Believable or Not?

A good author wants the plot to be believable.  Characters should be believable.  The problem faced should also be believable.  Popular books and great literature normally follows this pattern.  Forbidden love forces young lovers to hide their relationship from their family - Romeo and Juliet.  An evil King, or a crooked politician is the story as old as time - inspiring great literature from the Three Musketeers all the way to Hemingway and Steinbeck.  These are believable characters following the problems of a believable situation.  So how do we create this for our novel?
When people read novels they want the fiction to be so close to reality that it deceives them into believing this could actually happen.  Of course, this is not always the case.  Much science fiction is simply ridiculous and could never happen - but the stories, if told well, still make this seem possible.  The age of online reading has made this possibility seem even more real, since we can add to popular books the endless barrage of fan fiction and analysis.  Since the advent of the internet, online reading has made it possible for anyone with a keyboard to become a contributor to online novels.
So do you want your novel to have a believable plot?  If you are writing a children's book the answer may be "no". You could write a long novel about a caterpillar who wants to be an elephant.  For ridiculous fiction the reality is not important.
But imagine you want to write a great romance novel.  You have to begin with characters that seems real.  They have to have believable lives and problems and the story cannot take place in a fairy land with bean stalks and giants.  Our main character needs flaws and weaknesses - like every human you have ever met.  Creating a perfect character does not mean the character will be perfect.
Of course if this is a romance novel about fairy's and giants then you can disregard the last part - but we are discussing here the illusion of reality in our fictional novel.  When someone reads our novel they want to be whisked away to a believable place that might exist; because if it does exist then that means there is the slim chance that they could live this life also.  They can find true love, or experience a real adventure.  That is on your shoulders as the author, make the story seem real.
I believe you ca do it, if millions of crazy Star Wars fans can believe the reality of something like that, then certainly you can make a story seem real if you write about what you know.  Don't include details of things that are beyond your grasp.  If you have never been to a beach, don't set your novel on the beach.  If you don't understand the laws of thermodynamics, then don't introduce any rocket scientists into your novel.  It's not impossible, with research, to include things you don't understand; but why not stick with what you know for now.  If you are a waitress, write about a waitress.  It will be real, it will be believable, and the literature world will thank you.

A Dictionary and a Thesaurus

When we are writing in English, we need to be students of the language.  And The words we use in our everyday speech do not compare to the plethora of words available to a writer.  Dr. Seuss wrote a book using just fifty different words (Green Eggs and Ham), so obviously we can write using very few - but how many words are there?
research into the subject found all kinds of data, but basically I think we can agree that English consists of hundreds of thousands of words (maybe 1 million) but the spoken language used every day by most people consists of about 40,000 words.  So to be a fluent speaker you do not need to know hundreds of thousands of words.  That's good news - but what about writers?
Walk.  I type in that single verb on my computer and right-click for synonyms and get 8 excellent suggestions.  If I'm not happy with those 8, I can click on the Thesaurus for even more.  Now when I write a romance fiction I will not be happy to have my character walk home at night, but she will saunter, stroll, amble, or march home; depending on her mood of course.  And in my science fiction novel my male lead will stride, pace, or hike to the next mission.  Adding some variety to our verbs can really help the reader to ascertain mood without having to tell them that our character was in that mood.  I am firmly against spoon-feeding the reader.
Maybe this is a free book, posted online for readers to find free fiction.  There is a lot of competition and many of them are spoon-feeding their readers.  Be different!  They want to read a novel online, they will appreciate the effort you made to use a dictionary or a thesaurus.  Fiction is a chance to escape reality, but does not have to be mindless.  The man marched to the door and flung it open, he expected to find his wife there with his brother and was ready for anything...except the truth!  Isn't the verb "march" better than "walk" here?  The girl stepped out of the bar and toddled to her car, not a care in the world.  Don't use the word walk in your romance novel, it just doesn't belong.
Sometimes I worry that writers of fiction are concerned about breaking their "groove" and don't want to interrupt a thought - that is valid.  A dictionary and a thesaurus can be used when you are proof-reading the passage later.  If you are typing away and don't want to stop - don't!  Even if you can't think of the word you want, just type in the idea in [brackets] and keep writing.  We want you to put words on paper, we want you to be a writer and contribute to Literature in general, so don't stop writing to look anything up if you don't absolutely have to.  But do not neglect the importance of going back and re-reading this work with the intention of making it better.  Change adjectives and verbs - that's where a dictionary and a thesaurus will really come in handy.
Look at your favourite novels and see what words the author used, you will see that he has done a great job of indicating mood with his verbs and adjectives.  Popular books have teams of people researching these types of details, and if you are planning to post your book online for people to read free, you may be alone.  Online reading can get you followers and constructive criticism.

