How To Write A Manuscript For A Novel
How To Write Your First Novel
By Laura Stamps
I began my writing career as a poet, and I’m still a poet. So my journey into fiction was never a planned career move. In fact, my first short story arrived as a complete shock. No kidding.
Because I have written and published poetry in books and magazines for years, I’ve developed a writing schedule that provides time to write every day, always a half hour after breakfast each morning and again after dinner every evening. I also keep a notepad and pen next to the bed to capture any lines of poetry if they float through my mind while I drift off to sleep. This means I’ve not only learned how to write pages of notes in the dark but also how to decipher those scribbles in the morning.
About eleven years ago, as I fell asleep one night, several lines suddenly appeared. Before I could decide to wake up and write them down, a startling thought flared in my mind like a wild firecracker: “This isn’t a poem…it’s the first paragraph of a short story, and I’ve never written fiction before!”
My eyes popped open, I grabbed the notepad, and followed the thread of those lines until I’d written three paragraphs of a short story in the dark. That was my first experience seeing an imaginary character in my mind and following her around, writing down her words and actions.
Throughout the next year different characters and their stories peopled my mind, and I began writing and publishing short fiction in magazines. I had never taken a writing class, so when I began writing poetry in my early thirties, I studied the books of contemporary poets, and eventually developed my own form of free verse poetry. I approached fiction in the same manner. I read and studied all the short story collections I could find, and ultimately created an experimental format for my short fiction, which resembled a prose poem composed of segments, each signaling a scene change or a change in a character’s thought process. Editors loved it, and almost all of my short stories appeared in magazines and literary journals. Those stories were eventually collected in a book that sold well for many years.
But two years later, short fiction no longer satisfied me, and I began to crave a longer form of creative expression, like a novel or novella. I could feel a novel percolating within me, but I knew nothing about the characters or plot. With no revelations emerging from my subconscious, I sensed this novel needed time to develop, so I began writing poetry again and published several poetry books.
Five years passed, and then one afternoon the title of the novel suddenly sizzled through my mind. The next day the main character appeared and announced her name. And on the third day she began telling her story, and a plot emerged. At the time, I had just started a new collection of poetry, but that hardly mattered. I’d been waiting for this novel for years, and once it arrived I dropped everything, grabbed my notebook (all my first drafts are handwritten), and four months later I had completed a short novel. Years later, I would add more material to this novel and republish it as the first in my series of Occult novels for women.
After the main character in that first novel began speaking, the entire writing experience flowed quickly in the white heat of a creative blaze. I always say I’m lucky I remembered to breathe during those amazing months! But don’t let this throw you. That was the first and last time I had to wait for a novel idea. Now new characters and plot ideas arrive frequently, and the day after I finish one novel I usually begin the next.
So, how did I write my first novel? First, I let the main character tell me who she was and what the primary plot of the novel would be. Next, several subplots emerged. And that was all I needed to start writing. For short stories I never used a structured outline. Instead, I patched those stories together organically, as if they were fabric swatches in a quilt, jumping back and forth between the past and present, allowing the characters to tell me what comes next. If you work this way too, you’ll feel comfortable arranging the scene and the characters in your mind, grabbing your notebook, and then following the characters around, writing down their words, thoughts, and actions. However, I found the prose poetry format I created for my short stories wouldn’t work for a novel. It just didn’t feel right. So I tweaked and tweaked and developed another experimental format that I still use today.
As I mentioned before, I do not use an outline for my novels, but I do edit each chapter completely before I continue. I work like this for two reasons. First, I submit each chapter as a short story to magazines and literary journals when I finish it, so the novel will gain publication credits, the kind of acknowledgements publishers and agents love to see. Second, polishing each chapter gives me the time to submerge myself in the characters and to intuit how the story should progress into the next chapter. Best of all, when I finish the last chapter I have a polished novel manuscript. Then it’s just a matter of going back and adding details to earlier chapters, important data that emerged during the process of writing the novel. Finally, I conduct one last punctuation and grammar check, and that’s it. I’ve written another novel ready to be published by one of my publishers.
If you follow this formula, relax, and allow the story to develop organically, you’ll end up with a polished first novel manuscript sitting on your computer desk before you know it. And you’ll enjoy every step of the process!
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how can you get contracted to write a novel or movie script?
I know that a lot of people first write a book or movie script and then try to pitch it but I am more interested in being contracted to write a script from scratch. Any suggestions?
I am working on a manuscript for a novel now in case I wind up being left with pitching it.
If you only try ordinary things you will hardly get to achieve greater things. I am not afraid to try even if failure meets me.
They will find you if you have a good track record.
If you have no history in that field you will find that no one will want to offer a contract.
1. Write a novel that has at least 80,000-180,000 words. Make sure to have it in Times New Roman, size 12, aligned left, and double spaced with your name, title, and page number as the header of each page.
2. Once you finish your novel, put it away for a few weeks or months. Then, unexpectedly go back to your finished manuscript and begin to edit it till you can no longer edit. Make sure it contains no spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes.
3. Have your trusted friends and family members read your story and gain advice for them. Ask them questions like did you enjoy it? What could I improve? Etc.
