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Anyone else writing a novel?

Hi I just wondered if any other TSR'ers were writing a novel (I am!). If you are, please comment with a synopsis of your storyline, any writing tips, etc. I just thought it would be good for fellow teenage novelists to chat and support each other in their writing! :smile: :smile:

To start things off, the novel I'm writing is based on two main characters. One is a seventeen-year-old girl who attends a really tough inner-city comprehensive, and is desperate to go to university. However, throughout the novel, lots of obstacles are put in the way of her achieving that dream (her mum dies from a drug overdose, she starts to date the most popular and rebellious guy in school, and finally her younger brother gets shot due to his involvement in gang violence). Her part is mainly about how a young girl keeps hold of her dreams despite adversity, and the struggles she has to face in order to find her place in the world, etc. The other main character, whose story runs parallel, is a newly-qualified teacher who comes to work at said inner-city comprehensive. She is full of bright ideas to invigorate pupils with willingness to learn, but despite her enthusiasm nothing seems to be getting through to them. She has a pretty heavy backstory which keeps coming into play throughout, as it turns out she actually attended the school when she was younger, and she was the school bully, until she left at the end of Year 10 when her mum remarried and the family moved away. However, she doesn't want to tell anyone who she really is, in case they judge her on her past. Things start to get complicated though when she starts to date a guy whose life she used to make a complete misery when they went to school together. So her story is about not running away from your past, but acknowledging that, and also that people can change (she changed her ways after being diagnosed with cancer at just 16 years old).

Please contribute to this forum if you are writing a novel, we would love to hear your ideas! :smile: :smile:

P.S. Previous contributors to this thread may notice that this is a different idea to what was originally posted by me, but I decided to change it on here to make things clearer, as I have posted halfway through about my change of plan, but people probably won't read through the entire thread, or even notice if they did :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)

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I'm trying to write something, though I've put it off until after exams.

It starts in 1913 and goes through a couple of years of the war. The premise is a girl of aristocratic blood making her debut in high society. She's looked down upon a bit as her mother eloped with a man of much lower social standing than herself then committed suicide while the father disappeared. She grows up with her aunt, uncle and cousins. She's very close to one of them but this cousin ends up marrying a man who she starts to fall in love with. Meanwhile, war is declared and things are changing in London. She gets involved in the suffragette movement, much to the chagrin of her family and throws herself into various other causes to distract herself from her complicated love life. After the husband of the cousin goes to war and she has a miscarriage, her mental health starts deteriorating and it's up to the main character to try and pick up the pieces. And lots of other stuff happens, there are various subplots concerning her parents and others, set against a period of social and political upheaval. It sounds awful when I try and sum it up here but it's not that bad!

The research for historical novels is hard though. Advice? Um, keep writing and if something doesn't work then change it, don't hold on to ideas that you know will never work the way you want them to, don't overwrite, info-dump or use too many adjectives/adverbs and show don't tell. That's all I've got :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 2
Yh I started one about 3 years ago and never really got to finish it unfortunately :/ Will get back to you on the synopsis though :biggrin: I need to recap on what it's about...

Edit: Both of the above sound really interesting btw :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by Boom.Squish
I'm trying to write something, though I've put it off until after exams.

It starts in 1913 and goes through a couple of years of the war. The premise is a girl of aristocratic blood making her debut in high society. She's looked down upon a bit as her mother eloped with a man of much lower social standing than herself then committed suicide while the father disappeared. She grows up with her aunt, uncle and cousins. She's very close to one of them but this cousin ends up marrying a man who she starts to fall in love with. Meanwhile, war is declared and things are changing in London. She gets involved in the suffragette movement, much to the chagrin of her family and throws herself into various other causes to distract herself from her complicated love life. After the husband of the cousin goes to war and she has a miscarriage, her mental health starts deteriorating and it's up to the main character to try and pick up the pieces. And lots of other stuff happens, there are various subplots concerning her parents and others, set against a period of social and political upheaval. It sounds awful when I try and sum it up here but it's not that bad!

