How to make a good novel?

[trenton]

I am currently working a book with a complicated plot.  It is based on a real story about child custody and involves drug abuse, domestic violence, suicide, and more.  I may try to cut some of what happened out to make the plot less complicated.  Is there a recommendation for how much needs to be written in a novel?

I will summarize the plot here before posting parts of the story.  Sometimes I cry while writing the story, and I am interpreting it as it is a sign of a good story.

I am a senior in high school in 2016.  Throughout the year I am looking for ways to reach out for help, but for no avail until the end of the year.  The main conflict is that my mother and father are fighting over child support and they are both trying to use their children as pawns to gain an advantage in court.  In the story I side with my religious drug dealing father who fled the state to avoid paying child support and his new girlfriend.  I side with my father because my siblings are in danger at the other house full of drug addiction and domestic violence between my mother and her new boyfriend.  There is a separate, simultaneous case of domestic violence with my father and his girlfriend.  Throughout the story the protagonist lies to protect the father who he falsely believes loves him in the hopes of evicting his abusive stepfather, protecting his siblings in the process.  Ultimately the story ends with a true event in which I described the entire situation with a power point presentation for literally 100 people.

People seem to find this story inspiring and I think it would it would help describe issues such as domestic violence, drug abuse, suicide, child custody, and many other complicated issues which are all in play at the same time during the story.  People also seem to think that mental disorder such as autism and OCD create challenging obstacles in addition to everything else.  The book has a mixed ending after all of the betrayal between the parents and children.  The step father is evicted, dad dies of cancer, my siblings are moved to a foster home, and now I'm with my grandma writing the story.

Should I write parts of the story in an actualized journal?

[puporing]

This reminds me a lot of the memoir/Netflix series "Maid". Might give some ideas, it was a success. 

I don't have experience writing a novel, but Stephen King gives the recommendation of just reading a lot, a lot of different books, fiction, non-fic, different genres, etc if you were hoping to approach this as a long-term career.

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by puporing