Michael Loyd Gray, who teaches at South University and has
written seven novels in the past eight years, has created a
primer of sorts for aspiring novelists. 1. Know something about
the story you want to tell. Know who the main character is and
where she or he lives, what she or he does for a living – and a
conflict she or he has that can be explored. “I started writing
my novel ‘Well Deserved’ once I knew the name of the first
character, where he lived, how he lived, and what his
circumstances were,” says Gray. “Soon, I knew how he would react
to strangers, for example, and soon another character comes
along to interact with him.” 2. Write characters arcs to get
started. F. Scott Fitzgerald did this: map out in great detail
who your characters are – where they went to school, who they
loved, who they betrayed, their educations, etc. 3. It’s a
marathon, not a sprint. A short story can take place in a very
short time, but a novel can be about someone’s entire life or
even span 1,000 years. Accept that you are