Introduction As I look back on years of participating in writers conferences around the country, one in particular stands out. It was an important event, sponsored by a national writers‘ organization, and a number of heavy hitters—writers, agents, and editors—were scheduled to speak. I had some free time before my workshop, so I sat in on a talk being given by a New York editor with whom I had done considerable business. Her workshop topic, as listed in the conference brochure, was ―Novel-Writing 101: A Hands- On Approach.‖ Her presentation was certainly thorough. She covered such topics as dialogue, viewpoint, and characterization in admirable detail. But when she was finished speaking and opened up the floor for questions, everyone in the audience just sat there looking confused. Finally a man raised his hand. ―That‘s all well and good,‖ he said, ―but how do you know when to do each of those things?‖ The editor paused, clearly struggling for an answer. At last she replied, ―Well, you do them all at the same time.‖ A woman near me threw down her notebook in exasperation. I couldn‘t blame her. The editor‘s answer hadn‘t been helpful at all. If you‘d asked me, her approach wasn‘t hands-on, it was hands-off! Later, taking a break in my hotel room, I wondered how I would have answered that man‘s question. I could have answered it, but it would have been a long answer! It then occurred to me that he wouldn‘t have asked the question in the first place if the editor had presented her material differently, if she had put the process of creating a novel into linear, step-by-step form—told what to do when—instead of suggesting a literary juggling act. If you asked a painter how she creates a landscape, her reply would resemble the editor‘s: she does everything at the same time. She blocks in the sky, roughs in the foreground, works on the middle distance, adds detail to the foreground, the foreground, works on the middle distance, adds detail to the foreground, refines the sky, and so on. She is doing everything at the same time—in a manner of speaking. But it‘s physically impossible for her brush to be at two places at once. And so it is with a novel. It‘s physically impossible to work on dialogue, viewpoint, characterization, and all the other aspects of writing a novel at the same time. When the process is broken down far enough into its steps, it‘s clear that creating a novel is in fact a linear process. It‘s this process I have presented in my seminars and workshops since I realized, that day in my hotel room, that it‘s what beginning novelists really need. And it‘s this process I will share with you. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing www.WriteANovelFast.com 1 This book is different from other guides. First because of its step-by-step format. But also because it addresses novel-writing in a new way. You‘ll find terminology and definitions here that you‘ve never seen before. Perhaps because I‘m an agent and make my living solely by selling books (most of them novels), my method takes a highly practical approach. It begins by helping you target a genre for your novel, then develop your story idea and characters with this market‘s requirements firmly in mind. The hardest part of writing a novel is finishing it, and to make sure you do, you‘ll use a special template to plan your entire story, subplots and all, before you even start writing. You‘ll translate your completed templates into professional-quality text. Finally, you‘ll create a dynamic selling proposal for your novel, and approach agents and editors with maximum effectiveness. As a literary agent, I have helped dozens and dozens of writers I represent achieve success with this method. Beginning writers bursting with ideas but unsure how to turn them into novels have found guidance in this methodical, ―left-brained‖ process. Published writers who always wrote ―instinctively,‖ discovering their novels as they went along, have used this method to diagnose and repair ailing manuscripts. In all cases, these writers have been rewarded with compliments from editors on the writers‘ mastery of their craft—and with publication. I hope The Marshall Plan® for Novel Writing does that for you. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing www.WriteANovelFast.com 2 How the Plan Works Because each step in my system builds on what you have already accomplished, it‘s important to follow the steps in order. The following sections give an overview of the parts that make up the plan. PART 1: PLANNING FOR SUCCESS Part I shows you how to lay the groundwork for a solid novel. You discover the kind of novel that‘s perfect for you to write, then develop a story idea that‘s original, powerful, and suitable for the type of book you‘re writing. Part I then shows you how to use your story idea to create your novel‘s characters. PART 2: YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO PLOTTING This part takes you through the planning