{"id":995550,"date":"2026-08-06T17:48:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T16:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?p=995550"},"modified":"2026-08-06T17:48:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T16:48:41","slug":"five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Five\u00a0Questions to Kick-Start Your Novel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0staring at a blank screen, wondering\u00a0how to start\u00a0writing\u00a0your novel, try answering these\u00a0five\u00a0questions&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Which books\u00a0do\u00a0you love reading?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We tend to write the kinds of books we love to read, so&nbsp;you&nbsp;already know a bit about&nbsp;your not-yet-written-novel. It&nbsp;will&nbsp;share some features with books&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;loved.&nbsp;Can you see a common theme in&nbsp;your favourite books&nbsp;(even if, like me, you forget the detail the minute you finish)?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I notice that I love books where&nbsp;human lives and&nbsp;relationships are put under a microscope \u2013 a group of friends away for a weekend; a long-term friendship tested; familial bonds between parents and children through the years or generations; sibling groups, gathering around an event; a romantic relationship doomed, challenged, stretched to breaking; the gap between what we hope for and what life gives us; the consequences of our bad choices; jealousy, grief, ambition, desire, mortality.&nbsp;I also love books&nbsp;set in a particularly&nbsp;memorable and&nbsp;soul-stirring&nbsp;setting,&nbsp;where&nbsp;the&nbsp;setting almost becomes another&nbsp;character.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Try writing down&nbsp;the common features of&nbsp;books you love (as I have above) and&nbsp;scribble ideas around it. Let the books&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;loved water your imagination. Let your reading become your writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Which emotions feel most familiar to you?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a hard question with a&nbsp;probably private&nbsp;answer, and&nbsp;as we think of&nbsp;writing&nbsp;a novel, we need to be willing to visit the most private parts of ourselves. Yes, we can&nbsp;write&nbsp;a book from our socially acceptable holding-it-all-together self, but our book is likely to grab the reader&nbsp;much&nbsp;more if we dig down to the deeper places.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do&nbsp;you&nbsp;worry more than&nbsp;you\u2019d&nbsp;like to? Then perhaps&nbsp;your main character might do the same.&nbsp;Do&nbsp;you&nbsp;have&nbsp;deep-rooted fears&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;never shared with anyone?&nbsp;Might those fears kick-start a plot?&nbsp;Is there something that&nbsp;makes you&nbsp;furious? Can you unleash that something into your novel?&nbsp;What disgusts you or thrills you? Let us be disgusted or thrilled with you.&nbsp;What makes you cry? It will make&nbsp;us&nbsp;cry too.&nbsp;When&nbsp;a novel is growing inside me, about to burst through,&nbsp;I find I&nbsp;get (and now expect to get)&nbsp;a feeling. A feeling about what the meaning of home might be&nbsp;(book&nbsp;one), a feeling of&nbsp;profound and unspecified&nbsp;yearning&nbsp;(book&nbsp;two), a flash of&nbsp;profound&nbsp;wonder&nbsp;about the beauty of this&nbsp;world&nbsp;which I can\u2019t&nbsp;hang on to or make last&nbsp;(book&nbsp;three), a feeling of&nbsp;deep&nbsp;regret about a teenage choice&nbsp;(book&nbsp;four). All these feelings became novels&nbsp;for me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Be somewhere alone where you&nbsp;won\u2019t&nbsp;be disturbed (even for&nbsp;five&nbsp;minutes) and&nbsp;allow yourself&nbsp;to feel whatever&nbsp;you feel.&nbsp;Let your feeling become your writing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3.\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0your relationship with time \u2013 past, present, future?\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This might sound like a weird question, but&nbsp;time frames&nbsp;everything, doesn\u2019t it? And&nbsp;perhaps the&nbsp;easier&nbsp;question is whether you have a strong&nbsp;interest in&nbsp;the&nbsp;past, and&nbsp;would like to set&nbsp;your novel in an era that has always fascinated you.&nbsp;You\u2019ll&nbsp;need to enjoy research&nbsp;if so.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or,&nbsp;would you like&nbsp;the&nbsp;freedom to create&nbsp;a&nbsp;new&nbsp;future?&nbsp;Alternatively,&nbsp;would you rather set your book in the present, or at least within the limits of your lifetime?&nbsp;That\u2019s&nbsp;the first thing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;a second thing.&nbsp;Can you take your own tendencies and expand them, intensify them, nudge them in a new direction?&nbsp;Do you have nostalgic tendencies that&nbsp;you&nbsp;can&nbsp;exaggerate and pass&nbsp;to&nbsp;your main character? Might&nbsp;a&nbsp;tendency to rewrite\/rose-tint\/sugar-coat the past&nbsp;create obstacles and misunderstandings in the plot?&nbsp;&nbsp;Or are you&nbsp;tempted to miss&nbsp;the present in pursuit of the future? Could your main character&nbsp;trample&nbsp;over the present (and the people in it)&nbsp;in order to&nbsp;fulfil&nbsp;a&nbsp;future&nbsp;(realistic or unrealistic)&nbsp;goal?&nbsp;Could this be part of&nbsp;the&nbsp;plot&nbsp;of your novel? Some&nbsp;over-riding&nbsp;goal or ambition&nbsp;or obsession&nbsp;which causes&nbsp;the main character&nbsp;to destroy all that gets in&nbsp;his or her&nbsp;way? Do you&nbsp;have a tendency to&nbsp;get bored with the present?&nbsp;Can you exaggerate&nbsp;this&nbsp;so it becomes a part of&nbsp;your plot or characterisation?&nbsp;Do you find it hard to&nbsp;plan ahead?&nbsp;Can you dial this up into a kind of phobia? How&nbsp;might it affect your main character\u2019s life?&nbsp;Could a refusal to look ahead taint or even destroy what the character most values?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notice your own relationship with&nbsp;time, and&nbsp;let it&nbsp;bleed into your&nbsp;characters\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Which\u00a0places have had an impact on your life?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For me, the setting of my novel is crucial, and even when a feeling is growing inside me (home\/yearning\/wonder\/regret), it&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;become a story until I know where&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;set. The settings for my first three books came very easily: my beloved southern Spain&nbsp;\u2013 the C\u00e1diz coast and the city of C\u00f3rdoba \u2013 followed by&nbsp;two&nbsp;fictional Northumbrian islands&nbsp;and the Norfolk Broads.