I’VE WRITTEN OVER 150 NOVELS. HERE IS WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

I know what you’re thinking right now, and to be perfectly honest, I can hardly believe it either. 150 novels! By myself?! Surely, it must be a lie.

A novel is defined as having a word count of above 80,000 words. So, assuming that most of these were toward the lower end of what is required, I have written over 12,000,000 words in my short writing career. I look at that number and I gawk.

I am not a well-known author. In fact, the majority of the novels that I have written all have someone else’s name on them. I’m a ghostwriter, writing books for other would-be-authors who have a story idea, a penchant for self-marketing, but don’t have the time to crank out +80,000 words.

But I’m not here to talk about ghostwriting. I’ll save that for another post. Rather, I want to talk about what I have learned in the course of writing these 150+ novels. As any writer knows, practice doesn’t make perfect, but it certainly makes you that little bit better, and with over 150 novels under my belt, I like to think that I’ve learned a few things.

So, what follows are 8 — that’s right 8! — of the most important things that I have learned from having written over 150 full length novels. Hopefully, you might also learn a thing or two… or eight.

1. PLAN YOUR WORK

When it comes to long-form fiction writing, there are generally two types of writers, the ‘gardeners’ and the ‘planners.’

A gardener is essentially a writer who doesn’t plan. Not being one myself, I’m not that across the concept, but from those that I have spoken to who are, the method of writing is pretty simple. You just sit down and write. I know that ideas formed in the planning stage often change entirely when they appear on the page, and a concept that might have sounded phenomenal in your head, might just come across as silly once it’s written down. This happens a lot, and gives credence to the all the gardeners out there.

Having said all of that, I’m still inclined to push the idea that planning your work in advance will always benefit you in the long run. It has for me, and as said, I’ve written quite a bit.

The depth of your plan may vary, and the kind of planning you do for each piece may differ. But having that initial outline, the bones of the concept written down in advance, will save you so much time in the long run. It allows you to see plot points play out, character arc shift and change, how certain scenes and moments play off earlier ones.

Oh, and one big note here, it saves you from having to do a ton of re-writing later on. But, having said that…

2. WRITING IS RE-WRITING

I plan my stories and blog posts before I write them. This involves long outlines, often committing days and days just to get the basic premise on the page. For a novel I’m writing right now, I’ve spent a full 9 months in the planning stage, and that’s without writing a single word of story! I do this to save myself having to do mass rewrites later on, but even still… those rewrites do occur. Always and without doubt.

Writing is rewriting, and until you learn to accept this, you will never be a good writer. You might be a fine writer. You might even be accomplished. But you certainly won’t be good. Sorry about that.

Ideas change on the page. Characters change mid-story. Plot points you thought worked once upon a time might make no sense now that you’re actually writing the damn thing out. Don’t be afraid to go back in and rewrite scenes and chapters. In fact, you should be trying to.

I’ve written over 150 novels and not once, ever, has a rewrite resulted in a worse draft than the previous. Whether it be a new idea I’ve come up with, or a note from a client, every single time a rewrite or a new draft is recommended, the result is always superior. Sometimes, we are so close to a piece of writing that we can’t see the forest for the trees and require that outside vision to help. They key here is to not take the suggestion personally. They’re just trying to help.

So, when someone does suggest a rewrite (it’s going to happen), I recommend being excited for the chance. Odds are, it’s going to help your story in the long run and make you a better writer.

3. YOU’RE GOING TO HATE A LOT OF WHAT YOU WRITE

This is a depressing one, but a harsh reality of the process. A lot of what you write, you simply won’t like. Sometimes the story doesn’t work as well as you thought. Often, the characters aren’t popping off the page the way you had hoped. Even your writing might not be working the way you thought it would. These things do happen.

The best piece of advice I can give you for this, is to try and finish what you have started. Even if you hate the story, do what you can to see it out. And then, once you have, look back at the story and ask yourself ‘what went wrong.’

A piece of writing is only a failure if you didn’t learn anything from it. So, if you are hating a novel you’re working on, try your best to finish and then be reflective. Try and see the piece as a writing experience, rather than a waste of time. Writing is re-writing, but it’s also about learning. So, learn what you can from your failures and do better next time.

4. DON’T GIVE IN TO WRITER’S BLOCK

This might be controversial, but I don’t believe in writer’s block. I just don’t. Writing is all about the grind, and if you commit to this grind, then you should be able to see out any supposed writer’s block you feel you might be having.

But there is a way to get past it. For myself, I like to have several different things to work on at once. If one story is stalling, I move onto another. If there is a story in the wings that’s waiting for me until I finish the first one, leave the old and start on the new for a while. Clear your mind and start fresh.

Another little trick is to think about all the things you need to do to your story before it is finished. Even if you are in the writing stage, maybe a previous chapter needs to be edited? Maybe a certain character needs to be worked on? Maybe one plot point isn’t working and needs to be redrafted?

