This document provides an overview of a class on writing fiction novels. It discusses various topics related to writing novels including choosing between mainstream and genre fiction, developing plots, characters, and action scenes. It also covers pitching ideas to agents and publishers, writing the full manuscript, and promoting the published work. Key points include outlining the classic plot structure, using the Freytag pyramid to design plots, developing compelling characters through backstories and motivations, and balancing plot, characters, and action throughout the story.

1. Get Published Now!
Coronado Adult Education
Spring 2016
The Great American Novel
February 23, 2016

2. “If you decide to become a professional writer, you
must, broadly speaking, decide whether you wish to
write for fame, for pleasure, or for money.”
Ian Fleming
How to Write a Thriller

3. Recap of What
We Covered Last Week

4. Non-Fiction - The Hungry Market
• Being - or becoming - the expert?
• Pursuing a subject - or letting life happen?
• Scratching itches - or entertaining?
• How much to tell and what’s next?
• Getting a publisher to buy your book
• Examples and resources

5. Non-Fiction vs. Fiction:
What’s Needed to Sell It
• Non-fiction: What are you going to write?
• Fiction: How are you going to write it?

6. This Week:
The Great American Novel

7. “For me, I gotta write, and it’s the adventure of it that’s
hooked me. As the writer, I can do it all. I get to be the
National Security Advisor who recommends the action
to the President who must commit the forces. I’m the
senior officer who sends his men into action and who
feels the pain if they don’t make it back. I’m the enemy
and the defender; logistician and staff planner. But
most of all, I’m a young man again, that fresh
lieutenant who must lead his men into battle.”
Dick Couch
“So you Want to be a Writer”

8. 2015: “The Great American Novel”
• Great or not-so-great? What you need to know
getting started
• Mainstream or genre? Which way should you go?
• Defining your audience and picking a “voice” and
point of view
• Getting the sale with a publisher

9. 2016: Pitching, Writing,
Selling and Promoting Fiction
• The high concept and the pitch
• Writing your novel and making it shine
• Selling your novel to an agent or a publisher
• *Promoting what someone publishes*

10. The High Concept and the Pitch:
The Great American Novel?

11. Mr. Clancy said none of his success came easily, and he
would remind aspiring writers of that when he spoke to
them. “I tell them you learn to write the same way you
learn to play golf,” he once said. “You do it, and keep doing
it until you get it right. A lot of people think something
mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you
on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired — it’s hard
work.”
Tom Clancy
Quoted in the New York Times
October 2, 2013

12. The High Concept and the Pitch
• What you need to know getting started
• Mainstream or genre? Which way should you go?
• Getting story ideas
• What a reader wants from a novel

13. The High Concept and Pitch:
Of What?
• The king died and then the queen died.
– A story
• The king died and then the queen died of grief.
– A plot
• The queen died, and no one knew why, until it was
discovered that it was through grief at the death of
the king.
– A mystery

14. Some Preliminaries: Dean Koontz’s
Recommendations to New Writers
• Thought
• Care
• Storytelling
• Craftsmanship

15. Great or Not-So-Great?
What You Need to Know Getting Started
• Lots of decisions to make:
– Mainstream or genre
– Publisher or self-publish
– Single work or a series
– Time-bounding to complete
• The competition is intense:
– Increasing number of novels published
– This means that far-fewer are commercially successful
– In many ways, the market is over-saturated
– Compared to non-fiction, there are fewer barriers to entry

16. Mainstream or Genre?
Which Way Should You Go?
• Mainstream…
• Genre…
• Niche…
• Other…

17. Dean Koontz
On Generating New Story Ideas
• Read!
• Write!
• Tickle the imagination and generate story ideas by
playing around with exotic titles
• Type out a bunch of narrative hooks and find one
that is intriguing
• Prime the idea pump by building up a couple of
characters in enormous detail
• Whatever you write, you must begin your novel by
plunging the hero or heroine into terrible trouble

