here. What I know about your novel: it's a romance-comedy. Yes, let me just get out my folder on how to write an entire story. What do you expect people to say? Do you just want tips about writing? Because my tip is to write. Then come back to us.
To elaborate in a slightly more sympathetic tone, don't be afraid to just start spitballing ideas and writing up random scenes. Any progress is good progress for the most part, especially if you are an amateur (like myself).
I can only second DK3654's post, perhaps with a bit more elaboration. It's absolutely true - you've given us nothing, so the only advice at this stage is: write! I mean, you say it's always been a dream of yours. But is that true? Has it been your dream to sit down, hours on end, writing page after page, then revising those pages, then realising that the plot doesn't make sense or that your sentences just read badly, resulting in you throwing everything away and going back to the drawing board, only then to start again? To work endlessly on a project which in 3 or 4 years - if you're lucky - will find a small, independent publisher to bring it out which will make you a total of £10000, which for that amount of work is virtually nothing? Or do you merely dream of the moment your book appears in store, and you're giving a reading followed by an autograph session, and you're celebrated as the next J.K. Rowling? I'm not trying to discourage you, and I'm not telling you that your intentions aren't genuine, but you must realise that writers... well, write? It's great that you started writing at the age of 10, and good for you if you've submitted something to a blog. But if after 16 years of writing (you're 26?) you still have no clue where to start with a novel, it does make me wonder what sort of thing you've been writing, how you've been going about planning etc. Writing is a vocation - yes, anyone can learn the craft, learn how to write well-constructed sentences, how to develop characters properly... but the act of actually sitting down and putting pen to paper for hours on end and then revising the same is something you cannot learn. If you don't enjoy it, you probably won't become an author, because it's bloody difficult work. That being said, the forum is full of tips on how to construct plots, come up with and develop characters, and how to write well. I'm sure there's also a lot here on romances, and comedy - well, if you have a good sense of humor it should come quite naturally. So all you can do is dig your way through the forum, and, again, just write!
It had long been a dream of mine to write a novel as well, because I always had stories in my head. However, the means to do it didn't really gel with me till I got my first wordprocessor, back in the early 90s. While I have a BA in English and had been a voracious reader all my life (so I knew what novels 'sounded' like) I had never taken any creative writing courses. I was a total beginner. One day I just sat down, opened a new document, and started writing. Five years later, after writing every day unless I was physically prevented from doing so—holidays, vacations, etc, which I hated due to the interruption—I finished my first draft. Then, and only then, I started to learn tricks about the craft of writing, gave my story to my first group beta readers to get feedback, and began the lengthy editing period which is nearly finished. Of course everybody's experience is different, and not everybody takes as long to write and finish a novel as I did. And everybody develops a working method that suits them. But I can say it was the most fun I ever had sitting down, and because I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing, I wrote honestly and straight from my own heart and head. You can't beat that experience, really. Unless you have some externally-imposed deadline ...just start. Write what you want to write, exactly as you see/hear/feel it coming to you. Don't spend time worrying about what other people will think. Just get it out there, the best you can, and most importantly, get it finished. Don't get hung up on trying to create perfect sentences, paragraphs, chapters, etc. In fact, you can write your story out of chronological order if you want to. Write your 'best' scenes, then find a way to connect them up later, if that's what's comfortable for you. (It's what I did, and it worked for me. It kept my enthusiasm high, and kept me from getting bogged down in transition problems.) In short, get started, keep going and have fun. And do it yourself. Don't rely on constant feedback from others for every word you write. The feedback comes later, as you edit the finished first draft of the entire novel and give it out for people to read. I would also highly recommend not telling anybody that you are writing, until you are done or nearly done with your first draft. You don't need other people's expectations or doubts clogging up your creativity. For the umpteenth time: Are you finished yet? Can I read it now? What's it 'about?' When will you be published? And etc.... Unless you live with somebody who needs to know why you're pecking away at your computer at all hours of the day and night, you don't need to tell anybody at all. Even then, you can baldly lie where nobody has gone before! Instead, do try to write in the first flush of inspiration, and aim to keep that inspiration going. Inspiration is the one thing that you will struggle to regain, if you lose it. Remember there are no mistakes that can't be corrected, and no faults that can't be improved later on, during the edit—except, of course, never finishing because you got discouraged and stopped caring about your story. In my opinion, the only people who fail as writers are those who fail to finish anything. Everything else is a Work in Progress (WIP.) It takes as long as it takes.