Writing Help

It's 2017 and we are still writing fiction novels like it's 1999 - sit down at the computer and start typing.  Do you have a block?  You will sit there and stare at your screen until it passes.
Well I am here to tell you today that literature has help.  That's right, whether you are writing romance novels or trying to write the great murder mystery novel, there is help available today that was not there just a few years ago.
For example, are you a terrible typist?  I think that many creative people find that getting words on the page (or screen) to be the worst part.  I mean, if we could just talk and tell a story, it would likely help the ideas to keep flowing and maybe that pesky writer's block would just go away.  If this describes you, then stop everything and search for a dictation app right now.  The technology is getting really good, you can just talk away in your normal voice and pace - and the book will write itself.  Of course, it's good to proofread it later to make sure - but as long as the ideas are flowing, just keep talking.
Another advantage to a dictation app may be the possibility of getting your book digital more quickly.  What I mean by that is there are websites where readers can read books online.  Many of them are free to read novels.  So if you can just talk into your phone, and then post it on a website, people can read your novel online right away.  Another break through in technology.
Is the silence killing you in your house?  Or do you live near a noisy park, fire station, or school?  Why not try listening to ambient music while you write?  A cheap bluetooth speaker and some mild instrumental music can drown out that background noise for you.  I bought mine for less than fifteen dollars, and use my phone.  Simple and cheap.
Try tracking your time.  I use the timer on my phone (look in your alarm clock app) and simply give myself a deadline for this chapter or sequence in the novel.  I have a character who needs to have this particular issue resolved in the next hour or two.  I find that this helps me to focus on getting something done, and will help me avoid distractions.
What about the computer you use for typing?  Is it also your home computer, the kids homework computer, and the research computer?  Well, research is a big part of any novel, especially if you are using a setting you are not familiar with or a real time in the past.  You will need to have internet access to do research of course.  But there is a danger of getting distracted by all the other things that you have on this computer.  Internet banking?  Don't do it!  Focus on the novel you are writing.  We will address this more in the next article.  For now let's stick to research.
Make sure that your research is using reliable sources.  Maybe make sure you can find the same number twice before using it.  For example, if you have a romance novel and the ending is at the top of Mount Everest for the wedding (clearly a terrible idea for a romance novel, I know), make sure you have the accurate height of that mountain before adding it to your story.  Check, and double-check.  Another huge advantage to life in 2017, that information is just a click away!

Popular Novels

If you enjoy reading, there is nothing worse than starting a novel and thinking right away "this is not good", but you want to give it the benefit of the doubt so you keep reading.  Now you are in the middle of the book and feel you have gone this far and maybe it will get better. Now you are at the end and feel like you just wasted hours on a very poorly written novel.
So can we say that all literature is the same? Of course not. So what makes a novel popular? When we find an author that we really enjoy we will want to read their other books. This makes them popular to us personally. We may realize though that you enjoyed one of their novels but the others are not as enjoyable or you may not like the plot.
We also have the help of famous people creating book clubs or lists of novels they would recommend. You may take the time and read a couple from their list or suggestions. If you agree with their choices then you may decide that they have the same interests as you and from that point you think they are good choices and you will continue to read their novel suggestions.
We may trust a newspaper's choices or critiques of novels. This can be helpful if they introduce us to a new author as they are given samples to read and review. This process can help us find new novels to read and hopefully enjoy. And again we may then be introduced to an up and coming author and we will look forward to their new works of literature.
If we are involved in a book club with friends this too can introduce us to new genres of novels. These can be classic literature, current popular authors or a novel that is all the buzz. You could join a romance novel book club or a mystery novel book club - the possibilities are endless.  When we read a book with a club the point is to come together and discuss it. From this situation we can find that even though a novel is popular doesn't mean everyone will feel the same way. This process can help you identify what genres you enjoy reading too.
With these different avenues available to help you select what novel to read, it will hopefully help you see that what may be popular to some doesn't necessarily mean you will like it. That is why there are so many genres available - so we can find one we enjoy and look in that category and see what is popular and open up another path of novels.  Maybe you don't like erotic novels, but you enjoy historical fiction and you like romance.  What about historical romance novels?  Once you start doing research into the genre you like, you will find there are so many branches of each one that it is nearly impossible to be a fan of all of them.
Literature is so diverse, and maybe that is what makes us keep coming back for more.  Will it stop me from finding books that I hope will be good and they still disappoint me?  No.  But that won't stop me from starting another one.

