Everything you should Know about Novel Writing from a Novice

by Victoria Bromley

I’m a third of the way through the first draft of a novel and the delayed gratification is killing me. Here’s some candid advice and all I’ve learnt so far about novel writing.

Last summer I graduated from my English Language and Creative Writing BA at Lancaster University. As well as a cap and gown to show for three years of strenuous work and an addiction to academic validation, I had the opening two chapters of a novel I’d written for my third year creative writing project. As I’ve always wanted to write a novel, and I was very much attached to the project I’d spent almost a year developing, I knew this novel was the one I wanted to fully develop.

However, it wasn’t until I went to a literary event in Knutsford last October, over four months since submitting those initial two chapters for my degree, that I decided to independently commit to finishing it. An author at the event, who was in her seventies, had written a children’s book and wished she’d fulfilled her passion sooner in life. Urging every young, aspiring writer in the room to put pen to paper and make their dreams happen, I went home and decided to do just that.

From the initial 8,000 words of the first two chapters I submitted for my university creative writing project, I now have 33,467 words and nine chapters of my novel. Here is everything I’ve learnt in the past five months since I decided to give this novel a real shot.

Don’t do it alone

Whether you decide to do a creative writing masters to help you with your novel, or you buy writing guides to assist the process, don’t go into such a massive project blindly. Read up on advice (this blog post is a great start), research your genre, and make sure you’re supporting yourself with knowledge from successful authors.

My creative writing tutor told me to read The 90 Day Novel by Alan Watt, and his advice has been ground-breaking in helping me with this project. Most of the advice I’ll be sharing will be from his teachings.

Please note: I am not, or never will, attempt to write a novel in 90 days. I have been using the advice for my own timeline, dipping in and out as I please.

Hold onto your novel idea loosely

The first thing I learnt from The 90 Day Novel was that you can’t be too attached to your original idea. It needs to be malleable. If you hold the idea too rigidly and you realise it’s not going to work, it’ll snap if you force it too much.

Allow the story to adapt and change as you write the first draft. You’re supposed to evolve with the story, instead of trying to control it to go in a certain direction. If it doesn’t want to go there, follow it somewhere else. Listen to the story.

Set manageable goals

Some authors will aim to write 1,000 words a day, or more. If this is your first novel and you don’t have an editor breathing down your neck to meet a deadline, then only write as much as you want to each day. Setting small, specific goals will allow you to progress steadily. For example, I aim to write a chapter a week (around 4,000 words).

Jenn Ashworth, a lecturer at Lancaster University, spoke about her 100 days of writing initiative to encourage writers to “show up” to their project everyday for 100 days, even if one day you’re only running a spellchecker. Be there for your novel, whether that’s just to check in. Some days you’ll write a whole chapter in an afternoon. Other days you’ll add a comma and that’ll be it. It’s all about finding that balance of treating the project seriously enough it’ll ultimately be completed, but giving yourself enough room to breathe so you won’t burn out.

Give yourself permission to write poorly

This is my favourite piece of advice from The 90 Day Novel! It’s important to keep going and get the first draft on the page before worrying about how polished the prose is.

One of the reasons I decided not to pursue a creative writing masters is because I don’t like the strict deadlines to present work to a group for scrutiny when my work’s still in the rough, experimental stage. For my BA, I would hastily write 1,000 words for the seminar every other week for the sake of meeting a deadline. Now I’ve graduated and have worked on this novel in my own time, I’ve been so much more productive because I’m not conscious of anyone’s opinions because at the moment I’m the only one reading it.

Don’t go back and edit!

Leading on from allowing myself to write poorly, it’s difficult for me to get into the headspace of ploughing on with my writing, knowing I’m not one hundred per cent happy with it. I’m learning to not be too judgemental or critical of my writing at this point. If my prose is incoherent or convoluted, who cares? First drafts are supposed to be messy and chaotic! I’ll go back over it with an iron at a later date. For now, I’m just getting the words down.

I’ve left notes in red to add more bits to certain scenes or to reshuffle a conversation to a later chapter, but I won’t make those edits until the editing stage.

Make sure you’re reading

I know we all lead busy lives and often we may have to make the decision between working on our novel in the evening or picking up a book. As a recent graduate living back at home where my commute to work is getting out of bed and opening my laptop, I’m grateful for all the time in the day I have to read and write.

Read as a writer. Note down what makes a book successful, and what irritates you in books you don’t like. One thing I’m focusing on in my novel is my main character’s motives, and when I am frustrated by a character’s lack of motive in the book I’m reading (examples include Common Decency by Susannah Dickey and How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie) I then consider how I can develop my character’s motive to prevent this dissatisfaction.

All in all, I highly recommend you picking up The 90 Day Novel to assist your novel writing journey. If you’re serious about making it happen, then turn “one day” into day one, and tackle that blank page. Don’t be afraid to write poorly. Don’t go back and edit. Enjoy all that is chaotic, frustrating and rewarding about writing the first draft of (hopefully) your first best selling novel!