5 New-Novel-Writer Mistakes to Avoid
I recently picked up an old novel I wrote a couple years ago. It was my first. I knew it needed edits — I hired a developmental editor who told me so, and I had several beta readers provide feedback, but I shoved it under a rug and distracted myself by writing two other novels.
Each novel I wrote became easier, faster, leaner, more compelling. Each novel’s plot propelled more quickly with better developed characters.
And when I finally rolled up my sleeves to dig into the edits on that first novel, whoa. Just, whoa. That writing was… well, it needed a lot of work. This made me smile for two reasons:
- I realized I had grown substantially by writing my other two novels.
- I knew how to fix it.
I was used to business and technical writing, so I thought novels were supposed to be flowery. I thought I could be poetic and let any and all words swirl from my brain to the page. WRONG. Novel writing is arguably more challenging than business writing, for several reasons: you’re vying for people’s free time. People will only read it if they want to. And they will only want to if it’s captivating and entertaining.
