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How to plot a novel
Some types of novel might demand a detailed plan - a thriller, for example. But you don't have to write following a carefully prepared structure. |
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"I tend to make little maps and charts as I go along, so I'm writing my way into the unknown, into darkness. I'm chaotic - that suits me. By the end of the novel, I might discover that I need to go back and rewrite the whole thing! That doesn't matter because I think plot is concealed, it's hidden inside the problem you're trying to solve by writing the novel, and it's also hidden in the personality of characters. Plot can reveal itself through the interaction between your characters."
Michèle Roberts
How to finish your novel
Don't be intimidated by the sheer immensity of the task!
"Keep going! Redraft, rewrite, start again… Work consistently and often. This will help you achieve continuity with your work, and help you break your novel down into less terrifying pieces. Keep following your desire because things will get better!"
Michèle Roberts
"Make an honest assessment of what it is you're willing to sacrifice for your writing because it is quite a painful exercise, it's so subjective. It should be a process of reasoning - you've been honest with yourself, you know what it is you're prepared not to have in order that you might try to be a novelist."
Elliot Perlman
Elliot Perlman's first novel, Three Dollars, was a smash hit in his native Australia, winning the 1998 Melbourne Age Book of the Year Award and collecting a sheaf of prizes when it was published in London. His latest book is a collection of short stories, The Reasons I Won't Be Coming. Elliot Perlman has been described as "the foremost voice of the new generation of Australian writers".
Anglo-French writer Michele Roberts is the author of eleven highly acclaimed novels including Daughters of the House which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1992. She wrote eloquently about the writing process in her collection of non-fiction essays, On Food, Sex and God. Michèle Roberts has been described as "one of Britain's best novelists".
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