Inspiration has struck, and you have a brilliant idea for a book! Now what? If you’re ready to write your novel, read through the tips below. Remember that everyone is different, and so everyone’s process will look different. The following are simply various suggestions and options that may or may not be ideal for you. I encourage you to pick and choose the ones that work specifically for you. After all, if you try a particular option that causes you to dread your writing hour, it’s only going to do the opposite of its intended purpose. If this happens, don’t be afraid to pivot and try something else.
Set Yourself up for Success
Before sitting down to write, make sure you have anything you may need: use the restroom, grab your favorite water bottle or cup of coffee, put on some background music, wrap up in a blanket, have a healthy snack handy, etc. The point of this step is to limit your distractions and set the tone for a successful writing session.
Start with an Outline
This is usually a rough outline that changes during the course of writing. This step may or may not be helpful to you depending on your style of writing. Do you like the excitement of finding out how your story unfolds as your write it (a pantser)? Or do you prefer to have an idea of what you are building toward (a plotter)? If you are a plotter, typing up an outline can help you get an idea of the overall plot, have a clear timeline of events, ease writer’s block during the writing phase, and remind you to answer the big questions you laid out at the beginning of the book before typing “The End.”
Create a Character Bible
This is a list of your characters and includes any pertinent details about each of them and how they relate to the overall story. Does the protagonist have green eyes or blue? Is their best friend into baseball or glam? Maybe a supporting character’s job plays an important role later in the story, but you better be sure you don’t accidentally change it halfway through. Having a character bible handy could help you to keep the details consistent throughout your entire manuscript. Return to this often and add new characters and details throughout your writing process.
Craft an Amazing Opening
You want to draw your readers in on the first page by crafting an amazing opening. Don’t waste your first sentence! If you lose your reader’s attention from the start, they are likely to never finish reading your book. Open in the middle of the action (arrive late to the party). Make a furtive statement to create foreshadow. Introduce the main character right away. Balance information with mystery. Death, emotion, and imagery can all create intrigue, but don’t draw it out to the point that you bore or frustrate your reader. Want to read some of the best first lines in fiction for inspiration? Check out this article from Penguin Random House.
Help Your Readers Love (Or Despise) Your Characters
Just like the actual people around us in everyday life, we are all unique and bring something different to the table. Our backgrounds, interests, dislikes, dreams, and skills are all individualized. Flesh out each important character in your book by giving them a motivation for their actions, a back story, a distinct personality, and make them feel real. If your reader can develop a passionate feeling toward your characters, whether it’s love or hatred, they’ll be deeply invested in the outcome of the story.
Read Your Dialogue Out Loud
It may feel awkward at first to read your writing out loud. However, often when we write dialogue, we forget how to make it sound real and the result can feel forced and clunky. If you read your written dialogue out loud, you can get a better sense of whether it sounds natural or not. For example, a common mistake is to overuse names, but in actual conversations, we don’t often say someone’s name except to get their attention or for emphasis. Another good trick to learn how to write natural dialogue is to watch your favorite shows with the subtitles on.
Be Cautious of Filler
While you want to include some imagery and description so the reader doesn’t feel left out or as though they missed something, you also want to ensure that your story makes steady progress and doesn’t remain stagnant with too much filler. Literary hero Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.” Focus on creating real substance with every sentence. (Need more help figuring out Proper Pacing?)
Use a Thesaurus (But Don’t Overdo It)
Repetitive language can become dull and monotonous reading material. On the other hand, language that is too flowery can become difficult to follow. Your goal should be to use a variety of words without overdoing it. Unfortunately, there is no solid line that I can point to in order to show you how far to take your thesaurus and when to set it down. However, as an example, I recommend sticking mostly with “he said” or “she said” when it comes to dialogue tags (these pretty much become invisible to your eyes while your brain still processes the information under the radar, making for a smoother read), but there are many other areas where using alternate words can help keep the narrative exciting and strengthen your writing. Just be cautious to not use your thesaurus simply to find large words in an effort to make yourself sound smart, as doing so will likely only repel your readers and cause your writing to become less coherent.
Consider Creating Word Count Goals
You can set a daily word count goal to help keep you in the creative zone, but make sure to set a realistic goal you can stick to in the long term. If you find yourself avoiding writing altogether because you feel overwhelmed, set smaller goals. Remember, slow progress is better than no progress, so be kind to yourself and be willing to pivot when necessary. (Want more information on word count goals? Check out my article on Improving Your Craft.)
Writer’s Block
If you’re stuck on a particular part, consider referring back to your outline (if you have one) to remember details you may have forgotten or work on another scene altogether. There is no rule that says you have to write your book in the order of events. If you feel inspiration strike for a future scene, work on that part.
In addition, if you are at a particular scene that you just aren’t ready to flesh out, make a note to return to it later and move on for now. Even the greatest authors use the trick of putting a concept in brackets [insert exciting battle scene here] to be written in better detail at another point. Changing it up like this can actually help you to formulate the bridge between point A and point B.
Another idea to help get your creative juices flowing is to get your mind in the zone with some writing exercises. Take a creative writing course at your local community college. Join a writing community where you can discuss your book with fellow writers (there are countless of these on social media, such as Facebook). You can also sign up for Reedsy’s weekly writing prompts email or check out their list of prompts.
