qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui

opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfgh
jklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvb
How to Write a Novel
nmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwer
tyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopas
The Nine Things You Must Understand to Write a Novel

dfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzx
The Business of Writing
cvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq
AUTHOR: C. PATRICK SCHULZE
wertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuio
pasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghj
klzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbn
mqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwerty
uiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdf
ghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxc
vbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrty
uiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdf
ghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxc
vbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqw
ertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiop
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Table of Contents:
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Writing Novels is a Business.......................................................................................................................... 4
Meet Your Muse ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Do You Have A Story to Tell? ........................................................................................................................ 6
The Major Components of Your Novel ......................................................................................................... 9
The Heroic Character. ............................................................................................................................. 9
The Worthy Goal. ..................................................................................................................................... 9
The Villain ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Generous Amounts of Conflict .............................................................................................................. 10
A Climactic Scene of Heroic Proportions ............................................................................................. 10
Judging the Strength of Your Story Elements ............................................................................................. 11
Create Your Storyline .................................................................................................................................. 12
Working Title: ........................................................................................................................................ 12
Characters .............................................................................................................................................. 13
Dialogue ................................................................................................................................................. 14
Setting ..................................................................................................................................................... 16
Conflict ................................................................................................................................................... 17
Combine the Elements of Your Novel ......................................................................................................... 19
Edit Your Novel ........................................................................................................................................... 21
Final Thoughts / Your Discount ................................................................................................................... 24
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Introduction
Thank you for downloading, An Introduction to Novel Writing.

This booklet is designed to familiarize you with the major components of a novel and how to
combine these elements so you end up with a completed, well-written manuscript in hand. I hope
it will also encourage you to begin, or continue with, writing that novel about which you dream.

I welcome you to the world of writing.

C. Patrick Schulze
Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers”

NOTE:

I‟d like to take a moment and explain why I use movies in lieu of books to showcase any
examples in this booklet. The reason is based upon the fact the human mind works in pictures,
rather than words. When one reads, he uses his mind to create unique and personal pictures from
the words the author uses. This is what makes the story more realistic and personal to the reader.
In my opinion, that very premise is what makes books so interesting.

When I give examples, I wish to eliminate this personal interpretation so everyone has the same
mental picture. Movies allow for this as they provide the pictures for us and are open to limited
interpretation.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Writing Novels is a Business

This is the time when you should subdue your creative side for a moment and be honest with
yourself. As you begin to walk down the arduous path toward publication, you need to
understand and accept a critical aspect of novel writing. That is, novel writing is a business. Of
course, you can plan not to sell your book, but why bother?

With every page you write you should consider the commercial aspects of your story. If you
wish to sell your novel, you must write to your reader. Offer them what they wish to purchase.

There is not an agent in this world that cares one whit

WRITER’S TIP:
If you don’t want people to
read your novel, there’s no
need to write it at all.
about your book, unless it has the potential to sell and
make him money.
There exists not a single reader, excluding maybe your
mother, who wants to buy your book unless they see
something in it for them. With novels, the average
reader seeks entertainment and if your work does not
offer this, the reader won‟t buy it.

The failure to acknowledge the business side of writing has, in my opinion, doomed more
excellent writers to obscurity than any other single aspect of the process.

Understand this; novel writing is first and foremost a business.

 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Meet Your Muse

There exists within each of us an aspect of human nature some call intuition. Others might label
this inherent capability as creativity. I tend to think of it as a cross between the two. Whatever it
is, I call mine my Muse.

She, as I think of her, is that voice within that whispers to me about my writing. She hints at such
things as, “That character isn‟t strong enough, she needs to go.” At other times she murmurs I
should, “Create a subplot with that character” or
“Insert the smoking gun here.” I find my Muse is
always correct.
WRITER’S TIP:
Sometimes my Muse is on vacation, if you will. Trust your intuition.
There‟s even a word for this situation, “writer‟s
block.” Most often, however, she and I work quite
well together. Most days, words pour out of me and I
know she‟s sitting beside me, coaxing me on.

You, too, have a Muse. She, or he if you prefer, speaks to you a hundred times every day.
With many writers, their Muses are the most important aspect of their writing. She is, therefore,
someone you‟d like to know.

Here‟s an example of how my Muse speaks to me. I write novels set in mid-nineteenth century
America. One day my wife wondered if I might sell more books if I wrote contemporary
mysteries. Now, my wife is an intelligent woman whose opinion I trust, so I gave her idea some
thought. I even went so far as to outline a story. The next morning as we sat together and sipped
our first cup of coffee for the morning, I told her I didn‟t think it wise for me to write that
mystery. When she asked why, I told her my intuition told me so. She understood and the subject
was dropped. Do you ever have those sort of “feelings?” That is your Muse speaking to you.

