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    Fiction Writing: How to Write Your First Novel
    Fiction Writing: How to Write Your First Novel
    Fiction Writing: How to Write Your First Novel
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    Fiction Writing: How to Write Your First Novel

    By Karleene Morrow

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    About this ebook

    FICTION WRITING: How to Write Your First Novel has only one purpose - to guide the new writer toward producing a first class novel. Experienced authors have found this little gem so valuable that they keep it next to their computers. Its size is perfect for tucking into a laptop carrying case. It is a no-nonsense, easy to read book packed with the nitty-gritty of creative writing; a cut-to-the-chase work that will become your fiction writing bible.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKarleene Morrow
    Release dateDec 9, 2012
    ISBN9780983771128
    Fiction Writing: How to Write Your First Novel
    Author

    Karleene Morrow

    Author Karleene Morrow grew up in an ethnic family and is a descendant of the German colonists whose history was the inspiration for this novel. She holds a B.S. Honors, Sociology/Psychology and an M.S. Ed Psychology. Now happily retired she lives at the beach in the Pacific Northwest where she shares her home with her Pomeranian dogs, some of them champions, all of them spoiled rotten, beloved companions. Karleene Morrow is also the author of the popular book FICTION WRITING: How to Write Your First Novel

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    • 5/5
      In just a few words, the author got me started on massive improvements in my first novel.
    • 5/5
      I suppose I enjoyed this book because Ms. Morrow and I agree on the excessive use of adjectives and adverbs. Many authors take "show not tell" to extremes in my opinion.

    Book preview

    Fiction Writing - Karleene Morrow

    FICTION WRITING

    How to Write Your First Novel

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Karleene Morrow

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    Published by Agate Beach Press at Smashwords

    Copyright November 2012 Karleene L. Morrow

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be downloaded, transmitted, reproduced, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

    ISBN 978-0-9837711-2-8

    ISBN 1480298859

    Cover design Charlie Magee, Signal Design Inc., Eugene Oregon

    Website: http://www.karleenemorrow.com/

    AUTHOR’S NOTE

    Let me say right off, fiction writing is a craft. It can be learned. Contrary to popular belief writing is not a talent, although someone who brings talent to the table has a head start on becoming a good writer, quite possibly a great one. Dedicate yourself to learning the techniques of this craft and you can write fiction. It is almost a given that if a person does that, and writes consistently, creative juices will begin to flow that he didn’t know he possessed.

    This book is not all-inclusive and there is much about the craft of writing that it does not detail. But there is no fluff in it. It is packed with the nitty-gritty. The pages are full of tips and techniques and will also guide you to further information and study. Hopefully it will be of considerable help as you begin your writing journey.

    ~~~~~~~~~

    DEDICATION

    Mariah Matthews

    For all the writing skills you taught me,

    And all the writing skills we learned together

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    A NOTE OF APPRECIATION

    I am grateful once again for the critiques and advice from fellow writers of the Oregon Coast Writers Focus Group: Mariah Matthews, Sunshine Keck, M.C. (Marge) Arvanitis, Patsy Brookshire and Kelli Brugh. Somehow these women manage to catch not only the big goofs but also the smallest detail as they listen to chapters of whatever I’m reading at the time. Lately it has been this guide to writing fiction. If it has turned out to be as good as I hope, I have to thank them for having a good ear and for their willingness to spend whatever time was needed to get each section right.

    Special thanks to Sunshine Keck, our copy editor extraordinaire.

    Every writer should be so fortunate in finding a caring critique group that is not a critical group. There is a measurable – and emotional – difference between the two. Thank you writer-friends. When I count my blessings you are all high on the list.

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    FICTION WRITING

    How to Write Your First Novel

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    Karleene Morrow

    Table of Contents

    Chapter One: The Secret to Starting Your First Novel

    Chapter Two: How to For New Writers

    Chapter Three: So What About Those Prologues?

    Chapter Four: How to Keep Readers Turning Pages

    Chapter Five: The Importance of Novel Beginnings

    Chapter Six: Writing the Middle of Your Novel

    Chapter Seven: How to Develop Your Style

    Chapter Eight: How to Create Memorable Characters

    Chapter Nine: How to Handle Suspense and Foreshadowing

    Chapter Ten: How to End Your Novel

    Chapter Eleven: Odds and Ends

    Chapter Twelve: How to Deal With Writer’s Block

    Chapter Thirteen: Rewriting and Publishing

    Chapter One

    The Secret to Starting Your First Novel

    I wish I’d had a little book like this when I wrote my first novel. I decided to write this one to help others who find themselves in the same situation. You probably have the germ of an idea for your story. Perhaps you’ve written several sentences or several paragraphs or twenty pages. Maybe you have spent a considerable amount of time outlining, or creating scenarios over forty-eight chapters.

    Whatever you have noted as the story you want to tell, now is the time to begin telling it. You’ve dragged your feet because you’re not sure where to start. I’m going to share with you the secret of starting your first novel. Actually, it is the secret to writing the entire novel. Here it is:

    Write.

    Then write some more.

    Then write more after that.

    And then keep on writing.

    You can think and plan and ruminate all you want, but if you want to write, at some point you are going to have to plant your backside in a chair and pick up a pen or put your fingers on a keyboard.

    Where to start? Here’s another dirty little secret—nobody knows where to start. Every story is different. Start at the beginning, or what you think is the beginning. By the time you learn the elements of writing (reading in the evenings) and the techniques of writing (studying in the mornings) you will already have discovered a good deal about your story. It likely will change. It surely will grow. It might be that the beginning will need to be tossed out, at which point you’ll experience the pain and agony of killing your darlings. But you’re apt to find, as have so many writers before you, that the book is considerably better if the first few chapters are tossed and then the story starts. Maybe that’s where it needed to start, the first chapters being just warm-ups, and the reader didn’t need all that getting-ready-stuff. You may not have to discard it, but if you do and if there was important material there, you’ll find the best places to work those scenes into later chapters of the book, maybe as flashbacks or backstory.

    Many writers sweat through a complete novel, or two or three, before they hit their stride and produce quality, or at least publishable, work. Some though, nail that first novel and you may be one of them. It is a given, however, that the first draft of that book may be a sad state of writing. Anne R. Allen in her co-authored book, How To

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