Want to Write a Novel? Make it Your Job.

This weekend, I've had several conversations with people who want to write novels. I meet a lot of people like this. Would-be writers who insist they have a novel in them, but who just sit down and nothing comes out. Or they're writing about a page a month because they want everything to be perfect. Or they're just not...sitting down, or writing, at all. I've written three novels and am working on a fourth. All are in various stages of disrepair and chaos--I haven't gotten orderly first drafts out of my process so far. But I do have finished first drafts. I can't say it's a perfect process, but it's better than doing nothing.

So if you've been working on your novel on and off for decades already, or you just haven't sat down and started, here are a few tips for getting a finished first draft.

It doesn't matter when you write. But you have to write consistently.I remember going to a lecture by a famous short story author--I don't remember the name now, unfortunately--while I was in college. This well-meaning lady said in her lecture that if you want to be a writer, you have to feel "the fire" in you all the time. You have to be driven to get up at five in the morning to write. If you're not doing that, you'll never be a real writer.

Now, I have to say that if the only time I could write was five in the morning, I would never write. Ever. I got a bit hung up on this after the speech. Did my lack of morning ambition mean I lacked "the fire"? Was I doomed to failure because I was addicted to the Snooze button? Did I really have to choose between Snoozing and writing??

Seriously, you don't. It doesn't matter when you write. You can write on your lunch break, at night, in the morning, whenever. You can be really consistent about time or you can write whenever you can fit it in. The only thing that matters is that it's a good time for you. And that you do it consistently.

To me, consistency is more about word count than time of day. When I first started committing to writing a novel, I told myself I would do 2,500 words a week. That was 500 words a day, with two days off. 500 words is like a page or a page and a half in Word. I figured I could do that easily once a day. And if I had a busy week, I could do it in one go on the weekend (although at the time, 2500 words sounded utterly insurmountable to do at once). Writing every day wasn't that important to me as long as I made my word count--that showed me I was making progress. Now, I'm on a schedule where I write 1,500 words a day (two days off for weekends). If it's Nano, I do 2,500 words a day. I change the word count schedule based on my goal and what I'm working on at the time.

Don't wait around for inspiration to strike. If you do, you will never get your novel done. Inspiration is special. It strikes when you least expect it. You can't depend on it--and you can't base a writing career on it. What you can do is put your butt in the chair every day and get yourself ready for when inspiration does strike. But if you want to write a novel, chances are about 90% of your effort will come through a combination of will and thought and imagination, without that fire-in-the-belly, burning passion that keeps you up all night.

Perfectionists never finish anything. Don't be a perfectionist. Don't linger over every paragraph, slave over every precious little sentence. Chances are you'll be changing all that around in your edits anyway. Or maybe if you're super lucky, your editor will. If you want to be really picky about everything, be a reviewer, not a novelist. If not, learn to embrace "good enough" and don't be afraid to suck. Because you will, trust me, think your novel is the stinkiest sock in the locker room about two thirds of the way through.

I used to have a habit where I would get about 100 pages into a novel, then decide it was the worst book ever and delete everything and start over. The next time had to be better, I thought. But it never was. And I always wanted to start again. I never got anything done that way, ever. Don't be like I used to be. Don't think the first draft even has to be good. Just push through.