What To Do Before You Start Your First Novel:
Inspiration struck you and now you’ve decided to write your first book. But, where do you start? Maybe you think you should just start writing. Or do you plot everything first? It will take time to figure out what method works best for you, so in the meantime make sure you…
Love your premise
Your novel might take years to finish which means your unique story idea should continually inspire you, call to you, and keep you up at night. There will be more days when you’d rather go to the beach, have drinks with friends, stare at the wall or even clean the cat box before you type another word. But, if you’re in love with your story you’ll continually find the discipline to come back to it.
Remove doubt
If there are a million questions flying through your mind find the answers. They could be about your story, what writing software to use, or even when you’ll have the time to write. Get to the bottom of a healthy amount of them otherwise they’ll start masquerading as concerns. You don’t want to find yourself filled with excuses as to why you can’t go on.
Join a writers’ group
We found ourselves in a writers’ group when we first started our novel. At first, we were too cool and convinced somebody would steal our genius and unique ideas. However, we ended up meeting the most joyous group of people who loved to read and talk about books. Jessica Brody came and taught a class based on Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat! which really helped us get our shit together as writers. Ultimately we were exposed to that and other resources we could have missed out on.
Compile your Resources
While researching save articles and handouts, keep your notes organized, bookmark those blogs, highlight book passages. Keep everything neat and easily accessible. (Don’t let your beloved pets nest in your research materials.) You won’t need those immediately, but you’ll need them once you’re stuck in your second act and you remember reading something somewhere that could help.
Start a new hobby
From time to time, you’ll need something to take your mind completely away from your story. When you apply yourself to something new you won’t be able to think about writing. Plus you’ll have something fun to do when you get a deserved break from all that discipline. Try something social or a skill you always wanted to learn. That way by the time you finish your novel you’ll also be an accomplished falconer.
