Realistic goals can be critical in helping you achieve success, and this is particularly so when it comes to writing.

A novel is such a large, nebulous beast, it can be daunting to look at it head on and might seem like an unmanageable task.

By breaking it down into manageable chunks, you can see your progress and know if you’re on track or if you’re falling behind.

The Novel Factory statistics help you set targets and then display your progress visually to keep you informed and motivated.

 

Here’s how to use the stats:

First, note that you can have statistics for each of the three drafts of your novel – the set of statistics that you’re looking at is indicated by the toggleable radio buttons at the top.

In order to activate the statistics, you need to first enter a target for your estimated number of words and a target finish date.

 

Target Daily Word Count

Once you’ve entered these numbers, The Novel Factory will calculate how many words you need to write on average each day to achieve your goal – the Target Daily Word Count.

This is a useful number to know, because it will tell you if your target finish date is realistic or not.

Only you will know how many words you can write per day. If you are lucky enough to be able to write full time, then perhaps 2,000 words upwards is achievable. However, if you’re fitting in your novelling around full time work, family and other hobbies, then perhaps a number closer to 200 - 500 per day is reasonable.

It’s better to have realistic, achievable goals than to be over ambitious and then become disheartened when you get left behind.

Note that this number will update itself depending on how many words you have left to write.

Current Word Count

This is how may words in total you have written for that draft of your novel.

 

Record Daily Word Count

This tells you the highest number of words you’ve ever written in one day. Can you keep beating your own personal best?

 

Average Daily Word Count

As you’d expect, this tells you how many words you’ve written on average per day in that draft since you started.

 

Today’s Word Count

Pretty self-explanatory, this is the number of words you’ve written today. You can use this to see how much more to need to write in order to meet your target.

Viewing your Novel Statistics

You can see how you’re doing in a number of ways.

The Head, Tail and Incident breakdown gives a sense of the balance of conflict in your novel. Your story should have a balance of high and low conflict scenes (Head Scenes are high conflict scenes, Tails and Incidents are low conflict scenes - see the Novel Factory Roadmap for more detail on this), though you may lean this balance one way or the other.

The Progress Pie Chart shows you how far you’ve progressed towards completing that draft, with still-to-do in blue and completed progress in red.

The Daily Average Speedometer shows you the rate at which you’re writing. Try to keep the needle in the green.

The Novel Breakdown shows you how balanced your scenes lengths are. You don’t want all your scenes to be the same length, but if you have one scene which is significantly out of the typical trend, it may be worth seeing if it needs to be broken down or assimilated into another scene.

The Progress over Time is my favourite graph. The flat blue line shows your progress target, and as you write, a wriggling red line will appear on top of it to show how you’re actually doing. 

If you have any questions about the Novel Factory statistics, or any requests for additional statistics for us to work on - let us know in the comments below.

 

I don’t mean go all George R R Martin and kill them outright. I mean that you should make an effort to put your characters into situations that seem impossible to escape from – and then watch how they ingeniously do escape.

We are all so used to fiction now, and the standard of good triumphing over evil, that it takes some doing for a fiction writer to actually make us feel like the character is in genuine danger. Even when the hero is suspended over a pit of snakes, we still know they will get out – the interest comes in finding out how.

Ideally, you’ll make people really genuinely feel there is no escape for your character, whether it be a pit of snakes, an overbearing spouse or a mental illness. You should think long and hard about what sort of situations you can put your character into which will have them stuck and stumped.

I think it’s best that you personally don’t know the answer when you first come up with these situations – that will make them feel more genuine.

Take five minutes to try to come up with five situations that appear to be impossible to escape. Here are a few to get you started:

• Jemima has been captured by her arch nemesis and trapped in a coffin (nailed shut, naturally), which is wrapped in iron chains and is on a conveyor belt heading towards a cremation furnace.
• Victor is trapped in a dead end job. He has huge debts to pay off, no qualifications and estranged from his family.
• Francis has been wrongly accused of child abuse. All her friends have turned against her and the authorities won’t listen to anything she says. She’s been fired from her job and her husband has left her and taken her children.

Once you’ve got a handful of those sorted, spend a little more time coming up with the solutions. Try not to make too much use of outside help – the character needs to solve the issue under their own steam.

