Writing Your First Novel
From LoveToKnow Freelance-Writing
Writing your first novel is a dream for authors of all ages. The image of the great American novelist comes down through pulp fiction and popular culture. He is the misunderstood, yet erudite man a la Henry Miller or the repressed woman who seeks equality, love and understanding like Jane Austen. The simple truth is that writing your first novel is like riding your first bike: painful, awkward and often filled with pratfalls.
Guide to Writing Your First Novel
Novel writing begins and ends in your imagination. You may begin by hearing a song or a phrase or even reading another novel. Author Jim Butcher found his inspiration in a series of books that he thought he could write better. The first three books he wrote in that effort were absolutely awful, but the fourth showed promise. Ten books later, he’s a New York Times best-selling novelist.
You may think you have to write from an outline, but author Patricia Briggs wrote on her website that she writes and lets the characters tell the story. She doesn’t use outlines or plot devices. It can hamper her sometimes as stories may take a 180-degree turn when least expected, but the multi-book novelist knows what works for her.
How You Write
How you write is very personal. Numerous books are written on the subject and college classes are available to help you get started. While neither of these will write the book for you, they can provide a guiding influence and support to help achieve your book writing dreams. A simple way to get started begins with:
- Deciding to write
- Deciding what to write
- Writing
Two authoring methods can help you write your first novel. The first method is the pure free write. The second is guided writing.
Pure Free Write
You set aside a designated amount of writing time every day. Perhaps you take your laptop or notebook to the library or the local coffee shop. The location is important, you must feel comfortable there and you must be able to work there relatively uninterrupted. If you have a story idea in mind, get to work and write every day.The goal is not to edit or censor what you write. You never go back pages and redo during this phase of the writing. You want to write as much as possible and get it all down on paper. If you change your mind and decide the main character is a blonde, bisexual with tattoos halfway through the novel writing, then make a note of that and begin writing her that way from that point onwards. You will be able to go back and edit the previous portion when you are done.
During pure free writing, you do need to establish goals. A writer’s mental muscles are very much like the other muscles in the body. They grow stronger with use. If you’re an amateur writer or a novice and you haven’t done a lot of writing before, set a goal for 500 words a day. That may seem like a lot, but this entire entry to this point is 518 words and that’s not as much as it sounds like. For more experienced writers, start at 2000 words per day.
Whatever your word goal, it is important that you meet it without fail and that means if you sit down to write and you feel stuck, free write on another portion of the book. This may seem counter-intuitive, but a book does not have to be written in order. You can write the last chapter before the first and the middle before the beginning.
Guided Writing
Guided writing is a little more structured. You join a writer’s workshop or any number of online writing groups that provide you with prompts and goals. November is National Write a Novel Month] and the NaNoWriMo is a challenge that supports first time and experienced authors produce a book in 30 days or less. The techniques, support mails and forums provide authors with the resources to make that dream happen.
The key to guided writing whether you go to a writer’s support group, a class, an online workshop or participate in an online writing group is to have the support to produce the work via outline, assignment or prompts. Ultimately, whether you free write your novel on your schedule or rely on the inspiration of others, the goal is the same. Write. Write. Write.
Creative Resources
Love To Know Freelance Writing provides resources to find:
Other Internet resources include:
Remember, when you’re writing your first novel, it’s not about whether you’re writing it by hand or on a computer, at home or at a coffee shop; it’s about writing. Write the way you feel most comfortable and enjoy writing your book.
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