Posts by Katja Kaine
How to Write a Novel in a Year
Katja Kaine is an award wining novelist and the creator of The Novel Factory. Her debut novel, Blood of Gods and Girls, will be published in early 2026 by Penguin Random House. In this article she breaks down her process of writing a novel into manageable steps, with a suggested amount of time to spend…
Read MoreKatja Kaine: How I Got My Agent (And a Six Figure Book Deal!)
AKA My thirteen year writing journey from doe-eyed dreamer to serious author… I devoured these ‘How I Got My Agent’ articles while I was in the query trenches¹. Doing so was part inspirational, part research and part sticking a finger into an open wound and wiggling it around. As I read them, much as one…
Read MoreThe 4 Books That Levelled Up My Writing
by author and Novel Factory creator, Katja Kaine I have read countless books on writing, and, to be honest, a few have stood out to me as being particularly insightful and practical. However, these four stand out. These are the volumes that stuck with me. These are the ones I keep going back to novel…
Read MoreThe Best Character Template Masterlist for 2024
How can you ensure your characters leap off the page and into your characters’ hearts? Characters are the lifeblood of any story, and if you can work out how to create the kinds of characters that readers will love, then they will become lifelong devotees of your books. But how to do it? Do you…
Read MoreGuest Post: Enneagram vs 16 Personalities in Character Building
Author Bio : Lisa Sparrow, an experienced psychology expert and University of Edinburgh alumna, brings a considerable amount of counseling knowledge and a deep fascination with the human psyche. With expertise in the 16 personality types, she has served as both a school counselor and researcher, guiding students through life’s challenges. As an experienced writer for…
Read MoreThe Recycle Bin
The Novel Factory contains a Recycle Bin, where deleted content can be recovered. Things which can be recovered are: Characters Locations Items Scenes For other deleted data that you would like to recover, the Turn Back Time feature may be able to help. Recovering Data from the Recycle Bin To use the Recycle Bin, click…
Read MoreHow to Write a Mystery Novel: 6 Tips to Create Nail-Biting Suspense
In this article, we’re going to explore the art of mystery novels – looking at what makes a good mystery novel and how you can create suspense that keeps your readers on the edge of their seats, and weave a conundrum that keeps them guessing… What makes a good mystery novel? All good novels contain…
Read MoreRelated Info sidebar
The Related Info sidebar (or side panel) can be found in the following sections: Plot Manager (when a scene is selected) Manuscript (when a scene is selected) Character Details Locations Details Item Details The sidebar works the same in all these sections, except when a scene is selected there are a few extra scene-specific panels…
Read MoreUnderstanding chapters in The Novel Factory
This article will explain the concepts of chapters within The Novel Factory and their practical application. What are chapters? In The Novel Factory, chapters are like folders: they are used to group scenes together and can be given different names. They do not contain any content besides scenes. You can read more about scenes here.…
Read MoreThe Novel Factory is not working properly
Our aim is for all of our users to have a smooth, problem-free experience with The Novel Factory. However, occasionally things can go wrong. If this happens, please work through the following steps. If you are still having problems after that, get in touch and we’ll do everything we can to get you back up…
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