Or, if you are too lazy to come up with your own, try to come up with solutions for the scenarios detailed above. Make sure you do yours before reading mine, below.

Here are my ideas:

• The coffin is wood, so as it nears the fire, the wood begins to warp and burn. She squeezes herself against the far end as far as possible, and when enough of the coffin is burning, she kicks through and escapes.
• Victor’s dead end job is selling holidays. One day a man comes in just his age but clearly much happier and more successful, who explains he has no money, but he just roams the world. Victor packs everything in and buys his own holiday with his last paycheck and sets off with just a suitcase of things. While in Thailand he discovers an aromatic incense that induces deep calm. He brings some back home with him and starts his own business selling it, which is a great success.
• Francis scours through the testimony of the child and manages to find some details which prove that they are making it up. She also researches child psychology and finds evidence that parents plant and enhance the concepts tentatively suggested by children. At the final court hearing the child who accused her breaks down in tears saying it was only meant to be a joke and he is really sorry. The judge rules in her favour.

Please do enter your ideas below!

If you enjoyed this article, you might want to check out our novel writing software. Designed by writers for writers.   

Here are a bunch of quick ideas to help you beat that creativity killer – writer’s block…

Take a walk

Much more effective than you might think. It's not simply about a time out. Fresh air invigorates your brain and the muscle movement releases chemicals into the bloodstream. Also, new visual stimulus will get your synapses crackling.

Freewriting

For ten minutes write non-stop… anything at all. Seriously, anything. Even if it's just the same word over and over and over again. Misspellings, sense, we care not for these things!

Work on some notes instead

Less pressure, fun, and a good chance it will kick start some prose writing.

Listen to some music

Engage another part of your brain to kickstart creativity.

Make a pointless rule and write to it

Such as: you can't use the letter e more than once per sentence or each sentence must have an even number of words. Limits create focus and change your perspective.

Read the papers

Great for ideas that nobody will ever believe are true.

Write a rant

Who really got up your nose this week? What would you say to them if you could? Get those juices flowing, let the emotion pour out onto the paper.

Explain your dilemma to a teddy bear

If you can't think how to proceed, explain your problem to a soft toy. The process of formulating the problem out loud is often enough to let you see the solution.

Create a strict schedule

With short periods dedicated to writing. For example, write for ten minutes, then water the plants, then write for fifteen minutes, then hang the laundry, then write for ten minutes, then do the dishes. Stick to it. That means when it says to stop as well, even if you're in a flow. Having very short time periods can help you focus and stop you thinking you’re going to write a whole novel at one sitting.

Don't obsess when you're drafting

Are you in a draft stage and worrying about word and sentence level? What on earth for? Haven't you heard of editing? Just get it down any old how and the polishing will come later.

The 20/5 technique

Get yourself an egg timer, set it for twenty minutes, put it on the table and get as much done as you can in that time. When it goes off, your fingers must leave the keyword (or paper and quill or whatever). Set it for five minutes and do something else for that time. Relieve yourself, stare out the window, play with the puppy, learn a few words of Spanish, whatever. Then repeat.

Set a small, achievable goal

Finishing the novel is not going to cut it. Finishing the paragraph, the page, or at most the first draft of the chapter, is a fine catalyst.

Use a photo

Describe all the details of the photo.

Hopefully you’ll find something there to get you going!

And if you want help writing a whole novel then you should check out our novel writing software.

Learn to describe the world around your characters with skill and you will add layers of depth to your story. You won't have to rely on the amateur’s method of 'telling' to get across how your character is feeling and thinking about everything, because it will be evident from your rich descriptions.

Reflect the mood

So don't just describe your surroundings for what they are, stuff them with propaganda.

A country garden can be cast as cheerful and airy or sinister and dark, depending on what your character is going through and their mood.

Be specific and use evocative words - Don't just say there was a bird call. Was it a cheerful greeting or a shrill warning? Don't just say the woods were dark, were they speckled with cool, relieving shade or dense with heavy shadow?

Stick to what your Point of View character can see

Even if you're in the third person you should only see whatyour character sees, and tell it from their point of view. The better you can do this the more real your character and story will feel. 