When you hit that writer’s block, move onto something else — within the writing space — and work on that until you’re in the right head space to go back to the main body of work. But most importantly, do not stop. Do not stall. Do not wait for the inspiration to come back. If you do this, odds are you’ll be waiting a while.

5. YOU WON’T MAKE A LOT OF MONEY, SO LOVE THE PROCESS

Another hard one to swallow, but an unfortunate truth. As a writer, the odds are that you aren’t going to be making a lot of money. You might make some money. You might even make a bit. But a lot of money? That George R. R. Martin level income? I wish you luck.

The secret to getting around this unfortunate fact is simple: love what you do. I don’t write for the money. I write because I love it and can’t see myself doing anything else. I make enough to survive, and a little bit less than that. But I also couldn’t imagine doing anything else, and believe me when I say that I have tried.

As with any job that you wish to be successful at, you have to love what you are doing. So, when you start writing a novel, don’t think about the money it might make you, or the fame it may bring. Think about the story and how much fun you’re going to have bringing it to life. Look forward to the long days, the longer nights, the hours spent alone. The page is your best friend, so you may as well do a little bonding.

6. TELL PEOPLE THAT YOU ARE A WRITER

This one took me a while to get my head around, and I really can’t emphasize how important it is. As a writer, you should be making sure to tell everyone you know that this is what you do for a living. Literally everyone.

And it can be hard to do. Writing is such a personal process, and showing someone your work might feel akin to showing them your diary, or stripping off down to your birthday suit and parading around on stage in front of the entire town. It’s so much easier to just write something, tell yourself its perfect, and move on to the next thing. You shouldn’t be doing this.

When I started telling people that I was a writer (several years after the fact), a funny thing started to happen: people started asking me to work for them. Sometimes it was just a friend with an idea, other times it was a new client sourced to me through an acquaintance. Recently, it was a speech at a wedding. I became the go-to writer among my friends, and the feeling was a good one.

The point is that the more people who you tell that you are a writer to, the more it will begin to feel as if you are one. Your confidence will improve. Criticism won’t hit you as hard as it used to. And, most importantly, you might even get some work out of it. What’s the point on writing that Opus Deus if no one sees it?

7. READING REALLY HELPS

I am not a big reader. I never really have been. I’m the class of writer that always just assumed he had nothing to learn from anybody and could go it on his own. No classes. No lectures. Just me being awesome…. and then I started reading regularly. Since I started reading more often, I can tell you first hand that my writing has improved in leaps and bounds.

And when I say ‘read,’ I do mean read. No audiobooks. No movie adaptions of books. You need to read so that you can see the words on the page, so you can experience how a story flows in a published novel, so you can study the way a page is constructed, pick up a few little tips and tricks… and possibly even steal some ideas if you’re wily enough. I even have a notepad handy when I read so that I can write down words I like in hopes of using them later.

Reading also really helps with the other stages of the writing process. If you have writer’s block, read and see it disappear. If you are struggling with your own narrative, read and feel inspired. I can’t emphasize enough how much reading has helped my writing, so I highly recommend you do it too.

8. WRITE MORE… AND PROBABLY MORE THAN THAT

If you take a peek at my writer’s bio, you’ll see a reference to Malcolm Gladwell in there. Famous for many things, one such claim to fame is his hypothesis that it takes 10,000 hours of practice at a task before you are deemed a ‘professional.’ Now, I’m not saying that you need to write for 10,000 hours. That’s a lot of writing! But I am saying that you probably need to write more.

I didn’t write 150+ novels by accident. I did it by writing. I write most days of the week from 9am-5pm. In there is a lunch break, a gym break and usually a walk. On weekends, I make sure to get a few hours in both days. And more often than not, I do some writing at night after dinner. I pump those words out, even when they’re not very good.

Most successful writers are the same. Stephen King is famous for writing 3 pages a day, regardless of the content. He doesn’t do this because he has deadlines he needs to hit. He does it because he knows that the more he writes, the better he will become.

The odds are that you aren’t writing enough. Of all the advice I can give, the most important is this: write more. Not only will you complete your work at a timelier date, but you will vastly improve as well. I can’t tell you how many terrible scenes I’ve written where we meet our ‘hero’ waking up in the morning and hitting the alarm. Maybe a dozen? Maybe two dozen? But I don’t write them anymore, simply because I burned myself out of that scene years ago.

Don’t be afraid to write the bad ideas. Write them, and then do it again. If you are writing enough you will eventually see how to turn these bad ideas into good ones. In fact, you’ll probably stop having bad idea all together. Your command of the English language will improve, your ability to enter scenes, to write strong prose, believable dialogue, and construct meaningful plots will grow like you wouldn’t believe.

And another thing…

Actually, no. Never mind. In fact, you should stop reading this blog right now. It’s a waste of time. Go out there and start writing. I know I am.