How to write a novel step by step

A few weeks ago I received an email from a reader in which he told me that he always comes up with ideas for short stories, but when trying to write a novel, he could not stretch the story enough and stayed halfway between the novel and the story.

Develop ideas for novels

As I thought it was an interesting topic, I thought about sharing with you the tricks I gave him, hoping that they will help you if you find yourself in a similar situation. Let's see what you think:


Define the characters
Prepare some good cards of the main characters (their biographies, their lives, characters with whom they relate, work, etc.). Build the universe and the environment in which they move. The more complex it is, the easier it will be to find other interesting things to tell about them, also providing greater depth to the plot.

Develop subframes
In the short story there is usually a single plot, a single main event. In the novel, however, there is a main plot and other secondary ones that can serve to reinforce or complicate the first one; but also to influence the general idea of ​​the novel or to help characterize characters.

Find secondary plots that help you build a more complete fictional universe. Where to find them? For example, searching the character cards and thinking about which subplots would help you complement the main one.

Plan the work
This is what I always advise all those who start writing the novel. Short stories allow more flexibility, but the novel is a job that usually takes months and it does not hurt to have a road map that helps you not get lost on the road.

Wikipedia experts

It is not about everything being prepared before writing it. If you want, you can leave some room for improvisation, such as creating several alternative endings to keep surprising you as you develop it. But, as a general rule, the more you plan the novel beforehand, the easier it will be to conclude it.

In case you are interested, the steps I use for planning are the following:

1. Main idea. I try to define in one or two sentences what I would like to have that story. This may change later, but it helps me as a starting point.

2. Brief summary of the idea.

3. Summary of the characteristics. For example, the time in which it occurs, the tone, the place where it takes place, etc. At this moment I begin to realize how much I will need to investigate for the work.

4. Longest summary of the main plot. This can take me at least a couple of weeks, but I am dedicated to developing the main plot in what ends up being one or two pages. I create a list with all the steps that will have to happen to get from the beginning to the possible endings (having several alternative endings, besides being intrigued while we write it, helps us to make the end not predictable for the reader) and then I'm creating the summary.

5. Characters and subplots. From point four, I create the character cards, I document if necessary, I create the subplots and their summaries, etc.

6. Documentation. Once the story is roughly constructed , the strong phase of the documentation or investigation begins (although you may have already had to resort to it in one of the previous points).

Obviously, this phase of prewriting can make us discover new things that affect the plot and the characters, so it is possible that you have to redo any of the elements already created. But that's the interesting part of building a work of fiction. You know how you start, but never how you finish.

7. Structure. When I have the definitive story, I move on to the next phase and write step by step a list of the chapters or scenes that the story will have, summarizing what happens in each one of them with a couple of sentences. Nothing very extensive, but it is time to decide which parts you leave inside and which parts are left out.

Although it sounds like something very closed, it is not at all. I know that during the writing I will have to alter some of these scenes because they do not work as I thought or because there is a better way to think about it. This structure is only a draft, a starting point to guide me.

8. First draft. With all the material in hand, when I feel convinced and I think it works, I embark on the adventure of the first draft. What happens from there, depends on each writer and each story.

And you? How do you develop your ideas? Do you also plan the work step by step?