Where do you get ideas for your novels and how do you start writing your story? These are often the first questions a beginning writer asks a published author. For me, ideas are everywhere. You can start a story with an  intriguing character, unusual setting, a moral dilemma, or a dramatic event. All can be twisted and spun in directions to serve the storyteller’s purpose.

Perhaps the easiest way to get started is to know what subject inspires you to want to know more about a particular topic. What genres do you like to read? Before sitting down to write a novel for a particular genre, understand the criteria and constraints of that genre. In that way, you’ll avoid a lot of beginner mistakes.

Before you start drafting your story, consider the definition of the verb, “shift.” This word has huge relevance to novel writing and, in particular, to plotting. Shift means to move a person or thing to a different place or position; or, to cause something to change a belief or opinion. The emphasis is on moving.  And not simply a linear movement from beginning to end but movement with dramatic rising and falling action. It’s that kind of movement that all good stories have.

1. Choose a genre such as mystery, women’s fiction, romance, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, or young adult and then read books and also synopses of published books in your chosen genre. Reading stimulates the flow of ideas. Take a shot at writing a one-page synopsis of the novel you want to write.

2. Make a list of six or eight characters from the world’s political, cultural, scientific, artistic, or humanitarian arenas who intrigue you. Thinking about what you know about each character, create another list of positive traits and character flaws. Characters drive plots based on their hidden desires, goals, and the choices they make. Start your novel with an intriguing character. Even better, start your novel with an intriguing character who has a goal with high stakes if that goal is not met or a deep (perhaps dark) secret and a reason to keep that secret at all costs.

3. Select a dramatic setting. For example, think of a local, national, or world setting in which something dramatic has happened. Change the locale, spin the story in a different direction, and use an interesting character at the heart of the story to drive it forward.

4. Start with a what-if question. Imagine an ordinary day in the life of your character and change it up by asking lots of what-if questions that will then turn into an extraordinary dramatic opening to set your story in motion. It’s the equivalent of thrusting the gear shift on the engine (of your story) into driving it forward.

5. Wound your character. It’s great to have heroic characters with stellar traits and abilities. But a deep-seated wound gives a dimension that can cause a character to make wrong choices, thus creating more havoc and drama for her. This wounding can serve as a character flaw if it blinds the character in some way to staying on purpose. Plus, such a wound can cause a character to unwittingly put others at risk by making choices that avoid probing the wound. Never make life or choice easy for your main character.

6. Put two lovers together (or, an individual and the person, place, or thing he loves most in the world) and then rip them apart. Despite all odds and the desire (plus the goal) to reunite, make it virtually impossible until they overcome the final hurdle to come back together.

7. Create a catastrophic situation and characters who will prevail against all odds (man v. man, man v. nature, man v. self).

8. Imagine your character faces a moral dilemma. It could have implications for a whole community (a local doctor in a rural area with a drug problem, a church treasurer who is embezzling from a crisis fund, an auto mechanic who settles grudges by tampering with the cars of his enemies).

9. Rewrite an old newspaper obituary, changing the person’s gender. Starting with the manner of death, ask what-if questions to take the person’s life in a different direction.

10. Start with a dramatic setting–a refugee camp where a killer lurks, a river’s spring thaw exposing a body, a business torched by a rival owner, an small commuter airplane in rapid descent destined to crash.

There are as many ways to plunge into story as there are writers wanting to take the plunge. If you are one of them, there’s no better time to start than now.

*          *          *

Meera Lester is the author of A BEELINE TO MURDER (Sept. 2015) and THE MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE (Sept. 2016) as well as her just-completed third novel (for Kensington Publishing) in the Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries. See, http://www.hennypennyfarmette.com

Her books are available online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books, Walmart, and others as well as through traditional bookstores everywhere. Find her on Facebook.com/meera.lester and twitter.com/@MeeraLester. Also locate her on LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+.