Reading Options

Why should I buy a Kindle?  Maybe you have asked yourself this question - e-readers are becoming big business and they are not new.  Some have been around for years and maybe you think that if you have not bought one yet, then you really don't need one.
I like reading my novels in paper, I understand the hesitance to spend money on another electronic gizmo that just makes the reading process seem less real.  Paper is good, and holding a book is what reading is all about.  I like reading novels and holding the paperback book feels right.  I set it down on my desk and it's comforting to see it there, reminding me to come back and read.
Oops, that's the problem with conventional literature - it's on my desk at home.  Now I'm sitting in line at the clinic or riding the bus to work and my book just sits there.  Is an e-reader going to be any better for me?  I don't think so.  I travel light in my daily commute and don't have space for another device.  I already have my tablet and my phone with me.  I don't want to carry a third device that needs to be charged.
Online reading is the answer I think.  I have data on my phone, maybe I can find a website to read a thriller while I wait for the train.  Doctor's office making me wait for 35 minutes?  no problem, a romance novel is readily available.  Literature has changed so much in the past 20 years, and I have resisted it as much as anyone I know.  But here is a nearly perfect solution to my problem of not having anything to read.  I can read online.  Why didn't this become a thing before?  Maybe data coverage wasn't good enough so people had to download their books.  I always have data, and if I want to read on a bigger screen then I can tether my tablet to my phone's data and read on it.
Where can I find online novels so that I can read on the go?  There are solutions out there, and many of them feature tons of genres and features like bookmarks and books posted one chapter at a time - so that I get a reminder to come back and read the net chapter of that mystery novel I can't wait to finish.
Some people will never give up the paper book.  I understand where you are coming from, if I am reading a deep historical fiction novel or a murder mystery novel then maybe I prefer to be in my favorite chair holding the book.  But my schedule is more chaotic, I don't have 45 minutes of reading time scheduled every night with a glass of wine.  What I do have is a normal life that sees me wasting lots of potential reading time every day.  If I can just turn on my phone and open up a book, then I am all for doing my reading online.  Online novels can be read anywhere that you have ten minutes to kill.  Read a chapter of a new book online, I think it's a very good option for people on the go.

Details - Part 1

When Writing a novel, details is what helps our writing go from bland to captivating.  A good story is in the details.  Let’s consider some important ways we can add details to our novel that will help hold our audience's interest.  Consider the possibility of someone looking for online novels and they have hundreds to choose from.  Maybe the books are free, can you imagine them wanting to read online a novel without any details?
If we are wanting to write about a location we have never been to, we may feel blocked from the beginning.  So what can be done?  Take some time to search on the internet or through encyclopedias or travel books.  These resources will give you a clear picture of the surroundings.  What the buildings or architecture is like.  The landscape can be deciphered which helps if you want to put the story in a certain climate; maybe your romance novel needs winter cold to help it stay cool, or some smoldering heat!  Taking the time to look at this research will help in writing clear details to describe what the rooms are like, what the buildings are like, what the streets look like, and how the city feels.  These details help put the reader in those rooms, streets or countryside.
Realistic details will require doing some research.  It may be best to stick to what you know, base your first novel in your town, or one just like it.  But what if the location is not the problem?  If we are writing in a certain era it is important to know specifics.  What was the transportation like? What did the women wear for clothing? What about the men?  Furnishings in the houses, or in the shops?  Once we gather all these details we can write concise sentences - and accurate ones also.
Now let's discuss the description of these details; for instance to say they drove up in a blue car could be better written if we described it with more details.  If we are writing a novel set in the 1960s we can say they drove up in an Oldsmobile baby blue white top convertible.  The chrome rims added pop to the white walled tires.  If we were writing about a farmer then we need to consider would they be driving such a fancy car or would a farm truck be more suitable?  They drove up in a midnight blue side-step short-box GMC pickup.  Taking the time to do clear research will provide the reader with a clear picture to your novel.  Did they have GMC pickups the year you are writing about?  Was blue an available color choice?  If you are not sure, you had better look it up.
Think about the places your characters will be going to.  Will they be inside a cafe? What does it look like inside?  Would there be smells of coffee or baked goods?  How did it feel when they sat down in the large sofa facing the window?  Maybe your romance novel have the characters going out of town, what will their accommodations be?  If it is a B&B do you want it to be kitschy? Or will it be surprisingly modern without the doilies and cluttered ornaments.  If they meet for breakfast at the establishment will there be a porch they could go out to? If so, what does it look like outside? With our previous research of the landscape we will be able to write about the trees in the area, birds we may hear, animals that may pass, and whether or not the sun would be shining.
The clearer the picture we can paint with our words, the more enjoyable the experience will be for our readers.  This is what makes it literature, not just someone writing.  So remember to always do your research and get the feeling of the surroundings you want to write about.  Even if you don’t use every detail you found it will help you write a well rounded novel.