A few responses above from some jaded writers As a new novel writer my advice is to just enjoy yourself (unless somehow you are being paid to do this already then your enjoyment doesn't matter), it is a hobby at this stage after all, you should be doing it because you get something out of it that makes you feel better, more worthwhile etc. I can assure you as well, if you are not enjoying it, if you make it halfway through writing the novel and hit the wall you may well give up. Lots of people do. But that's the fun thing about writing, you could start this and halfway through give up, but it could have inspired you to try writing something else, short stories, or another genre, who knows. then in a year you could revisit your first attempt and try again, it won't go anywhere. If you have not done so already read books in the genre you plan on writing in, then read some from different genres, just get an idea of different writing styles and how novels are structured. There isn't a one size fits all option for writing, everyone has their own style, but seeing how others do it will help a lot. If you feel you need to plan everything out about your novel before you sit down and start writing it that's fine, but if you feel like you just want to sit and start typing away, that's fine too! You can always mix and match the two approaches too, the more you write the more you will find what works best for you and getting your words down on paper. Have fun, don't stress about it and enjoy the process
Who are you calling jaded? No, quite right, it's worthwhile to point out the good sides of writing, as well as the bad. The point I was just trying to bring across was that writers write, whether they're enjoying it or not. Like an inner drive, it has to be done - and it can be immensely rewarding, but it can be equally frustrating. I suppose I shouldn't post here when I'm in a particularly gloomy mood (which, I might add, currently has nothing to do with my writing!)
Ha, we've all been there on the gloomy side and it is worthwhile new writers knowing what can happen to even the most hardened mind when they embark on trying to write something!
Here is how I started writing. Peel the wallpaper. Imagine you have this horrid wallpaper in your living room. It's straight out of the 80s - fruits and vines, and the fruits look like butts and cleavages. It's terrible and you want to change it, but you know it's going to be a chore. So finally one day you've had enough and you peel one sliver off the wallpaper. Now it looks worse, but you're committed. Peel some more, then some more. You might have to get the steamer and scraper out, and it's going to be for the long haul, but you're on your way. So, sit down and write your first sentence. Then another. And another. It's not going to look like much at first, but so long as you're firm in your resolve, you're committed to finishing it. IT'S EXACTLY LIKE WALLPAPER.
Here's what you do: 1. Start with a character in a setting with a problem. 2. Write about how they try to solve the problem. 3. Write about how they fail to solve it. 4. Repeat until they finally do solve it. 5. End with a brief scene about how their life (and, ideally, other peoples') gets better by solving it. And, if you don't quite understand what I'm talking about, watch Die Hard. I forget who came up with that formula. I think it was Algis Budrys, but I'm not 100% sure. The great thing about it is that you can make the book as long or short as you like, just by changing the number of try/fail cycles.
First congratulations, Secondly Edward M. Grant gave a very good response for starting out with the basics. Writing can get very complicated and if you start with everything you'll blow your mind. I was always told you have three main things that make a story: Character, Setting and plot and what ties them all together is conflict or a problem. Look at very simple children's books for this formula.
Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for your advises and ideas. Thanks for helping me out. Gonna keep everything in mind to have a successful write ups! I'll keep in touch!
Some random pieces of advice from my own experience: 1: Don't worry too much about being clichéd. Like David Bowie said, it's not about who did it first, it's about who did it best. But if you do want to use something you've seen a lot of other stories do, put some thought into it, about how you can put your own distinctive spin onto it. 2: Don't fret too much about a certain bit being just right. That's what the editing stage is for. If I write something I'm not sure about, I'll make a note (P52: Revise Lizzie's dialogue where she explains about the ghost.) and come back to it later. Keeping momentum going is probably better. 3: Even if you decide the book just doesn't work and abandon the project, it doesn't mean it was a failure. You can always salvage the bits you did like and re-use them later on. 4: I suggest reading some bad books in your genre of choice. They're good for motivation ("I could write better than this--if they can get published, what's stopping me?!"), and it can be very useful to think about why they didn't work, and how you can avoid making similar mistakes. 5: Don't take anyone's "rules" too seriously. You'll have your own style and preferences that work for you--for example, many writers need a quiet space to write, I do a lot of my work while riding on buses. Pay attention to rules and suggestions, but don't follow them unless they work for you. 6: Good luck, and have fun!
Don't worry about the first draft. It is always horrible, and trying to make the first draft better is the enemy getting it done well enough, and finished. So press on. Expect to spend years writing that first one, and don't go checking out the prices on Maseratis. You probably won't make enough on royalties to even buy a used one. But you will have fun, and good luck!
If you're going to write comedic romance, or romantic comedy, the first thing you should do is read as many books in the genre as you can, starting with Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Austen's novel is to your genre what J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is to epic fantasy or Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October is to techno-thrillers. As you read in your genre, take note of common elements you see in the plots of each novel. These are tropes and cliches. Learn how to use them, when to use them, when not to use them, and how to play with them to surprise and delight your readers. Also note the similarities between characters in each novel; you'll find that the protagonists of many comedic romances share the same archetype as Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. While reading, try writing your own stories. They'll probably be incredibly derivative at first, but that's OK. You'll become more original as you practice and develop your craft.
Writing is like anything else, you do it badly until you do it well. I suggest that you write it, edit it, put is aside while you write another novel, read it again. Be prepared to throw it away because like as not it's going to suck. I wrote five of them before I came up with anything that folks would read not at gunpoint.
