Page 99 - Mousumi: Unbelievable Transformation

2. Characters: The characters are the individuals that the story is about. The
author should provide enough information about the characters like their
physical traits, personality traits, profession, behaviour etc. so that reader can
understand their actions. The most crucial aspect about the characters is that
characters must be justifiable; their actions & behaviour must be uniform
throughout the story.

3. Plot: Plot refers to the series of incidents that make up a whole story. It is the
plot itself & the writer’s way of representing it in the form of long text that
captures the reader’s interest.

4. Theme: Theme may be defined as the message or central idea of the novel.
By the end of the novel, the readers must have a better understanding of
the moral of the story through the setting, characters & events.

5. Conflict: A conflict in literature refers to any struggle between opposing
forces. For example- In ghost stories, the protagonist of the novel mainly
struggles against some supernatural force. Conflict is one of the most significant
elements of the novel. The novel becomes so boring & featureless without
conflict.

Pre-Requisites for Novel-Writing
There are some prior conditions that are required to start the novel-writing
process. Four minimum pre-requisites for the novel-writing process are -Good
command over the language, Love of writing, Thinking ability, Good written
communication skills. While some of the essential qualities of a Good Novel
Writer are: Keen observer, Imagination, Managerial skills, Patience, Writing style
& ability to size up the content, Self-motivation & passion for writing etc.

Stages of Novel-Writing
The novel-writing process goes through four stages. These stages symbolize a
proper roadmap for writing a book in a more acceptable way. The brief
description of all the four stages of the novel-writing process is given below-

1. Initial phase: In the initial phase, a general outline is set, i.e. what type of
novel one is going to write. Brainstorming, deep thinking, discussions are carried
out so as to get a particular theme or subject matter for the novel. It is just the
informal way of collecting juicy ideas for the novel through keen observation &
exploration. The end result of this phase is- Rough outline of the story.

2. Dry run phase: Dry run refers to the occasion in which practice is done
before the actual implementation of something. So, in this phase, all the
generated ideas are put appropriately for building a whole story. Setting,
characters, plot & theme all are developed till the end of this second phase.

♦♦Career Mantra♦♦ Page 98