Lessons I Learned Writing my First Novel
Like many writers, I’ve been writing for most of my life. I remember my first short story when I was five about a multi-colored giraffe. As a kid and into my teenage years I wrote several short stories and novels.
So when I say my first novel, I mean the first one where I sat down and focused. The one where I researched what it took to become a published author. The one where I truly felt for the first time had publishing potential.
At the moment, this is a novel which is set to the side. (Urban fantasy - just not big in the market right now.) It wasn’t picked up by an agent or publisher, and I don’t have plans to self publish it. But, that doesn’t mean I didn’t learn anything or it won’t be resurrected someday.
*Drafting Takes Longer Than You Expect
This is a lesson I’m learning even with the novels after this one! I’ve participated in events such as NaNoWriMo for several years and each year I’m like “Yes! This is the year I’ll hit the word count goal AND actually complete the first draft!” Then each year I might get that 50k word count… but my novel is far from over. My urban fantasy novel was not anywhere close to being complete by the end of NaNoWriMo that year and it took several months for me to have it done. In fact, it may have been over a year.
*Pay Attention to Word Count
Once my draft was done I did some editing and revising and I thought I was all set to go! I wrote a few drafts of a query letter and shared it with a friend to critique. Her biggest critique?
“You do realize that 150,000 words is too long right? You need to get it down to 90-100.”
Talk about having to go back to square one. I had to cut at least a NaNoWriMo’s worth of words from my manuscript for any agent to take my book seriously.
As you’re working on a first draft, I try not to worry about word count as much. But as I’m revising and editing? It’s not just fixing typos and cleaning up things here and there. It’s getting that word count in a good place, finding out what the focus of your book needs to be, determining which characters and scenes are actually important, and making those tough cuts.
*You’re Going to Have to Revise and Rewrite More Than You Think
One of my biggest regrets with this manuscript is sending it out to agents before it was ready. Yes, I had done revisions, edits, and got my word count where it needed to be. But, my novel was far from ready to query. I thought one or two rounds was just fine and my agent and I would worry about the rest once I was signed.
Nope.
I needed at least 2-3 more rounds of revisions and rewrites. My beginning didn’t have as strong of a hook and focus as I thought it did. The plot needed more tightening up. My main character was wishy-washy. The love story took up too much focus. I had too many flashbacks. It wasn’t as though my book was bad. It wasn’t! But that doesn’t mean it was ready to query.
If I had been a little more patient, had a few other people read, and done more revisions, I may have had at least a little better luck while querying.
*You Need Extra Eyes
I’d had a couple of people read my book before I queried. But, I for sure needed more - and not just friends who liked to read. Other writers. People who didn’t have an emotional attachment to me. (Let’s be real - your BFF is going to far too nice.) Writers who are in the same place I was or had even more experience than I did. They were the ones who I was truly going to learn from to get my novel to the next level.
It wasn’t until after I’d sent out several batches of queries did I get other people to read even the first chapter or two and I saw how much more work needed to be done.
Other writers are your friends!
*Keep Working on Other Projects
I wish I had been working on other books as I was waiting to hear from readers and agents. First, to help keep my mind off of it. You can drive yourself crazy waiting and wondering about feedback and how people are going to react to your book. Having something else to work on will help.
Second, because by the time I went back to writing a brand new novel, I’d almost forgotten how to draft since I had been revising for so long! Keep that drafting muscle working. Yes, you’ll get it back. But keeping it in practice will save you a lot of time and pain in the long run.
Third, this first novel is not the end all be all of your writing career. Yes, it’s wonderful and near and dear to your heart (as it should be!), but there are so many other novel ideas out there which can also be near and dear to your heart. They might even be better than the first idea!
*Remember to Enjoy Yourself
As much as I sometimes struggled with this first novel, I also still love it to pieces. I love the characters and the concept. Even if nothing ever comes of it career-wise, I will always look back at this manuscript and remember how I fell in love with it. It reminds me of why I love writing so much. When I think about the other manuscripts I work on, and I worry about word counts and how to market and query them, I also remind myself that I need to love my work. If I don’t love my work, no one else will either.
Writing your first novel is fun, exciting, but also scary. You’re putting your heart and soul into something then sending it out into the world! But even if things don’t go as planned or you have to set it aside for something else, you will still learn from it and it will help you grow as a writer!
Emily is a writer of fantasy, dog mom, Hufflepuff, and a master at the fangirl flail. She blogs and writes short fiction at emilyhornburg.com and you can find her on Twitter and Instagram @eehornburg.
Emily Hornburg
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