Writing a Novel
Writing a novel is a big, consuming, and occasionally bewildering undertaking. You probably already know this. And you’re going to do it anyway. Which means you’re either brave, a little bit crazy, or both. Welcome.
The Wild Premise of Novel Writing
Something happens when you decide to write a novel. You start, maybe. Stop. Start again. You’ve read enough good fiction to know what you’re reaching for.
You enter your story with whatever you have—an idea, a character, a scene so vivid you wonder if you lived it in a past life—and almost immediately it starts to work on you as much as you work on it. What looked like a bare winter garden when you entered begins to bloom around you, fuller and stranger than you imagined, wilder and ever less tame toward its edges.
The process of writing your novel is its own kind of haunting—you’re knitting yourself into an invisible world while you’re knitting the world itself. It’s strange and true and completely yours.
This is not a straightforward enterprise.
The Core Truths of Writing a Novel
One: You arrive with a thing: an idea, a character, a feeling. That’s enough to begin.
Two: Your story reveals itself through the writing of it. Keep going.
Three: Pantsing and plotting are both your friends. Keep them close. They’ll tell you when to trust your instincts and when you need to hammer out a blueprint.
Four: Drafts are layers, strata. Your characters, their tensions, the emotional texture, even your setting—each pass deepens these.
Five: From a distance, the mountain looks climable—modest, even. But halfway up, you realize it’s bigger than it seemed back when you were packing snacks and lacing your boots. A few kilometers further, and you start wondering who talked you into this.
You might have thought the hardest part was coming up with a story. It isn’t. The hardest part is sustaining yourself when the trail vanishes and the air thins.
How I Can Help
You might wish for someone with all the answers. But me? I’m your co-conspirator. Someone who listens for the quiet tick-tick-tick beneath the surface of your manuscript. Who recognizes its invisible architecture. Who is tugged by its emotional undertow.
It’s likely that your novel has haunted you—and that it will keep haunting you while you’re inside it. That’s the nature of the thing. And I am built exactly right to sit beside you while your story moans and howls. To help you hear what the haunting is actually saying.
But wait! What about structure? Plot? Character arc? What about the actual nuts and bolts of building a novel?
Yes. All of that, too.
And the good news? I’ve spent years helping writers address questions of craft (How do I do it?) and issues of process (How can I do it??)—just to be ready to help you!
Here’s some of what we might work on together: Genre, audience, voice. Establishing your premise. Raising stakes. Escalating tension. Determining point of view. Constructing scenes. Developing themes. Showing not telling–unless telling’s what you need to do.
And then? Then we scratch out a map by firelight.
I Wrote a Book! (Two of them, in fact.)
If you want to go deeper into plot structure before we talk, the Plot Clock is a good place to start.
“A must-read for any aspiring writer, period.”
— Ryan G. Van Cleave, Head of Creative Writing, Ringling College of Art and Design
If you’re interested in the novel-writing process, Jamie Helps Mel Write a Novel takes you through a series of real coaching conversations between a coach and a writer.
Work with me!