For writers, what is the hardest part of a novel? Maybe it’s page 1 and page 400–and many big chunks in between. Some books go like that. But today I’m more interested in what’s the most important part of a novel. Despite how crucial a good ending is, and how challenging the middle is, I think the beginning is the critical place. At least the beginning in terms of the musing you do before you write. For me, first come the big-picture questions. Big, sloppy questions. 1. What

Call it a light bulb moment. The moment when I put together two subsets of character and plot, to realize why most novels fail. First off, and to simplify, novels fall short when they fail to engage, fail to keep the reader’s interest or perhaps telegraph by the cover copy or the glaring lack of word of mouth recommendations–that they are going to fail to engage. Novels fail to engage because they are boring. (Poorly written might be okay, but never boring.) How long will it

How do stories come to a writer? Usually they don’t arrive whole cloth, with clarity and stunning originality. Sometimes stories don’t even start with an idea, but with a seed. Just a tiny proto-idea: a scene, a person, a place. We can’t be sure if this seed is alive or dead, good or bad. Will it grow into something worthy? Maybe. And maybe not. As we all know, there is a difference between an idea and a full blown concept which one might use an an elevator pitch to an editor

People shake their heads in bemused wonder. How do you get a novel written? How can it possibly be done, given how–well, long it is? Getting pecked to death by a duck If you think the answer is one page at a time, I’m going to try to convince you otherwise. One page at a time is daunting and relentless. And one page at a time drains the creative power of those longer, meaningful units of drama that will fire you up. Scenes are miniature stories, compressed pieces of fiction t

Is your story riding a powerful concept, occupied by empathetic characters, solidly written–and falling a bit flat? One aspect of the novel that may be missing is buried truths. Especially half-buried ones. The ones we know are there but can’t see the answers to. People love a mystery. Even if you’re writing fantasy or literary fiction, readers are hooked by unanswered questions. Why is the old man so bitter? What is the significance of the the scar on her neck? Why is the st