Now Novel
Jordan Kantey is an editor, writer and writing workshop facilitator. He’s been helping authors develop their stories for ten years. He achieved his Honours in English Literature with distinction from the University of Cape Town. He has had poems published in several journals and an anthology. He blogs about writing craft and process at Now Novel and loves to help aspiring authors reach their goals.
Learning how to edit your novel before a professional editor even sees it is smart. When there are fewer minor errors, a hired editor can focus on large-scale issues: Plot holes and inconsistencies and issues of style and tone. To edit your own writing, try these 8 simple steps:
Learning how to write cliffhangers and suspenseful scenes is a crucial skill, whether you write mystery thrillers, fantasy fiction or another genre. The suspense examples from books below show how to bring readers to the intolerable state of not knowing that makes us race to turn the page. Here are 5 tips to start:
Many authors who have had books made into movie adaptations have become multi-millionaires almost overnight. Why are some books primed for screen adaptation from the start? They share in common strong high concepts, great structure, visual flair and more. Read 7 lessons from books adapted for screen that will help you make your novel blockbuster material:
A theme, ‘an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature’, explores an insightful topic or subject. Through the ways authors treat themes such as ‘love’, ‘alienation’, ‘hope’ and more, we learn and grow through their characters’ experiences of these themes. How do you choose good themes for stories?
Sometimes you get half way through a story or novel before you realize that your plot is missing something. Maybe it plods and meanders, or there is a sameness of tension and pace. These 7 strategies will help you make a plot more captivating:
The best-loved fiction for children, teens and adults shares characters who feel familiar. This is because effective characters often have strong archetypal qualities. They have combinations of fears and goals – character psychology – we’ve seen before. What are character archetypes, exactly, and how can you use them to make your novel’s cast more interesting?
What are essential components of mystery plots besides suspicion and secrets? What can Arthur Conan Doyle and cult classic TV mystery series teach us about writing better mysteries? Read 7 clues for writing your own engrossing puzzler:
Every bestselling or critically acclaimed book began as a story premise. First came the idea the author wouldn’t let go. How do you find a compelling premise, one that gives you enough intrigue, direction and potential development to build a book out of its concentrated creative material?
Knowing how to introduce characters so that they stick in readers’ minds is a skill. Here are six techniques to create memorable first impressions:
