3 Tips to Finally Get That Novel Written, from a 2x Published Novelist

Hello. I'm an author. I assume you are, too, or at least desire to be. Welcome. It's nice to meet you. Hopefully, I can help you finish writing that novel you've started, or are thinking of starting. We'll be good friends, you and I.

I've written and published two full-length novels in the past two years, and am halfway through writing a third. You can find a link to my author website on my blog profile here. The website has linked covers for both of my novels that take you right to Amazon, where you can buy them (gratuitous plug....both books are free the entire month of July on Smashwords, as a promotion). 

Getting to this point, where I'm excited about writing novels, as well as comfortable producing them, wasn't easy. It was frustrating for a long time, not doing the thing I knew I was meant to be doing. I'm sure you can relate.

I Wondered if My Novels and I, Crazy Kids That We Were, Would Ever Get Together

You see, it's been my stated goal since high school to make a living as a novelist. In fact, my bio in the program for my local community theater's production of "The Pajama Game," which I did the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, plainly states my goal is to be a famous novelist and live a wonderful, happy life doing it. I've got the program saved; I can prove it. :)

Despite creatively writing since elementary school, and winning numerous awards and even a college scholarship doing it, getting that first novel written was so much harder than I thought it would be. It certainly took longer....like, YEARS longer. 

It's not for lack of trying. I have drawers full of half-finished manuscripts I just gave up on. All through high school, college, and my 20's, I tried to write an entire novel to completion, and just couldn't manage it.

Why?

It turns out I was going about the process all wrong, at least for me. 

You see, each writer has their own process. I just had to find mine, and believe me, it took a while, with a lot of trial and error before I discovered it. Maybe your process is similar to mine, and you just don't know it yet.

If you want to write a novel and have a drawer full of unfinished manuscripts like I did, or if you want to write one but don't know how to get started, here are some tips I've learned on my path to publication that I hope will help you.

3 Tips to Help You Finally Write That Novel

Here they are, the tips! You might want to take notes. Or not. This is all about you and what works best for you as an author. I'll tell you, though, these tips really helped me, once I figured them out on my own. I wish someone had given ME this advice years ago. Learn from my mistakes, here, fellow authors.

1. Know Your Characters Inside and Out

This was actually the biggest reason I never finished a novel before 2015. I would get so far into a novel I was writing, and just couldn't complete it because I realized I had no idea who the characters actually were. I couldn't get inside their heads. Because of this, I had no way of knowing what an authentic reaction from one of them would be to any event, how they would speak to another character, what they thought about, nothing.

When you don't know your characters, they come off pretty damn bland on the page.

This was a huge problem for me. Even if I wrote a multi-page, detailed character description of each one that explored every single tiny thing about their personality and lives up to the point of the book, it didn't help me know them any better. Certainly not even close to well enough to write a book about them.

So, how did I fix it, and finally get inside my lovely little characters' heads?

I started basing them on people I already know. 

Now, this doesn't have to mean people I know in person. It doesn't even have to mean real people. Some of my characters are based on characters I know and love from favored TV shows. But, some of them have the personality traits of people I know.

Naturally, I insert myself into each book as a character, as well. Who knows me better than me? Besides, I want to take part in the fun.

The names are all different, of course, and I put them into situations they've never been in, either on TV or in real life, so it's all original. I'm using other people as inspiration, not straight up ripping off their lives or stories. That would be wrong (don't do it). 

Do original storylines, for God's sake. But, the cool thing about using characters inspired by other characters or real life people is that you KNOW them. You know how they would react, what they would say, and what they would think in any given situation, even if it is a new one for them, because you know them so well. It makes writing for them easy.

THAT is how you get into the heads of your characters, and THAT is the first step in finishing a novel. When you know your characters, they will come off more realistic, and your readers will feel like they know them, too.

2. Don't Think You HAVE to Have an Outline

I know, I know. Most writing teachers and instruction books say you have to have an outline. Well, I'm here to tell you that you don't. There are all kinds of different writing styles. Yes, there are some writers who swear by the outline, and it works well for them. Others are known as freestyle writers, and I'm one of them.