For example, your character:

•  can't see something that's around the corner
• doesn't know what other people are thinking
• will see things through their world view – or as I like to put it: to a man with a hammer, everything looks like an nail. For example, if your main character is an accountant, they might view a fight in terms of how much the damage will cost. A Hell's Angel will think it's funny, and a little girl will see the same fight as giants tearing each other apart and have nightmares about it for months. It's not just a fight, it's a hundred things to a hundred people. Be sure you know who your person is. 

Use the five senses

Don't worry about prose for a minute, just make list. In each situation, what can your character:

• See
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch
•  Hear

Once you have these things you can either knit them together into a single descriptive paragraph to set the scene, or sprinkle them throughout the scene.

Use a picture

Tells a thousand words and all that. Thank whoever it is you might thank for these things that you are lucky enough to live in an era where millions and millions of images are available for you to browse at a moment's notice on the Internet. Centuries of pictures at your fingertips. Moments of history captured by the deft fingers of expert photographers, the essence of great leaders echoed in the brushstrokes of master painters, grand landscapes portrayed in breathtaking art, and crappy photo snaps of cringeworthy chavs. It's all there.

And life is always a thousand times richer than anything you can imagine, so take advantage of it. If you need to describe a rainy cobbled street in ancient Japan, hunt for a photo that is the closest approximation. Sometimes you might need several pictures, and none will get it exactly, but each will add threads and beads to your tapestry that you might never have found inside your own head.

Go there

Even better than looking at a photo is looking at the real thing. Many leading authors will go to the places they are talking about (as well as talking to the people who do what they're writing about, or even better, having experience of doing it themselves - such as being a detective or being in war). If you have the time, you should do this too. The power of allowing your senses to experience the night forest / battleship / penthouse suite cannot be overstated. Often it won't be practical, but if you get the chance, consider it a great prize.

If you'd like more help writing your novel, find out what makes The Novel Factory so effective.

It is a ‘feature’ of western society that we tend to value analytical thinking more highly than creative thinking. Thus, subjects like maths and science and considered more ‘proper’ subjects than things like art and drama. Children are told to get practical qualifications, because everybody knows, artists can’t make a living.

The sad effect of this is that while our analytical processes get a good work out, our creative capabilities are often neglected, but creative skills can be learned and developed just as much as logical ones.

The more you work your creative muscles, the stronger they will become and the more easily stunning metaphors and incisive descriptions will ‘spring to mind’.

Try this exercise to give your creative brain a bit of a stretch:

1. Make a list of concrete nouns. Nouns are things, words that you can generally put ‘a’ or ‘the’ in front of, and concrete nouns are visible, solid things that you can usually touch. Some example of concrete nouns are:
•    Dog
•    Fire
•    Garden
•    Airplane
•    Handkerchief
•    Mug
•    Computer
•    Aubergine
•    Aspirin
•    Keys

Think of as many as you can, but at least 20.


2.    Make a list of abstract nouns. So, these are still ‘things’ but ones that you can’t see or touch.
•    Hunger
•    Wealth
•    Life
•    Friendship
•    Desire
•    Intelligence
•    Instructions
•    Excitement
•    Death
•    Joy

3.    Now randomly pick two of them (ask someone else to pick two numbers between 1 – however many you have or cut them up and pick them out of a hat) and put them together, then write a paragraph explaining.

For example:

Life is like computers. Completely unfathomable, with so much going on under the surface you have no hope of ever understanding the complexity. Sometimes life does what you want, but sometimes it just refuses, for no apparent reason at all. Life can be entertaining and informative, but it can also make us want to tear our hair out.

Or

Death is like aspirin. It’s tucked away out of sight and easy to ignore. But when our health is threatened it comes to the fore, fizzing in our brains, dissolving into an invisible, pervasive mist. We have no choice but to swallow it.

Think you can do better? Post your remote associations in the comments!

Credit to The Five Minute Writer by Margaret Geraghty for the inspiration for this post – if you liked it, you should buy her book.


If you enjoyed this post, then you should probably check out the Novel Factory. 

Often new writers choose to write short stories as a sort of ‘warm up’ before they start writing novels, as the short story seems a lot more achievable. 

If you do this, you’ll soon get told off, and informed that the short story is a completely different animal to the novel, and one is not simply a longer or shorter version of the other.