4. Begin searching for a literary agent. An agent is a person who will guide you through the business of publishing. He or she will only take about 15% of your profits you make from your book. Remember that agents are optional but they’re your key to helping you gain more success as you are new to the craft.
5. After you’ve found several (at least 10-15), begin writing a query letter. A query letter is a letter in which you use as a selling tool to your choice of agent. Tell them about yourself (credits and recognitions in writing) and about your book. Include contact information. If you are sending your query at the same time to several agents (recommended that you do), then make sure to include at the bottom of your query paper that you have a multiple submission.
6. Wait for a reply. You will get rejected several times so continue to edit your story and send out better queries. Once you catch someone’s interest, they will ask for your manuscript. Give it to them with a cover letter.
7. If more than one would like to represent you after they’ve read your manuscript, pick which one you think will help most and let the others know that you’ve selected your agent.
8. The agents will search editors and publishers for you. Soon, you’ll have contracts to sign and your book will be sent in the process of publishing.
9. Remember that you DO NOT pay anything to the agents or publishers unless it’s for postage. Use the Writer’s Market book to help you with queries, finding agents, and other things. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT BOOK AND IT IS THE BEST SOURCE TO USE WHEN YOU WANT TO PUBLISH! GET IT! Good luck!
REMEMBER: YOU DO NOT PAY A SINGLE DIME FOR YOUR AGENT OR PUBLISHER. IF THEY ASK FOR IT, STAY, STAY, STAY AWAY!
Also….DON’T FORGET to get the Writer’s Market book. You could try searching online for literary agents but really, that book is WAY bette
When writing fiction novels, how should the manuscript be formatted?
I’m interested in writing my own fiction stories in the hopes of one day getting published, but I need to know how to format my manuscripts.
I know that when writing screenplays, you must use a certain font of a certain size, and the margins need to be of a certain size. Are their similar rules for writing novels?
Essentially, I need…
– generally accepted fonts and sizes
– length of margins
– headers/ footers for page count, name, title, etc.
and any other relevant information to writing fiction novels.
Prospective publishers do not want you to format your manuscript like a book. A novel manuscript should be submitted on standard 8.5 X 11 inch paper, unbound and without staples or clips, although you can put a big elastic around it to keep it in order.
Manuscripts should be formatted in a simple font like New Times Roman or Courier and you should use a 10 or 12 pt size. Double space the text, number the pages and include your name and novel title in the footer of each page.
Use a common font that is easy to read, in size 12. Make sure your work is justified (layout wise, so it fills the entire line) and double spaced.
Those are the general rules of manuscripts, but it depends on the publisher that you intend to send it to. Some like thick margins down the left too, but some don’t. I’d go onto the website of some publishers you wish to send it too, on there they often specify how they expect it to be formatted.
first of all write your novel – formats are easy to change – when your novel is ready get yourself an agent – he will help you get your story in a form that publishers want
Writing novel, need help with size and margins.?
Hello everyone. I’m am writing various stories and a novel, but when I look up details of how to fit the novel into a word program for the industry standard presentation, I am continually getting confused.
What I want is the industry standard Mass Paper Back (A Format) for writing a novel manuscript to be handed in to a publishing/editting company.
I would also like to find out the margins and size for what it would look like in novel format. I do not do the Website based publications, so I have been racking my brains searching for industry specs.
What I know is that you need 250 words to make a page. 24-25 lines of text per page, also being double spaced. Possibly 1inch margins all around unless otherwised specified.
But what I have found doesn’t not corrolate to wether it is Manuscript Format or just seeing what it looks like in the novel form and not manuscript form.
Might anyone know the margins and page sizes for A Format Mass Paperback, and for the same format in Manuscript form to be handed in to publishers?
One last thing, I use Mac Pages. Not Microsoft Word and I am not paying 100-200+ for Microsoft Word right now. But the programs are similar so if you still know them, then please tell, or if you have Mac Pages and know them, could you provide a template download to share?
Response to Marsha and anyone else who do not know how to read: Read the message. I said Separate. Infact actuall the question should be, what is A Format Manuscript and what is the Hardcover manuscript? I have found templates for novel manuscripts and have novel “appearing” templates for general writing, but for me, it is hard to decipher if the user intends it for Hardcover or A Format Paperback. I don’t care for hardback.
So again, the question isn’t putting the two together, like Marsha idiodically and egotistically put it. But which is which and what the margins are for Manuscript (A Format paperback). I have the margins for a common presenting novel for MS Word and Mac Pages (that is for people who want to see what it looks like without the manuscript half.)
Manuscript is what you send to Publishing companies, but some people like to see their writing in the format they will want it in.
How do I properly format a novel manuscript? Could I find a manuscript template online?
I have an idea for a novel and I want to write it in proper manuscript format. However, I’m not sure how to adjust my word processor to do this. I was wondering if there is a downloadable manuscript template online? I only found one, and it wasn’t very good.
How do you correctly write a made-up language and translation into a novel manuscript?
I am currently in the revision stage of a fantasy novel manuscript. In it, I have several places where people speak a made-up language. My question is, how do I correctly address this in manuscript form? As it is, I currently have it written in this format: “made-up language goes here, (followed by translation here)” but that was more a means to get through the writing process. Is there an agreed upon format for something like this?