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The Basics ofNovel Writing

Guyton-Moore Strategic Services LLC

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Introduction Writing Tools Prewriting Formatting Drafts Writer’s Block Types of Conflict Types of Characters Character Development Plot Development

Point of View Objective Verses Subjective Transitions Continuity Word Tense Professional Editing Things Avoid

BrainstormingWhat is brainstorming?• Your own ideas • Not a coherent story• Does not need defense or

censorship• Only as long or short as you

want• Do not feel pressured to list

or connect ideas

Free WritingWhat is Free Writing• Free Writing very similar to

similar to brainstorming.• Takes the form of full

coherent sentences• Does not need punctuation

or grammar • DO NOT CENSORE

YOURSELF!

AudienceYour work should appeal to your chosen audience. So you must decide your book’s:• Intended Age Group• Intended Gender• Intended Education Level• Intended Social Status• Intended Race

The Industry Standard 1

Standards Align to the left hand side

only Use 12pt Times New

Roman font. (Courier and Arial may also be accepted)

Only black text Lines double spaced with

no space between paragraphs.

Single space between sentences and after periods.

Example

Riya sighs and take out a comb from under a book on the

desk beside her then walks over Raven. She combs out her hair

after she sees Raven is still half asleep.

“It’s because I feel as though I’ve seen them before. That is

why I know our powers won’t work on them and we won’t be

enough ourselves.” Riya responds.

“Was it a memory… did you remember something about who

you were?” Raven wails and turns around to face Riya.

Excerpt from They With Silver Eyes By Paxton Gordon

The Industry Standard 2

Standards Indent new paragraphs and each

new section of dialogue, with the exception of the opening paragraph of a chapter or scene break. Your typesetter will later change this so the first paragraph of a chapter is not indented. You indent every paragraph. The correct way to do this is to use a style in your word processor that automatically indents each paragraph half an inch.

Indicate scene breaks by inserting one line with three asterisks centered(*) .

ExampleSmith (Novel) Page 3

Chapter 1 Rise of Lorem Ipsum

Et eam oporteat oportere neglegentur, eum et malorum cotidieque

voluptatibus, vel ut meis ponderum. Ex mel everti quaeque. Ius laoreet nostrum

et, no purto tota vis. * * *

________________________________________________________________

Appellantur dissentiunt est id, vis ut corpora indoctum consectetuer, eu

molestiae incorrupte quo.

Mei accumsan signiferumque ex, velit neglegentur ex cum. Cu vis inermis

vivendum legendos, has option conceptam ex.

First DraftThings to Avoid

Titles

References

Editing

Just WriteNow let’s move on it is Important that for your first draft you focused all of your attention on writing. In your first draft what you want is to put down all of your ideas.

First Draft 2Quality

The quality of the first draft is not something that you should be discouraged by. Authors the world over has accepted the work first draft to be the worst draft.

Every author has begun where you are now. Every bestseller starts with their first draft.

Writing Under Deadline Treat your writing as a

job Keep track of how much

you’ve written Allot time to writing Hold yourself

accountable for your deadline

First Draft 3Set Interim Goals

Don’t look at the whole break it up into parts.

Try to write 1000 words a day

Reward yourself for completing your goals

Set a reasonable deadline

BalanceBalance is the world building, backstory, character development and the plot elements in your story. As a writer you will have to be able to weave these things into a coherent story.

First Draft 4

Keep in mind that your first draft is not permanent. Think of your work as clay. You can form it into whatever shape you want. Your work is soft and malleable. It is messy and unrefined. But it is the raw material necessary for you to make your sculpture.

It is Clay Not a Sculpture

SubplotRising Action

Climax

Exposition

First PersonAdvantages of this POV are: You will only have to write

from one mind. The distinction of the

internal voice To some people this one is

the most natural. Since the story is from one

perspective you can have an unreliable narrator allow us to see through the skewed mind of the narrator.

Disadvantages of this POV are: You are limited to only

what the narrator can see or feel.

Your narrator must always be in the action or observing.

You can see into the minds of others to show internal thoughts or feelings.

Meanwhile in the City…

When transitioning scenes it is important that you establish Time (Date) POV Character(s) in scene Setting Mood or tone of the Setting

TransitionsNot all transition happen in-between chapters. For transitions within chapters you want to implement a visual aid *** or ### centered.

Thank You!

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