First novel—written by a woman.

Murasaki Shikibu.

In the 11th century.

Picked up by Cervantes in 1605. This guy wrote Don Quixote.

The novel was whipped into shape by writers like Johnathan Swift—he gets credit for Gulliver’s Travels.

Except for Murasaki and George Eliot, novel writing was for Men Only—and here comes Currer Bell, the male pseudonym for Charlotte Bronte, who stunned the 19th century reader-world with Jane Eyre, which has generated more than two dozen films in English.

And more in other languages.

So if you’re writing a novel today—in the early stages of the 21st century, wouldn’t you be wise to take a long look at Jane Eyre?

Try to figure out how Bronte stunned the world?

The thing we call a novel grew up in the 19th century—hauling drama from the stage into the living room.

If you had a novel to read, you could have drama without grabbing a Hansom Cab and freezing your toes on the road to the theater.

Back then, your novel would have competed with theater-goers.

Today, your novel competes with screens—

TV

Laptop

Cellphone

I-pads

Movie Theaters.

This competition with screens—means you should tell your story with scenes.

Not narration.

You can count scenes—you’ll  need 50-75 for your story.

You cannot count your passages of narration.

Narration is the prose you find on Facebook.

Narration swoops and soars and writhes on the page.

It’s packed with authorial emotion.

Narration is great for writing about despair and doom.

Woe is me.

Where can I get that published?

Where can I get paid for exposing my angst? My woeful woes?

The novel is a form of entertainment.

The first line promises a story:

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” (Rebecca)

“When I wake up the other side of the bed is cold.” (Hunger Games)

“When he was thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Let’s say that again: Your first line promises a story.

So when you rewrite—no matter what agony poured forth in your first draft—you’d be smart to focus on story. Is your novel about a poor girl who has a drunk for a dad?

Or is it about a dude who gets drafted and becomes a hero when he saves an important person from drowning?

Or is it about a sensitive person who gets bullied in school and who grows up to own the factory that employs the children of the bullies who beat up on the sensitive person way back when?

Whatever you decide, it’s smarter to write scenes. A scene is a systematic presentation of setting, action, objects, dialogue, end of the scene, off to the next scene.

A scene has a time-limit.

A scene helps you focus on your characters—and not get wound up in wordy narration.

A scene needs at least two characters—three is better because the third character is often the Archetypal Intruder—the source of drama, moving your story along.

Narration is hard to chop because it sounds like you.

Narration carries a message: This is MY BOOK and MY voice and a horde of novelists who came before ME did okay with narration.

Step back.

Think about all those screens.

Once you write a narration—it’s hard to chop.

It’s easier to dump a bad scene.

Or to rebuild it.

Your pleasant friends at Grammarly utter this promise: “How to write a novel in 7 steps, With Examples.” Here are the seven steps:

1. Generate ideas.
2. Create an outline.
3. Write a first draft.
4. Seek feedback.
5. Revise.
6. Write a second draft.
7. Edit your novel.

Take note: none of these helpful online helpers bother with scenes or objects or core stories. They haven’t noticed that screens have taken over the world—and that includes entertainment—but you know better—laptops and cell-phones and desktops and iPads and note-taking tablets have us by the throat—and their weighty insistent presence makes one picture worth more than 1,001 words—and please remember that mantra when you re-write your novel.

Good luck with your rewrite.

Tell us how it’s going.

And thank you for your time.