Elements of a Successful Novel

Oct 1, 1998 - © Kim Kay

"Fiction is not a dream. Nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurage or the work of imagining will not stan up." -- Margaret Banning

So you want to write The Great American Novel? You have a word processor and a story to tell. You're all set, right? Not quite. Writing is much more than simply telling a story. It is a mixture of talent and hard work. To write a publishable novel, you need to master certain techniques.

While there are many things to consider when writing a novel, space limitations prohibit discussing all of them. Future articles in this series will address these and other issues in more detail. For now, we will start with the basics. Theme, characterization, plot, point of view, setting, and dialogue are essential elements in any story. Let's take a closer look at each of these.

THEME

Theme is simply the moral of your story. It is the message you wish to convey or the lesson you want the reader to learn. Theme is revealed through the values of characters when confronting obstacles and resolving conflict in pursuit of their goal. It can be considered the foundation and purpose of your novel. Without purpose, the story becomes trivial.

CHARACTERIZATION

Perhaps the single most important aspect of a good novel is characterization. The reader must care about your characters in order to care about what happens to them. To achieve this, your characters must be three-dimensional. Like real people, characters have hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses, and one or more objectives. Even if you don't use all of the information, it helps to write down as many details about your characters as possible. One way to go about this is to use one of the many character guides that are available, such as Character in Fiction by Crawford Killian.

PLOT

Plot is the movement in a story toward the resolution. Nothing happens at random. Every scene should further your plot. Plot is shown through the actions and agendas of your characters. Throughout the story, they overcome obstacles until they finally reach their goal(s). If the novel is well plotted, the stakes will get higher and higher thereby creating tension.

POINT OF VIEW

Point of view is who is telling the story. This can be done several ways. In first person, one character is speaking in the "I" voice. Second person, which uses "you," is the least common point of view. Third person, which can be handled in a variety of ways, is the most often used method. In third person limited, the narrator can only go inside the head of the character telling the story. This requires the character to be in every scene which must be told through their eyes. Third person omniscient gives the author the most freedom. Using this, the author can have different point of view characters for different scenes.

The copyright of the article Elements of a Successful Novel in Novel Writing is owned by Kim Kay. Permission to republish Elements of a Successful Novel in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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