• By Winston Kuwada
• Published 12/25/2011
• Writing

If you want to write a best selling novel that will be read and enjoyed by millions of people, then you’ve got to get serious about it. That means you can’t be only fifty percent sure you want to do this. Because so many people secretly wish to write novels, but so few people do, not many people take themselves seriously. If you are to become the successful novelist you know you are capable of becoming, then you’ve got to treat writing your novel like a business. And in this article, you’ll learn exactly how. First of all, make a plan. Break your novel down into components. First step is to develop the characters. The next step is to develop the basic plot of the book. Next is to develop the various character arcs. After that, you’ve got to map out the individual scenes, or “beats” in your novel. Once this is all done, putting it together will be easy. Give yourself an appropriate amount of time for each task, and don’t move on to the next task until the previous one is finished. The biggest mistake most writers make is sitting at their computer with a vague idea of a plot, and hoping for some kind of divine inspiration. Don’t make this mistake.

You need to set at least two hours a day when you will work on your novel. Don’t wait unti

l you are free, or only do it when you are not doing other things. Realize that in order to create two hours a day (every day!) to write or otherwise work on your novel, you’re going to give up something that you now spend those two hours on. Give up something that’s not too productive, like watching TV, or mindlessly surfing the Internet. Try not give up something important like sleeping, working, or spending quality time with your family. When you sit down to write, pretend you are actually working. Dress appropriately. You wouldn’t show up to work in your pajamas, so don’t write in your pajamas. Take a shower, shave if you are male, dress appropriately, and get to work. This is serious business. Imagine that you’ve gotten a huge advance from a publisher, and if you don’t produce a decent novel in a certain amount of time, you will have to give the money back. This can motivate you in ways you don’t imagine. Time management is very important when writing a novel. By creating a structure from the theories of time management, you’ll be working within a framework that is much more conducive to creativity. This may sound counter intuitive, but it works out pretty well.

When you follow these steps, you should be able to produce a novel like clockwork. Now get off the Internet and start writing your masterpiece.