I’ve dreamed of writing a book all my life, and eventually managed to achieve that dream by self-publishing my first novella.
I started out without a clue about what I was doing, and during my writing journey, I made every single mistake under the sun (and more).
But I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes, and want to share what I’ve learned with you.
Writing can be hard
I dreamed of writing a novel for years without actually doing anything about it, but the writing bug started scratching at me till I couldn’t stand it anymore, so at forty-one, I decided to try and have a go.
Being a beginner was a hard road to tread, and although I largely enjoyed it, I suffered along the way too.
Geez, did I struggle sometimes, and geez, did it take a long time to write!
It was often really hard, and going nowhere, and sometimes I kept going more out of sheer stubbornness than anything else.
And just to make it even harder, I didn’t listen to any advice about writing. I thought it would be better for me to learn for myself, and any outside advice would just negatively influence me.
Looking back on that attitude, how silly was that? I must’ve been temporarily insane!
A struggling and inexperienced writer not wanting help, with mountains of help out there available? What was I thinking?
Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.
– Stephen King
Help for beginner writers
If you’re struggling, you should definitely seek help and listen to the advice of others. You obviously don’t always have to agree with everything they say; just take on what feels right for you, as you’ll find you’ll sometimes read conflicting advice.
‘On Writing’ by Stephen King is a great book for beginner authors to read, as it gives a lot of practical and sensible advice.
All novelists should get their finished work professionally edited and proofread by someone else, but it’s also a good idea to get other people to read your writing too, and give feedback on it.
Get feedback from writing groups, or listen to people whose opinions you trust. There’s also professional software available to help you.
At time of writing,Scrivener helps you to organise (and also format) your novel and ProWritingAid can give you many tools, techniques, and tips to help you as you’re writing.
YOU SHOULD READ BEFORE YOU DIE: The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Roaring Twenties, often called the Jazz Age. A millionaire named Jay Gatsby throws huge parties at his mansion in the hopes of luring his former love, Daisy Buchanan, back to him. He befriends a man named Nick, Daisy’s cousin, who arranges a meeting between the two. This leads to a rekindling of their romance, but things become complicated, as Daisy is married. This novel explores themes of love, wealth, class, and the destruction of the American Dream.
At time of writing Scrivener integrates with ProWritingAid, so they can be used together. Not compulsory to take on of course, but something to consider, especially if you’re struggling.
Nowadays we even have the benefit of artificial intelligence to help us out – like Sudowrite for example (at time of writing, an editing and writing software).
Get help with Pinterest
Several years after starting my novel, I swung from not wanting writing advice to reading every bit of advice I could get my hands on, and collecting that advice from all over the world – I discovered Pinterest!
I didn’t agree with every bit of advice I read, but some advice was invaluable. The blogs I read from Pinterest really expanded my knowledge and helped me in ways I could never have imagined – not only with my writing but with the marketing and publishing side too.
In my opinion, every writer should join Pinterest! It’s an absolutely indispensable tool – not only does it give you access to mountains of knowledge; it helps you with marketing and getting your books and blogs out in the world as well.
Learn more about Pinterest through the many YouTube tutorials out there.
Writers need to be readers
The age-old advice, ‘if you want to be a better writer, read a lot and write a lot’ is a must for writers. Taking on this advice while writing a fantasy novel, I decided to start reading fantasy (instead of just reading non-fiction all the time) and a whole new world opened up to me.
Since then, I’ve read a lot of wonderful fantasy novels and I really do agree that it helps you with your writing.
WEIRD WORD OF THE DAY: BLATHERSKITE. A person who talks for long periods of time without making much sense (hopefully not me in this blog!).
Plotters and pantsers
Now let’s talk about plotters and pantsers (some people are a mixture of both). Plotters are those who plan and outline the story, characters, and world before they start writing, and pantsers are those who ‘write by the seat of their pants’.
They write spontaneously, with no outline or planning before the story; they just write what comes to mind and see where their writing takes them (which one are you?).
I had a lot of trouble with plotting, so I tried to be a pantser, and all it did was make me more and more frustrated.
I just kept on writing and writing, with a story that was going nowhere, and after years of this, ended up with a 120,000-word document that made no sense whatsoever.
Frustrated but still determined to get a story one way or another, I assessed what I’d written and figured I could make a story out of about a third of it, so went with that, and slowly but surely, finally started getting somewhere.
It took years of trying to be a pantser to realize that at heart, I’m not a pantser at all; I’m more of a plotter, and the next novel is gonna be outlined a LOT, LOT more before I start writing again!
Outlining saves mountains and mountains of time, and I think all writers should do it – even pantsers would benefit from a rough outline before writing. Stay tuned for Part 2. of this blog next week.
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