The research for historical novels is hard though. Advice? Um, keep writing and if something doesn't work then change it, don't hold on to ideas that you know will never work the way you want them too, don't overwrite, info-dump or use too many adjectives/adverbs and show don't tell. That's all I've got :smile:


This sounds really good! Would love to read it after it's finished :smile:
Subbing to this thread. I am going to be re-visting my novel over the Summer for some intense writing (and hopefully publication!!! :biggrin:)

Its a urban fantasy novel.
Nice idea, can't go wrong with a bit of the supernatural. I'm guessing this would be for a teen audience?
Well I tend to write on and off about nothing in particular tbh, just so that I keep practicing. I often get lots of random, disjointed ideas and so write them down in a notepad (I like to carry one around with me- yes I'm a geek :cool:) so that I don't forget them.
I can't wait until after exams to get cracking with some serious writing though!
Not a novel but a screenplay (much easier). I'll start in the summer though, after the exams.

It's basically about chavs playing in a football tournament, where they hope to be scouted. But the main character is defeatist.
Reply 7
Technically, yes, although I've written slightly over a chapter in the two years since I began. Who wants to read it?
NaNoWriMo. That is the best thing I can recommend for actually completing a novel - whether it will be of a very high standard is another thing, but imo it's getting that first draft done that matters the most.

If not NaNo, then at least try and apply some of the things it encourages - strict discipline, writing "sprints", dropping perfectionism in favour of getting those words turned out. Last November I wrote a novel during NaNo and I have to say it's hugely satisfying to be able to say "yeah, I finished my first draft" haha.
Reply 9
Original post by Boom.Squish
I'm trying to write something, though I've put it off until after exams.

It starts in 1913 and goes through a couple of years of the war. The premise is a girl of aristocratic blood making her debut in high society. She's looked down upon a bit as her mother eloped with a man of much lower social standing than herself then committed suicide while the father disappeared. She grows up with her aunt, uncle and cousins. She's very close to one of them but this cousin ends up marrying a man who she starts to fall in love with. Meanwhile, war is declared and things are changing in London. She gets involved in the suffragette movement, much to the chagrin of her family and throws herself into various other causes to distract herself from her complicated love life. After the husband of the cousin goes to war and she has a miscarriage, her mental health starts deteriorating and it's up to the main character to try and pick up the pieces. And lots of other stuff happens, there are various subplots concerning her parents and others, set against a period of social and political upheaval. It sounds awful when I try and sum it up here but it's not that bad!

The research for historical novels is hard though. Advice? Um, keep writing and if something doesn't work then change it, don't hold on to ideas that you know will never work the way you want them too, don't overwrite, info-dump or use too many adjectives/adverbs and show don't tell. That's all I've got :smile:


I really really want to read that now! :biggrin:
I've written three novels now, the most recent one I'm currently editing is called Viking North Utsire. This is the blurb:

There are warnings of gales in Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty.

Dr Russell Garvey could barely be said to be living a life, he was merely providing the singular thread bringing together a series of disparate, uninspiring and repetitive events in which he was involved. There were few moments which could be considered pleasurable but he kept one for himself; the feeling of losing consciousness to the melodic, incomprehensible tones of the Shipping Forecast.

It isn't until he decides to break the monotony that he finds emotions he'd long forgotten. A reckless decision, a box of impersonal possessions and a smashed coffee cup all play their part in a series of events that see him embracing an Icelandic fisherman, sprinting through the streets of the Faeroese capital and meeting someone at 2am on a Danish ferry who will alter his life in ways he couldn't even begin to comprehend.

On the 2nd of April 2010 Russell thinks the biggest worry in his life is a £33.10 library fine. By the 22nd he will have found a sense of perspective.
I have a couple on the go right now (I never only work on one of anything at a time, be it writing projects, schoolwork or anything else - it means I get to procrastinate from doing one by doing the other...)

