Take your time. Psychologists and sex therapists know that real-life foreplay should last over 20 minutes for maximum heat, and foreplay in a romantic novel should involve just as much build up time to allow the reader to heat up as well. A great sex scene lasts longer than a page. Leading readers slowly through the anticipation and sexual tension is a smart move to keep them wanting more. Turning on the senses has a natural progression in any form, and jumping into bed to go from 0 to 60 in two seconds flat (or two paragraphs short) just isn’t good for anyone. Allow the attraction and scene to rise in level of sensuality for sex that gets the heart beating faster.

Use the mood to its maximum potential. The setting is very important to a sex scene and creates the mood for the situation of characters. Give the scene a place to happen and use your creativity to build setting into the anticipation. Pay attention to small details, such as glances, licking of lips, small murmurs, a breath or a brush of fingertips on skin, as well as the lighting, the sounds in the area, the feel of anything a character touches. Senses during sex are heightened, so your characters would notice these things that help bring the sensuality to vivid imagination and near life.

Watch out for too much realism. The act of sex itself really isn’t a pretty affair, if you think about it. Sex involves grunting, shoving, pushing, strange sounds, mess, and cleanup, as well as funny faces, awkward positions, leg or foot cramps, arriving at the moment too soon or not soon enough … You get the picture. A good sex scene focuses more on the before and build-up to the act, and leaves the rest aside. Gloss over the moments that take away from the heat.

Gauge if it’s good. Some smart advice on knowing whether a sex scene is a good one is whether you have to take a break while you’re writing it. Judge your own reactions to gauge how your readers will feel about your sensual scene. You should be able to feel your own body’s response as you write and each time you reread. If you don’t, then your sex scene is going to fall flat for others who read it too.

The type of sex matters. What sort of sex scene you write may determine how many people will read your novel. Vanilla sex with perhaps a touch of something special will reach a far wider audience than sex involving particularly racy tastes or uncommon acts. That type of sex will sell too, but it might not get the exposure the rest of the storyline of the novel deserves. Try to write your sex for the type of audience you want to reach.

Keep in mind that a good sex scene doesn’t even have to involve sex at all. You can have plenty of anticipation and sexual tension building up over a chapter or two with plenty of steamy foreplay. If you’re uncomfortable writing the specific act of sex, then skip it, and let the reader’s imagination handle that fantasy as you fast forward to the afterglow.

You read the first line.

Which sucks, so you close the book and return it to the shelves.

That’s it. That’s how much time you have to hook the interest of readers today. If your first sentence doesn’t capture a reader’s imagination, that reader is off to the next novel.

Of course, if you’re John Grisham or Stephen King, readers will cut you some slack and stick with you longer. You’ve already gained their trust in the past, so a poor first sentence is forgiven. But if you’re just starting out and looking to build an audience, that first sentence is your calling card. It’s your first, and often only, chance to make an impression.

So what makes a great first sentence?

Fortunately, you have a variety of choices. The two primary hooks for a powerful first sentence revolve around character or action. There are a handful of others. However, for the purposes of this article, we’re going to focus on these two. Let’s take a look at action first.

Action refers to movement. Tension, action, conflict … these are fairly interchangeable terms. The point with an opening action sentence is to immediately grab your reader by the shoulders and give him or her a shake. It’s like the first drop in a great roller coaster ride … there’s no turning back because you have your reader’s complete attention.

Here are some samples:

• The bomb went off under the table of the corner booth at Mindy’s Coffee Shop, where Judge Arnold Cummings ate breakfast every morning at precisely 8:35.
• Sheila Hamilton tugged desperately on the reins but she’d already lost control of the panicked Morgan and it was clear that something bad was about to happen.
• As the car flipped down the embankment, George Luther couldn’t help wonder what else could possibly go wrong today.
• A moment before the lightning strike would change his life forever, Malcom Zebrowski was celebrating his thirty-third birthday with a group of people he’d never met before today.

