Three Advices for Young Novelists

So, you’re a writer. Maybe you wrote several short stories, or even anthologies, or maybe you write poems or articles. Maybe you feel like trying something a little more challenging. Like… a novel. But you must know, a novel is a whole other story.

As this NaNoWriMo showed me, writing a good novel is a lot more than just writing. You see, I write short stories and poems, where you don’t have to deal too much with chronology and foreshadowing. And although I’ve already written a few novels, I’ve never prepared them for publishing.

Which means, I basically spilled everything on the page until I reached 50,000 words.

And that, my friend, is no novel.

So here are the three challenges I’m facing right now, and my advice to you for surpassing them…

These are the parts that are not related directly to the story. They simply confuse the reader. But deleting them isn’t always easy, because if they’re still good, you may find yourself struggling to salvage some of the pieces.

Yep, that’s me. I try and think what I can keep inside, and I move paragraphs from one place to the other in order to not delete anything. I just think there are good stories there, even if they’re unrelated to the main plot.

So my advice to you is, don’t fall in love with your own writing. Even if it’s good, a novel has to be clear and precise. It’s long enough anyway, so exhausting the reader with content is absolutely a disaster. If you have good enough pieces, turn them into short stories, maybe. But don’t just leave them in your manuscript. No no no.

2. Structure.

Now, when I write a short story I don’t need much structure. I write several coherent pages and find myself at the end of the plot, and so, my work is done. Not with a novel, though.

I am currently preparing my novel for publishing on Amazon. I wish I could have told you I write a lot during that process… which is true, but I also think a lot. I find myself in front of the computer, writing notes upon notes of “what came first”, “what characters should I take out”, “what scenes should I leave on the editing room floor”, etc.

So it’s not just writing, which is what us writers usually do. You also have to arrange everything, you have to plan, to strategize. In other words, you have to think. It actually surprised me!

3. Sitting down and working on it.

Surprising, isn’t it?
Because even when you’re not doing the writing, just the plotting of the plot, it’s really exhausting. My brain no longer thinks straight, and I feel like my eyes are popping out of their holes. I even get up at night to write notes as to what I should do with the story tomorrow, editing-wise. Writing a novel is just like running a business!

So don’t work too hard, and take breaks often so you can renew your energy reserves. If you’re writing a novel, you’re in for a long journey. My advice is to work in short but effective spurts, and then go do something else and clear your head. You deserve it.

So, my fellow NaNoWriMers, I hope this was helpful. This November is teaching me a lot about writing a novel, and requires skills I didn’t think a writer should have.

I’ll keep you updated with more insights from this fascinating process, so make sure to follow!

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