Writing Tutorials Series

Everyone working on novels will be glad to hear this section deals completely with you. A novel must have at least one subplot; otherwise all you have written is a really long short story. As Levin puts it: "A novel is not only longer than a short story, it's wider." (Get That Novel Written 67)

This is going to sound completely against everything I have told you previously in these tutorials: the story does not have to have a written outline.

"But you said write everything down!"

Writing Tutorial #11 does not describe you as a writer. In fact, you get cold chills considering "winging it." You need everything worked out before you start writing. This is a technique created by Frederick C. Davis that I found in The Mystery Writer's Handbook. He describes it in detail using the brainstorming of his novel Drag the Dark featuring Schuyler Cole and Lucas Speare of the Cole Detective Agency.