She is a welcome friend in this venture you‟ve considered and you should probably allow her in
to help with your writing life.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Do You Have A Story to Tell?

Does the story you‟re considering call to you? Can you envision one or two interesting
characters within the story? Do you see a central disagreement between these two around which
the story revolves? Is there a good guy in your story? How about a bad guy? Does your Muse tell
you to write this story? If you answered “yes” to all these questions, you‟re probably ready to
start writing.

Regardless if you answered “yes” or “no” to these questions, consider if you can sustain your
excitement for the story over the years it will take to
write and publish it. Do you love this story or the idea
of being a writer enough that you can focus on that one
subject for the next three, four or even five years? WRITER’S TIP:
As a novice novelist, you’ll
Next, ask yourself if you have the knowledge to make either be consumed by your
your story authentic. If you do not, will you spend the story, have too many
necessary time to research your subject matter? What
stories to consider or have
if it adds two more years to your project?
no idea about what it is
you wish to write.
If I‟ve not talked you out of it by now, you‟ll find
yourself in one of three categories of writers. You‟re
consumed by a story, you have too many stories in
mind or you have no idea what story to tell. Regardless
your position, I‟ll show you how to move ahead with what I hope will develop into your writing
career.

Let‟s look at these categories one at a time.

 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

You Have No Idea of What Story to Write

In effect, your Muse is yet to call out to you on the subject. In that case you have two choices.
You can wait until your Muse speaks or forge ahead and give her some encouragement.

To jumpstart your Muse, try these ideas.

Look to past events. Read any material in which you have an interest. Stories are everywhere if
you open your eyes and mind for almost anything can be turned into a story. Would the fact a
thousand World War Two soldiers die every day hide a story? What about that guy who dresses
like Elvis and hangs around the mall? Might there be a story in the cat lady down the street who
never has any visitors? Whatever strikes your fancy, follow up with it. Once you find something
of interest, review the questions in “Do You Have a Story to Tell” to see if you‟ve found your
topic. If not, continue with your search.

Peruse the Internet. Don‟t look for anything in particular, just surf. Follow links, create a few
bookmarks and just keep reading until something sparks an idea.

Create a Working Title for Your Manuscript. Nothing

WRITER’S TIP:
If you have no idea about
what you should write,
fictionalize your own
story.
gets you moving in the right direction as well as a title.
Keep it to five words or less but just put it down on
paper. The creativity hidden within a simple title may
surprise you.
Create a Novel Based on Your Life. You do have a story
within you, and it‟s you. There is no character you know
better. The secret, of course, is to fictionalize your life‟s
story.

Write the Opening Line of Your Manuscript. As with writing the title, this often jumpstarts your
Muse. Try it and see if she responds.

Look to Norman Rockwell. By this I mean to look to those local, weekly newspapers for stories
that never made it to the national news. They abound with interesting tales that have never really
been told. Therein waits many a novel.

One of the most fertile locations of interesting fiction is family stories. Here‟s one in my life.
Every Christmas, my grandmother sent my family a huge box of pecans from her orchard. She
did this every holiday season as long as she lived, until I was fifteen or so. We‟d eat a third of the
pecans and toss the rest when another box arrived the following year. One year we got to the
center of the package and what we found surprised us all. She‟d stuffed into a white envelope
five mint-condition silver dollars, one for me and each of my siblings. How many of these fine
coins did we throw in the trash over the years? Can you see a story created out of that? I can.

Now, let‟s discuss what you should not do if you do not have a story in mind.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Don’t Mimic Existing Stories. “The Divinci Code” has been written. Write something else. There
are too many others who travel down this particular road and hand-in-hand with them walks their
silent Muse.

Use Caution If You Consider Current Events. The

world of news shifts with great abandon and its stories
are lost to the dustbin of obscurity when the immediate
interest fades. By the time your novel is ready, the WRITER’S TIP:
public‟s interest in the story will have long faded.
Pay attention to your
You Have Too Many Stories within You Muse when choosing which
story to tell.
This is the situation in which many new writers find
themselves. The secret here is to find the most
important story you have to tell. You simply allow
your Muse to identify that most unique of stories.

The way you coax your Muse to help you find that unique story that needs telling is to review
each storyline with the questions found earlier in “Do You Have A Story to Tell?”

Once you‟ve identified the specific story you need to tell, don‟t lose your focus. Trust your Muse
and stay centered on that one story. If you find you cannot focus on that one story, your Muse is
telling you to reconsider the others.

