Many beginning novelists create solid characters, great settings and write beautifully.
Yet, your dramatic novels lack a plot.
Here is a very simple formula that may help you in the future.
Plan your novel before you start writing it.
The plan should include the following: 1.
Who is your main character? Where does he or she live?What kind of person is this? 2.
What does your main character want? (World peace? Romance with a special coworker? A three bedroom duplex in a brownstone?) 3.
Why can't your main character have it? (Not enough power? Too timid to ask for a date? Not enough money for the duplex?) 4.
List eight things that your main character will do in the novel to get what he wants.
5.
List seven ways that your main character gets knocked down while attempting to get what he wants.
6.
The eighth attempt is the resolution of the novel.
He either gets it or he doesn't but the journey has changed him along the way.
He is not the same person as described in Step # 1.
Numbers four and five are what makes for great reading.
It is STORY.
Number six is the climax.
If you've done a good job with numbers four and five, the reader is still anxiously turning the pages.
Otherwise, don't worry about number six because the reader closed the book a long time ago.
Pick up Gone With The Wind, The Lovely Bones, The Devil Wears Prada, The Godfather or Waiting to Exhale and read the first 25 pages.
Then look at this formula again.