How much do you know before starting a novel?

[Linda Adams]

The question says it all. This is all I knew before I started mine:

• An auction scene to get a painting with a map painted in magic.
• Fight on an island.
• Paparazzi and the image of Princess Diana being stalked by them.
• The photo of JFK junior saluting at his father’s funeral.

[Ashe Elton Parker]

I usually have main character(s), opening scene, and a few other scenes with an idea of where I want to go with the story in mind.

Ashe Elton Parker
"Just love me, fear me, do as I say, and I will be your slave." ~ David Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth
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Member since 1998.
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[David Bridger]

Before I start to write it? I have a full outline with a paragraph per chapter.

Before I start to work on it? I usually have a scene or two in mind, from which will grow a character or two, and I’ll live with them in my head for days or even weeks before I decide whether or not to work on it. Once I decide to run with a story I’ll let it grow in my head quickly until I’m ready to start organising my thoughts on the screen.

[Wandering Author]

This is a hard question to answer, because to a great extent the answer depends on how you define “starting”. If you have an image in your head, and begin to think about it, does that mean you’ve “started”?

I usually try to turn fragments over in my mind and think about how the story might develop before I begin “real work” (again, definitions are tricky here) – but I seldom have anything even resembling a full outline. And, when I do have something like an outline, it will require major revisions long before I’m done. Which is one reason I tend to feel outlines are a waste of time.

I just started a story recently (no way of knowing if it will turn out to be a short story or a novel until it’s finished) with nothing more than an opening line, one I couldn’t resist…

[zette]

I assume you mean start writing the actual first draft, right?

In which case, it depends.

I might have a short outline made up of one or two lines per chapter.

I might have an extensive outline with bits of dialogue I don’t want to forget and reminders to stress certain emotional levels at key points.

Or I might have a character or two in mind and an opening along with a faint idea of where I want to go, but no outline at all.

Before I even outline, I usually have a vision of a character (or several) in a troubling situation. I then start figuring out what’s going on and how they got there. When I am satisfied that I know enough, either through outline notes or not, I’ll start writing.

[sisik]

To start writing the draft?

I need the main characters and their story goals.

Everything else can be up in the air.

[mfassett]

It depends on the book, for me. For series books (other than the first), I’ll have most of the characters, and I might have an overall plot idea or a situation. For stories (of any size) that are not sequels, I often have nothing. In fact, I can only think of one of the non-sequel books I’ve written in the last couple years that had anything at all before I started. That was based on a proposal I wrote during a workshop. Everything else started out with absolute zero in the preparedness department. Three to five minutes spent pondering what I feel like writing, and then go. Sometimes, not even that.

[Author]

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