of your story. You begin by ascertaining the ideal length for your novel. You learn about sections, the units of action and reaction that constitute your story, and about section sheets, on which you‘ll plan your sections. Part II then takes you through the plotting of your novel‘s sections. You devise subordinate story lines and interweave them with your main story line, plant three vital story twists, and plot your novel‘s last sections for maximum impact. PART 3: HOW TO WRITE FICTION LIKE A PRO This part shows you how to write the story you‘ve plotted. You discover the secrets of viewpoint writing, then learn how to write action sections and reaction sections and to create connectors—devices for linking sections. You conquer the five fiction modes—action, summary, dialogue, thoughts/feelings, and background. Finally, Part III addresses the act of writing, from setting up your work space to setting goals to setting up your manuscript. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing www.WriteANovelFast.com 3 PART 4: POLISHING YOUR MANUSCRIPT This part guides you in revising and editing your completed manuscript. You use the Novelist‘s Manual for Self-Editing to bulletproof your story and perfect your language. Then you divide your novel into chapters; adjust your manuscript‘s length, if necessary; and give your book an intriguing title. PART 5: MARKETING YOUR NOVEL Often the first stage in submitting your novel to agents and editors is submitting a proposal for your novel. This part shows you how to create the most important element of the proposal: the synopsis, a powerful marketing tool. Then you begin the process of targeting agents and editors. Part V shows you how to attract these professionals‘ attention and get your novel in front of them for serious consideration. APPENDIX: A SAMPLE SYNOPSIS There‘s nothing like the real thing, and in the Appendix you‘ll find an example of a strong synopsis for a novel that was ultimately sold and published. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing www.WriteANovelFast.com 4 Part 2 YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO PLOTTING In This Part . . . This part shows you how to plot your novel. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing www.WriteANovelFast.com 55 STEP 5 Getting Off to the Right Start In This Step Classic novel structure Story length Sections Section sheets Plotting your first sections OK, you have your target genre, a story idea and some characters. Why not just start writing? Because without some kind of plan, a map of the route your story will take, you‘re practically guaranteed to start with a bang and, sooner or later, look up and say, ―Now what?‖ To push the metaphor a little further, you‘ll have a full tank of gas, but you‘ll be at a crossroads and have no idea which road to take. You won‘t know where you‘re going! Anyone can write a great beginning. Show me an unpublished novelist and I‘ll show you a drawer full of false starts. The trick is to keep your story running without stalling or blocking. To achieve this end, you must have, at the very least, a basic notion of the course your lead will take to achieve her story goal. That‘s where plotting comes in. THE CLASSIC STRUCTURE Before you can begin plotting, you must understand the basic structure of the novel. It‘s a classic form, defined first by Aristotle in Poetics, and for our purposes it‘s enough to know that it consists of three parts: the beginning, the middle and the end. BEGINNING MIDDLE END The beginning constitutes the first quarter of your novel. Here you‘ll set up your story situation, introduce all your characters, present all necessary background information and, most The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing www.WriteANovelFast.com 56 importantly, begin all of your story lines: your lead‘s main story line—in pursuit of the story goal—and any other subplots you decide to include. The middle constitutes half your novel‘s length. It contains the principle action of the lead‘s story line and all the subplots, as well as twists and surprises and complications. The end constitutes your novel‘s last quarter. Here all story lines resolve themselves, most notably your lead‘s main story line, which moves through distinct phases as it builds to the climactic moment and then, finally, wraps itself up. Note that these divisions will not be visible to the reader. They exist solely to help you structure your story. In this step, you‘ll start plotting your novel‘s beginning. Before you can do that, however, you must ascertain the correct length for your novel as a whole. DETERMINING YOUR NOVEL’S IDEAL LENGTH Any given type of novel has a customary length or length range. The flexibility of this length requirement depends on the kind of book. Traditionally, book lengths have been expressed in terms of the approximate number of words the book contains. For example, at this writing, a Love Inspired Historical–brand