As anyone who has written academically and then written a novel knows, things change. With an academic text you know what you are writing, with a novel it might change beyond what you originally expected.

The most important thing to remember when writing a novel is to expect changes to occur when writing and reviewing. This is the nature of the beast. Subtleties develop and mature.

However, remember the fundamentals, which might vary, but are your backbone. Your characters and settings are important as well as their relationships. Develop them and fall back to the raw material when necessary. That is what they are there for.

Never underestimate the amazing thoughts that are swirling subconsciously and developing your work. Things you could never have imagined before will surface and this will radically affect your novel. With a good imagination, your subconsciousness understands your plot better than you consciousness. Be prepared to be amazed.

If you stall or want to come back to something later, go onto another chapter and work on it. I find working somewhat randomly can help you better understand what precedes content and what will come after it. Things do not develop sequentially in my mind, if you can work out of sequence, you will be able to structure your narrative in light of future events and discoveries adding some complexity and the prospect of keeping your readers guessing.

Stereotypes are common. It is the art of differentiating between honored tradition and hackneyed scapegoats that a good reader must juggle with. Time and time again, the easy route of calling the later is chosen over proper consideration and contextual examination to conclude with the former. This can be irritating, and unhelpful. To avoid problems, it is advisable to be thorough, developing a world of your own whilst keeping traditions which might influence your work.

A common problem in the Fantasy genre is the subject of elves and dwarves. If you were to use them, proper thought to giving your fantastical friends a heritage of their own so they are not mistook for Tolkien knock-offs would be most wise. Just as humans are different in one world than another so the other characters should be. This is of course culture, which we experience in our lives. Translating cultural phenomena into your work will give it validity in the minds of your reader.

With this in mind, you must make your world real. Even the most fantastical and otherworldly places can be made tactile if due thought is given. If reactions of characters are gauged appropriately and interactions governed with reason you should be able to overcome most disbelief, even if the reader has no belief in your subject being real in this world.

For example, I will tell you that John walked up to the dragon and petted its scaly snout. This of course must provoke the thought that the dragon must have enjoyed that interaction – it received an easy meal, char grilled and served quickly. If I told you that John eyed the dragon, and carefully made contact with it, keeping at a distance until it had accepted him after answering no less than twenty riddles to entertain the dragon, you might believe that John could have petted the dragon’s snout and lived to speak of it. Of course this is a superficial example and a more thorough description of John and dragons would be needed to create a convincing scenario.

With these ideas in mind, you should be well on your way to writing a novel or perhaps a short story. Of course, as I always say, there is much more to share with you and hopefully we can explore the wonderful world of writing in more depth sometime in the future. I look forward to that time and welcome you back.