How to write a novel: Should you create characters first?

Well, for the first novel draft, I'd say focus on getting the story down. Don't get bogged down in details or trying to make it perfect. Just tell the story as vividly as you can in your own words.

Writing a novel is a process that requires patience and skill. Here are some steps that might be useful: Setting the background and theme of the story: Before you start writing, you need to determine the background and theme of the story so that the story has a clear direction. This helped to maintain direction and cohesiveness in the writing process. 2. Create characters: Create characters for the story, including protagonists, villains, and supporting characters, and describe their personalities, backgrounds, goals, and motives. 3. Plot Creation: Plot Creation includes the beginning, middle, and end. We need to come up with some interesting plot to attract the readers 'interest. 4. Make a writing plan: Make a writing plan that includes a daily or weekly writing time and goal. This helped to maintain the motivation and efficiency of writing. 5. Revise and edit: After the first draft is completed, you need to spend time reviewing and editing the novel. This can help to find and fix errors, flaws, and inadequacies. Ask for feedback: Ask for feedback and suggestions from friends, family, or editors to help improve the novel. Writing a novel requires constant practice and improvement. I hope the above steps will help. Happy writing!

First, think about their motivation. What drives them? Is it revenge for a wrong done to them? Or is it a desire for power? This will shape their actions throughout the story. Then, add some quirks. A character who always fidgets when they're nervous or has a habit of quoting old sayings can be really endearing. You can also base your characters on real people you know, but then exaggerate some of their traits to make them more fictional and interesting.

There was no absolute answer to whether one could first conceive the plot and then the characters or the characters and then the plot, because it depended on one's writing style and creative preferences. Some people think that conceiving the plot before conceiving the characters can help them better shape the characters and make their characters more vivid and interesting. By setting up the plot, the readers could better understand the background, personality, and motivation of the characters and better resonate with them. Others believe that conceiving the characters first before conceiving the plot can make the story more believable because the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the characters are expressed through the plot. If the plot was conceived first, the characters might become vague or unreal. Generally speaking, designing a novel was a process of exploration and creation. Everyone had their own methods and experiences. The best choice was to continue exploring and trying to improve his writing level according to his own preferences and writing style.

The time it takes to write your first novel depends on many factors. Your writing speed, the complexity of the story, and the amount of time you can dedicate to it all play a role. Generally, it could take anywhere from six months to two years.

The length of a novel varies from person to person, but generally speaking, the length of a novel should be between 3 million to 10 million words. This was only a rough reference number. In fact, the length of the novel also depended on the author's imagination and creative ability. Generally speaking, the length of a novel should be long enough for the author to express his thoughts and emotions sufficiently, and at the same time have enough time to construct the plot, shape the characters, and explore the theme. Of course, writing a novel didn't necessarily have to be very long. The most important thing was to be able to resonate with the readers and leave a deep impression. Therefore, the most important thing was to write your own story and make it a unique and meaningful story.

Romance novels were usually created by setting the plot and characters first, and then narrating the story according to the plot and characters. In this process, the author would usually create some complex relationships between the characters, such as love-hate, conflicts of interest, etc., in order to better express the theme and emotional content of the story. At the same time, the author would also construct the plot according to the character's personality, psychology, behavior and other factors to make the story more lively and interesting. Therefore, the creation of romance novels needed to combine the plot and characters to achieve the best effect.

Light novels usually required the creation of multiple characters to provide a rich plot and character image for the story. The method of creating a character varies from person to person, but usually the following factors need to be considered: 1. Character's background and personality: You need to determine the character's personality traits, upbringing, family background, etc. These factors will help the reader better understand the character and better integrate into the story. 2. Character relationships: You need to determine the relationships between the characters, such as intimacy, hostility, cooperation, etc. These relationships can provide important clues and conflicts for the story. 3. The goal and motivation of the character: You need to determine the goal and motivation of the character. For example, the pursuit of love, career success, saving the world, etc. These goals and motives can provide the driving force for the story. Therefore, creating multiple characters was a common practice in light novels, but one needed to pay attention to the uniqueness and personality of each character so that readers could better understand and appreciate them.

It depends on your story and style. If you want to give a very intimate and personal feel to your narrative, first person can be great.

The first chapter, the first book, and the beginning of the character usually appear at the beginning of the novel to attract the reader's attention and establish the foundation of the story. Here are some tips for writing the first chapter, the first volume, and the beginning of a character: 1. A captivating opening: In the first chapter or volume, a captivating opening is used to attract the reader's interest and make them want to continue reading. The beginning could describe the appearance, personality, background, etc. of the protagonist to make the reader interested in the protagonist. 2. Introduction of the protagonist: It is necessary to introduce the protagonist in the first chapter or the first volume. The protagonist could be introduced in a sentence, a paragraph, or a scene to let the reader understand the protagonist's identity, personality, goals, and so on. Setting the background: In the first chapter or the first volume, you can set some background information such as the history, culture, social structure of this world to make the reader interested in this world. Creating conflict: Create conflict in the first chapter or volume to attract the reader's attention. For example, describing the conflict between the protagonist and an enemy or introducing the relationship between the protagonist and a certain character. Leave some suspense in the first chapter or volume to attract the reader's interest. For example, it described some mysterious scenes, unknown events, etc. It made the readers want to continue reading and learn more. When writing the first chapter, the first volume, and the characters, one had to pay attention to the attraction of the story, the image of the characters, and the setting of the background to make the readers interested and want to continue reading.