Ten Shun!
Very often when I start reading a novel by a novice writer, I find myself lost very quickly - in time, in space, in character.
The trouble is usually that although the writer knows what's going on in their own head, they haven't made the leap of asking whether the reader will understand what's happening.
For instance - it sounds obvious, but name your characters. Quickly. Not just ‘my father’ but ‘my father John’. Not just’ my best friend’ , but ‘my best friend Dolly, who I’ve known since I was nine’. In the early part of a novel, your reader is a stranger wandering around a strange land. Give them plenty of signposts. Let them orientate themselves properly at the same time as you are developing your story.
Be absolutely clear about where you are in time.
Label scenes/chapters with dates if they are called for. It might seem clunky, but especially in historical novels, it is a real help for the reader.
Don't skip about in time too much, too quickly. One of the remedies writers have when they run out of steam is to flash back or flash forward. To effectively ‘start again’. Nothing wrong with either, but be economical about use of such devices. If you are constantly going off to a different time frame, you are interrupting the central narrative which can be annoying for the reader.
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