What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
xXLeeBee: Thank you for that great suggestion, but I excluded omniscient on purpose because I thought it would be a little more difficult to pull off. I may reconsider, though, but thanks again:)
- Emkay

Has anyone here used any software to help them write a novel?

Thank you.

A~
Ok… Not looking for something to write it for me. Not looking for a magic wand… Just looking for a tool that will help me manage information and the storyline.
- BigMac2xk

Writing a novel begins with a simple idea. That story idea is what will lead you to your story plot, which is the core of what you need for writing a novel.

Plot is simply the plan of your story. It’s the movement of the ***?ople in your story through situations and through ***?ttings to get to certain goals. Some novel ideas are about a situation. Some ideas about a character. No matter where your idea starts, you must turn the idea into a plot if you ****?t enough story for writing a novel.

How do you do this? By ***?king questions. The two questions you ****?t to ***?k to transform an idea into a plot are: What if. What if is the ***?ed question to every novel plot. To get a ***?ll, complex plot, you must ***?k this question over and over and over and over.

For example, take the idea of an alternate universe where ***?t is considered beautiful. To transform this idea into a plot you might ***?k, what if a very obese woman from our universe ended up in this alternate universe? What would that be like for her? What if she suddenly was considered drop-dead gorgeous in this alternate universe? What would that be like for her? What if she started losing weight? What if by losing weight, she ends up ***? unhappy in this universe ***? she was in the one she left behind? Do you ***?e how this works? You play with what if.

Once you’ve ***?ked the what if questions ***?veral ***?mes, you are ready to ***?k the next question. Why? The why question expands on your what if questions. You use why to flesh out the scenarios you came up with ***? a result of ***?king what if.

For example, one of the what if questions for the alternate universe idea could be, ‘what if the main character started losing weight?’ To expand on this what if, you would ***?k, ‘Why’. Why would she lose weight? The why would take you back to what if. What if she lost weight because she was so happy that she no longer ate to cover her pain?

That what if would lead you to another why: Why, if she ate to cover pain, wouldn’t she just eat again once she started losing weight in the new reality? Wouldn’t that make her unhappy enough to binge again? Why wouldn’t she just go back to eating a lot?

That why, again, will take you to a what if: What if she no longer ****?ts to eat to cover pain and something in her experience of this new universe has changed her. She just doesn’t know what it is. What if? Why? Do you ***?e the process? You ***?k what if. That gives you information. Then you ***?k why. That gives you more information, which leads you back to what if.

It’s impossible to structure novel plotting much more than this. It’s a general brainstorming process that requires your mind to be free and ***?ll of possibility. This brainstorming is what will give you the foundation of what you need for writing a novel.


- Karin Manning

I’m always surprised when I hear that budding novel writers are looking for a trick to write hit novels, ***? if there is a ***?cret ****.n the ****?cessful writers know about that no one else does!

Well listen to this: There is no ***?cret to writing a novel when it comes to what to write or in what style to write in. The trick that all ****?cessful writers use are more to do with the state of mind needed to write a great novel.

Do you ****?t to know the state of mind all ****?cessful writers use to create award-winning novels? A Zen-like laser-focused visualization state, that is oblivious to the physical world, and totally absorbed into the creative constructions of the universe of the novel.

This is the greatest ***?cret to writing an excellent novel. Get yourself into that state and you can write novels ***? incredible ***? anyone on the ***?ce of the planet. Don’t believe me? Then here is an exercise you can try right now to find out this truth for yourself…

Go into a quiet and comfortable room with no distractions ****?h ***? a mobile phone. Also, make sure you won’t be distracted with email alerts. Be well fed so that your body cannot distract your zen-like novel writing state. Make sure nothing is going to distract your ***?nses in the physical world, so that you can safely enter the mental construct you will be creating.

Ready? Take some deep breaths. To get into the the mental state necessary to write a great novel close your eyes and focus on ‘a scene’. Get clear pictures and emotions of a scene in your minds-eye. Don’t think about plot, ***? that will come later.

Once a scene vividly manifests into your mind try and develop it ***?rther into something you can totally immerse yourself in. Get it ***? clear ***? possible in your mind in the form of pictures, characters (no names) and emotions. These are the essence of the scene.

The novel will basically be made up of ***?veral scenes which interconnect. Think of scenes that raise a strong ***?nse of emotion. These are what make novels great and the writers behind them ****?cessful


- TAIWO OLAOLUWA

What helps with writer’s block??
I have a subject, the characters, the ***.e, ****? every ***?me I write, I feel like I’m not going anywhere. I immediately delete what I’ve written (bad move, I know, ****? I can’t help it), and re-write, and re-write, ****? I can’t find a starting point that I’m happy with. I feel like I’m going insane.
- Lucy in the Sky

I have attempted to write three different novels. They start out promising ****? toward the middle, I develop too many characters and eventually abandon the project. Does anyone else have this problem and if so how do you break through? I would really like to finish these and write others I have in mind. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
- Tara

Does anyone know the laws regarding getting married in Mexico?
Such ***?..what is the legal age? if you get run off and get married there, when you came back to the US would it be “legal” here?
Is there anything required (like, could you do it in a weekend?)
- lindysflygirl4ever

???
- ilovesunchips23

The character’s name is George Jacobs and i am all fresh out of ideas. Someone please help me, it will be greatly appreciated.
- PhantomDark89

Or maybe should I try a combination of both?
- The Revanchist