You’re Consumed with a Story

Then you‟re ready and it‟s time to learn the “Major Components of Your Novel.” Let‟s move
to the next page and get to work.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

The Major Components of Your Novel

With few exceptions, every successful novel follows an outline, or formula, if you will. This
blueprint is comprised of very specific elements. This is an abbreviated list but the Art of
Storytelling includes, at least, these components.

1. A heroic character
2. A worthy goal for your hero
3. A villain worthy of your hero
4. Generous amounts of conflict
5. A climatic scene of heroic proportions

There are many other aspects to a well received novel, such as a certain mastery of the language,
effective dialogue and correct punctuation, but without the five components listed above, your
novel will languish from its inception.

Let‟s consider these five basic essentials.

The Heroic Character.

Is your major character infused with qualities that are upright, honorable and likable? Will he
attempt to act in a moral fashion at all times? (This is not to say he has no flaws but rather is an
honorable character.) Is he unique in some fashion from other characters you‟ve met?

This protagonist, or hero, need not be a mighty king with a sword forged in the bowels of hell.
He can be as humble as a shoemaker‟s assistant or someone as lost as a young girl after the
untimely death of her father. Regardless the guise your
hero takes, your reader must have a reason to follow
him or they won‟t read your book. Yes, your hero is the
good guy and needs to wear at least the metaphorical WRITER’S TIP:
white hat.
Every good story has five
essential elements. Miss
The Worthy Goal.
even one and you have no
A good story will always have some sort of quest for story.
your hero. Does the journey you envision for your hero
have something of true value at the end? Is it something
so worthy of your hero‟s efforts he‟s willing to die for
it? Will your readers see this goal as worth his effort?

Need this goal include the slaying of a mighty beast that devours innocent people? Not at all. The
worthy goal can be as ordinary as an early teen who tries to find a friend. It need not be a world
changing objective, but it must be worthy of the effort your hero will put forth.

The Villain
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Every heroic character requires a foil and your villain must be of sufficient strength to challenge
your hero to the utmost. Can this scoundrel win his fight with your hero? Your reader must, at
some time, feel it so. If your villain can not take everything of value from your hero, he‟s little
more than an inconvenience.

Your rogue may be as small as a feeling or as large as the ocean. Regardless, he must be able to
destroy your hero or this rogue will not be worthy of the fight.

Generous Amounts of Conflict

I‟ve mentioned your readers must be entertained and, in novels, that translates into conflict. This
is not to say there must be gigantic explosions with bullets flying. Nor does it mean numerous
chase scenes with multiple car crashes, though those do
work well. It means characters, whether they be aliens,
humans or insects, must face dramatic decisions. These
WRITER’S TIP: difficult choices may be internal or external in nature.
They can be as emotional as a child who loses a parent
Your reader must have no or a mob boss who kills people to harvest their organs. It
doubt your hero is about to matters not. What does matter is that remarkable
die in your climactic scene. decisions must confront your hero.

A Climactic Scene of Heroic Proportions

The ending of the novel must have some sort of scene where you hero comes face to face with
his literal, or figurative, death. It must be a powerful and exciting ending to your hero‟s quest.

Keep in mind there need not be an actual death-dealing fight at the end of your story. It can be as
commonplace as a young boy who receives his first kiss or as grandiose as the Battle for Berlin
during World War Two where half a million people died. It only matters that this struggle, when
it arrives, is ultimately traumatic to your hero and your reader.

Let‟s now see just how close you are to having those elements that make for a good story. On the
next page, I‟ll ask you to score the strength of your story elements.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Judging the Strength of Your Story Elements

Each of the five elements to your story listed on the preceding pages should be of sufficient
strength or power to make your story entertaining. On this page, you‟ll judge just how strong
your elements might be.

Rate your elements in the chart below as to how well they fit the descriptions above.

Element 1 2 3 4 5
Boring Uninteresting Average Interesting Exciting
Hero
Worthy Goal
The Villain
Conflict
Climatic Ending

The meaning of your ratings is as follows:

Hero: If you did not rate your hero at least a five, he‟s not much of a hero.
Either punch up your character or look for another story.

Worthy Goal: Your readers should care, a great deal, about your hero‟s goal. So, if you did not
rate this as a five, find some way to create a loftier objective for your hero.
Success in your hero‟s quest must seem almost impossible.

Villain: As with the other elements, the villain should be rated at five. If he is not so
powerful as to introduce the prospect of your hero‟s utter failure, he‟s not tough
enough. Your reader must believe, at some point in your story, the hero will fail.
Only the most difficult of villains can cause your hero to lose.

