How to Write a Novel Pt. 1

This is a recycled series from my old blog, but I thought it was useful enough to re-post.  I’ve tweaked it a little since it first went up.  But first, some Post-rock!

Lesson the first: Have Something to Say

When I enrolled in my first creative writing class at Wittenberg, I had only the vaguest conceptions of what my philosophies were re: writing. Toward the end of the semester and into my next class, and probably after that, I fought with my professor over whether or not a story has to have some deeper meaning, a message to go with the story. This message goes by a bunch of different names and has many variations. Thesis, moral, theme– but it boils down to the question: “So what?” What is the writer trying to tell the reader?

As I said, I fought with my professor over this. I was of the opinion that art for art’s sake was enough. The beauty of a story is worth its telling. Now I’m of another mind. But! It’s important for a writer to not, underline, go wrapping a novel around a theme. For this reason my first piece of advice is simple: Have something to say. Don’t go into a novel with nothing at all guiding you. Shelley said that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, and since nobody reads poetry anymore(I’ve learned this is untrue.  I do!), writers need to take up this mantle. Make this idea, this moral, the seed or kernel of your work. Plant it and forget about it. But everything should spring forth from that point.

Some comical examples of morals:
The Sun Also Rises: War sucks. Getting your junk shot off sucks more.
A Farewell to Arms: War sucks.
For Whom the Bell Tolls: War sucks.
Long Way Home (My book): War sucks.
The Handmaid’s Tale: Men suck.
Blood Meridian: War is awesome. Not really.

In all seriousness. Whether you want to decry war, pick up the affairs of veterans, speak out against racial or sexual inequality, what have you– you need a moral. But don’t get caught up in it. The best books evoke these things organically*, and you may never even realize you’re getting these opinions disseminated to you. But this is where you start.  If you’ve got your characters and you’ve got a kickass first line– hold it.  What you do here is the difference between genre and literary fiction.  Well, partly.  If executed correctly, this kernel of justice, coupled with strong characters, will help whatever you write transcend genre.  And even if you write about space elves, you shouldn’t frown on a Nobel Prize because your space elves happened to eradicate moral relativism.  Or something.

*You’ll notice a particular word will be repeated throughout these posts, and that word is “organic”, or a form thereof.  Don’t get tired of it– I repeat it for a reason.