Don’t Try to Write a Great Novel

My sister is the bee's knees when it comes to sharing information based on my areas of interests, for instance, relevant job opportunities, writing opportunities/contests, info on blogs and blogging topics, how to write a novel.

Sometimes I bookmark the links to come back to every so often for a number of reasons. I was recently cleaning up my personal email inbox, unsubscribing from unnecessary sites, checking old unread emails, etc. and I came across a bookmarked email from my sister from 2017. A BuzzFeed article - 18 Things Every Young Writer Should Know.

The article mentioned young adults so I'm not sure if that's the intended audience, but I would argue that this is a great read for all writers, especially beginners. BuzzFeed compiled a list of advice from established authors for aspiring writers.

The first piece of advice got me, spoke to me, caused me to stop and think before continuing with the list.

Don’t try to write a great novel. Don’t try to write a good novel. Don’t try to write a decent novel. Don’t try to be witty, beautiful, deep, thrilling. Just write a page. Today. A stupid page. You can fix it later. It is better to write a stupid page than nothing. – E Lockhart, author of We Were Liars.

As a writer and someone who eventually wants to write a novel, one of the things I struggle with most is trying to make everything great the first time around. I realize that's not the worst problem to have, but I've realized it does stunt my writing growth sometimes. Obsessing over great language, sentences, and paragraphs in the first stages of writing slows the process. I obsess over certain paragraphs and scenes, swapping out words and reworking sentences, so much so sometimes that I'm burned out and end up with nothing new, no new content and no new pages.

Like Lockhart said, it's better to write a stupid page than nothing.

Just write. That's my new goal for writing in the new year.

My sister and roommate, who I confide in the most about my writing, can tell anyone who asks that I have handfuls of incomplete short stories. I want to start small. Before writing novels, I want to write short stories and compilations of them. For years, I've had story ideas that I've started and stopped, eventually obsessing over freshly written scenes and eventually losing interest, and starting a new short story, starting that process over again.

I can say that I have a few completed short stories, and I owe that success to my professors at the University of Michigan. I majored in English, and while I struggle with perfection and completion sometimes I did not struggle with the due dates and word count/page restriction that comes with writing in college.

However, that was then. I've been out of college for years now and need to have more completed short stories under my belt. Can't publish what I don't have, so once again, the goal moving forward is to keep Lockhart's advice in mind and just write. Write as much as possible until completion without stifling my writing with criticism and overthinking. That will happen naturally and can just happen at a later stage.

As an aspiring writer, it's nice to be able to pinpoint areas of improvement so you can begin to work on them. I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing and grow.

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Earlier this year, I joined a few groups on Facebook tailored to aspiring writers and I've stumbled upon insightful conversations about how to self publish a book, book recommendations, and posts with other tips and tricks related to writing, editing, and publishing.

I've also enjoyed seeing posts where writers open up about their writing insecurities, anxieties, and share pieces of writing for support and feedback.

Another goal for the new year is to get more active in the groups, and potentially shave down the number of groups I'm in but that' a discussion for another day.

This year, I've only gotten as far as reading posts and liking them. I'd like to engage with fellow aspiring writers more and exchange shared thoughts and new knowledge. I've seen posts where members try to orchestrate writing workshops and regular virtual writing sessions.

I've yet to participate or attend but that could be helpful. I know how much I want to write versus how much I actually write and maybe a little bit more accountability would help. At least it's worth a try.

I've also seen posts where members share their social media handles and encourage others to share as another way to connect. I can see benefits to connecting with people with similar interests so why not do that? Goals for the new year.

An overall goal of mine is to inspire whoever I can, whenever I can, about whatever I can. My advice to aspiring writer's, in addition to Lockhart's words, is to not be so harsh on yourself. Writing can be fun, easy, and exciting but it was also be hard and time consuming. Don't be harsh on yourself when it comes to your writing or the time it takes to get the work done.

Keep writing. Keep trying.