Home For Fiction – Blog

for thinking people

Patreon LogoPatreon

January 30, 2023

How to Start Writing a Novel: Tips and Examples

Fiction Writing Tips, Writing

book, creativity, fiction, genre, writing

Beginner as well as more advanced fiction writers often struggle with a seemingly simple question: How do you start writing a novel?

Just to be clear, I’m not referring to the textual part – that is, narrative strategies beginning a novel; its first few paragraphs. If you’re looking for that, here are 17 ways to begin a novel.

Instead, in this post I will show you tips and examples on how to start writing a novel in the sense of how to set up the foundations. In other words, in this post I will share with you the bare minimum you need to know before you even think of typing the first word.

As I often say, many people – and that includes authors – believe that a writer just “comes up with stuff” out of nothing. That’s simply not true. Writing a novel involves a subconsciously long, complex process beginning with experiences, memories, and imagination. These come before you decide to write a book.

But suppose you already have these set; you have had experiences that have fueled your imagination.

What next?

Let’s find out!

how to start writing a novel
“Writing a novel is not as hard as you think,” said Mr Whiskers

How to Start Writing a Novel: Three Steps

Before we begin, a word on methodology: The text below contains questions that you should ask yourself, thus making sure you have all the fundamentals in place. As you will notice, these questions are grouped into three steps, moving from the simpler to the more complex aspects of your narrative.

If you struggle answering any of the questions, I strongly advise you to ponder on the matter before you continue.

To help you, I’ve provided example answers to give you an idea/direction.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

home for fiction

Learning How to Start Writing a Novel Is About the Fundamentals

The questions above might seem basic. That is, you might think “well, duh, how could I start writing a novel without knowing all this?”

Though this is a fair assumption, you’d be surprised to hear how many people simply write by the seat of their pants, giving credence to the “coming up with stuff” notion. Even if you’re not a pantser, it helps a lot to put all your thoughts in writing, actually “being forced” to talk about it.

Ultimately, the clearer and more precise answers you have for these basic aspects, the easier it will be to write a coherent story.

Note: If you’d like a program to save and visualize all the information above, why don’t you take a look at Conceptualizer, my story planning app? Like all my apps, it’s free and ad-free.