OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF WRITING A DEBUT NOVEL
It can be both exciting and challenging to write a novel for the first time. While world-building, plotting scenes, and creating characters are all fun aspects of discovery, first-time authors often face setbacks. Many writers give up on their books because they are unprepared for the challenges they’re likely to face. However, with the right preparation and mindset, you can overcome the challenges of writing a debut novel.
Self-doubt: ‘I am not a born writer’
As a first-time author, you’re not going to know what the process feels like, it’s something you won’t know until experiencing it for yourself. This means that there will be moments of self-doubt and you may find yourself questioning your ability to write.
It is important to surround yourself with positive people when you are trying to overcome self-doubt. Having good positive vides around you can make your book writing experience as much more relaxed due to having a great support system around you. A positive writing environment can make the world of difference!
Being a Perfectionist in Editing
Editing is crucial. Good editing is the difference between a good and mediocre book which means that the importance of having a well edited book, makes it easy to become obsessed with this process in writing your first novel.
Different writers have different methods, both in the writing and editing stages. Some might prefer to outline each chapter in detail before they start writing, others might prefer to summarize each chapter, one scene at a time, some might even choose to go through the entire novel without outlining.
However, resist the temptation to over-edit your drafts. It's easy to feel pressured to get things perfect while write a novel, but this desire for perfection can be a massive weight holding you back from writing your best work!
“If you wait for perfection, you might never be able to write a single word.”
- Margaret Atwood
Here’s three ways to shake the urge to over-edit your writing:
- Set a timer for x amount of minutes and the word count you must reach. Write until you either reach your target or the timer expires.
- Allow your first draft to evolve in editing. Having some typo’s and mistakes in your first draft aren’t the end of the world, you can fix these during the editing process. Focus on creating your vision, and the editing process could be easier.
- There’s nothing stopping you from recording your draft, then transcribing it later. Some can find it hard to express themselves on paper and might communicate better verbally. If this is the case, recording your work then transcribing it might help you with sentence length as well as help you bring your personality to your work.
Getting Past the Half Way Barrier
Writer’s block sucks! Not only could it slow down your progress, but it can bring some writers to abandon a project all together. The important thing to remember is that everyone experiences it and it’s much more common than you might think. Whether you’re a first time author, or a bestselling multi millionaire author, chances are that you’ll have either already experienced writers block, or will do in the future.
Sometimes this can happen around the halfway marker of your book. One of the ways you can try to combat writer’s block is to have a good plan of your work and where you want your story to go, but writer’s block could be your body letting you know that it’s time to take a break and be inspired. Read work you love, watch films or TV shows, spend time with the people you love, sometimes you can find inspiration for a story just from the way someone speaks, or a view they have!
If you find yourself wondering where you might be going wrong, there are common mistakes first-time authors make, which you can read and learn about here.
The Urge to Redo
If you find yourself constantly considering redoing portions of your books, fight that urge! Sometimes the urge to redo stems from feelings of self doubt in your ability to write a book, but you’re doing it! Spending chunks of time reworking your book can have a massive impact on your writing progress. Now this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t rework aspects of your writing, but if you find yourself writing consistently and making good progress, allow yourself to keep working, otherwise you could spend too much time on one section of your work. A great tip is to make a not in a section you’re unsure about and revisit it at a later time/date.
Not Having Enough Time
It can be tough finding the time to write if it’s not your full time job. Life is full of obstacles, reducing the amount of time you have free to write your first book. This might be family life and responsibilities, or it could be that you really want to stay up to date on shows like Stranger Things or House of the Dragon. What’s important to remember is that there isn’t a set amount of time you have to spend writing. Make use of the time you have available and try to accept that there’s only so many hours in a day, you can only write with the time you have available. What’s important is that you write, if it’s in half hour increments so be it.
Alternatively you might have set yourself a deadline for when you want the book completed by. Unless you have a contract with a publisher with a deadline or another big reason to complete the work by a particular date, we’d recommend taking your time. Don’t rush yourself too much, the writing process can be much easier when there isn’t a huge chunk of pressure to go along with it. Never forget why you’re writing, if you’re writing because you love it, try to enjoy the process and value the time you spend doing what you love.
At Austin Macauley Publishers, we want to wish you the best of luck writing your first book! We hope these tips help you on your writing journey. When you finish your manuscript, if you find you would like to consider publishing it, you can submit it for review with us, and possibly have it published! Learn more about how to become an author with us here.
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