18. What the Average Reader
Demands of a Novel
• A strong plot
• A great deal of action
• A hero, or heroine, or both
• Colorful, imaginative, & convincing characterization
• Clear, believable, character motivations
• Well-drawn backgrounds
• At least some familiarity with the English language
• A style with lyrical language and striking images

19. Defining Your Audience and Picking a
“Voice” and Point of View
• Who are you writing for?
• What voice should you pick?
– What voice do you most enjoy in the fiction you read?
– What voice seems most natural to you?
• Go for a test drive
– Write three chapters in third-person
– Write the same three chapters in first-person

20. Writing Your Novel
and Making It Shine

21. “There is only one recipe for a bestseller and it is a very
simple one. If you look back on all the bestsellers you
have read, you will find they all have one quality you
simply have to turn the page.”
Ian Fleming
How to Write a Thriller

22. Writing Your Novel and Making It Shine
• Success stems from this quality as a story-teller
• That said, the three most important things
• Other essential things
• The quality control process

23. Success Stems From This
Quality as a Story-Teller
“It’s not what you know that counts, it’s whether the
reader believes that you know something. This effect is
called the suspension of disbelief.
Oscar Collier and Frances Leighton
How to Write and Sell Your First Novel

24. Let’s talk about three of the most
important ingredients in writing a
successful novel…

25. CharacterizationPlotting
Action
You must do
all three well!

26. Plotting

27. “There are only two plots: The hero takes a journey and
a stranger comes to town.”
Timothy Spurgin
“The Art of Reading”
The Great Courses

28. The Classic Plot
• The writer introduces a hero or heroine who has just been –
or is about to be – plunged into terrible trouble
• The hero or heroine attempts to solve his or her problem but
only slips deeper into trouble
• As they try to climb out of the hole they’re in, complications
arise, each more terrible than the one before, until the
situation could not become more hopeless, then one final
unthinkable complication arises and makes matters worse.
• At last, deeply affected and changed by his awful experiences
and intolerable circumstances, the hero learns something
about himself and the human condition. He then understands
what he must do to get out of the dangerous situation in
which he has wound up. He takes the necessary actions and
either succeeds or fails, succeeding more often than not.

29. “You can distill anydrama – a Greek tragedy, a
Shakespearian play, a modern novel, a TV drama or
comedy, whatever – into a simple equation: ‘What do
these guys want, and what’s keeping them from getting
it?’”
Bill Bleich
Writing advice

30. Plots
• Create a compelling plot
• Write a grabber opening
• Write a successful ending
• Create a middle that keeps the reader involved

31. James Hall – Hit Lit
• Gone with the Wind
• Peyton Place
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Valley of the Dolls
• The Godfather
• The Exorcist
• Jaws
• The Dead Zone
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Firm
• The Bridges of Madison County
• The Da Vinci Code

32. Let’s take a deep-dive into one well-known
way to design or deconstruct a plot….

33. The
Freytag
Pyramid

35. Characterization

36. “There are only two plots: The hero takes a journey and
a stranger comes to town.”
Timothy Spurgin
“The Art of Reading”
The Great Courses

37. “There are only two plots: The hero takes a journey and
a stranger comes to town.”
Timothy Spurgin
“The Art of Reading”
The Great Courses

38. Important Qualities for
Heroes, Heroines and Strangers
• Virtue
• Competence
• Courage
• Likeability
• Imperfections
• Change:
– Layers
– Arcs

39. Character Motivations
• Love
• Curiosity
• Self-preservation
• Greed
• Self-discovery
• Duty
• Revenge

40. Character Traits
• Physical appearance
• Movement and gestures
• Past life
• Religion
• Sexuality
• Vocation
• Skills and talents
• Fears
• Dreams
• Pleasures
• Plans for the future
• Sense of humor
• Politics
• Voice and speech

41. Presenting Character Traits Thoughtfully
• How many major and minor characters to have
• All major characters must have a biography
• Develop a “job description” for each character
• You will know what your characters will do
• You are writing a novel – not a movie script
– You have to get your characters from Point A to Point B
– Your characters are not dead when they’re off the page
• What is each character doing?
– On stage
– Off stage

