How to Write a Novel by Joanna Penn
Read below for excerpts from How to Write a Novel, by Joanna Penn.
Do you want to write a novel but don't know where to start?
Are you overwhelmed with self-doubt when you try to write?
Have you started lots of stories but never finished one?
This book will help. It's time to break the cycle of unfinished stories.
Read each chapter in order:
Part 1: First Principles
1.1 Why are you writing a novel?
1.2 What has stopped you from completing a novel before?
1.3 Principles to keep in mind as you create
Part 2: Ideas, Research, Plotting, and Discovery Writing
2.1 How to find and capture ideas
2.2 How to research your novel and when to stop
2.4 Discovery writing (or pantsing)
2.5 What are you writing? Genre
2.6 What are you writing? Short story, novella, or novel
2.7 What are you writing? Stand-alone, series, or serial
Part 3: Aspects of a Novel
3.3 Character: Who is the story about?
3.6 Plot: What happens in the story?
3.9 Setting and world-building: Where does the story happen?
3.13 Language versus story and tools versus art
Part 4: Writing the First Draft
4.1 Attitude to the first draft
4.2 How to write the first draft
4.4 Write fast, cycle through, or write slow
4.6 Writing tools and software
4.7 When is the first draft finished?
Part 5: The Editing Process
5.1 Overview of the editing process
5.3 How to find and work with a professional editor
5.4 Beta readers, specialist readers, and sensitivity readers
5.5 Editing tools and software
5.6 Lessons learned from editing my first novel after more than a decade
5.7 When is the book finished?