These samples immediately pull the reader into the movement of the story. Your reader not only wants to know what happens next, but in all likelihood, a number of questions have already sprung to mind, begging for answers. For example, in our first sentence … was the bomb meant to kill the judge? If so, why? Who planted the bomb? What lead up to this moment?

These are all legitimate questions that encourage your reader to keep reading. And that’s the whole point of a powerful first sentence … hook the reader.

So let’s take a look at some character openings. These are based in character descriptions that create curiosity. Your reader finds this particular character so quirky or interesting that he or she just has to learn more. Here are some samples:

• Emily Bauer was tiny in stature, standing only 4′-11″, but she feared no one and those who crossed her spent the rest of their days glancing over their shoulders in dread.
• Max Ristow spent most of his life coping with migraines, until the day he met his dead sister on a beach in Monterey.
• Howard Duncan dragged his right leg when he walked, the result of an accident that had killed both of his parents when he was six and left him with permanent nerve damage to the right side of his body.
• Some people called her a saint, some a sinner, but most people considered Tammy Hathaway a woman of her word.

Curiosity. Wanting to know more. Wondering who this person is and how he or she ended up here. These are all pieces of the character puzzle that a strong opening sentence can kick into gear.

So there you go … two opening sentence strategies to make your novel irresistible to the casual reader. A good opening can be your book’s greatest champion. Give it the love and attention it deserves.

However, it doesn’t need to be overwhelming. You just need to take it one step at a time. And the first step is agreeing to allow yourself to make mistakes and be imperfect. One of the great advantages of novel writing is that no one has to see it until you’re ready for them to see it. So begin your journey with the understanding that it’s going to be an adventure, that you’re going to make mistakes, and that it’s all right to make mistakes because you can always clean things up later.

So how do you get started?

If you don’t already have a story in mind, then the first step is to develop a foundational concept for your novel. Ideas are everywhere. If you’re really starting from scratch, try reading newspapers, novels by your favorite authors, short stories, science magazines, etc. Most novel ideas spring from other ideas. You’ll find as you’re reading that questions begin to spring to mind. These are usually WHAT IF questions, and they indicate that you’re both interested in the topic you’re reading and you can see the possibility of exploring it in a different manner.

Your goal in seeking out a basic premise for your novel is to find something that excites you and that you can easily state in a single sentence. For example:

A young, self-centered woman with an addictive personality must find a way to adapt when she becomes parent to her nine-year-old niece.

An ordinary, nerdy, often picked-on high school student wakes up one morning to discover he can move objects with his mind.

A super-mom, who dedicates every waking moment of her life to her five children, discovers that her husband has lost all their money gambling and she must suddenly find a way to support the children as well as nurture them.

So when you encounter an article or a sentence or a story that suddenly has you getting jazzed with enthusiasm, run with it. Start writing down everything that comes to mind. Possible characters. Possible scenes. Possible endings. Whatever springs into your head. Simply allow yourself to freely explore the concept.

You aren’t committing to anything at this point. Your enthusiasm may burn out after you spend a few minutes in the process. If so, toss it out and keep looking. Or you may discover that the story idea simply doesn’t go anyway. That’s okay, too. There is no shortage of ideas. Be as picky as you want (as long as you don’t use it as an excuse to never start writing).

Keep going through this process until you’re able to refine your idea into a simple sentence that has you excited about the potential of your story idea.

Okay, no more lecturing. The truth is … a few solid novel writing tips can provide you with the motivation to get started and a rough idea of how to start. So here are some new ones for you …

6: Use Your Own Voice

It’s tempting to try to mimic the voice of a writer you admire. Most writers are readers first. They come to the craft by way of appreciation for the talents of others. So it’s not uncommon to try to write in the same voice as someone you’ve been reading. However, you’re doing yourself and your readers a tremendous disservice. The world doesn’t need another Stephen King or Ray Bradbury or Janet Evanovich. Readers want new voices, fresh voices. Give them what they want.

