If you’ve considered blogging for buzz, then decided that it’s not for novelists, think again. You can and should be blogging to build a platform while you’re writing.

This article gives you some great ideas, 13 Blog Post Ideas for Novelists | Michael Hyatt. Consider blogging:

“Excerpts from Your Novel. This is probably the easiest. It has the added advantage of allowing us, your potential readers, to “sample the brew.” Just write a paragraph to set up the excerpt. Oh, and be sure to link to your book, so we can buy it (duh).”

This is a great idea. Remember to blog regularly. It will inspire your writing. You always write more when you know that you have readers.

If you’re new to the novelist’s art, chances are that you’ll give way too much information. You want your readers to understand your characters, so you dump information, to be sure that they do.

Stop doing that.

It’s fatal.

Writing a novel is teasing the reader.

Here’s how many first novels start out: someone’s lying in bed, and they wake up. They look at the time, remember something or other, and stumble into the bathroom. They have breakfast. Maybe they argue with someone over the toast and coffee. Then they go out to their car… And on, and on.

Think about it. WHO CARES about all this stuff?

No one, that’s who. That’s real life: your readers already live this life. They don’t want to read about it.

If you must have someone waking up at the start of your novel, at least make it interesting:

* He wakes up and he’s a cockroach (Kafka);

* He wakes up and he’s lying beside a dead body (this one has been done to death, pardon the pun, but it still works);

* He wakes up and he has no idea who he is or where he is (ditto the amnesia thing, it’s been done — but you can do it too.)

Keep the reader guessing

The more you can keep your reader guessing, the longer he’ll keep reading.

Go back and read your favorite novelists: they’re masters at the guessing game. They tease the reader, constantly arousing curiosity.

There are endless ways to tease readers.

I’m currently reading Robyn Young’s Brethren Trilogy. She’s brilliant at keeping her readers guessing. Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger. The following chapter switches point of view, so we’re living the life of another character, that chapter ends on a cliffhanger too.

She’s always teasing. She never tells everything she knows about the characters. She drops hints. We’re intrigued. We keep reading. She solves one puzzle for us — but she’s already created yet another for us to wonder about.

If you’re not teasing your reader, start today.

TEASE!

You may just end up writing a good book.

It’s never too late to write your first book and get it published.

Read this heart-warming story, ‘Gobsmacked’ grandmother, 82, celebrates publishing her debut novel (and landing a three-book publishing deal) | Mail Online which reports:

“Teacher and theatre director Myrrha Stanford-Smith said she was ‘gobsmacked’ to be handed the three-book agreement, which saw her first work The Great Lie start appearing on shelves last week.”

What’s your excuse for not writing the book you know you can write?

“I’m too old” just got eliminated, didn’t it?

You’ll noticed that Ms Stanford-Smith got a three-book deal. This is why I tell new writers who ask me: “What do I do now?” when they complete a book, “Write the next one, of course.”

A writing student contacted me today. She’s a Web writer, who’s writing a novel. Unfortunately, she’s stuck.

To paraphrase, she says she’s almost halfway through the novel, and can’t see her way forward. She’s been working on the project for almost two months. Should she just give up and delete the material and start something new?

Here’s my response.

No, don’t delete anything at all.

It’s common to get stuck. Professional writers plough on regardless. They know that sooner or later they’ll pick up steam and will get inspired again.

They write anyway, no matter how they feel about the material. They know that they can always go back and delete material, but if they stop writing, the project is over.

You can move forward in many ways.

Here are some ideas.

* Choose a scene you’ve written , and then write the scene in the first person, from the point of view of a secondary character.

This gives you another viewpoint, which may jolt something loose.

* Give a primary character a secret, which he/ she is desperate not to reveal.

You’ll tend to procrastinate on a novel if the characters bore you — sometimes your story people won’t come to life. Giving someone a deep dark secret helps.

* Have you plotted out scenes from the rest of the book? If you haven’t, plot one scene — make it exciting — and then write the scene.

If you do this, you’ll want to go back and revise some of the scenes you’ve written. Don’t do that. Just keep writing scenes until you complete the book.

* Use your dreams — they can help you to write.

Tonight, as you’re falling asleep, think about your story people. Imagine them interacting. This can be enough to inspire you with some fresh ideas.

If you remember a dream in the morning, write it down.

Imagine characters in your novel for every night for a week before you fall asleep. You’ll be amazed: your story will come to life, simply because you’ll start caring about your story people again.

Write more – become a pro writer

Yes, you can write more and become an expert writer – even if you’re a world-class procrastinator.

Did you know that when you write more, your writing improves? Many of my writing students experience this. They find that when they write more, writing is easier for them – they’re not dominated by their inner editor.

My new writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” is based on lessons I developed for my private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and make more money writing.

If you’re struggling with your writing, the class will help. The techniques you’ll learn in class with help you write fiction, nonfiction, and copy for business.

Discover how you can write more, improve your writing, and sell more of your writing to higher-paying markets.

Here’s an excellent article from the Guardian, “Ten Rules For Writing Fiction”. Actually, the article contains many more tips than that. Read the entire article, it’s well worth your time.

In the first part of the article, Ten rules for writing fiction | guardian.co.uk my favorite tip is:

“Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.”

FWIW, here’s my own two favorite tips:

Don’t bore them

How will you know you’re boring people? A good clue is that you’re bored yourself. If you’re bored, spice it up. Your readers will appreciate it.

Don’t annoy them

How can you annoy readers? One of the ways is by using exclamation marks.

Another way is by using synonyms for “said” instead of just writing “said” when you need to.

If you can avoid boring and annoying readers, you may just write a great book.

Write more – become a pro writer

Yes, you can write more and become an expert writer – even if you’re a world-class procrastinator.

Did you know that when you write more, your writing improves? Many of my writing students experience this. They find that when they write more, writing is easier for them – they’re not dominated by their inner editor.

My new writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” is based on lessons I developed for my private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and make more money writing.

If you’re struggling with your writing, the class will help. The techniques you’ll learn in class with help you write fiction, nonfiction, and copy for business.

Discover how you can write more, improve your writing, and sell more of your writing to higher-paying markets.