How to Write Your First Novel, Part 2: Story Elements

In Part 1, we talked about the importance of just starting your novel and allowing yourself to write a terrible first draft. Now let's talk about one of the most important parts of the story, and how to structure it so that your readers can't get enough. As an editor, the manuscripts that fall apart in my hands almost always fall apart in the same few places. Here's what to watch for before you're deep in the weeds.

Every Story Needs Someone Who Wants Something

At the core of your novel, you need a character who wants something — and who can't easily get it. That's it. That's the engine. It doesn't need to be dramatic; their motivation can be as quiet as "she wants to feel like she belongs" or as urgent as "she desperately needs to run away from an abusive husband." What matters is that the want is specific, and that something real stands in the way of it.

When I read a manuscript that's losing momentum, it's almost always because the writer has lost sight of what their character wants. If you ever feel your draft going soft, ask yourself: what does my character want right now, on this page?

If you can't answer that, neither can your reader.

You Don't Need a Rigid Outline — But You Do Need a Shape

Some writers outline every beat before they write a word. Others discover the story as they go. Both can create an intense story. But even the most instinctive, pants writers benefit from knowing roughly where they're character and plot must go — even if that's just three or four rough waypoints: where the story starts, the moment everything changes, the point where things seem lost, and how it ends. So, if you're a pantser, you don't need to know every single thing about your plot when you start your novel, but you do need to know where it all leads to and shape your plot [and character arc] towards it.

If you don't do your first draft will read like a disjointed, wandering and pointless story.

Let Your World Do Some of the Emotional Work

This is the part I love most as a reader and an editor: the setting isn't just backdrop, it's atmosphere, and atmosphere does emotional work your plot can't do alone. Think about what made a world memorable to you as a reader — the specific, sensory details that made it feel real and lived-in, not just described.

In order to properly and consistently describe a nuanced and realistic sounding world, it is important to ask yourself these problems and have your notes available to you as you write:

• Is this a fantasy world that I've made up or is it a world very much like Earth?

• Where is this world? What does it look like? Are the various places in your world diverse as in Earth, or one climate and topography?

• What are some main cataclysmic historical events that have shaped the cultures that are going to be present in your novel?

• What sorts of cultures will be present in your novel? Culture is a very important aspect of world building that needs to be present if your reader is going to believe they've entered a new space.

• What are the rules that define this world? Is it a magical world? An overly political, dystopian style world? What governs the people of your world and how does that impact your plot and character development?

As you draft, look for a few vivid, specific details — the way a certain fabric moves, the smell of a particular street, a custom that feels unfamiliar to an outsider — and let those details do double duty, grounding your reader while also shaping the emotional tone of your writing.

Steady & Escalating Friction

New novelists sometimes think "conflict" means an argument or a battle. Really, conflict is just friction between what a character wants and what's in their way — and that opposition can come from another person, from circumstances, or even from the character's own fear or self-doubt. A quiet dinner scene can be full of conflict if two characters want incompatible things from that conversation.

As you draft, make sure every scene has some form of friction in it. A scene where everyone gets exactly what they want, with no tension at all, is usually a scene your reader will skim.

What's Next

In Part 3, we'll talk about what happens after you've written "the end" — how to know when a draft is actually done, what revision really involves, and when it's time to get outside eyes on your manuscript. For now, keep going. Character, direction, atmosphere, friction. Everything else can be sorted out later.

Coming up in Part 3: what to do once your first draft is finished — revision, editing, and knowing when your novel is ready for other eyes.

Lyndsay