Welcome, writer, to the wonderful world of fulfilling your dreams and telling the story (or stories) of your heart!
writer’s background
Before we listen to someone, especially about something so important to us, we need to know who that person is. So, first, a little bit about me:
I am a novelist, tabletop game designer, and literary scholar, and I regularly write across all three of these genres. In my “day job” as a university professor, I make sure to share my non-academic writing experience with my students. Inevitably, one or two students each semester ask me for advice on writing their first novel.
You can check out one of my novellas, for free, here!
I know that this handful of students aren’t the only ones with these questions, so I decide to compile the advice I most often give to them!
Let’s start with a clarification, for which, as with most things of substance, there’s good news and bad news.
Affiliate link disclosure: Some of the links included below are affiliate links, which means that at no cost to you, I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
#1 – There’s no “one size fits all” approach to writing.
the good news!
And that lack of “one size fits all” is really good news for us as writers if we’re willing to pave our own way.
Point #1B – try to avoid advice and embrace learning your method/process instead
(and yes, I recognize the irony of advising you to avoid advice)
One of the first things I tell my students is, for their first novel, to take as little advice from anyone else as possible. (And yes, no matter how expert they are.)
Here’s why that’s so important: When you’re writing your first novel, you’re actually doing two things at once. You’re both learning to write a novel and learning your process for writing a novel. No one else can teach you that, and your “best” method for writing will be unique to you.
an irritating occurrence
I don’t know that it’s helpful to muse on why here (we’ll save it for another post), but something that I noticed early on in my writing endeavors is that so many people are anxious to give you writing advice, and I’m not even talking about other writers. I can’t tell you how many times someone who hadn’t even written a short story would quote Stephen King’s On Writing to me as though they had access to some sort of magical panacea or even knew the advice to give! (We’ll note as well that I was not asking for advice in these situations, which made it doubly frustrating.)
the bad news
The downside of there not being “one size fits all” writing advice is that it can be hard to tell if you’re doing it “right.” And I know not everyone is trying to do it “right” at all. That’s totally fine! But for those for whom that’s important, there not being a right way can be incredibly frustrating.
Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith often make the following point that I think is so important for new writers to keep in mind: Your subconscious knows story. You have been hearing stories, learning from stories, since before you can remember.
Writing is about trust and belief. You have to trust yourself and your subconscious that you’ll be able to tell the story. Secondly, you have to believe that you can do something hard, something you’ve never done before.
And writing a novel is not easy. You’re creating something entirely new in the world, something that has never existed before!
With this, I follow Elizabeth Gilbert’s approach in Big Magic that idea faeries present themselves to us and ask to be born into the world. We can say yes or no, but the idea wants to be born.
And the really encouraging thing about that? The idea, the story chose you.
*Insert any number of fantasy scenes and references here about choice and being chosen. We come back to this trope again and again for a reason!*
One of my favorite writing coaches, Becca Syme, always includes the “bad news” with anything she’s covering, which I find really refreshing! Becca and the Better-Faster Academy have lots of amazing posts and courses for future-you to peruse (again, do as much as you can on your own first!). I love her video discussing writer’s block, available here!
#2 – There are different patterns of writers, and writers’ dreams for their work are as unique as the writers themselves
I love Simon Sinek’s work and his writing about the Infinite Game. Another favorite book, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, covers a similar principle in great detail:
MAKE SURE YOU ARE PLAYING YOUR GAME
Let’s start with an example from The Psychology of Money. Housel breaks down one of the causes behind the housing market bubble burst in 2008. (His explanation is detailed and interesting. I’m going to make it extra simple for our purposes.) In short, those who use the stock market for their retirement savings (game #1) started looking at what the day traders were doing (game #2).
The objective of those playing game #1 is to make money over the long term. The objective of those playing game #2 is to make money before market close at the end of the day.
Game #1 operates over the span of decades. Game #2 operates over mere hours.
So when those playing game #1 started trying to use the strategies and tactics of those playing game #2, they ended up in trouble.
The same is true in writing spaces.
Part of why I advise writers to not listen to advice when writing their first book is that there are so many different writing dreams out there. Some writers are really straightforward about their dreams while others aren’t.
If you aren’t sure about what your dream is, it’s really easy to get sucked into someone else’s.
Some novelists want to make lots of money. Others want to win the Booker Prize. Some writers want to write an excellent book. Others want to challenge genre norms.
Not all of these goals are mutually exclusive, but they’re all going to involve a unique set of tactics and strategies. I would also say that it’s going to be difficult to follow all of these goals at once.
what brought you to writing in the first place?
What are your dreams as a writer?
For me, I’ve always wanted to be a writer, since before I can remember. There have been several, distinctive moments in my life where I opted in to my calling as a writer and a creative.
Do you have moments like that?
Spend some time mulling over this question. Treasure and savor those moments and experiences. You’ll need them before your path is through.
If you’d like to hear more about this, check out my podcast interview with friend and fellow creative, Ashley Warren, on Your Creative Heartbeat podcast:
#3 – Stay inspired
What inspires you? Where do the seeds of your stories come from?
Hint: What are you doing when ideas pop up for you? Are you walking your dogs? Taking a shower? Going for a drive?
Do you feel inspired after watching a movie in your favorite genre? Listening to immersive soundtracks? Traveling to a new city? Scrolling Pinterest?
Like the writing process and story-creation journey, inspiration is going to look different for each of us.
But a key part of what will make your writing experience easier and more fluid is staying inspired. You may have heard this referred to as “filling the creative well.”
Closing Thoughts
I hope this post has been helpful for you! Of course there’s a lot more to say about writing your first novel, and I’ll link future posts on the topic here. Please put any questions you have in the comments below!
deepening your work
If you enjoyed this post and would like some help with finding your method of writing your first novel, check out my course: Cultivating Your Writing Mindset where I walk you through finishing your dream creative project.
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