Take Breaks & Reward Yourself
If you are anything like me, you can’t force yourself to be creative. When you try to force it, your writing will likely turn out pretty poorly, so you may as well take a break. It’s called recharging, not quitting, and you’ll come back stronger than ever when you feel refreshed.
It’s also easy to get in the zone and forget to take care of yourself. Remember to step away from time to time and perform some self-care, which can go a long ways for your mental health. Take a guilt-free break and read a book (for pleasure, not research), hang out with your family or friends, take a soak in the tub, go on a walk and get some fresh air, or simply veg out in front of the TV.
Besides taking breaks, you also need to reward yourself to create positive reinforcement. Set milestones at which you plan to do this, and most importantly, be sure to follow through! Treat yourself to a fancy dinner out, a latte from the local coffee shop, or that bottle of wine you’ve been saving. Having a writing companion, whether in an online community or in person, who could celebrate your victories along with you can really help you see your achievements for what they are.
Leave Before the Party Ends, but Don’t Rush the Ending
The ending is one of the most crucial elements of the book. Just as you wanted to hook your readers on the very first page, you also want to leave your readers wanting more. Don’t linger so long that you’re the last one at the party, so to speak. If you write a fantastic story only to let it fizzle out at the end without the expected grand finale, your readers are going to feel disappointed and be left with a bitter taste on their tongues. You do not want the last thing your reader thinks or feels about your book to be negative as that will affect their overall feelings toward it and show in the review they leave you.
While you want your readers longing for more, you also want to be sure that all of your promises were fulfilled by the last page (your outline can help you keep track of these). Take your time and ensure you aren’t ending in haste. Ideally, your readers should feel bittersweet about finishing your book—you want that dream combo of euphoria and sorrow. If you’ve done it right, there should be absolute satisfaction with the overall story and the ending (this does not mean it has to be a happy ending, just that all the loose ends are tied up in some manner), while at the same time leaving room for your reader to have a sense of sadness that they can’t stay in your fictionalized world forever.
Finding the balance can be tough, but a good developmental editor can help with this. If you can manage to conclude your story in a powerful enough way, your reader will be eager to leave you a glowing review and recommend your book to others.
Seek Feedback & Self-Edit
When you are finished writing, it’s time to seek out some alpha and beta readers. Typically, your first round would be with alpha readers, then you’d perform your rewrites based off their notes, and then you would submit the revised draft to a fresh round of beta readers. The goal of alpha and beta readers is to point out any inconsistencies, plot holes, unnecessary filler, missing details, etc.
You can ask some close friends or family members to do this for you. Keep an open mind when receiving their constructive criticism, and remember that these people care about you. They aren’t trying to dash your dreams, but rather improve your manuscript. However, asking people you know to alpha or beta read also comes with the caveat that they might be too soft on you, which ultimately hurts your book since you lose out on the chance to improve your story.
Be daring enough to seek out alpha and beta readers who you do not know and will give you honest feedback. Again, try not to take anything personally, but rather view it as a lesson and grow from it. How can you use their advice to hone your craft and become an even stronger writer—maybe even one who makes the best-selling list?
If finding alpha and beta readers feels too daunting a task (how do you know they won’t steal your work or give criticism without the constructive part attached?), consider hiring a developmental editor instead. Sure, it costs money, but with a professional, you can expect quality feedback that will really help to enhance your book to its best possible version. A developmental editor should provide you with an editorial letter full of notes and suggestions exclusive to your voice, style of writing, and story. The letter should include specific examples, lots of detail, and tips and lessons on exactly how to do what they are suggesting. Bonus that you’d only need to find one person instead of many!
Hire an Editor!
Regardless of how great of a writer you are and even if you use alpha and beta readers, you will still need an editor at some point in the process. An editor can help you with a variety of issues that you may not catch no matter how many times you look over your manuscript. In fact, the more you self-edit, the more you will miss because you become too close to it to see the errors. On the other hand, your editor will provide a neutral set of fresh eyes and can help you with a variety of factors, from the big-picture aspects down to the grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors.
Be aware that there are four phases to the professional editing process:
Ideally, you would hire a professional editor to complete ALL of these editing phases. But if for whatever reason you can’t, be sure that you clarify with your editor exactly what service or results you are wanting from the edit so you are both on the same page with your expectations. It’s never fun to assume you are getting grammatical and spelling corrections only to find out your editor wasn’t focused on grammar or spelling at all.
In addition, keep in mind that many editors may combine copyediting and line editing (like me), but no other edits should be completed simultaneously because they are focused on such different aspects (focusing on too much at once will cause your editor to miss important details) or performing very specific tasks (like proofreading, which is supposed to be the final set of eyes on your project right before publishing).
Need more clarification between the different types of edits? Check out my Services & Rates or Contact Me with questions or to get your book on my editing calendar! Remember, I offer discounts and a payment plan option so you don’t have to sacrifice something your book needs in order to shine its brightest. (Want to learn more about The Post-Writing Process?)
Red Quill Co LLC
Think you might be ready for an editor? If you’re unsure what type of editing you need, want to know how much it might cost, or simply have a question for me, Contact Me today. I am happy to discuss your manuscript with you!
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