Writing Your Novel – The Primer – Part 1

Happy New Year!

Hope your Christmas holidays went well and that you are all looking forward to a 2020 with fresh hope and realistic and practical resolutions. As promised, although not as early, I’m here to begin talking about how to begin writing your novel.

Oftentimes, I get messages from aspiring writers telling me that they have an idea for a book, a story to tell, a novel to write, but have no idea where to begin or how. This is, I suppose, a dilemma every writer faces when he or she embarks on their journey to authorship. Your concern is genuine and real. It is not easy to begin. You will have a hundred little ideas of how to begin your book but sometimes, when you are confronted by the blank page, your mind and muse black out on you.

So today, let’s put a primer to the canvas of the writing journey.

My humble disclaimer: This series is not a step by step tutorial on how to start writing your book. This is a sort of breaking down the art for you as an author, so that you know the inside dynamics of the writing process from an author’s perspective, seasoned with what has worked for me (which may or may not work for you), and paving a path to kick-starting your work.

This post will tell you what the primer to writing a book constitutes. It has nothing to do with the story in your dreams, nor with writing techniques – we are not there yet.
But it has everything to do with you – as a creative person and as a writer. So here we go!

And not having a foundation in your mind and soul would be a poor reason to not tell that story.

There are 4 components required to prime your mind with, mixed in a balanced quantity, to be able to take up, stick to and see the finishing line of the process called ‘Writing A Novel’. They are:

1. Self-Confidence
2. Self-Doubt
3. Dissociation / Compartmentalizing
4. Prioritize / Exercise

Today, I will elaborate on the first in the list – Self Confidence.

I couldn't find a better definition regarding the balance. However, I have two other ingredients to make it all the more smoother.

Self-Confidence

Nothing worth your time and effort can be done without self-confidence. This goes for every field of work. If you are not going to believe that you can do it, you are not going to do it. A very simple derivation. And in the field of art, the importance surpasses any other, because art is simply not something a degree or doctorate will equip you for. Writing is entirely an inside process before it is displayed. Without self-confidence, you are going to have a hard time trying to write, despite having a hundred wonderful ideas.

So how do you know that you lack confidence? Let me break the symptoms down for you.

• You are unable to hold together an idea.
• You are afraid that you cannot bring your idea out in words.
• You begin writing but end up not writing anything that advances a narrative.
• You write, but constantly get blocked by an inner voice telling you it is crappy.
• You start and stop writing on many different ideas and fail to develop one.
• You fear exploring a theme or story just because you do not know facts needed to enhance it.
• You write a little and then the blank pages intimidate you.
• You write a lot, but fear showing it to anybody lest they say it is bad.
• You write a lot, but never reach the end because your belief in your story falters.
• You write a whole book but don’t venture out to get it read or published.
• You write a whole book and tell people that you have, but when someone asks to read it, you run.

Chances are you might relate to one of the above groups, although this is not the end of the list. There is another group of people who are talented and confident but lazy to take the ordeal of writing a book – this post is not for them, because to write, you definitely have to sign up for hard work. It is nothing less than hard work, but something worth the sweat and the persistence.

So, back to self-confidence: how do you nail it? How do you wade through the swamp called ‘lack of self-confidence’?

Cracking Self-Confidence

Some are born and grown confident. Some are naturally smart and self-confidence is just second nature to them. When I look back to the days when I had just begun writing books – which would be at the age of 14, when I wrote my first novel, obviously dumb and cheesy, and cringe-worthy – I have to admit that I did not lack confidence. I wanted to be an author right from that age. But that confidence stemmed from not knowing enough, as I realized later. Which is why I am eligible to talk about nailing confidence now. Someone who has not gone through a lack of confidence at some point cannot talk about it. And I have been there later.

Technically, in creativity, self-confidence is undermined by self-doubt about which we will talk in the next post. It is a no-brainer that self-confidence and self-doubt are inversely proportional. And the idea is to strike a balance between the two.

But these are immeasurable stuffs. I hear you. How are immeasurable things measured or balanced? The equation allows you to do it. Inversely proportional variables move in opposite directions, in terms of quantity. So if you boost your self-confidence, self-doubt gradually depletes. Or if you work on reducing self-doubt, self-confidence will grow and branch out.

Self-doubt needs a whole new post for itself. So, here are a few tips to boost your self-confidence.