Conflict: If your conflict isn‟t a five, you have too little to catch your reader‟s interest. Find
other ways to create difficult decisions for your hero and enhance the
confrontations between your hero and his nemesis.

Ending: Can you guess what level your ending must attain? As with every major element
of your story, this, too, must rate a five. Without the most chilling of climaxes,
your reader will feel cheated and disillusioned. They expect you to thrill them,
and so you must.

After you‟re rated the various elements of your novel, if any one of them does not measure up to
a level that thrills your reader, you do not have a novel that will make money or entertain.

In that case, you must do one of two things. Punch it up or move to another story. Remember,
novels are fiction, and fiction can be whatever you make it.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Create Your Storyline

There are five major steps you take to build a novel. They are:

1. Choose Your Working Title

2. Develop your Characters
3. Establish Your Setting
4. Create Conflict
5. Write Dialogue

Working Title:
It may surprise you, but this is often the elixir that stokes the fires of creativity within writers.
Your title is also one of the most important selling tools of your book.

Take a moment and think about titles you know.

Consider, “The Andromeda Strain,” “Dances with
Wolves,” or “Jaws.” These titles evoke a mental picture,
WRITER’S TIP: don‟t they? That mental image is what you need for
your novel.
Choosing that perfect title
for your book is one of the For now, what you need is a single, all-encompassing
most important marketing concept that tells the fundamental tale of your book.
decisions you will make.
My first manuscript was about a woman and how her
life was affected by war. My original working title was
“Life Amid the Ruins.” Though it described my
storyline, it didn‟t have the appeal I sought. It didn‟t roll off the tongue very well. On my editor‟s
recommendation, I shortened it to “Amid the Ruins” and that worked for me. You can see how
those three words encompass the idea of what happened in her life. That is the sort of title you
need to create.

Some aspects to keep in mind when you develop your working title are as follows:

Keep it short, five words or less.

Make is snappy, catchy. Ensure it “sounds” right.

Ensure it fits your market, or audience. “Sex and the Single Woman” would not fit a
western novel whereas “Six Shooters from Hell” would not fit the romance market.

Be cautious of dated words. “The Buggy Whip of Athena” just won‟t draw readers.

Consider book cover art and a movie in relation to your title. Use words that readily
relate to pictures, such as “The Sword of…,” or “The Murder in...,” or “Wooden
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Stones…”

Here are some additional tips to create your working title.

Look to the story itself and see if you can‟t condense your story into five words or less. Do this
by finding strong verbs or nouns with meaning behind them. As with my manuscript, the word
“Ruins” described the results of war quite well. Play around with it to see if anything delights
your Muse. For example, if your story is about World
War I, you might pick something like “Death in the
Trenches.” This title, without doubt, exemplifies the
First World War, plus you have specific and effective WRTER’S TIP:
nouns in the words, “Death” and “Trenches.”
The use of alliteration or
Another tip is to find colloquialisms that may fit. Of family sayings are two
course, look for one that has a relation to your tools that may help you
storyline. As an example, if you‟re writing about a decide on your working
seamstress, a stitch in time save nine might become title.
“A Stitch in Nine Saves Time.” (Hum, that one
works for doctors, too.) One woman I knew wrote a
book about how to stay safe when one visits Mexico.
Her working title was “Montezuma Revenged.”

Use controversy. “How to Cheat on Your Spouse” would raise some eyebrows and encourage
sales, don‟t you think?

Consider alliteration that fits your theme. Consider as examples, “War of the Worlds” or “The
Great Gatsby.”

Think of phrases your family and friends use. Can one of those be altered to fit? “Wait „til Your
Father Gets Home!” is a good example.

In reality, titles come from anywhere. Keep your mind open and have fun with it. Remember,
this is only a working title, so it‟s only purpose is to keep you focused on your story. Know that
your publisher will likely change the title anyway. So find something that your Muse likes for
now and get to writing.

Characters
After your working title is in place, begin to think of your characters. Though other booklets I‟m
working on go into more depth as to characterization, begin with three major characters for your
story. You‟ll need a hero, a villain and some sort third character that is bound to the first two in
some fashion. This could be a mentor, a love interest or whatever. Just develop three major
players for your novel.

Once you have them in place, begin to make notes as to who these people are. Some writers use
note cards, others create a formal database. It matters not what technique you use, just begin to
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

identify these people, in detail. Not only do you need physical descriptions, but list their
strengths, weaknesses, morals, backgrounds, relatives, etc. Create dossiers, if you will, as to
everything you can imagine about these people. Keep in mind every character, including your
hero, has flaws. No one, not even created characters, is perfect.

