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    Crafting a Novel the Critics Will Praise
    Crafting a Novel the Critics Will Praise
    Crafting a Novel the Critics Will Praise
    Ebook116 pages1 hour

    Crafting a Novel the Critics Will Praise

    By Charles Jacobs

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    About this ebook

    Thousands of Americans long to write a novel. A study conducted by the prestigious Gallup polling company revealed that 81% of adults living in the United States cherish that dream. Unfortunately, few ever achieve their goal. We certainly can’t expect to see all of them succeed.
    However a new, simplified approach to crafting fiction has proved that it can increase the rate of success immeasurably. This e-book outlines that technique in detail.

    Developed by renowned author and writing/publishing coach Charles Jacobs, the program is based upon the needs and comments of hundreds of his writing students who complained that the complexities of most how-to books turned them off. Guided by their concerns, Charles has broken the novel into three major components—Plot/Structure, Character Development and Dialogue—the mastery of which will allow any writer to produce a novel that is saleable and successful. That has been proved time and again by the success of many of his student-authors.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCharles Jacobs
    Release dateApr 24, 2012
    Crafting a Novel the Critics Will Praise
    Author

    Charles Jacobs

    Charles (Chuck) Jacobs is a mystery/suspense/thriller writer and management consultant who enjoys photography, food, wine, and performance automobiles. His stories merge his academic background in math and science with his professional work in financial services (and a lifelong interest in espionage) to create thrillers that speculate on what is “science possible” and how that might affect the human condition. Chuck and his wife live in Ohio with an English golden and a semi-homicidal cat.

    Read more from Charles Jacobs

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      Book preview

      Crafting a Novel the Critics Will Praise - Charles Jacobs

      CRAFTING A NOVEL THE CRITICS WILL PRAISE

      by

      Charles Jacobs

      Smashwords Edition

      * * * * *

      Published on Smashwords by:

      Caros Books

      16 Pinecrest Drive

      Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677

      Crafting a Novel the Critics Will Praise

      Copyright 2012 by Charles Jacobs

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal use 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 person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

      ISBN: 978-0-9793636-4-1

      * * * * *

      Contents

      Introduction

      How do you define a novel?

      History of the Novel

      The Novel Today

      Section One: Building a Power-Packed Plot & Structure

      Frequently Asked Questions

      The Structure

      The Plot

      Building Your Plot

      Creating Suspense

      Motivation

      Preparing an Outline

      The Opening

      Mid-Section

      The Scene

      Setting the Pace

      Theme

      Flashbacks

      Section Two: Help Your Readers Identify with the Characters You Create By Breathing Life into Them to Make Them Seem Alive

      Avoid One-Dimensional Characters

      Plot or Character—Which is More Important?

      Make Sure Your Characters Are Believable

      Looking and Listening

      Describing Your Characters

      Avoid Stereotyping Your Characters

      Making Your Characters Memorable

      Conflict Can Be Internal or External

      Bringing Your People to Life

      Punctuating Emotional Speech

      Frustration—A Key Emotion in Fiction

      Making Love

      Past History

      Let the Action Reveal the Person

      Naming Your Characters

      Designing Your Characters

      Section Three: Move Your Novel Full Speed Ahead With Conversation That Sparkles & Informs

      When Should Dialogue Be Used?

      Differs from Human Speech

      Dialogue’s 3Ds

      Making Speech Distinctive

      Learn by Listening

      Benefitting from Tag Lines

      Mental Meanderings

      Controlling The Pace

      Using Dialogue to Create Description

      Punctuating Dialogue

      Giving Dialogue Oomph

      Spice Up Your Dialogue with Narrative

      * * * * *

      Introduction

      You Can Write The Novel You’ve Always Dreamed Of

      Follow This No-Nonsense, Simplified Approach To Writing Fiction.

      It Was Designed For You By A Seven-Time Best Book Of The Year Winner

      You are not alone. Like you, a surprising number of people cherish the dream of writing a novel. Research has shown that 81% of American adults share that goal. Unfortunately, far too few ever realize the dream. Most are frightened by the immensity of the challenge, and never begin. While others do get started, they are soon turned off by what they soon anticipate is the complexity of the task, and therefore their dream remains just that . . . a dream. But it need not end that way.

      After years of hearing the questions and concerns of hundreds of students, I felt an obligation as a writing instructor and an author whose work has been selected as a Best-Book-of-the-Year seven times to reach beyond the classroom and share with other hopeful writers the approach I designed for those enrolled in my writing and publishing classes. I have listened carefully to my students’ anxieties and developed solutions to guide them smoothly through each momentary obstacle they confront. After years of working with wanna-bes and struggling authors, these observations have developed into what has proved to be a highly successful approach to crafting a novel. The e-book you are reading represents the first time I have offered this information beyond my classroom walls. It is a hands-on approach that is simple to grasp, yet highly effective. I have divided the novel into three primary components: the story, the characters and the dialogue they share. By understanding each of these thoroughly, a writer of average skill should be able to turn out a highly saleable novel. Once you master these three components, you will be amazed at how logically each aspect of crafting the book relates to one of the three. When the three are tackled together, you will discover that writing novels can be great fun, not a tedious task.

      Before we begin to analyze each of these components, it is well worth taking a bit of time to understand the history of the novel and how it has mutated over the centuries to meet the needs and desires of a reading public whose tastes and interests have changed dramatically.

      How do you define a novel?

      That question is asked over and over again by students in the fiction classes I teach and at most talks I give on the subject. Unfortunately, there are no simple and clear-cut answers. Perhaps one of the most witty, yet wise, responses ever offered was made by the great novelist and playwright Somerset Maugham: There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

      The question, of course, can’t be dismissed as casually as that. There are certain definable characteristics that are inherent in almost every novel. The stories they relate are all fictional. They are usually told in great detail, requiring anywhere upwards of 300 or more words of informative, exciting prose. The majority of novels feature a protagonist who fights his/her way through pages of obstacles and endless challenges to achieve the goal specified in the opening lines of the book. The generally accepted pattern, scene after scene, includes challenge, conflict, tension and finally momentary relief before the protagonist collides headlong with the next hurdle and starts the pattern over again.

      I recognize that this is a very simplistic analysis. If the exact pattern were to be used over and over again, it would quickly bore your reader. So while those four stages (challenge, conflict, tension, relief) are essential to keeping the story moving steadily ahead, they do require creative approaches to differentiate and enliven them. A variety of actions and tensions must accompany the protagonist’s emotional roller-coaster ride. It is here, in my estimation, that the real genius of the author is exhibited. Sometimes a crisis is implied, yet not stated concretely. At other times, a character’s inner thoughts are interwoven with the action, and they often conflict. The story is related by a narrator. This can be a principal character or it can be a third—and invisible—story teller, you, the author. Whomever you choose as your narrator must be fully credible. I strongly recommend that until you are more experienced, you serve as the narrator. This is known as a third person point of view. Because of your very special position as the creator of all the characters, you are able to know the inner-most thoughts of each and can express his/her sentiments honestly and fairly. By contrast, if the narrator is a participant in the story, he/she really can’t know the thoughts harbored in the minds of the other characters in the book. That imposes a

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