As you may or may not know, a couple of years ago I started writing my very first novel. I started it completely out of the blue. At night when I would get into bed, and I would cook up stories in my head to try and help me drift off to sleep when my anxiety was peaking. Usually, they were loosely based on my own experiences and then I would intertwine elements from my favourite romance novels.

Before I even realised what had happened, these little stories that I would make up to help ease my overactive brain were actually turning into something tangible. Something that I could write. I put pen to paper. Or should I say fingers to keyboard. In this post, I am going to breakdown my top pieces of advice for others out there that have an idea and want to take the leap.

 

 

Map out your timeline and arch initially.

I started writing because I had the idea for how the first chapter should play out. Initially, I never really thought further ahead from that first chapter, and I just threw myself into writing. It wasn’t until I was tens of thousands of words deep, I realised that I wasn’t building the arch and the timeline well enough.

These days when I am writing a novel, even if I am bursting with excitement for that first chapter, the first thing that I do is draw out a chart which shows the timeline, the build, the arch and how things are going to play out. This then helps me set the structure and give me a guide to work from.

 

Think about the tone of your novel.

I am somewhat of a bookworm. Last year when I was pregnant before my little guy was born, I read over 70 books in the space of 8 months. I love smutty romance books and I am not ashamed to admit that.

My novel was without a doubt going to fit into that genre, but I very early on thought about what kind of book I wanted it to be. For me, the main thing that I decided was the tone of my book. I connect best with characters when they are loud, confident, messy and when the book has humour laced throughout it.

 

Proof as you go.

When I wrote my first book, I wanted to get all of my ideas onto paper and essentially unload them from my brain. I was so scared that I would have a thought or a certain chapter mapped out, and if I couldn’t write it down and get the bones of it together, it would disappear from my head. However, when I was finished with that first draft, I had to go back through a 100,000 novel and begin the proofing process.

Nowadays when I am writing a book, I am live proof. By that, I mean that I will write a chapter and before I move onto the next, I will read back over it and make improvements. Doing this makes it seem smaller and much more manageable. Hence less scary!

 

Block out background noise.

I told two people when I started to write my book. Well to be honest, I wanted to keep it secret, but they were wondering why I was constantly tapping away on my laptop. Generally speaking, if you think about the publishing industry, you know what the chances of reaching high levels of success are slim. It doesn’t happen for many people and I am very aware of that. Other seem to think that I am wasting my time and my talent by wanting to become an author if the chance of success is very low. However, just because they don’t understand why I am doing something, shouldn’t discourage me from doing the thing that I want to do.

 

Be proud of your small accomplishments.

Throughout the process of writing my book, I can remember the odd time wondering why I was doing it. If it was just for myself, I figured that my time could be spent better elsewhere. Or if I actually wanted to release it that the chances of me ever reaching a high level of success was minimal. It made me question why I was doing it. However, when I felt like this I looked back and took pride in the small accomplishments. It might be a fantastic chapter with amazing humour. It might be seeing how my writing had improved since I first started. Or perhaps just seeing that word count increase.

 

Keep it going.

No matter what, just keep it going. Especially if you are already halfway through. Just keep that momentum and don’t stop moving ahead. Even if nothing ever comes from it, writing a book is such an accomplishment. I can remember the first time scrolling down my finished manuscript and feeling such an immense level of pride. It is a feat that not many people achieve because of the immense dedication that it takes. Just get it finished and then you can think if there are any steps to come after.

 

As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this post and if you are a budding writer that this could offer you some support. More than anything, just give it a go. When I first started to write my novel, I didn’t think anything about it. I thought that I was simply jotting down my thoughts, and I figured that it would never go any further than my Google Drive. It was only as I read it back that I realised that it was something to take a gamble. And here I am, these years later getting closer to the launch of my debut novel.

Let me know what you think about my pearls of wisdom and if there is anything else that you think people should know, share your thoughts below.