What is a freestyle writer? 

It's a writer who starts off with a general idea. Maybe he or she has a few ideas for scenes in the novel, or a definite thought on where the novel should go. Other than that, though, there is no outline.

I tried using outlines for years, and just got frustrated when I inevitably strayed away from it. I thought that meant I was no good at writing novels. It wasn't true, though, not at all. I just didn't realize I was a freestyle writer. 

My characters wanted to break free and go off in their own directions. I'd heard of this happening with other authors, but still thought you always had to come back to the outline, even if you had a brief jaunt away from it. I was keeping my poor characters as prisoners to the outline, and it wasn't working for them, or me.

Once I finally let go of the idea of a rigid outline, the words just flowed from me, almost effortlessly. My characters took the reins, and they led me in some pretty surprising directions. However, these were all good for the book. It made the book better, because I was allowing it to go where it naturally wanted to go, not where I thought it SHOULD go. 

The book I'm working on now, which is my third novel, has been one surprise after another for me. Each time I come to it, I have an idea of where it should go, and each time, my characters do something way different from what I thought I was going to write, and each time, it has been SO much cooler than my original idea. 

With this one, I genuinely can't wait to write on it every day, because it's like I'm reading it as I'm writing it. I want to see what happens next. I don't even know anymore. The characters are doing all the writing for me. I've given them total free rein here, even more so than in my first two books.

And, you know what? It's the best book I've written yet.

3. Make Sure You Write Every Day, Even if it's Only a Tiny Amount

Do you know what happens if you go a few days, or, God forbid, a week without writing at least something on your novel? You totally forget what was happening. You may have to go back a few pages to re-acquaint yourself with your story. You also lose the vibe of the story, and it may take a few days of working on it some more to get it back (or just a few pages, if you're lucky).

Plus, if you don't write regularly, and especially if you have long breaks between working on your novel, you are much less likely to finish it. Instead, you'll decide it's not that important, give up, and walk away, leaving your characters with their adventure unfinished. 

Don't do that to your characters. They depend on you to make their lives meaningful and interesting. And, they also want you to give them closure. Wouldn't you hate it if someone did that to you? Don't torture your creations this way (though, it's perfectly okay to torture them on the page as part of the story....don't worry, they expect it).

Because I'm a fast typist and incredibly OCD, so I like nice, round numbers, I personally try to go for 2,000 words a day. I also aim for approximately 100,000 words for each novel. That means, by writing 2,000 or so words every day, I can finish a novel in about a month and a half. 

Of course, that's just the first draft. Editing, re-writing, and more re-writing, and yet still more re-writing come after. You've got to refine your story. The most important thing, though is to finish that first draft. It's such a feeling of accomplishment, and lets you know you CAN DO THIS. 

I'll talk more about the importance of editing and re-writing (as well as how to do it) in another post. Writing posts are on Thursdays now, guys!

Just an FYI to throw in here about word count....A full-length novel is considered to be anything over 60,000 words. However, if it isn't at least 80,000, readers might not have enough material to really get into it. If you're a first-time author and your book is longer than 100,000 words, readers may not be willing to take a risk investing the amount of time to read a book of that length. They don't know how awesome you are yet, after all. Wait until the second book before going over 120,000 words. That's really the max you can get away with as a first-time author.

So, there you have it. Three powerful tips you can use today to start writing your novel, and to make sure you finish it. Don't let anyone, even yourself, tell you that you can't write a book. You absolutely can. Just find your own unique process, what works best for you, and go.

Are you committed to being an author? If you are, you won't let anything stand in your way, and you will write that book. Use these tips to help you get there. Then, let me know how they worked for you. They worked wonders for me. I'd love to know about how they helped you.

Now, go start writing!

If you enjoyed this post (and I hope you did), please take a moment to follow me here at @stephmckenzie to get more articles from me on life, the universe, and everything. Thank you!