Roadmap

Feeling lost? The novel writing roadmap will take you where you want to go!

Begin at the beginning and keep on going to the end. There’s a lot of information on Novel Writing Help, but if you follow the articles below, in order, you’ll know everything you need to know to write and publish your novel.

I’ve divided the information into four phases. If you want to skip ahead, here they are:

• Phase 1: Prepare to Succeed
• Phase 2: Write Your Novel
• Phase 3: Get the Words Right
• Phase 4: Get Published

Phase 1: Prepare to Succeed

The information below covers everything you need to do before you write your novel. It lays a rock-solid foundation – not just for the next novel you write, but for your novel writing career as a whole.

7 Keys to Becoming a Successful Writer

Can You Make Money Writing Novels?

How Long Does Writing a Novel Take?

• What Is the Ideal Novel Length?

How to Beat Writer’s Block

• How to Discover Your Muse

The Complete Novel Writing Software Guide

Finding Your Market: Types of Novels

• What Is Genre Fiction?
• What Is Literary Fiction?
• Why Mainstream Fiction Could Be Perfect For You

Phase 2: Write Your Novel

Phase 1 was all about your writing career as a whole – or all the novels you’re going to write. The second phase focuses on your first novel (or your next novel if you’ve written a book before).

More specifically, it takes you from a blank sheet of paper to a solid working draft. The language may not be that pretty by the time you reach the end, but you’ll have a gripping story full of compelling characters to take forward to Phase 3, where we’ll work on polishing the words themselves.

The Process: How to Write a Novel Step by Step

• Five Tips for Writing a First Draft

Phase 3: Get the Words Right

Phase 2 of this process was about what you say – the people, the places, the events and so on. The aim was to come up with a working draft in which what you said was bang on the money, but how you said it (the words themselves) was still a little on the rough side.

Phase 3 is about taking those words and, as Hemingway put it, “getting them right”…

Interviewer: “How much rewriting do you do?”
Hemingway: “I rewrote the ending of ‘A Farewell to Arms’ thirty-nine times before I was satisfied.”
Interviewer: “What was it that stumped you?”
Hemingway: “Getting the words right.”

The articles below are a complete course in how to write with style.

Read them before you write your first draft – to familiarize yourself with the essentials. Or go with the flow the first time around and use these articles to edit the draft later.

Finding Your Writing Voice

The Five Types of Writing

Phase 4: Get Published

Finally, the best part of the whole novel writing process – getting your novel published.

Actually, getting published is the easy part. The real goal, of course, is to sell as many copies of your novel as you can!

(Note: This section is in need of a major overhaul, which I’m currently working on. The articles below will get you started, but stay tuned for a more up-to-date guide to novel publishing.)

How to Publish a Novel

• Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
• Do You Need a Literary Agent?

Good luck with your novel writing journey!