• The more you are certain about something, the more you are confident in that matter. And certainty comes from knowledge. Do your homework before or during writing. Research, read and explore. Write what you know – this is an age-old advice from pros and no less important. However, I am all in for exploring more than I know and getting out of my comfort zone, so ‘know what you want to write’ also works. Get familiar with the theme you want to write on. Gather resources from books, the internet, movies or social networks. Organize your knowledge somewhere – it could be a notebook, your brain or your computer. Factual accuracy is important even in fiction, if you are using facts. Get them right.
  

• Practice consistency and focus. This is something we will talk about in the end of The Primer series. But, just so you know, this is necessary to boost self-confidence. The more you do something, the defter you are with it and your brain gets accustomed to it. Even if you are not ready to announce to the world that you are a novelist, keeping at the task will help you to get used to the task.

• Get organized. And this is not just for information or facts you need to use in your story. But in your thoughts and actions as well. Outlining is not for all, but for starters, outlining helps to stay focused. Some authors outline neatly, keeping notes and lists of every detail in a story. This will be a skeleton that one can simply fill in with details. Some authors like Stephen King believe in letting the characters live out the story, or take you through their adventures – that is an amazingly entertaining way to write. But if you fear getting carried away and digressing and ending up not ending a story, you should perhaps stick to outlining first.

• The least you can do in the department of outlining is to write a synopsis for your story in mind first. It will put the objective of your story in focus, raise the questions you want to evoke in the reader and give you an overall idea about where the story must head to. The most you can do is make a chapter-wise outline, putting the advancements in each chapter in a few lines. You should choose your process. Once the map is laid, travelling is not so tough.

 

• Stop comparing. Because someone out there is probably wishing to be as good as you are. And so many are already way better than you are. Comparisons are not going to be productive. You are you. The writer in you is an amalgamation of what you think, perceive and understand. No one is going to be quite like you. As much as you should try to find and explore a high concept theme or aim to tell a story that has never been told before, there is a huge chance that all stories are taken already. Told, retold, bottled and rebottled. There is indeed a lot of old wine in new bottle. Yes, all stories may have been told already. But not by you.

• Surround yourself with the right people. Most budding writers make the mistake of trying to obtain feedback from the whole world around them, not realizing that nobody is going to take you more seriously than you yourself do. An author needs readers but after you have a book. The writing process relies a lot on our mood and it is important to remain positive and encouraged to stay productive. Thus, surrounding yourself with the right people is essential. The wrong circle is going to stump you before you can even stand on your own feet. No feedback is better than many from a wrong troupe of cheerleaders.  
• I have a tight circle of very few genuine and honest people who read me and give me feedback on my works. To me, that’s what keeps me at it, whenever I feel blocked or uninspired. So find your few – friends, family members, teachers, colleagues or members from a writing club or workshops. One good one will do.
• It is important that they believe in you and your writing, have confidence in you, be honest with you and are well-read. Also, in the beginning, make sure your feedback peers are not people who will discourage you. Later, you may be ready to take criticism as you grow, but before you are ready to, do not let negative feedback around. Give space only to constructive criticism.
  

Stephen King is not called King of Fiction for nothing. And although he might come across a little crass when he talks about writing, it is because he is not wrong and he knows it. Especially when he speaks about reading.

• Read. Read. Read. Read what you want to write. Read what you don’t want to write. Read widely, deeply and voraciously. Because reading is what equips you to write, polishes your language and helps you find your own voice in storytelling. Stephen King said, "If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that."
  

• Write. You can be a writer and be good at it only through writing. Allow yourself to write badly because it can be edited and made better later. But you cannot edit a blank page, as the best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult said.

• Believe in yourself. If you don’t, no one else will.

There would be more, if I ponder, but I have wound up the tips here for now because it had gone long already. Feel free to add to it.

What are your ideas on developing self-confidence?

Last year, I made the resolution to complete my second novel and finish editing it and I successfully did. And began Book #3. This year, I resolve to write Book #3 and delve into more serious reading.

What are your writing and reading resolutions for 2020? Share below in comments.

Wishing you all a prosperous New Year 2020!

Love and Peace,
Sana
-------
-------
Read Sandcastles yet? If yes, why not drop your review on Amazon so that others know about it? If not, choose from the Kindle edition or paperback.