A Cheat Sheet For Writing Decent Novels That Will Earn You Sales

While not the fastest way to generate money I still think that writing novels can be a decent way to make a living. It’s something I’ve tried my hand at a long time ago and made decent money on. Romance is the best place to go, writing under a female pseudonym of course, but there are plenty of other genres out there that are hungry for readers. Romance, thrillers, mystery, all have plenty of readers out there.

But something that you have to do to make money as a self-published author is have volume, lots and lots of volume. If you write poor quality work then you need to have hundreds of books out there under a multitude of pen names and keep producing more as the returns will lower as the books get poor reviews. Many take this method and hire out most of the writing and run as a publishing firm of poor quality books.

I do not recommend this method. I not recommend the other path of working years to perfect your craft to the highest level and then trying to write a best seller that’ll be loved by the masses. That often takes decades of work and there is a faster way to do it. The middle path. The middle path is where you work on your craft but you don’t need to be a Stephen King or James Patterson or Dan Brown or anyone like that.

You can get by producing good works, as opposed to great, and building a decent sized backlist. You still may have to write a hundred or so books but for a living that’s not that much, all things considered. Here I’m going to show you a quick cheat sheet to write good novels. Again, not great, but good. And great novels will still use these fundamental things.

Let’s get started.

Plot + Character = Story

I really hope we can get away from the while plot vs character thing. That’s sort of like saying “What’s required for a good breath? Inhaling or exhaling?” It’s a dumb question. Don’t do both and you’ll die. Same with your story. Don’t have decent plot and character and the story is dead on the vine. It’s not an either or thing. Sure there are some stories that qualify as more “character driven” vs “plot driven” but really these are just at best confusing and at worst debilitating terms that screw up what we’re really trying to do.

Which is write a good story.

So right here, right now, drop the whole plot vs character thing. It’s dumb you have to master both to make great stories. You have to be good at both to make decent stories that’ll sell. Don’t think “Oh I’m a thriller writer I don’t need character” or “Oh I’m a romance writer I don’t need plot.” wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Without both you are not going to sell.

Which is why I have provided a cheat sheet for both plot and character. A basic formula, a base to build off of. A foundation if you will. I’m also going to lay out some resources for you if you want to dig deeper into them. And if you’re serious about this, you will.

A Cheat Sheet For Writing Good Plots

I’ve read a lot of books on plotting. Some like to use Joseph Campbell’s monomyth which frankly I think has very little value for writing good plots while others have their own convoluted system. But when you look at what has worked for both the screen and the written page there is a system that has been used by the pros for quite a while now. And no it’s not “save the cat”. It’s the 4 act structure. Essentially it breaks down like this…

You have a first plot point, mid point, second plot point, and finale. With other things like an “all is lost” moment often mixed in there. Syd Field was on of the first to write this down but it has been expanded upon by others. What you can do is write a plot doing the following.

Inciting incident – in first 10% of book

First plot point – Sets protagonist on path that’ll be main quest of the story, hit at roughly 25% of the way in.

Midpoint – New information enters the story that changes the context of the protagonists quest, 50% in

Second plot point – Final injection of new knowledge that’ll give the protagonist what he needs to complete the story, 75% on the way in.

Finale – Protagonist confronts the end of his journey, final 5% of novel.

A few resources to really get into the depths of this.

Syd Field’s – Screenplay

Larry Brook’s – Story Engineering (And the rest of the series)

Jeffrey Schechter’s – My Story Can Beat Up Your Story

Here’s a cheat sheet for Larry’s overview of it.

A Cheat Sheet For Writing Good Characters

There are many methods to writing characters. You could do the interview questions where you ask them what their favorite color is or who their best friend was in high school or other inane things. This method can flesh out a character but as the most basic it leaves a lot to be desired. Of course you can also just copy people from real life. A little of Uncle Bob, you old boss at the Pizza Hut, you mother in law, and presto a real character. Except these often end up more Frankenstein monsters then real flesh and blood characters.

Enter the enneagram.

The enneagram is an ancient model of human behavior. Similar to the Myers’-Briggs or four personality types except not nearly as limiting and allowing much more free flow for personality types. I find that the enneagram works as a fantastic base for building a character that really comes to life. There are 9 types in the enneagram each with their own personality traits, driving desires, character flaws, and more. Obviously you don’t want to copy over from the enneagram one for one but as a foundation piece to build off of, it works great.

And that’s what these out, foundational pieces for you to build off of and express your creativity through. Plenty has been written about the enneagram but here are some resources that stick out.

Laurie Schnebly’s – Believable Characters: Creating With Enneagrams

Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson’s – The Wisdom of the Enneagram

Jeff Lyon’s – Rapid Story Development

Write & Profit

Obviously this is a just a start. Even when you’ve written a decent book using the above you still have to do the critical part of marketing it well. Getting those critical first reviews, listing it right on amazon, writing the best blurb possible, using the right advertising methods. But even before that, and most important of all, getting the cover right. There is plenty to be done besides just writing a story. But this “cheat sheet” method will give you a head start.

Use it and profit.

If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!

-Charles Sledge