15 Practical Novel Writing Tips (for Novices)
Have you finally made up your mind to write a book and are searching for practical novel writing tips to get started?
Look no further.
This article will give you 15 practical tips for writing your book.
Are you ready to create a story that will pull your readers in, take them on a wild ride, and seduce them with a delicious payoff?
Let’s get cracking!
The Setup
It is important to begin your writing with a good setup.
1. Heed the Writer’s First Commandment
Perhaps the most common advice newbie writers get is that they should read, read, and read some more. Reading builds your vocabulary and helps you absorb story ideas, story structure, plot, scene development, pacing, and more.
Let’s say you want to write in the romance genre. Although it is useful to read romance novels to learn about the genre expectations, you should also try to read as widely as possible to keep your writing fresh. By reading widely, you will expand your literary toolbox and find new inspiration.
2. Create a Writing Plan
Deciding what, where, and when you will write is essential. Creating a writing plan will set you up for success by forging a writing habit.
Know your genre
Before you start writing, you will save yourself a lot of trouble if you know the genre of your novel. Not only do book agents and publishers work according to genres, but readers also look for genres when buying books. Genre expectations should be respected, or you will struggle to get readers. For instance, a happy ever after is obligatory in romance novels, or your reader will never forgive you. Knowing your genre will also help you establish the best length for your book.
Decide where and when
It is easier to create a writing habit if you have a dedicated place to write. It could be a writing nook in your home, the kitchen table, or a cafe — whatever works for you.
Setting a daily writing schedule also helps solidify your writing habit. If you decide to write at 6 a.m. every morning, it will become engrained in you, as opposed to if you just vaguely promise to “write every day.” But hey, it doesn’t have to be 6 a.m. It could be at 5 p.m. on your commute home from work or 11 p.m. before you go to bed.
Hold yourself accountable
To make sure you hit your writing goals, it is important to hold yourself accountable. There are several ways to do this — you could team up with an accountability buddy or reward yourself when you have completed your goal. Some people respond better to tough love, such as having to do something they loathe if they don’t hit their goal — it could be cleaning the house or donating money to a political opponent. The possibilities for both positive and negative rewards are limited only by your creativity!
The Writing Process
Now that you have a conducive setup for your writing, it’s time to establish a writing habit.
3. Create a Daily Ritual
Write without distractions
Before you start writing, turn off your phone and all potential distractions on your computer, such as social media and mail notifications. If you write in Word, it is helpful to write in the distraction-free focus mode.
Write every day
Building a daily writing habit is perhaps the most important part of becoming a writer.
Have a writing goal
Knowing how long or how much you will write at every session can also strengthen your writing habit. It could be writing for 30 minutes or 500 words. Setting a goal before you start writing will get your creative juices flowing.
Use the Pomodoro technique
Getting words down on paper can feel daunting. Many writers use the Pomodoro technique to help ease the overwhelm. This method breaks your writing into 25-minute sessions punctuated by a 5-minute break.
The Craft
Writing is an art. But it’s also about craft — skills and techniques you must practice and apply. Let’s run through some of the elements of the craft of writing.
4. Find Your Story Idea
Your story must have a strong premise. The premise of the movie Ground Hog Day is that an ill-mannered, self-centered weatherman is caught in a time loop and forced to live the same day over and over again until he breaks out of his narcissism. The premise of the movie The Martian is that an astronaut is left alone on Mars after an explosion forces the rest of the crew, who believe he is dead, to evacuate in a hurry. Viewers wonder whether and how the astronaut will survive.
Explore several options before you land on a premise for your own story that will hook your reader.
5. Make an Outline (or Not)
Writers generally fall into three categories, depending on how they like to write: pantsers, plotters, and plantsers.
Pantsers like to “fly by the seat of their pants,” writing without any thought of plot or structure. They let the story take them where they must go.
Plotters are a more meticulous sort who plan out their novel beforehand, sometimes down to most of the scenes.
Planters are a mix of the two. If you don’t know which category you fall into, see what mode appeals to you and go for it — either make an outline or throw yourself into the story. If you feel like a plantser, plan the elements of the story you think you need to free yourself to write.
Plottr is an example of a useful tool to visualize your plot points.
6. Develop Your Plot and Story Structure
When you have your premise, you need to develop the nuts and bolts of your story. All stories follow a three-act structure, with a beginning, middle, and end. In addition, there must be an inciting incident, a turning point progressive complication, a crisis, a climax, and a resolution. You can explore books like Save the Cat, The Write Structure, or The Story Grid to learn more about plot and structure.
7. Invest in Character Development
For your reader to keep turning the pages, they must be invested in what happens to the characters. Your characters should be complex and multi-dimensional, with needs, desires, and flaws. What you invest in character development is guaranteed to pay off in a rich story that tugs at your reader’s heartstrings, compelling them to read far into the night.
8. Use Inspiration from Real Life
If you struggle with breathing life into your writing, use inspiration from people and stories in real life — it could be your own or a friend’s experiences or things you read about or watch on TV. Just ensure you anonymize the people and the stories so they cannot be traced back to any actual person.
9. Let Readers Connect the Dots
Use generous doses of subtext — there should be a whole lot more going on than what is apparent to the naked eye. By not spelling everything out, you will make your story stronger. The reader will approach a scene as a puzzle to be solved in order to arrive at the emotional heart of it. When you let the reader do some work, they get more involved. Check out these Top 10 Examples of Killer Subtexts in Movies.
10. Write Simply
One common newbie writing error is overwriting — using an ornate writing style with unnecessary details and repetitions, forced use of figures of speech, and convoluted sentences. William Strunk Jr. writes in The Elements of Style, “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
11. Engage the Senses
To bring your story to life, the reader should feel like they are in it. Use language that engages the reader’s taste, touch, sound, sight, and smell to transport them into your fictional world. Practice different ways you can incorporate sensory language into your writing.
12. Write Fast, Edit Later
In her iconic book on writing, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott has a whole chapter called “Shitty First Drafts.” She writes about the need to write things down before the critical voices raise their heads. “In fact,” she writes, “ the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” In his book, On Writing, Stephen King writes, “The first draft of a book — even a long one — should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”
Read more about editing in point 15.
13. Get Feedback while Writing
One way to gauge if your story is heading in the right direction is to use Wattpad — a social platform for readers and writers — to hone your story. You can publish chapter by chapter, and readers can give general feedback or comment on individual sentences. Another benefit of using Wattpad is that you can start building a readership before your novel is published.
The Finish Line
14. Write until the Delicious End
While developing your story, you may be tempted by another, better story that arises in your head. Unless you are at the beginning of your novel, you should refrain from shelving your story to embark on a new book idea. The shiny object syndrome is real and hard to resist. Don’t stop writing until you have reached the very end of your novel.
15. Edit, Edit, and Edit Again
When you have finished your “first shitty draft,” let it rest. Then you can pull it out and begin to edit. Repeat this process at least twice before submitting your manuscript to a literary agent, or if you choose to self-publish, find an editor and beta readers. As one author suggests, “I truly believe it is easier to turn something into something better than to turn nothing into something. Writing quickly means you have lots of time to edit.” And that is why she advises to “edit slow.”
Ready to Write and Finish Your First Novel?
With these 15 novel-writing tips, you are well-equipped to embark on the delicious and demanding journey of writing and finishing your book.
Although writing a novel may sound daunting, remember that anything worth achieving requires its share of “blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”
But there is also a promise of something more.
One day soon, you will have the satisfaction of holding your very own book — the world you so painstakingly built and polished — in your hands, ready to share with the world.
You can say, “I am an author. This is my book.”
And then, “It’s time to write another.”
