How to start writing a novel?

Since I got a lot of questions about me writing a book and how I started writing my book, I thought it would be handy to make a little post about it. So how do you actually start your book? I made a little list for people to look at when you want to start writing a novel, or a novella. I hope this is blogpost will be helpful.

1. Set your world.

I always like to start with the setting of the story. It’s important to know where your story will take place. Are there any different names that you don’t use in the English language? You can even invent new names for items. Think of ‘The little mermaid’ we all know a fork is actually a dinglehopper. :D

2. Keep a notebook

Another tip is to keep a notebook nearby. I always write information about my book inside a little notebook to keep me from forgetting it. I would suggest to write down information about the main character(s) and about other important things. This might help you to not change features on accident throughout the book. For example accidently changing the eye colour of your main character. (This is what happened to me a lot of the times)

3. Think about your main character(s).

Before starting your story think about your main character(s). What do they look like? What kind of skin colour do they have? Are they thin or on the thick side? Do they have a certain religion?  And also don’t forget to connect characters and use their background information as a new piece of text. Are their parents still alive? No? Why not? Think about every single little thing you could possibly think of. I like to leave full pages of my notebook dedicated to one character only when I make a character information page.

4. Sketch!

This step is optional to some people, who aren’t really the creative type. I like to sketch my ideas and sketch items. For instance when you made up a new item and you have it pictured in your head, you might want to sketch it to make sure you won’t forget it. For instance sketch the main character. It doesn’t have to be detailed, it’s just to get a rough idea about the hair colour, eyes, and about the things that he or she will wear during the writing process.

5. Brainstorm

When I was brainstorming about the events that would happen in my book, I would write them all down and cross out things I didn’t like as much. You might want to do the same thing. Brainstorming about events gives you a goal to write towards. You might think about a certain event and be like “How will my character get there without it being too fast or obvious.” This (in my opinion) is the best part about writing. Actually being able to brainstorm about the events and things characters will do.

6. Be creative <3

When you write a story you should try to find ideas that have not been used yet. I know this can be pretty hard but you’ll be able to do it. I swear. When you think hard enough you will probably find something to use in your novel. I wouldn’t recommend basing your story off of other novels since you tend to recreate the novel in a different way, and of course because of plagiarism. Just be yourself while writing and remember to always think outside the box.

7. Think about your ideas.

When you start to write your novel, you will have to think about a lot of ideas. You have to have enough events to make sure you get enough words in the end. Especially if you’re thinking about making a duology, trilogy or even bigger. You might want to keep track of the events you thought of and the main characters that die, live, survive, or just experience weird things.

8. Plot twists

My favourite but also worst things in books are plot twists. So I would highly encourage to get them. Think about it. Your main character was together with a guy she liked the most, but then she discovered a great secret about him that couldn’t be unseen. Which leads them to breaking up. Yep it’s a bit cliché but it’s fun, and that’s what it’s about.

9. Involve some laughter or romance.

I always tend to forget to think about the romance or about the jokes you are able to make in a novel. At first I think about the romance and then I would just figure it out along the way. Don’t do this! You’ll not figure it out along the way. You’ll just end up with a cliché story that leads you to make the two main characters fall in love with each other and ride of a sunny hill on a horse. We don’t need more novels about this. If you’re stuck and can’t think of anything. Just involve some drama to spice up some ideas. C:

10. Just write.

Writing can be a bit stressful from time to time. But sometimes you just have to write. Thinking about your story and not knowing what to write next can take ages. I would just suggest to randomly write about a weird thing happening to the main character. You always have the editing process to delete it if you don’t like it anymore. Don’t worry about it too much. In the end you’ll probably end up with an amazing novel that you love.

These were my 10 tips to help you start with a novel. I hope these were helpful. If you have any other tips or questions, leave them down below, so I can answer them for you. I hope you all enjoyed this blogpost. Thank you all for watching and I’ll see you all next week.