Writing a novel is an exercise in problem solving.Don’t overwhelm the reader with a lot of insignificant characters. If you were writing a screenplay using a lot of erroneous characters, the first thing the director would do would be to eliminate some of the minor roles, combining them instead into a single, more important role.In real life, even really bad people have some redeeming qualities. Unless the genre calls for it, antagonists should not be cartoonishly evil.Create characters who are three-dimensional, not two-dimensional.Each chapter should end with the reader anxious to start the next chapter.(Besides, that’s all you may get to send a literary agent along with a query letter, so make the first 10 pages great.) Hook the reader in the first 10 pages.Be careful not to make dialog too “on the nose.” Dialog should be natural, reflecting the way we speak in everyday life.You can only be in one person’s head, not in everybody’s. The point of view (P.O.V.) should always be from the same person.Instead of explaining how someone feels, use actions or dialog to show us. Similarly, if a character is not important to the story, there’s no need to describe him or her in detail. If you’re going to use a lot of sentences to describe something, it better be something important.
For example, if someone is nodding, obviously it’s with their head - so no need to write nodding her head. And don’t use a lot of unnecessary words. Don’t use a lot of adverbs (e.g., run fast).Posted on AugBy Sebastian Cole, author of Sand Dollar: A Story of Undying Love Writing a Manuscript Elements of Writing & Story What You Need to Know About Writing and Publishing Your First Novel
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