However. I happen to think that cutting your teeth on short stories is a great way get started with writing, as it gives you something manageable and most importantly, something that you’re more likely to finish. Finishing a story is the hardest part for a new writer (after starting!).

There is a lot of advice and guidance out there for how to structure and plot a novel, and lots of tried and tested techniques, but there is less so for short stories – partially because there is a lot more opportunity to be creative and experiment with whatever you want. Readers can put up with a lot more deviation from conventions over a short term, where it might become tedious over the course of a whole novel.

Here are some ideas that you may wish to use in your short stories:

Breakdown by time

This technique is used in the TV series 24 and book series Bridget Jones’s Diary, where each section is split to represent one hour or one day. You can use subtitles to make this explicit, and it gives you a lot of leeway for skipping chunks of time and keeping a tight focus on the exciting bits.

 

Formats

Similarly to the diary example in the breakdown by time, you can use unconventional formats to make your story more unique and original. For example you could write it as an exchange of emails, a series of newspaper reports, a collection of adverts in a local parish newsletter, or conversations between passing dog walkers. Each format will have a different impact on the story and how it plays out.

Repetition of words, sentences or themes

By hanging the story on a particular hook, you can explore several ideas and still have a satisfying, whole feeling narrative. For example, you could take a sentence, such as ‘Never again’ and use it to start three different paragraphs. Each paragraph could be from a different person’s viewpoint, or the same person at three different ages. This way we can explore the nuances of the human experience.  Or you could have an item which appears over and over again – either the exact same item, or variations of the same type of item, such as different pairs of shoes.

Full Circle

It’s normal for short stories to have a twist, but if you’re really clever, you need to make sure the twist links very closely with the setup. A nice idea can be to follow through an ironic chain of events so that an action taken right at the beginning directly results in a failure to achieve the aim of that action. For example, an actor might decide to flirt with a director in order to secure the part, for which they are already a favourite. But that upsets the actor’s partner, who then wrangles it to inform the director’s spouse of some dark secret. The spouse then ensures the actor is refused the part.

If you enjoyed this article, you might want to check out our novel writing software. Designed by writers for writers.  

Getting feedback on your writing is a critical part of the professional development of any writer. If you haven’t shown your work to anybody yet, and you’re shy to – that’s not a problem. It just means you’re in an early stage of your artistic development. You still have peer review to look forward to – and believe me, as long as you genuinely want to master your art, peer review is one of the most exciting and enlightening experiences you can have.

However, unless they are also writers, getting your friends and family to read and give their opinions on your work is not peer review.

Below I’ll explain why I don’t recommend getting your friends and family to read your work and give you feedback on it.

They’re biased

Unless you’re doing really something wrong, your friends and family probably like you. This means that they will be biased in favour of your work. In some cases they may just not want to hurt your feelings, so even if they don’t think it’s very good, they will still tell you they loved it.

However, even if they do intend to give you genuine feedback, they will be influenced by everything they know about you, including your personality, views and background. This may mean they read it positively because they are impressed that a real human that they know can string a decent metaphor together. On the other hand, they may be overly critical, second guessing and analysing it in ways that a stranger might not.

Inaccurately positive or negative reviews can both be damaging as they can both lead to delusions. One that you’re better than you are, the other that you’re no good when you may well be.

Not all opinions are equal

The problem is that unless someone is a writer themselves, or at least have a strong interest in literature, they are unlikely to be able to tell what makes a good piece of writing. They are simply going to be giving their own personal response to a piece.

This does have its place, but as I outlined above, if the emotional response is biased, it may be unhelpful or even harmful. And even if they are utterly genuine, getting just one or two emotional responses still doesn’t really tell you much. What you really need from feedback is educated reasons why things don’t work and suggestions as to what might work better.

You need a range of opinions

Even when it comes to highly educated, experienced peer review feedback, getting only one or two can be risky. As you’ll discover if you go to a critique group, people’s views on pretty much every aspect of writing will vary wildly. A sentence or even word that riles one person up might be the other’s favourite. The pace might send one person to sleep, while another finds it just perfect. By getting feedback from a range of people you don’t end up making unnecessary changes just based on a single person’s niggles. And on the other hand, when you find ten people are unanimous about something – you know you have to pay attention.

Click here to read more about finding inspiration to get started writing a novel.

