Writing a novel doesn’t happen overnight. Novels just don’t flow out of a writer’s psyche. The writer’s life is a constant battle, a continual struggle. Writer’s should make every effort to never lose sight of their end goal.
To be successful, novelists must read a lot. And while we read, we need to avoid temptation. We must resist the temptation to change our own writing. When we read other writer’s work, we might consider changing our style, or our characters, or our voice. But novelists need to be true to themselves. No one wants to be a copycat writer.
To be successful, novelists must be persistent. Novels take time. Some writers get first drafts finished in a couple of months. Others might take years. But, the first draft is never the final draft. After the first draft, there is the second draft, and a third. Sometimes the real trick is knowing when a novel is done.
Story ideas are cheap. Starting projects is easy. The trick to becoming a novelist is learning how to finish a project. No writer wants to end up with a dozen half-finished novels. What writers want are completed works they can hold up and say, “I did this.”
The best advice I can give anyone who thinks they might want to write a novel is this: Set up a realistic writing schedule and stick to it. If you think you can realistically write two hours a day, then figure out which two hours you will write and, every day, write during those two hours. If you are working on a novel, then work on that novel for two hours. It’ll never get done any other way.
Lots of people talk about writing a novel. There are fewer people who actually sit down and do it.
Which one are you?
Prehistoric Writing
