ABSTRACT

Previously available as "Before You Write a Word", Before You Write Your Novel sets out the essential techniques and approaches that lay the perfect foundation for writing your first novel. This concise and readable guide addresses the major stumbling blocks of fiction writing: the importance of planning and structure. This book covers the essential components of novel writing including narrative, story, plot, pace, chronology, character arc and engagement techniques, as well as research, story building, plotting and editing. Using an open and honest approach, feeding from his own experience as a published novelist and creative writing teacher, James McCreet offers a guide to the structural mechanisms of the novel, helping you plan a first draft through to a finished novel.

chapter |13 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|29 pages

Readiness

chapter 2|17 pages

The idea

chapter 3|28 pages

Building story

chapter 4|74 pages

Construction

chapter 5|10 pages

Narrative approaches

chapter 6|11 pages

Case study

Plotting a novel

chapter 7|3 pages

Troubleshooting

chapter 8|4 pages

Before you write a word