Outlining Your Novel

Every scene must include the outer battle (the physical reaction to conflict) and the inner battle (the psychological and emotional reaction to events).

Beginning Begin with the main character (the MC), so readers immediately understand who this story is about. Show readers the MC’s “normal world.” This is the life he has chosen to live, the life in which he’s reasonably comfortable or at least complacent. Show readers the MC in a “characteristic moment.” Try to create a scene that exhibits both th

One of the easiest ways to raise the stakes is to create a tight timeline for your story.

My first goal is to hammer all this down into a premise: a single sentence that conveys the plot and the theme.

Giving a character a motive (which inevitably extends to a goal, which hopefully inspires an immediate obstacle, which fortunately creates innate conflict) is vital.

Orson Scott Card points out that a “character is what he does, yes—but even more, a character is what he means to do.” In Behold the Dawn, I made a list of the main characters and their various motives for their various actions: Annan wants to die on the battlefield, because he feels the guilt for his crimes is too great a burden to go on carrying.

Creating a solid, memorable character arc requires several important ingredients: Start out with a clear idea of who the character is at the beginning of the story. What does he care about? What does he believe? How does he behave in certain situations? Open with the character beginning from a place of imperfection or incompleteness. Usually (but n

It’s not enough to create a character who does interesting things. He must also do them for interesting reasons.

How can you keep the stakes as high as possible for your readers? Watch for lags. If you find your character happy or at peace, chances are good he’s not too frustrated. Unless you’re using a temporary lull in the storm to emphasize the disasters to come, avoid these quiet, happy scenes. Not only do they interrupt the dramatic flow, they also tend