7: If Keeping A Journal Helps, Keep A Journal

I’m not a journal writer. I do have friends who not only keep journals but swear by them. If you enjoy keeping a journal and it doesn’t distract from your novel writing, then keep a journal. If you don’t enjoy keeping a journal, don’t keep one. The danger with a journal is that it’s always easier to sit outside under a tree and write about your take on the world or how your life is going or this great description of an elderly woman you saw at the market last Tuesday, and … never work on your novel. So be careful if you keep a journal. Be aware when you’re using it as a means of avoiding your novel writing.

8: First Names Don’t Belong In Your Dialogue

This is a pet peeve of David Morrell, a wonderful writer. Too often in dialogue (this is especially true in the dialogue you hear on television or in the movies), people use first names. Here’s an example: “I don’t know, Joe, what do you think? Seems like, you know, Joe, you’re always pushing things to the limit.” The truth is this: if you spend time listening to people talk in real life, you’ll almost never hear them address each other by name. The conversation would really go like this: “I don’t know, what do you think? Seems like, you know, you’re always pushing things to the limit.” So the tip: always minimize your use of fist names in dialogue.

9: Edit With The Story In Mind

One of the most difficult tasks you’ll encounter as a writer is editing your work honestly. You’ll know when you encounter a passage or a scene that doesn’t move the story forward, that you know you could cut without affecting any other elements. But do you have the toughness to cut it? What if it’s beautifully written? What if you put your heart and soul into it? Could you still cut it? It’s hard to cut your own work, especially when you’re proud of what you’ve written. Bottom line: does the passage contribute to the story? If it doesn’t, face up to it, cut it and move on.

10: Don’t Worry So Much

If you’re going to write a novel, enjoy the process, especially the first draft. Don’t worry about if it’ll all work out in the end. Writing isn’t permanent. You can change anything. Allow yourself to write for the pure joy of the process. Your novel will be better for it.

There they are, five more novel writing tips. Straightforward and to the point. Take them for what they’re worth. Keep them in mind when you’re writing, but don’t let them get in the way of your words flowing freely. And as I previously mentioned, if you truly want to write a novel, a good novel writing course can help you write a better novel, and write it quicker.

With that said, a few solid novel writing tips can provide you with the motivation to get started and a rough idea of how to start. So here they are …

1: Don’t Start Until You Know These

Some writers love to outline the novel in its entirety before they write a single word. Other writers prefer to sketch out a few notes and jump right in. Either way you choose to approach writing your novel, before a single word goes on paper, you need to know these:

• Who the story is about
• The primary driving conflict of the story
• Who or what opposes the story’s main character
• How it all turns out

If, at a minimum, these four issues are clear in your mind, then you can feel somewhat comfortable in getting started on your novel.

2. Save Your Research For Later

It’s easy to get caught up in researching every little aspect of your story, from settings to careers to how things work. Don’t get bogged down in research. When you come to a section that requires research, mark it as such and keep writing. You can come back later and fill in the blanks. Research can be a novel killer if you let it consume you.

3: Don’t Write A Novel, Write A Scene

The idea of writing a novel can be overwhelming. Don’t let it overwhelm you. A novel isn’t written all at once. It’s written scene by scene. So approach it that way. Write one scene at a time. Don’t worry about the rest of the story, just focus on getting that one scene completed.

4: Plan On Writing More Than A Single Draft

If you want to free yourself to write faster and better, then face the fact early on that you’ll be doing several drafts. There’s the first draft, written as fast as possible. There’s the second draft, here you focus on the plot, making sure that everything works, tossing out extra scenes, adding in scenes that are missing. There’s the third draft, in which you clean up your punctuation, make sure your sentences make sense, etc. Finally, there’s the optional four draft, when you give the novel one more run through. Accept that you’ll be writing more than a single draft and a huge load will come off your shoulders. Suddenly, you don’t have to be perfect. You can write with joy and freedom!

5: Write

Out of all the novel writing tips that I could offer, this is the only one that truly matters. If you want to write a novel, you have to write. Not occasionally. Not only when the muse strikes you. Not only when the rest of the family is out of the house. No, you have to write everyday. Even if it’s only for fifteen minutes. You must sit down and apply words to paper each and every day. Write!