Once you have written down who these people are, cut out photographs or drawings you find
that physically match them. This little technique will help more than you can imagine when you
write about them later. Remember, all characters do not belong in Vogue. Find the ugly, too.

As you get deeper into your novel, many more characters may emerge and you should go
through this same basic process for each of them. How much information you develop for each
of them depends on their importance in the story. Consider a bell hop in a hotel who finds his
way into your book. How much do you really need to know about him if he only shows up once
to carry the bags, then is never seen again? Not much. A general description of his clothing may
be all you‟d need of him. What should you do if you later decide your hero has a girlfriend?
She‟ll probably be important to the story so write that
character up in full.

Don‟t forget to name your characters. This is very WRITER’S TIP:

important. Consider, if you will, a hero who must
slay the proverbial dragon. Should this great hero‟s For help in developing your
name be Joe or Luxor the Great? Your readers will characters, cut out photos
need to identify with your hero, so make sure his or drawings of drawings
name fits his role. How about that bell hop I that look like them.
mentioned? Should his name be Joe or Luxor the
Great? See my point?

One of the key secrets to writing a successful novel is

your characterization. And the more you know about your characters, the better you‟ll write
about them. So, get to know and understand those people who will populate your novel. In fact,
for your major characters, you can almost not know too much.

Dialogue

Dialogue is simply your characters speaking. However, dialogue will make your project shine or
make it useless and no fiction writer will succeed without effective dialogue.

Dialogue is what moves your story forward toward its conclusion. It develops your characters,
and leads toward conflict. In fact, if your dialogue isn‟t moving toward some sort of conflict,
whether minor or major, don‟t bother to put it in your story.

In almost every case your characters‟ dialogue should have them in some level of disagreement
or leading up to that disagreement.

The trick to dialogue in your novel is that it will not sound like conversation of actual people. In
fact, it cannot sound like real conversations at all. Normal conversations are full of “uhm‟s” and
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

“ah‟s,” inconsequential statements, incomplete sentences, grunts, physical gestures and such.
Though you may work in the occasional physical movements, dialogue will contain none of the
other aspects of actual human speech.

There is a learnable skill involved with making dialogue seem real when it is not.

Here are a few tips to consider.

Incorporate not a single useless word. If the dialogue

WRITER’S TIP:
Dialogue at its most basic
form is a writers’ trick. It
is nothing like real
conversation but must
sound like it is.
does not move the story forward, don‟t use it. For
example, consider how the following conversation will
interest a reader.
“Hey, Mark! What‟s happening, dude?”
“Not much, bro. What‟s up with you?”
“Nothing to crow about. School and work is
about all I ever do.”

Not one word of this dialogue should be in a novel. This

sort of conversation is boring to readers, and as we saw from the earlier graphic, nothing about
your book can be boring.

Dialogue is a wonderful tool to show a character’s personality. Does he speak quickly? Does he
have a drawl? Is he from the Deep South or maybe from England? Is he educated? Do his words
show contempt, worry or sorrow?

All these characteristics and more can be shown through the words you put in your characters‟
mouths. An example of how one‟s education can be shown via dialogue is below and is followed
by an example of how dialogue can show the emotion contempt.

Education: “I ain‟t got no reason to go with you.”

Contempt: “You sicken me!”

Do not write in long-winded diatribes. It‟s tedious to readers. If your story calls for one, break it
up with physical actions. Though this is shortened, a good example is shown below. The action
is in italics.

“I can‟t go with you.” She shook her head with vehemence. “I must stay here and tend to
my father‟s health.”

Use dialogue to build suspense and conflict. Here again is a simplistic example.

“What happened to Joan?”

 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

“I don‟t know.” His face filled with fear. “Isn‟t she with you?”
“Oh no! She‟s lost!”

As you can tell, this dialogue both moves the story forward and builds conflict.

When writing dialogue, use strong verbs and nouns. The more specific the verb or noun is, the
more power it will have for your reader. Without specific verbs and nouns, your reader uses their
imagination to fill in the blanks and they may not create the image you desired. Consider these
two sentences and notice how the weightier words carry more strength.

“I‟ll not go with you. I don‟t know you well enough.”

“I‟ll not get in the car with you! I don‟t know you well enough.”