42. Take a female character who is on her way to her high school
reunion. She’s 50, attractive, divorced, and has had no contact
with her graduating class since she left Iowa for Berkley in
1985. There was a guy she jilted when she went off to
school. Develop her.
• Physical: height, weight, hair color, best feature, worst
feature, etc.
• Occupation: attorney, doctor, college professor, executive,
runs a dot.com startup, etc.
• Personal: strengths, weaknesses, phobias, attitude toward
men, attitude toward all others, etc.
• Family: siblings, relationship with mom/dad, rivalries
• Relationships: good/bad/difficult, marriage(s), children?
Present her in a way that’s not a “police blotter”

43. James Hall – Hit Lit
• Gone with the Wind
• Peyton Place
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Valley of the Dolls
• The Godfather
• The Exorcist
• Jaws
• The Dead Zone
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Firm
• The Bridges of Madison County
• The Da Vinci Code

44. .…let’s color in two characters….

45. New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly
& USA Today Best-Seller!
Let’s color in one character, Anne
Sullivan, Op-Center’s Deputy
Director

46. “Anne Sullivan was a retired General Services
Administration super grade who had made a career in
Washington. She knew all about the government,
including government contracting, hiring, firing, and
funding, and how to sidestep the issues. These were
things Williams never had to deal with, even during
his multiple tours in Washington.”

47. “Unlike Williams, Sullivan came from money. Her
father had fashioned a successful and lucrative career
in finance with Bain Capital Ventures. Between that
family money and her GSA retirement, she was
looking forward to a comfortable life. She enjoyed the
D.C. social and cultural scene and traveled often,
primarily to Europe and especially to Ireland. That
plan was interrupted when Williams recruited her—
charmed her, really, she readily admitted—to be his
deputy.”

48. Publisher’s Weekly & USA
Today Best-Seller!
Let’s color in one character,
Kate Bigelow, Commanding
Officer, USS Milwaukee
(LCS-5) Freedom-Class Littoral
Combat Ship

49. “Kate Bigelow was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. She’d
gone to the Academy for two reasons: to play lacrosse and to
sing. Coming out of Montgomery Blair Prep in Silver Spring,
Maryland, her two passions had been playing lacrosse and
singing in her school glee club and church choir. She was an all-
state midfielder and also had a strong voice. Her grades were
good if not outstanding, but the Academy women’s lacrosse
coach saw her play and liked what she saw. Lacrosse was a
rough sport, even the woman’s game, and Kate Bigelow, while
owning a technically sound game, was not above flattening an
opposing player with a legal hit. She started for three years on
the lacrosse team, beating Army two of those three years, and
had sung in the Catholic Choir and the Naval Academy Glee
Club.”

50. “Kate had graduated in the upper half of the bottom third of
the Class of 2002. She’d never really considered a full career in
the Navy as a seagoing officer, two things intervened that kept
her from leaving the service. She found she liked U.S. Navy
sailors and she had a knack for leading them. Secondly, she
found command intoxicating. There was nothing like it on the
outside, so she stayed in the Navy. She had previously
commanded an MCM ship like Defender that now followed
them out of Sasebo.”

51. …plot?...characterization?...which is more
important?

52. Plot or Characterization
• You have to have plot to make the reader turn pages
• People are the story and the whole story
????????????????????????????????????????????????
• Plot has the entertainment value to pull the reader
along
• The characters are the vehicle, the tools through
which you tell your story
• Readers want you to tell them a story
• Dialogue brings your characters to life!

