How To Write With Confidence As A New Novelist (Or Even An Experienced One...)

Start with Confidence

Be confident! Thousands of novels are published every year. If you come up with a good idea, and you learn your craft, as with Classic Novel Structure, you could be the writer of one of them. Remember this question always: why not you? Why shouldn't it be you who succeeds?

Stay Motivated

Writing novels takes a long time. Some superheroes can write a novel in a few months (most of us measure it more in years) but even that is a huge project. Your motivation can ebb and flow during the writing process. Accept that, but also set some plans in place to help you keep going. Remember, novels that don’t get finished don’t get published.

Accept Doubt, Accept Fear

Being a writer is filled with doubt: will I ever achieve my dream, will my book be published, and then will it be a success? Writers experience lots of fear too: am I good enough, is my book right for the market, what if this agent says no, what will the reviews say?

I return here to the first point: be confident. When doubt creeps in, don’t give it the power to stop you from achieving your dream. One of the best things you can do is to just acknowledge your feelings, know why you feel them, and do it anyway. No apologies for repeating this: why not you?

Make (And Keep) Time To Write

Consistency is important. Work out a writing schedule that fits your life and stick to it. An hour before work, two hours three evenings a week, or all of Saturday morning: whatever it is, make it work. For this, if you have a partner, kids, a demanding job, this might involve getting people on side. But your novel is important too, and your dreams: make time to write. And having carved that time out, don’t give it up.

Hopefully, at least, with your confidence and knowledge about novel structure, you will be able to save some time writing your novel too.

Avoid Burnout...

Be sensible. Don’t set overly ambitious goals. Be reasonable with your time, and don’t fill your spare time with writing. Finding time to write is a habit, and our habits need to work for us too. It’s better to write consistently and get the book finished than to push yourself and burn out.

But Set Deadlines

Deadlines are a powerful tool for maintaining momentum. Deadlines can work in a number of ways. “I will finish this novel in the next year” is a pretty clear, achievable goal. But you could also say that you will finish a specific chapter by next week, or achieve a word count every day you write. Break your novel up into smaller goals with deadlines that don’t overwhelm you, if feeling overwhelmed is a risk for you.

Lastly, Enjoy The Journey!

Often, online, you hear writers moan a great deal about how hard it all is, how difficult they find it. I’l be honest: this irritates me. If it bothers you so much, don’t do it. Enjoy the process, enjoy the journey. Confront the problems you have in drawing the novel together, solving the problems that come up. But here’s the thing with the book you have just read: when you are feeling a little lost, you have this clear structure to refer back to, to show you what’s next. I am being a bit of a Pollyanna writing this. Of course writing a novel is not all sunshine every day. But being a novelist is a wonderful life, full of advantages and freedoms. If you can make it work, you can have an amazing time and life...if you are open to it.

How To Write A Novel Chapter By Chapter available here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Novel-Chapter-Outlining-ebook/dp/B0DJ8TMVWL?ref_=ast_author_mpb

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