In the first sentence “go with” could mean walking, running or even pogo-sticking with the other
character. If the reader imagines pogo-sticking, and their imagination will fill in any gaps in your
writing, there isn‟t much danger or conflict here. In
contrast, getting in a car with a stranger holds much
more potential danger. “Getting in” one‟s
WRITER’S TIP:
automobile is more specific and therefore, stronger
than merely “going.” Use specific, powerful
verbs and nouns for more
Avoid clichés. Never use them, period. Try to be effective dialogue.
more creative. If your character needs to say
something like, “All‟s well that ends well,” reword
it. Create a phrase that makes the meaning clear but
uses other words. For example:

“All‟s well that ends well,” might become, “At least I did what needed doing.”

Dialogue is such a critical aspect to your novel I strongly recommend you consider further study
in this arena.

Setting
The third major step you must complete, even before you begin writing, is to establish your
setting. With setting, you transport your reader to another time and place. That transportation
must be complete or he will not stay there for too long. This is the reason you must be familiar
with your subject matter as discussed in “Do You Have a Story to Tell?”

Setting, that location where your novel takes place, is as important as any other aspect of your
novel. It serves to cement your readers within your story. Does your hero live in the fourteenth
century? Then you need to know a great deal about knights and the medieval period. Does he
live in the year 2598? Then you need a vivid imagination to establish your setting. Does the story
take place only in your hero‟s mind? Then his mind is your setting.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Don‟t forget everything becomes part of your setting. The weather, the material shoes are made
of, even the color of the mud could end up being a part of your setting.

The more realistic your setting, the more your readers can get involved with your writing. The
converse is also true. One mistake in setting will cause you readers to set your book down.
Imagine a Templar Knight who reads the shadows to determine the time of day. Now consider
that same Knight but have him look at his wristwatch.
The imaginary bubble you‟ve created for your reader is
lost and that one error may mean he never trusts your
WRITER’S TIP: work again.

If you make errors in
setting, readers will lose
confidence in you as a
writer and stop reading.
A secret to establish and maintain your setting is to fill
out a note card or database with Setting as you did with
your characters. And as with characters, the more
detailed and complete your setting, the more your reader
will enjoy your work.

Even though you understand everything about your

setting, a secret is not to give your readers all you know
about it. Just give them enough to make the story real. For example, if you know the color of the
mud, but your story never takes place on a rainy day, it‟s a detail you‟d not include.

And as with characters, collect photos or drawings of your setting. In one short story I wrote
about woodland creatures, I took actual photos of overturned tree stumps. It took a bit of
imagination, but I found abstract images within the root systems and soil that gave rise to the
creature‟s homes. (Worked like a charm.)

Get to know your setting as well as you know your hero.

Conflict

Conflict is the reason people purchase and read your books. In fact, people will put down your
book if nothing exciting or dangerous happens to the hero. This applies to a romance as well as a
novel about soldiers in war.

Understand there is a major difference between action and conflict. Action is found in things that
happen; explosions, car chases, arguments, and the like. Conflict, however, is found in the
emotions your characters feel during that action.

Imagine, if you will, your hero as he watches a television show about a building razed by
professionals. In this, there is a great deal of action. You‟ve got the explosion, the collapsed
building, dust that rises in billowed clouds, noise that rattles the earth and so on. Still, there is
little emotion attached to the event. In contrast, create the exact same situation, except this time
your hero is trapped in that building. Your action turns to conflict because of the emotions
involved with his being ensnared within the structure and his imminent demise.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

With that in mind, might you have a scene that bursts with conflict but little action? Of course
you can. What if your hero is at odds with himself
over some decision, especially when none of his
choices seem viable? There‟s little action in this
scene, yet your hero is under terrific pressure to make
WRITER’S TIP:
the correct decision. In this case, there‟s great conflict
but little action. Conflict is created when
your hero must make
Every chapter must have some level of conflict. A difficult decisions he’s
character may want simply to be left alone or they never before faced.
may want someone else to die. Regardless, in every
chapter somebody must want something. “Master
Scenes” will have the most conflict, while all other
scenes have lesser amounts of the same.

So, just how do we create conflict?

Conflict is created when you character is forced to make difficult decisions. You put your hero in
a position where he‟s never been. This necessity of making unfamiliar decisions will offer you
opportunities to increase the emotional conflict in your story.

Dialogue, your characters‟ spoken words, is the best tool you have available to develop conflict.
Conflict is such an important aspect of dialogue, you should tend toward conflict with every
word spoken by your characters. If they are not specifically discussing conflict, their words
should lead in that direction. Having every spoken word
you write lead to or show direct conflict is a difficult task
to master, but master it you must. Let‟s study how to do
WRITER’S TIP: this.

