Raise your hand if you have a great idea for a story, but have no idea how to write a novel—or at least think you don’t. I’m guessing if you clicked on this article, you raised your hand, and two years ago, I was in the same boat. But after two years of trial and error, I’ve finally figured out a method that works.

Now, I’m not going to claim to be an expert on how to write a novel because there’s no “right” way to do it. I heard some advice once that basically said that “sometimes the right way to do something is just the way that it gets done,” and for a neurodivergent person like me, that’s absolutely true.

The steps it takes to write a novel (or anything really) look different to everyone and evolve over time. But, if you need some guidance on where to start, here is what works for me.

Thought Dump

The best place to start is to just write down all of your thoughts onto a page. For me, this step can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few weeks or months depending on the idea and how busy I am, but I try not to let it take too much time.

The point of this isn’t to outline or come up with anything in an organized manner. It’s just to get whatever thoughts you have about characters, scenes, or setting out of my head before you forget them.

Genre

Next, you want to nail down is genre. You might already have an idea of what genre you want to write in based on your thought dump phase. But it’s important to nail down the genre (and possible sub-genre) before you start outlining and writing because every genre has certain conventions that should be present to meet a reader’s expectations.

For example, if you have an idea for two people falling in love, you’re likely writing a romance. So, you know that based on that, that love story should be the central focus, and there should be some form of a happy ending for the characters (or at least a hint of one).

Point of View

Figuring out what point of view will be best for your book can be complicated because there are so many options. First, second, or third person. Single narrator or multiple narrators. Limited or omniscient. Past, present, or future.

Your genre can come into play here as well because certain POVs can be expected in a genre. For example, romance is overwhelmingly told in first person and is usually limited to one or two characters (the people falling in love) as the narrators. Fantasy, however, is usually written in third person and can often really benefit from multiple POVs. These aren’t rules, though. I’ve read romance novels with 6 or 7 characters narrating and fantasy novels written in single first-person. Ultimately, the choice is up to the author, and you should pick whatever POV you think tells your story the best.

And if picking one out of those terms seems overwhelming, that’s okay. Basically, this boils down to: who is telling the story and how? This may change between drafts or even in the middle of a draft, and that’s okay. You can change your mind on POV at any point during the drafting process—just make sure the POV is consistent throughout the final version. You don’t want one sentence in third person past tense, then the next in first person present tense.

Characters

These next two steps usually happen somewhat concurrently for me, but character development is one of the most important steps of this whole process. Depending on what kind of writer you are and your story, outlining the plot can be optional. But you should have a good grasp of your characters before sitting down to write because how a character thinks and behaves can completely change how certain events play out.

If you don’t know where to start with character development, start with these basics:

1. Physical appearance
2. Personality/Mannerisms
3. Backstory
4. Relationships
5. Goals/Conflicts

The fifth one is the most important as this is what will drive your story the most.

My character sheet template has gotten more in-depth as I continue to write, with several sub-categories besides the five categories I listed above, but that’s just a matter of personal preference.

Setting

The setting will differ depending on the genre. If you’re writing a contemporary novel, you may pick a place that already exists. If you’re writing fantasy, you’re likely crafting your own settings. Setting can also include any other world-building you may need to do. Like in a fantasy novel, what monsters or creatures exist? Is magic something that exists, and if so, what are its rules? In a contemporary novel, is it set during current events? Or is it in a sort of alternate universe, like how Red, White & Royal Blue is set in a world where a woman won the 2016 election instead?

Your goal is to figure out where you want your story to take place and find out all you could need to know about that place, whether it be through research or world-building.

Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is what you would tell someone when they ask what your book is about. I also like to think of this as just a one-sentence summary of what your book is about.

A great place to start is highlighting the tropes, genre, characters, setting, and possibly POV characters. So, for example, the elevator pitch for my debut novel, Queried Sick, is that it’s a coworkers-to-lovers romance featuring two bisexual disasters set in a publishing company during the pandemic.

The point isn’t for it to be long, but to be just enough to give people a sense of your book. It’s also a helpful exercise for you as an author because if you can narrow down your massive cloud of thoughts into just a few points, then organizing those thoughts into something longer should be much easier in comparison.

Outline

Generally, there are three types of writers.

“Pantsers,” who just open a blank document and go.

“Plotters,” who plan out everything before starting to write.

And “Plantsers,” who do some combination of the two.

I will admit that Pantsers terrify me. But I’m a Plotter through and through—I may not have every single detail planned out, but I will always have at least a one-sentence plan for every scene before sitting down to write—so I can’t imagine just opening a blank document and going. That’s not to say that Pantsers are doing it wrong, though, because, as I said at the beginning, there is no wrong way to write a novel.

That being said, I highly recommend that you at least plan out your major story beats before putting words on the page. Depending on your story structure of choice, the number of major beats will differ, but they all have three major beats in common: an inciting incident, a midpoint, and a climax. If you have at least those figured out, you’ll be in good shape.

Draft Zero

A draft zero is something I only learned about recently, but it was basically what I was already doing in my outline phase. Draft zero is simply a way to draft your story that focuses on telling yourself the story. You aren’t worrying about beautiful prose; you’re just getting the bare bones of the story onto the page.

Think of it as a midpoint between an outline and your first draft. Where your outline may just say “Ann and Chris break up,” your draft zero may go into more detail, specifying the conversation they have and that Ann doesn’t realize Chris even broke up with her until later. (I’ve been rewatching Parks and Rec if you can’t tell).

Write!

Now that you have your characters, setting, and basic plot, it’s time to write.

Hopefully, you’ll find this whole article helpful, but if you only take one thing away, let it be this: The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to exist.

Don’t worry about whether that’s the perfect word, about how many adverbs or em dashes you use, or if you’re using a semi-colon the right way (those are my biggest struggles). Just get the words on the page.

Wait a While

This is one of the most important steps. Once you finish your draft, put it away for a while. Ideally, aim for at least two weeks. I’ve read a lot of advice that says to wait a month before looking at your draft again, but I know that sometimes it’s not possible, so I put a two-week minimum on myself.

The point of this is to give your brain time to forget about it for a little while. If you dive into editing right after writing, it will be too fresh in your brain, and you won’t be able to catch plot holes or errors as well. Also, taking a break allows you to evaluate your goals.

Determine Your Publishing Goal

Most people would probably put this at the beginning of the process, but honestly, I don’t think you need to have a publishing goal in mind before you write your first book. Your primary focus with your first book should simply be on trying to figure out if writing is for you.

Once you’ve gotten the draft out and you decide if you truly like the process of writing, you can decide whether to go the self-publishing route or the traditional publishing route. I would decide this early though because that choice will affect what your editing process looks like.

Edit

Once you’ve figured out your publishing goals, it’s time to get to editing, which basically consists of three steps: Read, Rewrite, and Repeat.

After you’ve finished a draft and waited a while, take time to read it without editing. Take notes for sure, either highlighting or flagging areas that need work, but simply reading your draft. Then, once you’ve read, get to editing. Depending on what number draft you’re on, your focus will be different, but that’s a post for another day.

And once you’ve finished your edits, repeat the process. If you ask any published author how many drafts a novel of theirs has gone through, the answer will vary, but the answer is never below three. A novel may go through one, two, three, or more drafts before it’s ready for another set of eyes to look at it, and then the draft count will increase from there.