For example, you may have a narrator who is a teenager with a disability and considered an outcast in their small American town.
For example, you may write a short novel set in a Caribbean island during a political uprising. Or you use your neighborhood as the main setting in the novel and structure characters and conflict around the setting that way.
For example, you may have a short story about a missing boy in a small town that you think could be expanded into a short novel.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
For example, you may begin with a scene involving the main character and their mother. The relationship between the main character and the mother character may then be carried on throughout the rest of the novel.
Try to summarize the central conflict or plot of the novel in one sentence. If you can do this, the conflict or plot is likely clear enough for the short novel. For example, you may have a central conflict like, “Teenager Mary Heti struggles to come out to her religious mother and deal with being a social outcast in a small Southern town. ”
You should also limit your settings so the reader can be immersed in the novel. For example, you may have one main setting, like the small American town where the narrator lives. You may then have one secondary setting, like the summer camp in the woods she goes to for one month.
For example, you may have the narrator go see a doctor on a recurring basis as part of the novel’s structure. Or you may have a main character who charts the movement of a star in the sky throughout the novel to tie it all together.
For example, you may have a satisfying ending where the mother character accepts the main character for who they are, despite her religious beliefs.
Reading the novel out loud will also help you catch any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors.
Ask your readers if they find the novel engaging and entertaining. Pose questions about the pacing, characterization, and description in the novel. You can also join a writing group or create your own writing group and have the group workshop your novel draft.
After the novel has been revised, you can then decide if you’d like to try to publish it so you can share it with a wide audience.
