How To Write A Thick Book

Hello, welcome back to my creative zone. Today, I am going to answer a very common question — how to write a thick book. If you are searching for this answer among online novel writing tips, you may not get a lot of help. So, I thought of answering this question here.

Before getting started, I am Anasua Ghosh. I am the author of 3 published novels. I teach writing, mentor aspiring writers, and coach those who want to learn writing and read a lot. So, enough about me. Without further delay, let’s get started.

If You Are Struggling To Add Content To Your Book

Then you are not alone. There are countless writers out there who face the same issue. They fail to add content to their books and hence they end up with thin books which can be called novellas rather than novels. Even though it is a common problem, there are ways to solve it. The novel writing tips which I have given below work for me, not necessarily these will work for you too. You may not find these novel writing tips effective at all. But there is no harm in trying.

Know Your Characters

It is like knowing yourself. Character development plays a big role in fluffing up stories. The more you know about your characters, the more content you will be able to add. So, pay attention to a few factors when you are developing the characters for your book. Here is the characters’ checklist to consider.

• Characters’ backstory
• Characters’ role
• Characters’ goal
• Characters’ conflicts

So, once you create a detailed character sketch and know about the four factors mentioned above, you will be able to add content to your book. Never forget one of the most essential novel writing tips, characters are the stories.

Know Your Setting

The story setting is as important as character development. World-building takes a lot of time for this reason. It helps in adding a description to the story and makes it come to life. If you don’t know your world, you will not be able to add color to the novel premise. Therefore, spend time on world-building. Know your world, know your setting, and create a story description.

Know The Conflict

If your hero gets everything he wants easily, you are not working hard to develop your story. There are two types of conflicts, outside conflict, and inner conflict. Outside conflict is — your hero wants to go to a movie and there comes a nasty storm, now how he beats the storm to go to the movie. Inner conflict is your hero wants to be a soccer player, but he does not think he is good enough, now how he overcomes his inferiority complex. Both of these add content to the story. So, without conflict, there is no spice. Before I forget to mention, don’t think that only the protagonists have conflicts in their lives. Antagonists too have conflicts. A serial kill needs to plan each step, starting from victim selection. Therefore, you should pay attention to that too.

I am going to wrap it here now. Think about the pointers given here and implement them in your story. See how much content you can add. I had been an underwriter once. I struggled to add content to my stories. But character development, world-building, and conflict creation have helped me a lot in writing. I believe you will find it helpful as well. I will be back with more on writing later. Till then, keep writing.

Originally published at http://anasuaghosh.blogspot.com on April 16, 2022.