Writing a Best Selling Novel
Monday, April 7th, 2008Your dream of becoming an author and producing a best selling novel is more often than not just that, it’s a dream but many dreams can become a reality
To your eyes your novel may look and sound great but you need to ask others to read the finished article.
Listen to their views and criticisms and ask them to be honest in what they tell you.
Were they glued to the book and unable to put it down until they reached the conclusion, or did they find their mind wandering and not really taking in what they were reading.
If the results were the latter part of the sentence then your novel would be assigned to the pile of return to the sender and the months of waiting to hear from the publishing company would have all been in vain.
Don’t give up at this point, examine your plot and ask yourself is it feasible, could it happen in the way that you have described.
So how do you go about writing a best selling novel?
You have evidently got the story and ideas planned out in your head and you are raring to get started.
Years ago an author used to write their novel with a pen and paper and then have a typist to type out the finished product.
Now most authors use a computer and print out their story ready to send to the publisher, or easier still put it on a disc after making sure this is acceptable to the publisher.
Always keep a copy of your novel as the postal service is not always 100% secure.
There are many things you need to know when you are writing your novel if you intend to send it straight to a publishing house.
Here are a few things that you should have and things you need to know.
First of all you need a good dictionary, and a thesaurus, these are tools of the trade to a writer.
Another useful book is (The Writers and Artists Year Book) this gives you a list of all the publishers plus many of the requirements a publisher is looking for in your style of writing.
For instance you would not send a romantic novel to a publisher of crime novels etc.
You will also find a list of magazines and the types of short stories they require. Greeting card publishers are often looking for new verses so this is a good market to get in to.
Twenty years ago I received £8.00 for each verse I wrote so I imagine now it would be quite lucrative to go down this road if you have a poetic mind.
You will find a host of useful information in the book and it is worth every penny of its cost.
When you begin typing your novel you must have double spaced lines and a two inch margin on either side, this is to enable any corrections the proof readers might need to do, and it also makes easy reading of the pages.
You will need to count the words on each page so you know the length of your novel.
When you have written your first chapter or your short story, put it to one side and leave it for at least one week then read it again, you will see it with new eyes and you will note if there are any alterations you need to make.
A good author will often write then rewrite a few times before he is satisfied with the end result.
When you finally send off your book to the publishers you can expect to wait at least three months before you hear from them and quite often it is simply to return your novel as not suitable to them.
If you believe in your novel don’t shove it to one side and give up on it, parcel it up again and send it to another publishing house.
Some authors send out to numerous publishers before their book is ever accepted.
One word of warning, stick to one publisher at a time, don’t send out the same novel to two or three publishers at the same time.
That also goes for short stories, magazines and greeting card verses; they have to have exclusive right if they buy from you.
Always make sure your book is copyright just by adding that simple word, this means that no one else can claim the story as their own.
For more detailed information on writing a novel visit your local library they should have numerous books on the subject.
