• By Winston Kuwada
• Published 01/14/2012
• Writing

Many people would love to write a novel, become famous, and go on all the talk shows. Being able to tell people you write for a living is a secret dream held by many. The truth is, almost everybody has what it takes to become a novelist. All you’ve got to do is apply yourself, take your time, and you can be successful. However, getting started is the hardest part. In this article, you’ll learn how to do that. First of all, you’ve got to choose a topic that interests you. Some people write purely for the market, which means they sometimes write about subjects that don’t really interest them. While this can help to write a salable book, it won’t be any fun writing. Try and choose a topic that you are interested in, so that when you are spending all those hours writing, you aren’t bored to death. Understand that writing a novel is going to take a long time. It’s also going to cost some money as well. You’ve got to spend money on research, buying books on novel writing tips, as well as going to seminars and courses. Remember, this is a business. You are creating something that you hope to sell to others. And with all businesses, you are required to make some investments up front. You may need to learn a few things that you don’t know. For example, if one of your main characters is a doctor, then you’ve got to learn some medical technology. There are plenty of ways to do this, but Wikipedia is a useful go to source for many people. You need to have several small goals that you can achieve on a regular basis to keep you going. If you only set one goal to finish your book within a year, this can be hard to achieve. Set smaller goals in between. Character outlines, plot outlines, certain numbers of pages are all good intermediate goals to choose. Keep track of your progress is essential. Keep a big wall chart and write down as many intermediate goals as you can. Then circle them or check them off as you achieve them. That way you’ll be able to stay motivated to keep going after the big goal you’ve set for yourself. Get as much advice from people that have already written novels. There are plenty of online groups you can join to get inspiration from. Also, go to as many book signings as you can. These authors would love to speak with you and give you some advice.

When you break everything down into small chunks, it becomes much easier. And before you know it, your novel will be finished, and you will be on your way to becoming famous.