There are numerous methods of writing a novel and even a greater number of books describing the process. However, what it comes down to is that each author needs to find his/her own method that works best for them. The most economic way to write a novel is just to start writing without looking back, without editing. Editing takes a lot of time, and it does make sense to limit it during the first draft. I, personally, try to be best as I can with the first draft, and I edit continuously, but if editing takes too much time I leave it for later.

During our little writing project I had described the importance of outlining your story – See Let’s Write A Novel – Outlining The Story. In fact, the outlining is the first step toward writing your novel. In the very first draft you start small, in the second and following drafts you add more details. As I mentioned before, you need about 60,000 words for a decently sized book and that can be hard to accomplish.

Let me demonstrate the process of “fleshing out” your work through my favorite example, a novel-to-be titled The Duel.

First, we start with the German version, short, precise and to the point:

He saw him.
He shot him.
He left.

Not very satisfying, is it? It is very apparent that the story line needs more substance.

In the following we take the same story line and flesh it out in form of English journalism:

It has been stipulated, the person, we will refer to as “A”, besides his detestable reflection, had demonstrated some abominable behavioral patterns prior to the confrontation with the subject we will refer to as “B”. One is reminded of the MKRF report – the findings of that report have  also been adopted by the RTAK, an organization whose services have on occasion exploited by the British Defense Ministry, in 1999 – recognising spectacular similarities to the event in question. While bloodshed was not a preferred choice of reconciliation, it was nevertheless the most effective – as was substantiated by research activities at the UKIMA, the United Kingdom Institute for Military Absurdity in 2002. The elimination of “B” is widely considered a logical consequence of the conflict and it was accomplished in full accordance to the 1875 Treaty of Thurtherthon, Wales, which specifically outlaws coercive exercise during tea time.

Well, since we are trying to write a novel, let’s take the same example (the German version) and convert it into American “Crime Noir”:

Giordano Mozzarella took shelter from the falling rain at the corner of 5th and 6th Street. Once protected, he watched the New York rush hour traffic crawling by, waiting for his target to arrive. Mozzarella was not a handsome man. In fact, he had a face that only a mother could love. Unfortunate for Mozzarella, his mother didn’t love him. In an erratic decision earlier in her life she had refused to have more children who might turn out like him. He had tried hard to please her, but she still couldn’t find it in her heart to love him and he wondered why. Suddenly he recognized the man in a long trench coat walking toward his position next to “Yakov’s Butchery.” Mozzarella quickly took care of his running nose by pressing a finger on his left nostril, and forcefully pushing the gunk through the other into the falling rain. He checked his wrist watch, assuring it was past tea time. The Brits would have no reason to complain about his timing. Mozzarella was not a man of many words, maybe because he was mute, and when the man in the trench coat walked by him, he simply raised the 90 mm Glock and pulled the trigger. “Gotcha,” he thought. For several minutes he just stood there, watching the man die as a number of pedestrians, unimpressed by the blood stream, walked by. Mozzarella checked his watch again and decided it was time to go home. Maybe this time his mother would be proud of him, now that he had killed the man from the Internal Revenue Service.

Last, but not least, let’s have a look at the outlining of The Monty Python Code‘s first chapter:

Igor Feldman kills student Hillary Pinton. Scene in a basement. Hillary is tied to a chair, blind-folded. Igor uses 20-inch knife to pierce her heart.

Let’s go ahead with the first draft:

The full moon of a bitterly cold January night shed its eerie light on the chair in the smelly basement of Hubert Ringtone’s villa. Hillary Pinton, the blind-folded girl tied to the chair, started crying. If they, whoever they were, wouldn’t release her within the next two hours, she would miss the party at Margaret Hatcher’s house, and that was just not fair. She felt the presence of another person in the room. “Hello?” she called out. “Can I like go home, please?” The short, ugly creature, dressed in a filthy black robe, shrugged but did not respond. Igor Feldman was not in the mood for a conversation. The master will be happy, he thought. I will do what he asked me for, and he will grant me my wish. The sweat running from his back had caused his hump to slide, and he started adjusting it. “I really need to go home, like soon,” he heard Hillary again. “It’s like late, you know.” “In time,” he calmed her with his raspy voice. “In time, my dear.” He weighed the twenty inch blade, a common kitchen knife he had stolen from Ringtone’s house, in his hands, then he limped toward the chair. Pretty she is, he thought as he curiously watched her for a few seconds. His right hand went under her sweater, and he started counting the ribs until he found the perfect spot. “What are you doing?” Hillary giggled. Feldman’s pulse accelerated in anticipation as he positioned the head of the knife on top of her chest. “Ooh,” she swooned. “You pervert! I guess we have time for a…” Using swift and powerful force Feldman thrust the cold steel into her heart. Hillary’s body surged for a fleeting moment before it slumped back into the chair. Feldman felt her blood streaming down his wrist, red, rich and tasty. He pulled the knife as swift as he had during the kill and held it in front of his face. His long tongue caressed the cold steel, and he moaned with pleasure, then he looked at the dead body. Maybe I could, he thought, but then he mastered the growing desire, suspiciously scanning the surroundings. The master’s eyes are everywhere. He knows everything. Igor had accomplished the mission, and he was certain the master would reward him.

Be aware, this is only a first draft. Your novel will undergo numerous modifications, first by yourself, and later by the editing service. Yes, even after numerous correction and optimization processes, you will need to submit your novel to an editing service. You, the author, and even a great number of friends, will miss something, and it takes a professional to make it perfect. And even if your novel is accepted by a publisher, it will still undergo a further editing process. Publishers don’t take chances, and neither should you.