Outlining a Women's Fiction Novel
This genre of fiction writing may be self-explanatory, however, there are certain not so obvious elements to writing a women’s fiction novel. That’s what this post is for, to highlight the different marks you can hit as you write your novel to help solidify your work within the women’s fiction genre.
As with the other genres of fiction novels I've touched on in this blog, the outlining for a women’s fiction novel still follows the same structure of a general fiction novels. However, there are additional elements you can add to your outline to solidify your women’s fiction novel.
1. The Protagonist Should be an Evolving Woman
It’s self-explanatory that the protagonist of a women’s fiction novel should be a woman. Creating a character that is going through a change in her life will be what drives the story. As such, your protagonist should be an evolving woman. The readers should be able to clearly see the change in the protagonist from beginning to end.
Some common themes that drive a women’s fiction novel include: career changes, a change in marital status, or a traumatic family event. During the process, these changes should be negative factors in the protagonist’s life, but at the end of the novel, you can turn these negative experiences into positives---something the protagonist needed in order to attain spiritual/emotional growth.
2. Get into the Protagonist’s Psychology
In the best women’s fiction novels, the readers are able to get into the psychology of the protagonist as she finds a way to deal with the changes that are going on around her. As such, when writing your outline, you should be careful to include situations that allow the reader to get into the protagonist’s head and to be in tune with her to the extent that they're able to feel the emotions that she is feeling.
3. Include Both an Internal & External Battle
Along those same lines, a great way to get readers emotionally in tune with the protagonist is to create an internal battle within the protagonist as she deals with the external ones that she encounters. Providing your readers with flashbacks to the protagonist’s early life is a great way to display the protagonist’s internal battle, as she tries to reconcile the traumas from her past with the less than desirable external changes that are going on around her.
4. First Person Narrative View is Advisable
A first-person narrative is a great way to allow the readers to get in the heads of the protagonist, since the story is being told from her perspective. If there are more than one protagonists in your story, third person omniscient can also work.
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