Important keys to include when writing a fiction novel
Fiction Ghostwriters know the following key tips and information, which helps to stay organized as they embark on the task of writing a fiction novel. They are structured in a specific order so that you can easily include them in the first three pages of your fiction novel in order to establish a solid, well-written manuscript. The beginning of any book will usually determine whether or not it will be read from cover to cover or cast aside in a cardboard box.
1. Your opening sentence should be an incredible hook. Don’t start off your fiction novel by creating an elaborate setting. You want to hook the reader in as soon as possible. As an unpublished author, you don’t have the luxury of time to weave your way through a plot. Get to the meat of the story in your opening sentence and let the plot unfold from there.
2. Create a gripping conflict. If the protagonist can arise above the conflict rather easily, you hardly have a realistic “conflict” that readers can identify with. Your conflict should be one that pulls the reader in and forces the protagonist to evolve in some shape or form by the end of the story.
3. Stick to the characteristics of your genre. If you are writing a romantic comedy, make the story funny and full of romance. If you are writing a mystery, make the story full of twists and turns so that the reader is constantly guessing. Don’t attempt to write a drama and make it funny — it won’t work. If you are pitching your fiction novel to editors and publishers in a certain genre, your fiction novel better be written as such.
4. Write a solid introduction of your main character(s). This should be done in a precise and calculated manner so that it coincides with the flow of the plot. Don’t introduce your main character in first person and then switch to third person later on in the fiction novel. Stick with one tense throughout the story so that you do not confuse the reader.
5. Develop a protagonist that readers can identify with and cheer for. You don’t want to create a character that doesn’t intrigue the reader. In order for your audience to invest in the story, they have to care about the main character and what happens to him/her.
6. Let the reader know what’s at risk right from the beginning. If the protagonist is diagnosed with cancer and is at risk of losing his/her life, let that be known from the start. This will also help build a connection between the reader and the main character.
7. Draw the reader in with the setting. Let them know the where/when/who right at the start. Put them in the scene with realistic descriptions that they can hear, taste, smell and touch.
8. Make sure you know what the ending of your story is before you begin writing. The plot has to make sense and include different key aspects that are important to the fiction novel as a whole. If you start at point A and don’t know how you are going to get to point Z, your plot will be all over the place.
9. Setup the pace of the book. Mysteries are often fast-paced because the reader wants to get to the end in order to find out who “did it.” Literary fiction or dramas are often filled with descriptive language and take much longer for the plot to unfold. The pace of your fiction novel will most likely be determined by the genre.
10. Dialogue should move the story along, not deter it. If there is needless dialogue in your fiction novel, get rid of it. It will only distract from the plot and the cohesiveness of the story as a whole. Nobody wants to read pages and pages of boring conversation.