To write a novel, choose a character with a goal, pick a genre and target length, and sketch a plot driven by that character’s choices. Then draft scene by scene on a weekly schedule. Save polishing for revision.
These seven steps follow one sample story: a retired locksmith trying to clear her son’s name by searching her former family house. Each decision gives you something concrete to use in the next step, including ways to keep going when the draft stalls.
1. Choose a Premise You Can Keep Developing
A workable premise creates an unanswered question through conflict. A retired locksmith believes her son was framed for robbery and hid evidence in the family house her brother sold. Its new owner is the detective who arrested him. Will she break in to recover the evidence, and will it clear her son?
That question generates action. “A novel about grief and family” names themes but gives you no scene to draft.
Test your premise by listing ten things the character might try. If you stall at three, sharpen the desire or obstacle.
2. Pick a Genre and a Target Length
Genre tells readers what experience to expect. Mystery readers want a solution; romance readers expect the central couple to end up together. Decide which promise your novel makes before planning its essential scenes. The locksmith’s crime story, for example, must reveal what the hidden evidence proves, not merely get her into the house.
For many adult novels, 70,000 to 100,000 words is a useful planning range, though genre affects length. Fantasy often runs longer; some crime and romance novels run shorter. Choose a target to build your schedule around.
3. Build a Protagonist Whose Choices Drive the Plot
The locksmith’s decision to break in should cause consequences that force further decisions. This chain makes her an active protagonist instead of someone events happen to.
Before drafting, identify what she fears losing and a mistaken belief that shapes her behavior. If she believes her son was framed, she might take reckless risks to prove it. Learning the truth can force her to change by the climax.
4. Sketch the Plot From Opening to Climax
You do not need a scene-by-scene outline. Write a few sentences covering the opening situation and its disruption, then map the point of no return, low point and climax.
Give the climax particular attention: it must settle the premise’s question through the protagonist’s action. Inside the house, the locksmith finds the stolen necklace her son claimed never to have seen, alongside a note in his handwriting admitting that he stole it and hid it there. She gives it to the detective rather than concealing it, accepting that her son lied and abandoning her attempt to clear him.
5. Decide on Perspective, Setting, and Voice
Perspective controls access to information. First person suits a locksmith whose denial colors everything she describes. Close third person can alternate between her and the detective by chapter, revealing secrets each keeps from the other.
Setting can make those secrets harder to protect. In a small town where people recognize the locksmith, approaching the house unnoticed becomes difficult.
Voice determines how that difficulty feels on the page. Write a page from your chosen perspective and read it aloud. If it sounds like a report, give the narrator an opinion about what they see.
6. Turn Your Plot Sketch Into Scenes
Each scene needs an immediate objective and resistance, with an outcome that changes the next move. The locksmith asks whether the house is for sale. The detective refuses but mentions traveling every November, giving her an opportunity.
Dialogue can expose their conflict without explaining it:
“You look familiar,” he said.
“I get that a lot.”
“I remember you from your son’s arrest.”
Their shared knowledge creates tension through what remains unsaid. Her attention to his back-door lock can likewise reveal her intentions without explanation.
If a scene feels flat, examine its ending. Cut it or add consequences when nothing changes.
7. Set a Weekly Goal and Finish the Draft
Choose a finish date and divide your remaining target word count by the drafting weeks available. An 80,000-word draft over 40 weeks requires 2,000 words a week: four scheduled sessions of 500 words, for example. A weekly goal leaves room for uneven days. If you miss a week, recalculate the remaining workload; move the finish date if the new pace is unrealistic.
When research interrupts, insert a placeholder such as [CHECK: how old houses were wired in 1960]. If a scene resists drafting, summarize it in three lines and move on. You can also jump ahead to the break-in or another scene whose action feels clear.
Keep early chapters unpolished while you advance. Revision needs a complete story, not one immaculate opening.
Key Takeaways
- Use the premise test to find enough conflict for a whole novel.
- Let genre guide which scenes deserve space.
- Check that major events follow from the protagonist’s decisions.
- Make perspective and setting serve the story’s tension.
- Build scenes toward consequences, not merely information.
- Treat the weekly goal as progress toward revision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 2-3-1 rule in writing?
Roy Peter Clark’s 2-3-1 rule concerns sentence emphasis: put the second-most important information first, the least important in the middle and the most important last. Use it when revising sentences, not as a formula for plotting your novel.
Is it legal to use ChatGPT to write a book?
In the United States, using ChatGPT does not itself make a book illegal, but the content must still respect others’ rights. The US Copyright Office says prompts alone do not establish authorship; human-written material and sufficiently creative human arrangements or modifications can qualify for protection. Amazon KDP’s Content Guidelines require disclosure to KDP of AI-generated text, images and translations, even after substantial editing, but not merely AI-assisted work. Check your publisher’s requirements too.
What is the 90/10 rule for authors?
Author Shannon A. Thompson describes one usage as spending 90% of your time on marketing and 10% on writing. That is advice about an author’s business, not a universal requirement or a drafting-to-revision ratio. For your first draft, set a sustainable writing schedule instead.
Should I revise my early chapters while I’m still drafting, or finish the draft first?
Usually, finish first: the ending may change what the opening needs. Fix contradictions that would derail later scenes, such as a changed motive or an impossible timeline. Record other intended changes in a revision note, then continue drafting rather than polishing chapters you may cut.
How can I tell whether my opening scene gives readers enough reason to keep reading?
Apply step 6’s scene test to the opening: does the character pursue an immediate goal, face resistance and leave the situation changed? Give your first chapter to a reader in your genre and ask where they would stop. Their answer can reveal where momentum fades.
Turn Your Premise Into Pages
Today, write one sentence stating your protagonist’s goal and obstacle. Draft a scene that brings them into conflict, using the locksmith’s visit as a model. An outcome that creates another problem gives you a next scene. If nothing changes, reconsider the scene’s objective, resistance and outcome. Revisit the premise if several attempts fail to generate further action.