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So you want to write the Next Great American Novel? Why not? We all have our fantasies. But what if you really want to take a serious shot at it? What would it look like?

The word NEXT implies that the novel has not yet been written. So you're not competing against Herman Melville, Mark Twain, or Ernest Hemingway. Besides, the craft of fiction-writing has progressed substantially since their time.

Modeling the next great novel after the classics would be the equivalent of modeling the next-generation Boeing airliner after the Wright brothers' plane.

How do you define GREAT? Fans of literary fiction might be willing to let the Pulitzer Prize committee make that decision, but you may not feel comfortable with that. Every genre of fiction has its own set of prizes and awards, but that's just putting the decision in the hands of a different committee. And who selects the committee? Besides, history is filled with examples of groundbreaking work that wasn't particularly well received by the literary establishment of its day. You're free to define great as you see fit. As so well put by David Morrell in Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing, "Just write a story you feel passionate about, and do it as well as you possibly can." Also according to Morrell, "That won't guarantee a wide readership, but it will guarantee the satisfaction of having written a story that matters to you: the ultimate reward."

Writing a great AMERICAN novel is certainly a worthy goal, but what if the novel within you is about another part of the world, or beyond this world? Wouldn't you be just as proud to write the next great Asian, African, or whatever novel?

When you set a goal of writing a NOVEL, you're talking about a lengthy work of fiction. So what would a great novel look like? Fiction has five elements: Character, Plot, Setting, Theme, and Style. Let's look at each element separately.

CHARACTER. According to Donald Maass, in Writing the Breakout Novel, great stories " . . . involve characters whom you cannot forget. . . they are larger than life . . . they act, speak, and think in ways you or I . . . do not." So, your great novel must have unforgettable characters. That often means intriguing, complicated characters that grow or mature; they emerge from the story as changed people.

PLOT. The characters must do something important. According to Maass, in great novels "what happens to the characters in the course of the story is unusual, dramatic, and meaningful. A great story involves

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