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But for&nbsp;book&nbsp;four, I&nbsp;couldn\u2019t&nbsp;find&nbsp;the setting&nbsp;until I had a conversation with my husband about the places that had meant the most to me.&nbsp;Suddenly, bang, there it was:&nbsp;Mudeford&nbsp;Spit, in Dorset, a finger of sand surrounded by ocean and attached to land at only one end. The feeling&nbsp;that was already forming in me&nbsp;(regret\/the consequences of a bad choice\/the possibility of redemption)&nbsp;joined with the setting&nbsp;of the spit, like the sperm and egg (!), and the main character&nbsp;was born,&nbsp;carrying her story&nbsp;with her.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Can you feel your setting coming&nbsp;into focus?&nbsp;If not, write a list of places that have made an impression on you&nbsp;across your life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. What do you know that nobody else knows?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reading a lot helps us write well. No doubt about it. We hear the music&nbsp;and the rhythm&nbsp;in the words other authors write. We marvel at the&nbsp;twists and&nbsp;turns of their&nbsp;plot. Our job is not to copy our favourite author or favourite book, but to be inspired by them.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we try to copy,&nbsp;it follows that&nbsp;the best we can be is second-best. But if we allow ourselves to be ourselves, which is what all these&nbsp;questions&nbsp;are about, we will be the best.&nbsp;The best at being&nbsp;the writers that we are.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Immediately, you may hear a voice&nbsp;in your head&nbsp;saying that&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;not interesting enough, or your life&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;big enough, that being you&nbsp;won\u2019t&nbsp;qualify you to be a novelist. But it will. We all have a particular character and&nbsp;a particular past and a particular present and&nbsp;a particular set&nbsp;of circumstances. We all feel things in a particular way. We all know things:&nbsp;how to tie knots, or make elderflower wine, deliver a baby, put up a tent, crochet a hat, forage for mushrooms. We all&nbsp;have&nbsp;passions and obsessions&nbsp;and niche bits of knowledge.&nbsp;&nbsp;When we combine&nbsp;these with&nbsp;our&nbsp;own&nbsp;unique character&nbsp;and circumstances, the books&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;read, the emotions we feel,&nbsp;the places we love and&nbsp;the way we experience time,&nbsp;then this&nbsp;combination&nbsp;will&nbsp;give us&nbsp;our story, and our voice. And because we are all human, readers will respond to our&nbsp;humanity, and&nbsp;dare to think and feel things they\u2019ve felt and thought but couldn\u2019t articulate&#8230;&nbsp;or be inspired to think and feel new things through who you are and what you&nbsp;will&nbsp;create.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Write a list of&nbsp;your niche stuff: themes, topics, hobbies, people,&nbsp;eras, space, nature, countries, jobs, skills, gifts, experiences. Things that&nbsp;have marked your life in some way. Allow them&nbsp;to feed&nbsp;your story&nbsp;and give it your unique signature.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Joanna\u00a0Glen is the lead tutor on our Novel Writing\u00a0For\u00a0Beginners course.\u00a0Want to hear more about it?\u00a0Fill in\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/zfrmz.eu\/u2m99wfr38yO71q9COI7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>this form<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0and\u00a0we&#8217;ll\u00a0send some information direct to your inbox, or\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/creative-writing-courses\/novel-writing-for-beginners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>visit the web page<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0to get all the details you need.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0staring at a blank screen, wondering\u00a0how to start\u00a0writing\u00a0your novel, try answering these\u00a0five\u00a0questions&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0 1. Which books\u00a0do\u00a0you love reading?\u00a0 We tend to write the kinds of books we love to read, so&nbsp;you&nbsp;already know a bit about&nbsp;your not-yet-written-novel. It&nbsp;will&nbsp;share some features with books&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;loved.&nbsp;Can you see a common theme in&nbsp;your favourite books&nbsp;(even if, like me, you forget the detail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36332,"featured_media":975431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-995550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novel-writing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five\u00a0Questions to Kick-Start Your Novel &#8211; Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0staring at a blank screen, wondering\u00a0how to start\u00a0writing\u00a0your novel, try answering these\u00a0five\u00a0questions&#8230;\u00a0\u00a0 1. Which books\u00a0do\u00a0you love reading?\u00a0 We tend to write the kinds of books we love to read, so&nbsp;you&nbsp;already know a bit about&nbsp;your not-yet-written-novel. It&nbsp;will&nbsp;share some features with books&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;loved.&nbsp;Can you see a common theme in&nbsp;your favourite books&nbsp;(even if, like me, you forget the detail\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-06T16:48:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-06T16:48:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Joanna-Glen-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"475\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Starkey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Starkey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura Starkey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2785be7530398342b88e3c365487f0d3\"},\"headline\":\"Five\u00a0Questions to Kick-Start Your Novel\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-06T16:48:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-06T16:48:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1606,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Joanna-Glen-2.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Novel writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jerichowriters.com\\\/five-questions-to-kick-start-your-novel\\\/\",\"name\":\"Five\u00a0Questions to Kick-Start Your Novel &#8211; 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