I can’t recommend any sites or classes, because none of them have ever worked for me. I’m an avid listener of
Writing Excuses: I like Patricia Wrede’s
writing blog, and Marie Brennan’s
New Worlds posts and ebooks. But these aren’t step-by-step guides so much as advice that sometimes sets off lightbulb moments. As far as how to write novels — how
I write novels — I had to work that out for myself.
If you want to short-circuit the process, here’s three questions that might have saved me years of flailing:
1)
What do you like to write? Go back to the essential building blocks of story — world, plot, character. Which one appeals to you most, which one do you find yourself thinking about the most, which one do your readers comment on favorably?
2)
How do stories come to you? When you’re feeling the story in your head, where are the scenes and scenarios that feel clearest, most real, most vivid? Do you have the perfect beginning? A brilliant end? Pivotal scenes in the middle?
3)
What makes you stop? I have my share of unfinished novels — we all do. What makes you walk away? Is it that you can’t see the next step, the next scene? That the story doesn’t feel “right” any more? Do you start polishing already-written scenes and become so obsessed with getting them “right” that you stop writing new ones? Do you become so overwhelmed with the feeling that everything you’ve written is terrible that you give up? Do you get to a certain point — 30k, 60k — and decide the story isn’t working? Do you get to a certain point and get distracted by a New Shiny?
Knowing these things may help you sort out how to tackle your project. If you’re a plotter, you probably want some form of outline, but if you’re a worldbuilder, you may be better off with a solid world bible and only a few sketchy bullet points of plot; if you’re a character writer, you may be best off doing free writing or character interviews or a Draft Zero — whatever gets those voices solid. Your strongest writing skill is your
anchor, it’s your bones. It’s what you use to
fix the elements you’re weaker in. Lean on it. Similarly, it’s usually best to write from the point in your story you feel most certain about. If that means you start at the end and work backwards, or start somewhere in the middle and work your way out, or jump around writing out-of-order scenes like a caffeinated frog, that’s what it is. The way that works is the right way.
Knowing what stops you finishing is harder (for me at least) to prescribe for. I ended up writing the first draft of my current WIP in longhand to stop myself going back and obsessively fiddling with trivia — not the right word? TOO BAD, fix it on type-in. Others go over the day before’s writing, or the week before’s, to edit because it keeps the story strong in their minds. For some having an outline to refer back to keeps them going, for others (me) an outline is a will o’wisp that will lead them so far from their
real story they can’t get back. If you only ever get X far on a WIP, that may be where you just need to push through and grind, because as Patty noted, different stages of a story take different energy. Getting through it
once, however terribly, is sometimes the only way to convince yourself you can do it again.
I also recommend setting goals. It doesn’t matter what those are. Daily goals are popular, but if your goal is to write for eight hours straight every other Saturday, that’s fine too; you can set a goal of 500 words a day, or 10,000 a month, you can say “I will write for X hours”, “I will write X pages” — but you have to
stick with it. Be as specific as possible. If you can say “I will write every morning from 6 to 7 am” that’s better than “I’ll write every day”. (I like
Pacemaker for setting and tracking goals, because it’s insanely customizable, but again: whatever works.)
If you’re consistently failing, ask why. It may be a failure of willpower, or it may be the wrong goal — maybe you’re not a daily writer; maybe measuring hours isn’t working out for you; maybe you’ve set your goal too high to reach, maybe it’s too low for you to take seriously. Or it may be a genuine problem with your story. These have different fixes; be as honest with yourself as you can, and be flexible.
The first finish line is the hardest. Good luck.