Dialogue is the major tool
available to the writer to
heighten or develop
conflict.
First, show movement. When your characters‟ speak,
have something move. The drapes might rustle or
lightning could burst forth in the background. Maybe a
dog barks. This technique heightens the effect of the
dialogue.

Show emotion. What if your character flinches when the

lightning flashes? Maybe they turn to the sound of the dog‟s bark and shiver as they wonder
aloud what might cause the animal to get excited.

Use nonverbal exchanges. Have your character ripple their forehead in question. Let them put up
their hands in a defensive fashion. You might even have them perspire from the emotional
pressure. Regardless the physical action, use it to evoke more conflict.

Whatever methods you choose, all fiction writers must master how to create conflict.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Combine the Elements of Your Novel

Now that you have the major components of your novel organized, it‟s time to put them together and
begin the writing process.

Envision your novel as a series of scenes linked together like a chain.

What, you may ask, is a scene? It‟s a part of your novel that includes character interactions that moves
your story forward. It places your reader in a position to “see” what takes place. Therefore, a narrative of
the landscape is not a scene as there are no characters who interact with each other. In contrast, two
characters who walk over the landscape is a scene.

The purpose of your scenes is to:

 Move your story forward and toward its end

 Introduce and flesh out your characters
 Create a problem or heighten it
 Solve a problem
 Set up the scenes to follow
 Create setting or atmosphere

Within the concept of scenes, you have what are called, “Master Scenes.” These portray the most critical
moments in your manuscript. They are turning points in the story. For example, two people who walk
over the landscape as above is a scene, but isn‟t a master scene. Include an enemy army that charges over
that landscape toward the character and you may well have a master scene.

By combining the five critical elements of your story, title, characters, dialogue, conflict and setting into
scenes, you create your novel. The method of how your link these scenes together is another critical
aspect of your novel. You need to write your story so its intensity rises and falls to generate excitement
for your reader. The end of your story will find the climactic scene as the highest point in this series.
Study this chart and it will show how to link your scenes together to accomplish this.

I‟m About to Die! I

OMG! E H
Great! D F
Exciting! A C G K
Interesting B
Not So Interesting
Bored
Napping
Asleep
Dead
Scenes as They Lead to the End of Your Story

As you see from this graphic, your Master Scenes would be E, H and I. These would have the most
tension and interest for your reader and your hero. The other scenes build to these crescendos by always
“setting up” the Master Scenes to come.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

The last scene, in this case K, brings your reader way down in intensity. This is your “Happily Ever
After” scene.
Further, you see that your story should never, ever, be the least
bit “Not So Interesting.” At all times, your reader must be
enthralled by what is taking place.
WRITER’S TIP:
Must your story follow this exact graphical guideline? Not
Your story must have at really. In this example, I have three Master Scenes. Your story
least three master scenes. may have more, though it should have no less.
You may have more, but
you cannot have fewer. Can you have more peaks and valleys than shown here?
Absolutely! Just make sure your downs always lead to another
up.

One secret to writing scenes is to write your climatic scene

first, at least in outline form. After that, create your other pivotal scenes, then fill in. For many, this makes
the story much easier to write.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Edit Your Novel

Despite all the things you‟ve learned so far, they pale in comparison to editing. When I wrote my
first manuscript, it took me ninety days to write the story. Editing, in contrast, took four hundred
fifty days.

Once you‟ve written your story all the way through, you‟ll have what‟s called a “First Draft.” On
my current manuscript, I‟m on edit number seven. Does that give you an idea of how important
editing is to the finish work?

When writing your first draft, just write. Don‟t worry too much about spelling and grammar.
After you do your preparation, such as develop your characters and all the rest, just toss words
onto the page. Of course, you keep all your guidelines in
mind as you create your masterpiece, but still, it‟s a first
draft and many more may follow.
WRITER’S TIP:
Almost anyone can write a The initial idea is to write your story, then fix it. You‟ll
story. Only those who are have ample time to make it shine later.
best at editing will have a
Writers have a tendency to edit as they go along. Of
story that will make
course you may do things as you see fit, but the best idea
money.
is to write now, edit later.

As you edit, you‟ll find entire scenes disappear, or

appear, or even reappear. You‟ll see the same thing
happen to your characters, too. They come, they go, they grow and they shrink. Your Muse will
help with this, so don‟t worry.

As you get deeper into your writing career, you‟ll find the writing of your story is the lesser part
of the craft. Editing is where your story shines and where it makes its money.

So, how do you got about editing your novel?

Well, it‟s mechanical in nature. This means most writers go through various steps to edit their
manuscript.

The first thing you do is format your manuscript.