One is based around Ovid's metamorphoses and deals with the idea of change. The protagonist is a classical translator who finds that the work strangely begins to reflect upon the happenings of her own life. I'll be frank, I have no clue where this one is going, so whislt I'd love to tell you, it's impossible. :P

The second is something I've worked on-and-off on for a few years now. It's a literary horror dealing with the idea of the lycanthropy/werewolf legend in a more scientific light. Annoyingly, first came Twilight, then came a rush of supernatural awfulness, then finally came the killing blow which was Glenn Duncan's fantastic novel 'the last werewolf', which kind of put me off keel for a while, but I still plan to finish it someday. The protagonist was an FSS worker (until the service got cut, boo!) with a condition that drew similarities to the werewolf legends. Minus all of the overdone 'scaling walls' and so on. It was more visceral than romanticised and quite reflective rather than plot based. Think along the lines of Ian McEwan's 'Enduring Love' crossed with 'The Timetraveller's Wife' meets anything by Anne Rice, and you sort of half get the picture...

I've written others for Nanowrimo, and had one fanfiction that turned into novel-length, but nothing else serious recently.

Don't know about anyone else's writing methods, planning and so on, but I recently discovered a tool called 'Storybook". It's freeware that allows you to collects together lots of information on characters, plots, sub-plots, locations etc. rather like a scrapbook would. Whilst writing a more plot-based Nanowrimo (I'm usually a character-based person myself...) I found it really helpful. :smile:
Lol. Everyone is 'writing' a novel.

Talk to me when you've finished one.
Original post by Norfolkadam
This is the blurb:


This sounds really interesting, I love it! Is it heading for publishing? I'd love to read it!
Reply 14
Yes. It's called 'Faster Than the Speed of Love'.
Reply 15
I, too, am writing a novel. Here is a blurb taken from my deviantART page:

As you may - or may not - know, I am writing a story following the journey of Fael and Syett. Here is the blurb for the story:

Three years ago, magic was made illegal though the reasons have been covered up and despicable lies and rumours spread through the land to create fear in the province of Meldar and to call the Magefolk, those with the spark of magic, abominations and a curse from the Gods of Hell. Many Magefolk and their families through the generations are slain and killed or sent to exile in far off lands. However, Fael, her mother and her brother Liem, are one of the few that have hidden themselves away from the government and those that would slaughter them if found.
Fael, a girl of nineteen, is thrust right into the midst of a secret war between the Magefolk and the Slayers those that want every mage in the land dead by an act of stupidity and a terrible blunder where she releases magic for the whole of the city of Hersh to see. Taken in by a secret league of Magefolk, she has to learn to use her latent power to uncover a corrupt government and an even greater secret that is putting the whole land in danger.
Meanwhile, Syett, a young lad and son to one of the most influential man of the Slayers is given a task. Hunt down the girl and bring her to him. She has been watched, forgotten and watched again. She is harbouring a power that his father wants and will do anything to get it.


To the OP: Try to omit the words wizard and witch from your novel to take you one step further away from the Harry Potter style. Find another word like a Spellbinder or a Weaver or something of the sorts.
I love the idea of your story though and can see it panning out well, if you put a lot of thought and effort into it! Good luck!

I myself haven't added too my novel in a while, what with exams and things going on. Infact, its gathering cyber-dust on my old PC which has reminded me to put it on my laptop.
Original post by Mouse Potato
This sounds really interesting, I love it! Is it heading for publishing? I'd love to read it!


When I finish editing it and writing the final chapter. It's something that's been on the back burner for months whilst I concentrate on poetry and work but at some point I'll get a big surge of pointfulness and get it done. When it's done I'll be trying to get it published,
Oh let me get right on that...
Reply 18
Original post by abba_zabba
Yes. It's called 'Faster Than the Speed of Love'.


Haaa! I see what you did there xD

I tried to make a novel in between 6th form and uni. It started off really well but fizzled out a few chapters in. I'd been reading the Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton and it was really good...so much more complex and genius than the film. I tried to make a novel about introducing dinosaurs into the wild by accident and they take over mankind as the dominant race, creating a post "apocalyptic" world where men live in small colonies in fear as dinosaurs destroyed the structures we had lived in.

Yea...I know....it sucks :L
(edited 12 years ago)
I used to write lots of stories when I was younger, both short stories and also the start of a few novels. I never did finish those novels though :erm:, and now they're all lost because both my old computer and my memory stick crashed :emo:.

Ah well, I could always do some better ones in the future :smile:

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