• By Winston Kuwada
• Published 12/20/2011
• Writing

Many people would love to be a famous novelist. To walk into any book store and see your name right there on the stack of best sellers that everybody is lining up to buy. To go on all the talk shows on TV and get your face known around the world. Of course, there’s a lot that needs to happen to make this dream a reality. There are certain things that can help, as well. And those are the things that you will learn in this article. To start off with, many writers start writing without really paying attention to the market. While it’s important to write about what you love, you also need to keep in mind that people need to be interested in buying it. If you love something like making shampoo, not many people will buy a novel that’s all about some kind of mystery at the shampoo factory. You’ve got pay a little bit of attention to the kinds of books that have been popular for a while. Checking the weekly best seller list in the New York Times can give you an inside track. There’s also the possibility that what you write best about isn’t necessarily the subject that you are most interested in. To get an idea, write a few short stories about a variety of subjects, and show them to your friends. Let them pick the one that’s best, and consider writing on that subject. To make it easy, write about as diverse subjects as you can think about.

Naturally, you’ve got to give your

self time. Writing a novel isn’t easy. A good way to make it seem simple is to break it down into smaller chunks. That way you can have smaller goals that you can look forward to and achieve. When you start achieving these smaller goals one after the other, you will be getting more and more motivation toward your biggest goal. Sometimes a great way to improve your writing skills is to read a lot of other novels. Especially novels that you wouldn’t otherwise read. When you start reading the works of others, you can pick up some new techniques. The more techniques you can absorb and assimilate, the better. Your writing will become deeper and more rich. You need a specific plan on what to do once your novel is finished. Many people finish their manuscript and then think they are done. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, you need to put on your business and marketing cap. Now you’ve got to convince an agent to take you under her wing and get you that first contract. Believe it or not, (and most people don’t like to hear this) this can take just as long as writing the novel itself. Of course, the more you achiever your smaller goals, the bigger your final goal should be. Setting small steps, like character arcs, story outlines, and plot details should grow as your confidence grows.

When you follow these tips, you’ll be much closer to making your novel a reality. And once people start reading it (and you start making money) you’ll be glad you put all that effort into it.