Interested in learning the basic steps involved in writing a novel? Strap on your seat belt! I’m happy to share my 10 tips for getting started:

• Decide on an idea for your novel. An idea you LOVE, because you’re going to be at this for months, if not years. (Egads! Lol.)

• Decide on a plot. You will be surprised at the plot twists that pop up as you write, but you MUST know how your book ENDS. Think of the plot as spaghetti. You need all those noodles in the bowl; none of them can be allowed to slip out and make a mess on the floor. This article tells you not to plan too much. So there you have it: two opposing views. I get the point being made here: don’t lose site of your need for creative free flow. I will just say from personal experience that NOT knowing where I was headed, and why my characters did what they did, ensured that I did a LOT more rewriting and backtracking than I should have. You want to get to a finished FIRST DRAFT sooner than later, or you might run out of steam before your novel has a chance to reach and grab you by the throat. Only then, dear writer, might you find that you love your characters and what they’re doing so much that you can’t NOT finish your book.

• Create your characters. Flesh them out FULLY before you start writing, so you KNOW why they do what they do. Even details such as what they like to eat, how they spend their free time, and if they prefer winter or summer can be important!

• Figure out where you need to do some research. For instance, I had no idea how a blow torch actually worked. For Book Two, I’m having to learn a lot about llamas. 😉

• START WRITING. Do not keep re-writing to “perfect” your text. I GUARANTEE you that there’s a good chance you’ll later end up deleting or changing some of what you write in your first draft. So don’t waste the time trying to polish as you go. Do make a new daily file to work from, so that if you want to go back and retrieve wording from past drafts, it’s easy to do so. (I learned this the hard way.) You can delete old versions as you go along.

• Recognize that good writing requires a LOT of EDITING. I’m talking HOURS, people. But don’t let that scare you!

• Grab yourself at least one ACCOUNTABILITY partner. Unless, of course, you have absolutely no problem finding the time for personal writing projects — while also trying to be a great spouse, parent, employee, etc. I needed my good friend (and book formatter!) Jamie Saloff to hold me accountable for meeting deadlines I set for draft versions, images, cover art, etc. Jamie has helped a lot of authors to format their ebook and print books.

• Decide if you’re going to self-publish or spend the time trying to interest an agent or publisher. I have gone both routes, and can now clearly see the pros and cons of traditional publishing and self-publishing. I loved having complete control of this novel, but man, it would have been so much EASIER to have just been responsible for the writing. Still, I highly endorse self-publishing, if just for the experience. (You might make more money, too.)

• HIRE AN EDITOR! Trust me on this: you are way too close to your project to see the holes, gaps, and lags in your book. You can’t see where you’ve underwritten — or overwritten — because you see it all so clearly in your head. Do NOT TRUST your friends to give you honest or particularly helpful feedback. Now, I did rely on feedback from people who are friends, but they are also professionals in the publishing field. I knew they would be thorough and (kindly) ruthless in their (constructive) feedback. It wasn’t so much about whether they “liked” a character. It was whether the plotting made sense, the characters were believable, the pacing good, the dialogue interesting, etc. People who do not professionally write or edit — or at least read a lot of good books — simply can’t provide the level of insight and feedback you need to get to a good book. But remember that if your aim is PERFECTION, you might as well just put your book in a drawer and never publish it. Because it will NEVER be as good as you think it could be (and you’re probably right!). BUT DO NOT PUT OUT CRAP!! There are enough crappy books — especially self-published ones!! — to reach the moon and back. Put out your best, then move on to the next writing project. The goal here is to PUBLISH!

• Start thinking about how you will market the book before it’s out. I totally stalled on this part, because just taking care of all of the details required by self-publishing (writing, editing, cover art, inside art, ISBN, copyright, formatting, pricing, etc.) was about all I could handle while also getting to client work and living life. So NOW I need to focus on where my target market groups (parents, teachers, schools, anti-bully groups, art groups, etc.) hang out.

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I am HAPPY that my middle-grade novel, Sanctuary Rises, the first book in my Junk Lot Jive series, is now available as an ebook and print book!! Sanctuary Rises took a LOT of time and effort to complete, but the process was worth it. Onward and upward!

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