General writing tips

In last week’s blog, I shared various tips on novel writing (you can read about it here). This week’s blog continues on from last week, sharing even more tips for fiction authors.

Aim to complete the first draft within three months

Writing your novel from start to finish for the very first time is known as ‘finishing the first draft’. It could take up to six drafts (or rewrites) or more to complete your novel to a satisfying level.

The advice to complete the first draft within three months is straight from the famous novelist Stephen King and really speeds things along.

Okay, if you lead a really busy life and think you can’t do this, try adjusting that time to six months.

Write the first draft without stopping with that deadline in mind. Don’t stop to edit anything. If writer’s block hits, leave the section that you’re stuck on and come back to it later. Just keep on writing and don’t stop.

The first draft of your novel is supposed to be crap

When I first started writing, I didn’t know that the first draft was supposed to be crap. I thought it was supposed to be good, and if it wasn’t good, that meant I was a bad writer and shouldn’t be writing. It really impacted my confidence, and nearly stopped me continuing with writing.

Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t worry about the quality of the first draft. Its main function is to get your ideas out of your head and onto the computer and work out how to tweak it from there. You can always do further drafts of your work later on to improve on it.

Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.

Samuel Butler

Persevere!

The only way to get over procrastination is to do the thing you’re procrastinating about.

Writing and impatience really don’t go together that well; learn to persevere through the bad days. I constantly struggled with writer’s block and was frustrated at always coming up against it.

Try skipping the section you’re having trouble with and coming back to it another time. If you’re really having a bad day, do something else, like taking a walk, before coming back to your writing again.

You can also try getting another opinion for ideas.

Try to avoid being a perfectionist; it’s another time waster. Perfection is like chasing the sunset, you’ll never get there.

Try a free writing session to get ideas

Type out some ideas for whatever you happen to be struggling with, for ten to twenty minutes a day every day. Type at a good pace, without stopping, editing or analysing and see what happens.

This technique is called free writing, and bypasses the conscious mind. It gives more access to the subconscious, where all the answers lie.

Get your work edited and proof-read

Don’t skip on this. Getting another pair of eyes to assess your work only improves it, especially if you intend to make money from it. It looks a lot more professional too.

Ideally, the editing and proof-reading should be done by different people.

The reason for this is your editor might get so used to reading your work that they miss little mistakes, so get another pair of eyes to proof-read your work after it’s been edited.

WEIRD WORD OF THE DAY: ZAMZAWED. Meaning food that’s been ruined by being overcooked.

Shop around for a good editor

There’ s lots of editors out there, so you can afford to be fussy. Shop around for someone that suits you.

Give them a ten-page sample of your work and ask them to edit it. Get a quote, and compare it with other quotes.

At time of writing the website upwork.com has a long list of editors you can choose from, or you can do a google search for editors in your local area.

Don’t be afraid to disagree with an editor’s opinion

It’s good to be open-minded to the opinions of others, but at the same time you don’t have to agree with every piece of opinion that’s thrown your way.

It’s your work after all, and you’re the chief executive officer of it.

Not everyone’s going to like your work either, so learn to develop a thick skin. Just keep on aiming to improve your writing.

Stay balanced

This tip is very important. Don’t think of writing as something that’s going to rescue you from an unhappy life. Don’t use it as an excuse for not improving your life either.

If there’s something you’re not happy with, whether it’s career or relationships or weight or money, strive to do something about it to make it better.

Writing is not an excuse. Make the time. Make the effort. Don’t waste life. Stay balanced.

Avoid becoming overly obsessive about writing. Take time out to be a regular person. And don’t bore your friends to death talking about your book all the time! Talk about other stuff as well.

It can be surprisingly easy to become obsessive about something you’ve been spending a lot of time on (I’ve been guilty of that) but obsession is not healthy.

Scheduling in social time every week is very important too, as writing is a lonely, solitary activity.

Reading is to the mind what exercising is to the body.

Joseph Addison

Consider doing short stories

Finally, if writing a novel feels way too big and intimidating a project to take on, consider taking on smaller creative projects, like short stories, to build your confidence up and get into the writing groove.

Why not consider self-publishing these as an Ebook through Amazon as well, just for publishing experience and a sense of achievement?

Good luck on your writing journey! For further reading on writing a novel, you should also find these books helpful: On writing by Stephen King and Write Now by Ellie Marney.

WRITING PROMPT: One morning you wake up feeling a little different. Then you look in the mirror and realise you’ve woken up in the body of someone you hate.

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