As you may know, this blog is written by the creators of the Novel Factory novel writing software, and shares a lot of the knowledge with that programme. The Novel Factory has been our baby for several years now, as we've worked on the formula, integrated a load of teaching knowledge, put together the guide and developed the software that brings it all together.

 

We launched recently, and already have had some really fantastic feedback. We're usually not ones to blow our own trumpets, but we're so chuffed with some of the comments we've had, because it feels like we're really achieving our aim of creating genuinely useful software for novelists, that we'd like to share some of the things we've heard.

If you haven't tried the software yet, you should know it's completely free for 30 days, so why not give it a go? You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

"I have achieved more in the past two months than in the previous two years, using your program and would recommend it to anyone."

"It is a worthwhile program that would work for a beginning writer as well as a more seasoned professional. Well done!"

“I love how the scenes are linked to the characters. That feature of being able to go through and really think about and record what each character is doing at any given moment is wonderful!”

“I really liked the way it broke down the writing process and got me thinking about each section of my story. I tend to rush in with the start and know my end but don't put any thought into how to get there. I like having to write a synopsis of each section.” 

Descriptions of locations and settings in novels vary from broad strokes which suggest you fill in the rest yourself, to the nauseating detail. How much you describe your character's surroundings will depend on your preference and style, but either way it needs to be a conscious decision. As an author, you need to know all about your locations, including where the furniture is placed and how it smells.

Locations interface in our novel writing software

You can use novel writing software to guide you through the development of locations and keep all your notes in order, or you can just keep the info loose. If you're really lucky, you may even be able to keep it all in your head.

Here are a few pointers to help you get started:

1.Start with just a name and brief description of the place, brainstorming and noting down anything that comes to mind.

2. Go into a bit more detail, and deliberately make note on sights, sounds, smells, tastes and things your characters might be able to feel (with their hands, feet, cheeks, whatever).

3. Find some pictures that are close to what you envision for your location. The real world is always far more detailed than anything we can ever come up with in a single brain, so the images you find are likely to add rich detail to your location.

4. Make sure thre description of the location fits the atmosphere of the story. It should add to the mood with everything that's mentioned,not mentioned, and how it's mentioned.

5. If the location appears more than once, then think about how it changes. Describing it in a differnt way is a great way to show change and passing of time in your story and to reflect and complement your character's development.

If you're writing a novel and found this article useful, you might want to take a look at our novel writing software. It's completely free to try for 30 days. Click here to visit the novel writing software website and find out more.

The character tab in The Novel Factory software

Good characters are the holy grail of compelling novel writing. Some action packed novels may be able to get away with cut out characters, but having smart, funny characters that the reader can empathise with and identify with, will lift the novel to the next level.

Our novel writing software takes you through a step by step process of developing a many layered character, and we'll run through the basics here.

Character Development Step One - the basic introduction

We start with what you could call the gameshow introduction. A simple, single sentence which can be used to describe the character, usually not using there name. For example:

A perfectionist accountant from London, with a love of roller blading.

Then we break down each section of the introductory sentence, to delve into each part in more depth and found out: in what way this perfectionism manifests, what sort of accountant they are, whether they like their job, and how high up they are, whereabouts in London they live, have they always lived there, do they like living there, how much to they love rollerblading, do they do it every day, where do they do it, how long have the been doing it. This will give you a nice starting point.

Basic character interface in the Novel Factory

Character Development Step Two - the statistics

If you're going to visualise your character, you need to know exactly what they look like - and having all of this noted down somewhere is a good idea to avoid rookie mistakes like changing the protagonists eye colour halfway through a paragraph. Note down age, hair type, eye colour, distinguishing features, height, weight etc. You should also think about and make a note of, their motivation and a summary of their role in the story. Now is a great time to try to hunt for some pictures to represent your character as well. Photos can provide a lot of inspiration.

Questionnaire supplied in the Novel Factory

Character Development Step Three - the questionnaire

Not all authors like the questionnaire, but I think that's because it's sometimes been presented as the be all and end all ofworking out a character. I certainly don't think that, which is why it's step three, but I do think it's useful, and using a questionnaire can help prompt inspiration about things you might not logically get to. Our writing software includes a detailed questionnaire that covers everything from what's in their fridge to how they treat people better than them

Character Development Step Four - History

You probably won't want to do full histories for every single character in your story, but I find it extremely useful to write the histories of all my main characters, all the way from being a baby. It means you have to think about their upbringing and parents and it helps you really get a rounded view of a person.