There are specific rules for the way a manuscript should look. They include:

Double-spacing typed lines. This allows for easier reading and simplifies the deeper edits
yet to come.

1” margins around the entire page, top, bottom and both sides.

Justify the left margin but not the right. (Like this booklet.)
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Number pages at the top or bottom. (Unlike this booklet.)

Place the working title, followed by a dash and your last name, in the header.

Don‟t bind your manuscript. Leave it as loose pages.

Use only 20lb or 24 lb, white paper, printed on one side.

Use only Times New Roman, Courier or Bookman faces in 10 or 12 fonts.

Use only a single space between words and sentences.

Check for spelling. A misspelled word or two will not necessarily disqualify your manuscript for
publication, but if you have too many, it might.

Review each character as to his necessity in your story.

If he does not contribute something to the story, get rid WRITER’S TIP:
of him.
Only those who review
Review each scene for usefulness. If it does not move each word of their
the story toward its conclusion, cut it. If it will have manuscript for purpose and
more effect elsewhere in your novel, move it. correctness will succeed in
having their story
Double check your research. No watches on Templar published.
Knights allowed.

Find any “-ly” words and evaluate each one of them.

Reword them if you can without losing the meaning of the sentence. Adverbs such as these are
ineffective and weak. Rewrite them. Here‟s an example.

“Our drive was terribly long,” might become, “Our drive was long and boring.”

“Long and boring” is more descriptive, i.e., stronger, than “terribly long,” which does not
necessarily convey “boring” at all.

Eliminate exclamation points from your writing.

Use action to highlight the seriousness of a situation. As example, “I‟m afraid!” might become,
“I‟m afraid,” she said. The goose bumps on her arms confirmed her fear.”

Get rid of all dialogue tags except, “said” or “asked.” That means any dialogue preceded or
followed by words such as, “he chuckled” or “she smiled” or “he sneered” and the like should be
reworded. Instead you can eliminate them with more descriptive writing, or you might replace
them with a sentence. As your example, consider this dialogue.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

“No, I won‟t go with you,” she sneered.

Eliminate the tag, “she sneered” and replace it with a sentence meaning the same thing.

It might become, “She sneered at him and said, “No, I won‟t go with you.”

Eliminate your ellipses. (…) Novice writers can always be spotted by the many ellipses they use.
New writers use them to indicate an incomplete thought or a pause. Let your words show these
ideas.

Eradicate ill-used words the middling won’t twig.

WRITER’S TIP:
Editing for correct
punctuation is as
important as editing for
words, phrases and
sentences.
Rather, don‟t use words your average reader won‟t
understand.
Cut long phrases down to size. Look for such things as
“in the event that” and “in order to.” Replace them with
more simple constructions such as, “if” or “to.”
Get “it’s” vs. “its” correct. “It‟s” is a contraction
whereas “its” means the possessive. I remember it this
way. “It‟s”, has four typed characters in the word, as do
the two words it replaces – “it is.”

“All right” is two words, alright, all right?

Correct all errors in single vs. plural nouns and verbs. You need to find and fixed all this
common errors. I mean all these common error. Or rather, I mean you need to find and fix all
these common errors. If you read your manuscript aloud, you‟ll find most of this these errors.

***

When it comes to editing, this booklet gives you only the lightest insight as to the many issues
you must consider. If you remember the money in not in the writing but in the editing, you‟ll
spend the time you need to get it right.
 H o w to w r it e a n o v el - sc h u lze

Final Thoughts
Thank you for taking your valuable time to read this booklet. I trust this digest has proved
of value to you and hope it inspires you to discover that writer‟s skill that lies within you. It
would be wonderful to know when you look back on your writing career this simple
publication offered a tiny sparkle that pointed you toward the path of publication. I do so
hope you find that spark.

It‟s important you realize this booklet is a primer as to how to write a novel. It will not
guarantee you success. Nor will it guarantee representation or publication. It will not
transform you into a novelist as if by magic. Its only purpose is to give you a rough guide as
to the many skills you must master if you except to one day attain that lofty designation of
“published author.”

If you feel your Muse is calling you to write that novel hidden within you, I‟ll recommend
you keep an eye on my blog, www.CPatrickSchulze.com/authorsblog for more ebooklets I‟ll
release in the near future. At this time I have the following ebooklets planned.

The Art of Storytelling

Characterization Counts
Creating Effective Dialogue
The Successful Use of Setting in Fiction

***

Again, I‟d like thank you for your time and look forward to seeing your novels on the story
shelves in the near future. Until then, know I wish for you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze
Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers”