What Are Three Rules for Writing a Novel?

What are three rules for writing a novel? That’s a great question, and I’d love to answer it!

Although, I must say, I think condensing the entire novel writing process into three rules is a feat too large to conquer—dare I say, impossible— because there are many concrete rules to writing, and many subjective rules to writing. Everyone has their own list of tips & tricks they are super eager to hand out to you via a blog post, pdf, or how-to book (not unlike this article). Most of them are very good and exceed three bullet points.

Nevertheless, “What are three rules for writing a novel?” seems to be a popular question right now, so I want to do what I can to give you an answer. I will give you three rules for how to write a novel, and keep it to three rules for the sake of simplicity. However, I hope that after reading this blog post you will continue your educational journey to learn all there is to know about novel writing. There will be recommended blog posts & resources at the end for that very thing.

Writing Rule 1: Make sure your novel idea is good enough. 

Seems easy, right? A story idea may be really cool in your head, but it’s gonna need a bone structure and a lot of meat on those bones to make a novel. 

When fleshing out your story idea into a cohesive novel, be sure your story has a distinct beginning, middle, and end, with increasing tension all throughout the plot arc.

There should be no boring or lagging parts; if there are, fix them by throwing in more conflict! 

Writing Rule 2: Make your characters interesting & awesome. 

Your main character needs to be developed to the point that they feel like a real person. They need their own opinions, personality, and emotions. To give your readers an emotional connection with your characters, you must have an emotional connection with them first. If you can imagine them as a real-life person like yourself, you are on the right track!

In addition to making your characters as much like real humans as possible, you’ve got to give them strong objectives and challenges. They have to have something they really want and there has to be a big obstacle (or more accurately, many obstacles before the massive obstacle which will make up the climax) in their way. Make the odds unfair against them and then let them decide how they will overcome whatever antagonist is blocking the path to their goal.

Writing Rule 3: Make your scene descriptions memorable.

When describing the places your characters interact with, put yourself in their shoes and the reader’s shoes in order to not miss any vital setting-establishing detail. Work on using concrete language when describing how a place looks and how it makes your characters feel, but avoid clichés.

On top of that, don’t write paragraphs upon paragraphs of description—your readers will get bored—yet write more description in your novel than just a short line here and there; with too little description, your reader will feel like the characters are moving about a blank space.

When I write a story, I employ the sprinkling technique: A dash of description here, a tad there, one more dollop, and then voila!—a vibrant scene that interests readers instead of bores them. 

What Should I Do with These Three Novel Writing Rules?

Now that you know my three rules for writing a novel, what’s next?

Below is a curated list of articles related to these three rules of novel writing, and if you want more consistent support & writing guidance, sign up for my newsletter and let’s be friends! 🙂

RULE 1:

• “How Your Characters’ Choices Should Be Driving Your Story’s Plot”
• “How to Draft a Novel for Success”
• “How to Hook Readers on Your Novel, and Keep Them Hooked” — Free Workbook

RULE 2:

• “What Every Writer Should Know About Creating Change in One’s Characters”
• “How to Create Real, Breathing Characters for Your Novel”
• “Writing Exercise: Developing Characters With the Myers-Briggs Typing Method”
• “Why Does Character Motivation Matter?”

RULE 3:

• “How to Write Effective Descriptions and Nail Your Scene’s Setting” — Free Workbook
• “What Does “Show, Don’t Tell” in Writing Actually Mean?”
• “11 Writing Style Tips You Can Implement Today”
• “The Ultimate Guide to Writing the Setting of a Story”