As I write this, I’m sitting on my couch with a blanket wishing I had a cup of tea or coffee. It’s a little chilly, as the autumn weather sets in. Now, I KNOW it’s not fall yet, but right now it sure feels like it! (And as I’m publishing this post, it now is fall!)
Today I’ll be sharing a writing update and some of my tips for writing an entire novel!
First off, the update. As I’m writing this (in advance, so I’ll be further along when I post this), I am only 1 chapter plus the epilogue away from finishing my novel, Camp Victory. I’m on track to finish this week! I am at 49,000 words.
UPDATE: I finished it!!!
This has been about two months in writing, with another two or three months of prep before. I don’t begrudge that prep though! It was so very helpful, and will save me so much time in edits later on.
I’d like to share with you some of the tips I’ve learned through this process (and through my other writing projects!).
Stay Consistent
I’ve written about three times a week every week since I started drafting this project. This was very helpful, and it helped me keep on track. It’s all about consistency and building habits! If you just write when you feel like it, you’ll never finish. 😉
I had days when I didn’t write very much, but I still wrote. I didn’t want to, but when I started the words just kept coming. There were days when I didn’t think I had time to write, but I fit in a few hundred words anyway!
Have an Outline
Having an Outline for your project is SOOOO important! It’s like having a map before you go on your journey. If you don’t have one, you’ll wander around and get lost in the weeds, going on rabbit trails and swimming in ponds.
Okay, maybe not the ponds.
But you get my point, I think! An Outline is just an overview of where the story will go. Some people don’t like to outline at all, or very much. That’s okay, but just beware—you might have a hard time keeping on track with where exactly the story is going.
Spend Time Developing Before You Start
This is very similar to outlining, but it’s also different. And outline is the plot points of the story, but developing is more focused on worldbuilding, characters, setting, etc. Figuring out what the story aesthetic will be. If it’s fantasy, it’ll be coming up with your world and the customs and traditions in it.
This is all very helpful for when you start writing. If you know all of it already (or most of it anyway), you won’t have to waste time coming up with it as you write. Plus, if it’s already started, it’s more likely to be consistent throughout the story.
Share Your Writing
This isn’t a must (none of them are ;P), but it sure helps! I love to share snippets of scenes and characters with my writing friends and my family. It’s helpful to see what they think, and hear their advice. It can be hard to edit your story of course, or to hear anything bad about it. But you don’t have to implement all their feedback anyway! It’s just helpful to have a second or third opinion and so forth. 😉
Don’t Worry about Prose and Such
This is your first draft. You don’t have to worry about your writing style, sentence flow, grammar, etc. Not yet. Just get the words on the page. You can edit later.
Enough said.
Conclusion
I don’t know if there’s anything you can conclude from this, so to speak. But I hope, if you’re a writer, that my tips were sort of helpful at least! And even if you’re not a writer, I hope you learned something from them.
Until next time, happy writing and God bless!
~Janet
