How’s It Like Writing a Novel? Advice from a 22 Year-Old Writer
The most recent picture of me outside of my writing life
So, you want to write a novel? You’ve got an idea, a plot, several cool characters, perhaps maybe even a good message connected to the story, and even a cover idea and a pitch how to market. Yes, I’ve been that road too many times. More than I can count, especially since I’ve been writing for almost ten years now.
I know what you’re thinking… What could I, a writer at 22-years-old, possibly bestow as advice for writing a novel? I honestly thought the same thing, especially when comparing myself to other older, more-seasoned and experienced writers, so, I thought long and hard about my advice to make myself not sound dim-witted.
Before I go on to my list, I’ll give a brief overview of myself to new people who have stumbled into my blog. I’m Elizabeth Pridgen, and I have been writing for almost ten years. I have written several poems, short stories, a handful of novellas and even novels. I have five under my belt all-together, and three out of five of them are published - my first novel being published when I was eighteen-years-old. Those novels being, “The Life of David Earl Penning” (2018), “Neverafter” (2019) and more recently, “Zero Gravity” (2022). I attended NC State University’s Young and Teen Writers’ Workshop from 2014 - 2017 and I’m currently a undergraduate attending NC State University as a transfer student (from Nash Community College) majoring in creative writing.
All three of my novels: “The Life of David Earl Penning”, “Neverafter” and “Zero Gravity”
Now, here are some of my tips and advice for writing a novel.
Realize that it’s not an easy journey.
Writing a novel is something that is far from easy. It’s not something you can do in a week, a month, a year. Although you’ve had some writers do it in close to month or a year, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was a walk in a breeze for them. Some spent all day, and all night religiously working on aspects such as the tone, the plot, the characters and then revising the first draft. For example, Zora Neale Hurston wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” for seven weeks, and it now regarded as one of the best southern literature novels for the well-crafted complexities of it. And for me, “Zero Gravity” took a year to write, but it took a lot of focus on details such as characters, plots and certain messages I wanted to send via the writing.
Be dedicated to the craft of writing and reading
So, you want to write a novel? The first question I’m obviously going to ask is: do you read a lot of novels? And then ask: do you discuss a lot of novels? If you answered no to the first one, definitely pick up a few more. And don’t just pick up any random novel. Pick up ones that people praise and try and find the good aspects people can’t stop talking about. This can be well-regarded books like “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak that your friends talk about. Or, it can be something from your literature class, like “Jane Eyre” Charlotte Brontë or even “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner. If you answered yes to the first, then no to the second, you need to find people to discuss books with. They can be classmates, friends, even if they aren’t people into writing, as long as they’re interested in stories and storytelling.
Write an outline
To quote my old drama professor, Mr. Finley. “The outline is like a blueprint for your house. If you built the house without that blueprint, it would not be structurally sound. It would collapse, everyone in it would die and it would be your fault.” Now, some will probably disagree that you need to write an outline. But, an outline keeps everything organized, and you’ll have every piece of the story before you, and you won’t waste time wondering where to go next, or which part you need to edit or revise.
And take it from me. I tried writing a novel without an outline and it took me 2 years because I wasn’t organized. Again, it isn’t impossible to not write a novel without an outline. However, it definetely makes the process longer than necessary.
Revise the outline
Now, this is something that a lot of people will probably disagree with me. But, I would read your outline, then close your eyes and visualize the story in your head. Did you like certain things about it? Did it make sense? This not only means less work for revising your first draft, but you also get a stronger sense of what to write about in your first draft. Yes, it is a little irritating to revise your outline, but think of it as this. Going back to talking about blueprints, it goes through multiple designs finally before everyone starts working on the house. The same goes for the story.
Take your time with your first draft.
Enjoy it! This is truly the only time you get to sit down and write. Don’t stop yourself because it sounds weird or you don’t like how it reads so far. You can change that when revising, but really enjoy the process and embrace it. This is what truly makes you a writer.
Have another pair of eyes look at yourwork
You’ve read it so many times. And because of that, you don’t see your own mistakes. Your first draft is like your house. You’re used to the smell of it, even though your trash is full to the point if almost overflowing, and you just deep fried pork chops and cooked collard greens.
These mistakes in your first draft can both revolve around the story and it’s aspects or grammatical and spelling errors. Either way, it helps not only your story, but also yourself as a writer. Your second pair of eyes is giving you an experience how it would be like if someone read your work. They’ll say things your future readers would say if it were available to the public. You can get several people to read your work by asking a few friends to BETA read for you, or hire an editor.
Be fair with yourself
This is your work. You’re either too hard on yourself or being too easy on yourself. Even after almost ten years of writing, I still find myself swinging on both sides of the pendulum on this. “Neverafter” took me two years to write because I didn’t write an outline for it. And I wasn’t as harsh on myself as I am now. “Zero Gravity” took me many years to write on-and-off because I was unsure of the plot. I thought the plot was too wild and people wouldn’t understand it. Turned out, people loved it and thought it was a cool concept. It takes a lot of patience, but gratefully it grows the longer you work as a writer. I definitely did not have it when I first started off, but gratefully it’s gotten better! I can tell you, each novel always comes with a unique task. Sometimes, you need to work on one novel more than another. And that’s fine! It happens!
The verdict? Be sure you know what you’re getting into. And more importantly: have fun with it! It’s a lot of work, but it’s a rewarding process!