53. Action

54. “There is only one recipe for a bestseller and it is a very
simple one. If you look back on all the bestsellers you
have read, you will find they all have one quality; you
simply have to turn the page.”
Ian Fleming
How to Write a Thriller

55. What About Action?
• Action evolves naturally from the plot
• There is no “formula” for having action in your novel
• As Clancy said, don’t overthink the action
• That said, here are some things to consider:
– Different kinds of novels lend themselves to more or less
– Write all the action you can – then consider Goldilocks
– If riveting, hold-your-breath action is anywhere – up front
– Balance scene and summary to bound action scenes

56. But That’s Not All!
(Mainstream and Genre)
• High Concept (Think in movie terms)
– The Coronado Conspiracy
– For Duty and Honor
• Theme
– The Coronado Conspiracy
– For Duty and Honor

57. Selling Your Novel to an
Agent or a Publisher

58. “All good writing is swimming under water and holding
your breath.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald

59. Selling Your Novel to an
Agent or a Publisher
• In many ways, it’s all about the sale to an agent
• Getting an agent to read your proposal and ms
• Packaging yourself professionally
• The query letter and the pitch
• The Treatment
• The Narrative Outline

60. It is All About Getting the Sale
• Query agents – get the statistics on your side:
– Forty years ago – 30% of books were agented
– In the last decade – Over 85% of books were agented
• Small publishers – you will likely bear some risk
– Probably no advance
– Limited print run
• Be your own agent – to find an agent: Richard Curtis
How to Be Your Own Literary Agent

61. Getting an Agent to Read Your Manuscript
• It starts with being familiar with books in your “field”
• Then you find out which agents agented those books
• Stay in the library: Get contact info for agents
• Go back to what you’ve learned about query letters:
– High Concept (back to the movies)
– Treatment
– Narrative Outline
– Full Manuscript
• Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: One example

62. Let’s “Deconstruct” a Treatment
and a Narrative Outline

63. Let’s Deconstruct
a Novel Treatment
• Cover
• Organization
• Organizing Impulse and High Concept
• The “Old” OpCenter Dies
• The “New” OpCenter is Born
• New Character Details
– Preamble
– Those who spend a great deal of time
physically at OpCenter
– Those who deal with crises overseas
in each scenario
– Those who deal with crises
domestically in each scenario
• OpCenter Plot and Scenario Plan
– Preamble
– Short Plot Synopsis
• For us, this was 17,000+ words

64. Let’s Deconstruct
a Narrative Outline
• Cover
• Front matter
• Chapter summaries
– Separate sections
– One or two paragraphs per
section
• Epilogue
• For us, this was 19,000+
words

65. Promoting What
Someone Publishes

66. “You are the CEO of your own career.”
David Sona
Navy Transition Course
Spring 2000

67. Promoting What Someone Publishes
• What you should think twice before doing
– Pestering friends and family to buy your book
– Taking your books from event to event to sell
• What you should think of doing instead
– Create anticipation for your book
– Establish a world-class online presence
– Use social media to the extent writing is still first
– Write about your book’s subject matter – everywhere
• We’ll cover these subjects over the next two weeks

68. Resources
• E.E. Forster Aspects of the Novel
• Francine Prose Reading Like a Writer
• Richard Curtis How To Be Your Own Literary Agent
• James Hall Hit Lit
• Dr. Linda Seger
– The Art of Adaptation
– Advanced Screenwriting
• Robert Masello
– Robert’s Rules of Writing
– Writer Tells All
• The Great Courses

69. “Being a comparatively successful writer is a good life.
You don’t have to work at it all the time and you carry
your office around in your head. And you are far more
aware of the world around you. Writing makes you
more alive to your surroundings and, since the main
ingredient of living, though you might not think so to
look at most human beings is to be alive, this is quite a
worthwhile by-product, even if you only write thrillers.”
Ian Fleming
How to Write a Thriller

70. Slides Posted:
http://www.georgegaldorisi.com/
E-mail address:
george@georgegaldorisi.com
E-mail me if you’d like:
The Treatment and Narrative Outline for
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Out of the Ashes

71. Next Week

72. Establishing an Online Presence
• Review of weeks one through four
– Writing in general
– Writing for and selling for publication
– Writing and selling non-fiction
– Writing and selling novels
• What makes your online material unique?
• Beating the competition for “eyes”
• Balancing content and entertainment
• Doing-it-yourself…or…?

73. Homework?
My Turn!