Is it time for the monkeys? Seven questions to ask when starting a new novel!

Maybe the trick is to think like a monkey?

So I'm thinking about starting a new novel, since I'm still in the revision phase of From the Charred Remains. Even though I'm super excited to start book 3 in my Lucy Campion series, it could be problematic to do so. Especially if my beta readers or my editors tell me I need to rewrite the ending of book 2. That hasn't happened, but who knows?

So here are the questions I'm pondering as I procrastinate, er, reflect on this new novel. Most are questions I wished I had asked myself--but of course, didn't--when I began my other novels. There's a bit of choose-your-own adventure quality to this novel-writing business, I find.

1. Do I have an idea that can be developed over 85,000 words?  Do I want to spend years with this idea, draft after draft?  If yes, I'll continue.  If I don't, then I'll stop now.   If its not compelling enough to me, than why bother?

2.  Where am I going to set this story?  Since I like to set my stories in the past, I've been spending some time mulling over backdrop and scenery.  While I expect to research details, I find it easier to frame my novel during a time period for which I already have a basic understanding of larger political, social, economic and gender developments and trends. Paging through history texts help me envision specific aspects of the setting. However, I do of course need to find ways to make the "real" world my own.

3. Do I have a point-of-view character?  Is this a character I enjoy writing about?  Have I thought about what motivates, scares, excites, infuriates this character? Where does this character fit--or not fit--into society? Do I have a sense of her voice? Do I have the image of this character in my mind?   Only after I get a semblance of the main character do I feel I can move on.

(Here's where I cheat. I usually find a celebrity who looks something like the character I have in my mind; this helps me remember what I think this person is supposed to look like). 

4. Do I have a main problem at the heart of my story?  If it's a mystery, that's easy. Whodunnit?  But I'm writing a different kind of story this time, so I need to think through the central problem. Until I've worked out why this is even a problem, I find I can't proceed effectively.

5. Do I have a general sense of what the other characters want in life?  What kinds of quests, problems, motivations do they possess? Are the goals of my minor characters aligned with--or at odds with--those of my point-of-view character?  I do figure this out along the way but I find it helpful to have some starting ideas.

6.  Do I have a sense of the ending, and perhaps more importantly, a sense of the middle? I think most writers--and perhaps most readers--would agree sagging middles can really ruin a novel.  So I like to think through the middle a bit before I start floundering. I've been in that morass before, and I don't like it. Jump in with a line to the other end, is how I like to think about it! (Yet, I've messed this up twice.  Note to self:  IN MYSTERIES, FIGURE OUT WHO THE KILLER IS BEFORE STARTING WRITING!).

7. And one last question...How will I ever string together another 85,000 words in a meaningful way?  (There's a related question here: Why am I doing this crazy thing?)  While I've thought about hiring 1000 monkeys to type for a 1000 years, I'm going to try the best approach I know:  After figuring out the shape of my story, I will just take one scene at a time.  If necessary, one paragraph at a time. And if really necessary, I will just-peck-one-word-at-a-time-until-the-first-draft-is-done.  And that's it! 

What about you?  What questions would you (do you) ask, when you sit down to create a new novel from scratch?  And how many bananas will you need to feed the monkeys?

---