Building a Novel ~ One block at a time

So you want to write a novel, eh?

I’d like to throw out some tips to you to get you started:

1)     Characters - You absolutely have to have characters planned out for your novel. Either in your head waiting to be birthed, or ones you’ve written for but never really gave them a home.

2)     Define these characters - give them hair color, skin color, clothes that suit them and facial features that define them. Give them personality and a voice that can carry a novel.

3)     Environment - Okay, so now you have characters, now you’re going to need a setting in which they’ll live or a world to wander through (You never know, you might be writing a sci-fi novel and you really need to discover the worlds in which they live)

4)     Premise - This is where you’ll define what your novel will be about. The beginning, middle and how you see it ending. You don’t have to adhere to the premise entirely but this will get you started in the direction you wish to go.

5)     Outline – You can, if you want, outline each chapter; again as you wish to see the story develops. You needn’t stick to this outline like crazy glue to your fingers, you just need a basic outline of all you see happening with each chapter.

6)     Timeline – As you work on the outline, this might be where you put forth a timeline. Have you missed years’ perhaps dates? Are they consistent/inconsistent with the rest of what you wrote?

7)     Editing – Not by paragraph, not by chapter, not even by the time you reach the middle. Save all edits for after you’ve written THE END can you go back and edit.

8)     Seek feedback – This is where a writing group comes in handy if you have one. I myself don’t have one these days, so my editing is done in my spare time. I read and fix things I think I miss, I read it out loud to myself because this is how the reader is going to hear it in their minds when they read it. Fixing things means my consistency and imagery and such.

9)     Edit some more- I go through each chapter doing the above. Making sure I have my handy dandy timeline ready for viewing, then I check for any grammar mistakes I may have made and tweak them to my liking.

10)  Edit some more - After the two edits to your liking, you’re going to want to give it another trip down the reading lane.

There you have it. Your novel should be a complete novel instead of a work in progress.  I know many writers do many more edits before being satisfied with a completed work, so be sure you’ve done enough to satisfy you. Then get searching for publishers! 

Book Bites: 

 Outlining Your Novel by K.M. Weiland

 The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel by James Thayer

Timeline

Luke 24:11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
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Well Facebook is at it again. This year was met with many changes at facebook and I heard so many griping people whine. Grown men and women, who for some reason, are so set in their ways that change rocks their world like a landslide! If you are a non-conformist like me, you won’t like change very much because it is like forcing a wet rag down your throat with no other option but to swallow!

That’s what facebook seems to do on a monthly basis. First the option of new security on who and who would not see your posts happened, new ads streamed the right of the screen like a frozen ticker-tape, people were subscribing and LIKING  things that their mothers would surely not be proud of (and it is streamed to all your friends) and the list goes on and on with the changes of 2011!

Are you a person who accepts any friend just because they request your beloved presence? Does that make you feel good standing at the center of all the likes, to where you don’t even realize you’ve accepted a stripper with lurid pictures on their wall which are then streamed to all your friends walls??? Do you even care who you ‘choose’ as a friend, just as long as the ‘friends’ list grows and you’ve won the popularity contest? Do you fear not being liked?

As we ended out the year of 2011, facebook was well on its way with yet another change in their pocketbooks! The timeline! They (the kingpins at facebook) want your facebook experience to be like a Newspaper of all your friends happenings. It’s much like the Enquirer, a mag that feeds you junk! Thank you facebook for choosing the junk of my friends that you will spoon feed me. Facebook (logical minds?) says, “is that if you’ve been away from the site for a few days, you won’t be in danger of missing the most important posts friends put up.” What? So it’s like getting an OLD newspaper, days out of print? Yippee?
 
This new Timeline was available to those who wanted to try it out before the new year, but come 2012, wet rag people, down your throat.
 
The NEW Timeline? :
1. Cover image: no more banners, just a big bold pic. (the new facebook is all about pics) Sorry blind people, you are excluded!
 
2. Friends, photos, maps, and likes. (the timeline is like a journal of all the things you’ve done on facebook, since YOU JOINED! And it is all SHARED with each and every one of your friends. How sweet! Good thing I seek all the Christian pages.
 
3. Choices in hiding the crud. (Yeah go back in time and delete the insane posts that your new facebook caused you to post)

4. Not much control on the settings, once again. (Facebook remains in the driving seat, YOU are their Truman Show!)
Who can find me? Everyone? Friends of friends? Friends? Where is the ONLY ME option, Zuckerbird? Can’t limit access either? CONTROL FREAK, ZUCK! And when someone POSTS on your wall? Whether you like it or not, you CAN NOT remove it!!! It 'appears' that you can, but try it. (possible glitch being worked on)

5. LIKE/UNLIKE button is still there as is the SHARE button. (the over-abused like button is the only thing you have in the race to popularity and having people LIKE you. It’s what facebook is all about. The SHARE button is again for personal use only to share things on YOUR wall and hope your friends come visit you to catch it. (What’s the point of sharing to yourself?) Oh wait it gets streamed (spoon fed) to others IF they’ve subscribed to your newspaper!

So the NEW Facebook isn’t all about networking, it is all about YOU, Socializing and being liked for it. It’s about sharing your pains, sorrows, laughter, and embarrassing posts. YOU are Truman on the worldwide web! To me, it’s all about stepping in poop barefoot and having everyone come and take a sniff. So you can see how much I like facebook, new or old!! I’m not whining about the ‘change’ The pics are pretty cool! But it is like the bouffant hairdo. Too big, and will wear out quick. For me, it already has, anyway.

Enjoy the new Timeline, the New Year, the likable You!! I’m out >>> ---------->>>

Truman: Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

1Tim. 5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.