Word Over-Use

Over using phrases like "there is", "there are", "it is", "it was", and other such things can be a big problem for beginning writers. When we use these too often in our writing they lose their meaning and what's worse they can frustrate the readers of our novels.
For example, writing: There are likely to be many parents concerned about the new bus schedule. Using “there are” obscures the main subject and action of the sentence. It should correctly read: Many parents are likely to be concerned about the new bus schedule. In the first sentence, the words "There are likely to be" is just too many small words put together in one verbal phrase.
The most common way to organize a sentence is to put the subject first and then the verb. Here is an example: The boy runs to school. When we use the words “there” or “it” first followed by a verb it can confuse the reader because "there" and "it" are not the subject of the sentence. This is a good rule to follow when writing action sentences and any time you need your subject to be clearly performing the action.
When overusing these words our writing becomes complicated and wordy rather than concise and easy to follow. "There is", "there are", "it was" or "it is" are called expletives. In the world of grammar, expletives aren't swear words. They are words that serve a function but don't have any meaning. These words do not add any meaning or structure to our sentence. I know it is not forbidden to use them of course. "It was a dark and stormy night" can be a perfectly good beginning sentence, look at popular books and see how experienced authors use expletives.
These expletive sentences are different because if we change “there” or “it” with a different noun the sentence meaning changes. They serve a purpose but they don't really have a meaning; not the same way that a sentence subject does. For example “There is a coffee and donut shop” is another sentence that makes perfect sense to us. What is the subject of that sentence? "There is" is not the subject. You can replace it with: “Dave is a coffee and donut shop”. Dave is a noun and is a fitting subject for any sentence - a subject that makes sense to us. And in this case he is a coffee and donut shop. Nouns can be a subject of the sentence in a way that an expletive cannot.
How do I avoid this trap? This can be as simple as rearranging a few words in your sentence. Sometimes it means stepping away from your work as a writer and looking at it as a reader would. Just examine the words, look at your sentence and find the real subject of the sentence. What verb does this subject need, add it here and create a meaningful sentence. I think this especially would be the case in a romance novel, or erotica fiction. It is important that our subject be clear.
Here is another word of caution for beginners, choose a verb carefully. It may seem simple to read it here but we have to remember that singular subjects require singular verbs; and plural subjects require plural verbs.
Don't over-use words, and use care when using expletives. This becomes ever more critical in the age of online books, as readers may become more transient and we want them to come back for more. Just making small, subtle changes we can clarify the meaning of our sentences and give our readers something truly enjoyable to read.

How, When, Where and What?

Writers face so many questions when they consider the possibility of writing.  How do I find readers for my work?  Where can I write so that readers can find me?  When do I stop being a writer and start becoming an author?  And of course the big one; what do I write about?
Let's answer these one at a time.
Where can you write?  Well the internet is a crazy thing, and today there are so many places that new writers can write, that it is easy to feel like your audience may never find you.  Twenty years ago, if you wanted someone to read something you wrote, you either got it in a newspaper or had a book printed.  The options were much more limiting and this made the work of writing the biggest challenge.  Today the biggest challenge is finding a platform that allows you to write what you want to write, and then matching this work with the people who will want to see it.  Unfortunately these people have to dig through millions of other works and sources to be matched up with your work.
Well for fiction literature, the job has been made a little easier with the launch of the Ficfun website (ficfun.com).  Let's face it, if you have in mind the idea to write a science fiction novel, or a romance novel, or some clever mystery you have the chance today to have an audience exposed to your work immediately.  What's more, you don't have to have the book completed before posting it, you can post a chapter at a time.  You could never do that with a paper book!
You can also post on blogs and Facebook, and you cold start your own website - there are so many places you could post your next literary idea.  The trick is to consider who will be exposed to your work; so find a place that readers have already gathered.
That actually answered two questions, finding readers for your work will be easier if you post on a popular website; and for beginners it is possible for that to be completely free.  Don't pay to find readers, get some free exposure first and maybe some constructive criticism along with it.
When will you stop being a writer and start being an author?  Well that is a tricky question.  I was writing in high school and have continued writing ever since.  I have not had one complete idea yet; my novel ideas do not get finished so I don't think I am an author.  To be perfectly honest, this is another reason that I like ficfun.com.  The ability to post one chapter at a time is so much less intimidating, but on the flip side it does put just enough pressure on me to actually keep those posts coming.  I have people reading the first five chapters so I had better get the sixth one done!  What a great idea that was to read novels online.  No app to download!
Final question: what do I write?  This one has no answer that I can give you.  I believe there is an amazing story inside of each of us.  Yours might be science fiction and mine might be a great romance novel.  The hard part is getting that story out and working on it.  I don't think you or I will simply sit down and type a masterpiece; I think we will type out a great story and then somebody who is much smarter than us will help us to fix the parts that need fixing.  I think a great novel is the result of many people doing a lot of great work - but that work starts with some normal person writing a story.  So figure out what your story is.  Write it down and get some criticism.  I might read your novel online and you might read mine.  And maybe, just maybe.....something great will come of it.  Then we will no longer be a writer, we will be an author.