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being able to create space for writing. Space is not just a functional area, though encompasses time without interruption, a time put aside to concentrate. When writing a novel, this time is vital. Often those with busy lives forget that by putting time aside to concentrate, the flow of the novel becomes more fluent, and more persuasive.

STORYLINE

Having an outline is not enough to start a novel. Many writers state that they are writers, though will never be printed writers with complete stories simply because their approach is wrong. A vague outline isn't enough, and can be compared to starting a tapestry with no idea of the color scheme or the textures and thicknesses of threads to be used. It can result in confusion of written thoughts, padding to the written work to make up the word-count, and end up disappointing readers who were looking for more.

The story line is the foundation of a great novel. Here, start by constructing a skeleton, which is an outline of a story. Add to the skeleton the details which make the story work. These are often very workable in abstract form, and copious notes help in the construction of the story line. The author may be aware of how their story will begin and end, though the story needs a middle, and it is the planning and familiarity with the story, it's characters, twists and turns and scenarios that makes a story work.

The story also needs to be set historically into perspective. If working in historical novel format, the author needs to know about lifestyle, costume, names used at a time such as that set in the novel in order to create authentic atmosphere. Guesswork in this stage of novel writing will make the reader question the validity of the novel and lose interest.

It's fun thinking about the storyline. Here, imagine beginning, middle and end, and think of the whole picture as appearing on a screen. Adjectives are a wonderful tool and authors like Laurie Lee put these adjectives to wonderful use in his writing. What these do is describe what the reader cannot see, and let them see your idea in picture form, rather than just words upon a page. This really does keep readers interested. Descriptive work is weak when the storyline has not been worked on in the mind of the writer. How can a writer describe something adequately when they have no clear picture of the scenery, time, societal attitudes and morals attached to the era in which their chosen storyline is supposed to represent ?

CHARACTERS.

The characters are the

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