To take advantage of our novel writing software to guide you through this process and keep all your notes safe and organised, download a free trial of the Novel Factory.

I've written about The Hero's Journey before, but I like it so much I'm going to write about it again, and it deserves to be revisited often, so it stays fresh in your mind.

For those of you that are going: "The Hero's What?" You are about to find out possibly the most important backbone of writing a decent novel. Or possible you're about to discover the monomyth has an alternative name.

It's a series of steps that are there to a greater or lesser extent in the majority of successful novels, and the steps go roughly like this:

1. Introduction to the hero's world
2. Call to action
3. Crossing the Threshold
4. Meet the Mentor
5. First challenge
6. Temptation
7. Dark inner moment
8. Final battle
9. The return home

(The hero's journey is an intrinsic part of our novel writing guide and novel writing software)


Each of these stages can be represented by a whole range of things from the epic to the trivial. And don't make the mistake of thinking that it only applies to fantasy adventure stories, just because of the word 'hero'. All stories have a hero at their centre, though they may be called a protagonist.
 
Of course, not all stories will follow the hero's journey, there are no absolutes in anything as creative as novel writing, but there is a reason the sections have been used in popular stories since ancient times, and continue to be recognisable in the latest blockbusters.

A really great exercise is to find some of your favourite books or movies and see if you can spot the elements of the hero's journey in them. See how the experts have interpreted the mentor, or the temptation.

Here's a sample from Harry Potter:

1. Introduction to the hero's world - Harry's life with his nasty relatives
2. Call to action - the invitation to Hogwarts
3. Crossing the Threshold - the train journey
4. Meet the Mentor - Dumbledore - who else?
5. First challenge - The Troll in the toilet
6. Temptation - Harry becomes addicted to the mirror's vision and longs for his parents
7. Dark inner moment - Harry discovers that the stone is in danger and Dumbledore isn't there to help them.
8. Final battle - the three trials and confrontation with Voldemort
9. The return home - Return to the Dursleys house, but this time with better conditions and prospects.

Please do tell me about examples of the hero's journey you've found in your books and movies!

Also, if you're writing a novel and would like to have information and tips like this at just the right point as you develop your craft and write your novel, then visit our novel writing software website, and download a free trial of our novel writing software.

The use of novel writing software divides people more passionately than you might expect.
People who are against it might say it's cheating. Others might say that's simply not necessary, or even that it gets in the way or causes rigidity and gets in the way of brainstorming and natural flow.

Well, of course I'm biased but I think that if there are tools available for any task, you should take advantage of them. Of course not all tools (or software) is useful, and not all 'progress' is for the best.
One of my pet hates is how difficult it is to accurately rewind or forward DVDs - with video tapes it was easy to skip back to rewatch something you missed. Now it involves so much jumping around to way too far either side that it's just not worth the effort.

But back to the plot! We're talking about novel writing software not movie watching.


To address the points above - in reality, if you think that using software for writing is cheating, then you shouldn't even be using a word processor. Think how easy it is to make changes and shuffle things around, and be corrected in your spelling and grammar, and even style! It really depends how far you want to go back. Is using a typewriter cheating? Should you go back to pen and paper? Maybe using a biro is cheating and you should be whittling your own quill. So much for the cheating argument.

The other arguments are more valid. If you're someone that can keep track of notes about dozens of characters and locations, a complex plot, clues, foreshadowing and the rest - then great! You probably don't need writing software to help you.

However, personally, I always find myself drowning in notes, some of which are out of date - but which ones?! - losing files all over my desk and laptop, and spending ages in frustration trying to find the profile of the right character, because I couldn't be bothered to file everything neatly as I went along. I wanted to get on with writing!

So, for mere mortals like me, having novel software that keeps track of my characters, files them automatically and gives them back to me in a few intuitive clicks, takes away a great deal of my headaches and leaves me to get on with my next draft.

And as for the argument that novel writing software stifles creativity - with the right software, what you put in, you get out! Good software should harness and inspire creativity, not the opposite.