How to Write a Novel

It's an article on how to write a novel

There are four Genres of the Novel and they are the Painting-Novel, the Narrative Novel, the Philosophical novel and the Plot Novel. A writer can write one genre but most writers incorporate all the genres into writing.

Painting-Novel

In the painting novel the writer paints pictures with words. In other words: the writer uses tropes to ornament and decorate the language. Some common tropes used are: Metaphors, Similes, Personification, Hyperbole, Metonymy, Synecdoche, Zeugma, Oxymoron and many more.

Metaphor

Metaphor is a comparison between two things and is used to bring out an aesthetic effect. Examples are: the sky is a beautiful ornament at night. My Pen is a slave for Christ.

Similes  

A simile is related to the Metaphor but uses like or as. Examples are: She is thin as a stick. Palestine is like a hot volcano.

Personification

Personification is used in poetry but also used in prose. Personification is making inanimate things speak. Examples are: The sky growled angrily. The wind spoke in whispers. The brook murmured.

Metonymy

Metonymy belongs to family of the metaphor and uses an object for comparison. An example is: The Land where the Sun Never sets has come to an end. The Land Where the sun never sets stands for the British Empire.

Synecdoche

A synecdoche uses a part for comparison. The ship (for fleet) went to war. Give us this day for our daily bread (the Lord’s Prayer).

 

Hyperbole

A hyperbole is an exaggerated statement. Examples are: you are an ant going to war with an elephant. Patience is million years of waiting.

Zeugma

A Zeugma is a figure of Speech where a word (verb) is used to mean two different things. Examples are: she fed the cat and her son.

Oxymoron

An Oxymoron is a figure of speech that shows a contradiction. Examples are she is both happy and sad.

Narrative Novel

A narrative novel has the following features. They are character, time and setting. Character is the resonance of the soul. The writer brings out things which she or he fails to speak about. Autobiographical experiences and people’s self are given the microscope of scrutiny.

Example of Autobiographical Nuances

This happened to me when I was 10 Years old. The bathroom in which we were staying had holes on the door. One day my mother went to bathe in it. A demon overcame me and I started peeping through the hole. Suddenly I could feel a strong grip on my shoulders. I turned back and to my surprise it was my father who was laughing at me.

An example of Character Sketch

My cousin is a good for nothing shady character. When he was in the 10^th grade, he was chronic drug addict and was on psychiatric medication. Fed up his father pleaded to my father to wean him off medication and admit him into the school where which my father was running. My father used to spend long hours with him, hugging him and cajoling him and finally he was cured and he wrote and passed the exams. Now being well settled he came to visit me and asked how the school is doing? I said ‘it is doing well’. Then he made a caustic remark: ‘your school is made up of pariahs (untouchables) and I won’t send my son to study in your school.’  I became aghast at his words. Remarkably ironic is his understanding and tolerance of Indian culture and also remarkable is his thankless heart.

Time in the Novel

There are two types of time Narrative time and symbolic time. Narrative time is the consciousness of the author. It is usually done through Streams of Consciousness. Symbolic time is the lived time or the cyclic time.

An example of Narrative Time

You beautiful erotic poem�"you have flowers in your body�"you entice the poets heart�"your kisses are like the stars at night�"your breasts the cedar of Lebanon�"your orifice is a honey lake�"let me melt in you with love

An example of Symbolic Time

The terrorists from Pakistan invaded India and besieged the hotel. Soon the commandos made a strike and they made the people evacuate. All the terrorists were killed however there were a lot of causalities.

Philosophical Novel

A philosophical Novel is a novel that plays with language of meaning. The writer reinterprets texts, uses allegories, puns, fables, parables, idioms and allusions. The writer may also create new figures of speech.

Reinterpreting Texts or Inter-textuality

The writer Derrida, the postmodern philosopher has used the term Binary Divide. Binary Divide refers to the marginalization and privileging of texts. For example black vs. white.  From Binary Divide, I have introduced the term Binary Fusion meaning a text which is neutral. Examples are s/he has the promise to be an actor. Jazz has been the gift of black culture and is used universally in the world as binary fusion.

Existential philosophy treats life as the absurd or the chaotic and gives meaning that man is condemned for angst. I have rewritten existential texts with new meaning.  Life has a purpose and therefore living a life of purpose one has to be a purposeist. Life has value and that is called as valubleization.

Allusions

An allusion is making a reference to an older text. The most famous allusion is that of the ugly duckling (beautiful). My ex lover was an ugly duckling.

Idioms

An idiom means meaning is different from the sentence. I have created the idiom: Cast the Net. This is from the New Testament where the disciples of Jesus were fishing and they got no catch. Then Jesus said to them to throw their nets on to the other side. They did and got a prize catch. Cast your nets means to have a windfall bounty. Another idiom used in the media is Red Herring meaning misleading information. The news was a piece of red herring.

Allegory

Allegory is the symbolism of the language. The Dove standing for peace is a famous and well known Allegory. Another allegory is found in the psalm 23: valley of the shadow of death. This means that God is out to weather you in the trials and tribulations of life.

Pun

A pun is a play with meaning. For example: see: sea her body as erotic poetry.

Parables

Parables are stories with a moral content.  Jesus was an accomplished person who spoke in parables. Let me narrate the parable of the seed. There was a man planted seeds. Some fell on the road and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on gravel and withered as there was no root. Some fell amongst weeds and weeds strangled them up. Some fell on good ground and they became fruitful. The seed that fell on the road refers to people who hear the word and don’t follow it.  The word that fell on gravel is those who disobey and sin. The word that fell on weed refers to people who follow the world. The word that fell on ground are the faithful followers.

Fable

 Fable is making animals speak. The Serpent ruling the country territoria speaks to his ministers: ‘let’s pass a decree for all to worship our tyranny. Let’s execute the doves who are believers’.’That’s a good suggestion’ replied the ministers. Most of the Doves were killed and few fled from the country of Territoria.

Plot-Novel

Plot of the novel is the mystery found in the Novel.  There are two types of plots and they are narrative plot and the symbolic plot. In the Narrative Plot readers know what is happening but the characters are unaware. In the symbolic plot the readers keep on guessing. The story might have a strange twist in the end.

Symbolic Plot an Example

He was at his desktop typing the report of the murder of Professor Ioan Couliano, the Professor of Religions and Philosophy in the University in Chicago University. There were two conspiracy theories about his murder. One was he was shot dead by fanatics from the country Islam and two he was murdered by a secret cult the masons for his blatant revelation of the cult’s secrets in his book Eros Murder and Magic in the Renaissance. After finishing his article he felt contented. He sighed deeply and said to himself: ‘Couliano was good but I am loyal to the cult.’

Narrative Plot an example

There was Prime Minister Lady in X country. The Y people in that country were terrorists. She was warned by the intelligence not make people Y her body guards. She did not heed to the warning. Y opened fire with a light machine gun made her belly into smithereens