A novel has several defining characteristics. First and most importantly, it is written in prose — natural speech, not the rhythmic structure of poetry. Second, it is long — typically 40,000 words or more (longer than a novella or short story). Third, it has believable characters — people we can identify with, not supernatural heroes. Fourth, it contains a plot — a set of events involving those characters, with problems arising, developments, and some form of resolution. Fifth, the characters grow and change through their life experiences; the best novels trace the inner development of their characters, not just events. Sixth, the novel presents a realistic world — settings and situations that could plausibly exist. Finally, literary novels aim to express the author's vision of the human condition, making readers think about life more deeply.

The novel has many forms, each with its own structure and purpose. The epistolary novel tells its story through letters, diary entries or documents (Richardson's Pamela, Shelley's Frankenstein). The picaresque novel follows a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society (Fielding's Tom Jones). The Gothic novel uses fear, gloom, mystery and the supernatural (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights). The novel of manners examines the customs and social codes of a specific class (Austen's Pride and Prejudice). The historical novel sets its plot in the past using real historical events (Scott's Ivanhoe). The dystopian novel portrays an imaginary nightmarish society (Orwell's 1984). Magic realism weaves fantasy and myth into everyday life (Marquez's A Hundred Years of Solitude). The stream-of-consciousness novel presents a character's unbroken flow of thoughts (Joyce, Woolf). The allegorical novel uses characters and events to stand for abstract ideas (Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress). Each form offers a different kind of storytelling and reading experience.

Several forces came together to make the novel popular in 18th-century England.

The first and most fundamental reason was the development of prose. The Augustan Age valued reason, clarity and correctness — qualities best expressed in prose, not poetry. Writers looked to ancient Rome for models of elegant writing.

The founding of the Royal Society of London in 1660 promoted science, and scientific ideas needed clear, unambiguous prose to be explained. This gave prose enormous respectability.

The rise of the middle class created a large new readership. These educated but not elite readers wanted something light, interesting and educational to read. They did not want the heavy classical learning of the upper class.

The growth of periodical essays (Addison and Steele's The Spectator) introduced the habit of reading entertaining prose regularly, and brought characters and everyday social observation into print — a stepping stone directly to the novel.

Finally, the parliamentary system after the Glorious Revolution (1688) demanded clear, persuasive political prose for pamphlets, speeches and debate, further pushing prose into the mainstream of English writing.

The 18th century novel had several distinctive characteristics. It was centred on a single main character whose life and adventures drove the narrative — often in the form of a fictional autobiography or a series of connected episodes (as in Defoe's work). It used simple, direct prose accessible to middle-class readers. It placed strong emphasis on moral conduct — characters were judged against a code of virtue (as in Richardson's Pamela, where the heroine resists seduction). It was often episodic — a sequence of adventures or experiences rather than a tightly woven single plot. Some novels like Gulliver's Travels used fiction for sharp social and political satire. The epistolary form (letter-novel) was popular because it felt realistic and personal. Overall, the 18th century novel was realistic, prose-based, character-centred, and morally instructive.

The 19th century novel, especially in its Victorian phase, is dominated by realism — a faithful representation of ordinary, middle-class and working-class life. The key characteristics are as follows. First, it presents complex, rounded characters from all classes of society — not idealized heroes but real people with flaws. Second, it has a strong social conscience: it criticises the injustices of industrialisation, the condition of the poor, and strict moral codes that harmed ordinary people (especially women). Third, it uses a detailed, realistic setting — actual or believable towns, countryside, factories. Fourth, it typically follows a linear plot with a clear structure — a problem is set up, it develops, and it reaches a resolution. Fifth, it explores social mobility — characters from the lower classes trying to rise, with all the tension that brings. Notable writers: Dickens, Hardy, Thackeray, the Brontës, George Eliot, and Elizabeth Gaskell.

Modernism (roughly 1900–1945) was a radical break from what came before. The previous ages — 18th century classicism and 19th century Victorianism — believed in reason, order, progress and the stable, meaningful world. Modernism shattered all of this.

Where the 18th century valued reason and objectivity, modernism replaced them with subjectivity and inward consciousness. Where the 19th century gave readers a linear, ordered plot with a clear moral, modernism offered fragmented, non-linear narratives with no single meaning. Where Victorian writers had confidence in progress, modernist writers had pessimism and cultural despair — a world torn apart by war and industrialisation. Victorian bourgeois morality was replaced by moral relativism (no absolute right or wrong). And instead of dialogue between characters, modernist novels turned inward — the stream of consciousness technique (Joyce's Ulysses, Woolf's Mrs Dalloway) captured the messy, unedited flow of a character's thoughts. In short, the "catch phrase" of modernism was "make it new" — and it truly was new.

The 20th century novel (modernist and beyond) broke from Victorian tradition in several clear ways. There is no linear flow of narrative — no neat beginning-middle-end on a straight line. There is no unity of plot or character, so cause and effect are often unclear. There is no single moral or philosophical meaning; instead, irony and multiple viewpoints create ambiguity. The novels talk not about progress but decline — civilisation is not improving, it is crumbling. Characters experience loneliness, the idea that "people herd together, but the crowd is no company." The stream of consciousness technique — the "internal monologue" — was widely used, letting the reader inside a character's mind without filtering or editing. There is self-mockery and exposure of hypocrisy. Subjective, inward consciousness replaces the objective, rational discourse of earlier fiction. George Lukacs identified three strands: the experimental (Joyce, Woolf), the social realist (Communist Eastern Europe), and the critical realist (Thomas Mann, Bernard Shaw, Conrad) — a return to realism but with modernist awareness.