What it has taken me years to learn on writing a novel - I hope it helps!

If you're new to writing novels read on, I want to help you. If I can.

Here I'm going to explain the basics of what it takes to write a book. I'll explain to you what it has taken me years to learn. I started writing my current novel 'The OMG Test' around ten years ago, although it has been off and on. I will finally be publishing it very soon. You can find my writing story in 'My path to publication' post. But here I will explain the things I wish I'd had somebody tell me all those years ago. I would have still done it, but I could have been more prepared and saved so much time!

Before you read on any further, I've purposely done something in this post that should have been edited. I've left it to use as an example when editing your work! Notice when reading this, the amount of word repetitions. I printed off my manuscript and got a highlighter. I was horrified at how many times close together I'd used the same word. But it's easy done. Your editor will pick up on it, so impress them and do it first yourself! You can usually find a different way of saying something to cut down on this.
I've also used too many exclamation marks. Apparently this isn't good. That's a shame because I love them!!!

This is the necessary information I've gained along the way:

The title needs to stand out. I changed mine three times because the first two were too vague and not eye-catching. You don't need to have this before you begin.

Point of view choice. I'm writing in the third person from my main character, Olivia's viewpoint. Put simply, this means that I can only write what Olivia knows, hears or has been told. Here are examples:
I can't say: 'Sebastian was shocked. He wasn't expecting that.'
I should say: 'Olivia could see that Sebastian was shocked. He clearly hadn't been expecting that.' Or, 'Sebastian's jaw dropped.' It's clear then that he's shocked.
Olivia isn't psychic so she can't know what Sebastian is feeling or thinking. This would be going out of point of view and will be picked up on. For more choices and examples on this, click on the writing links I've provided. They are well worth checking out. To say that the lovely Janice Hardy knows her stuff is an understatement. All the people in my writing links do and I will be commenting on them all further, shortly.

Show not tell was a big issue for me when starting writing. I didn't know what it meant until an agent told me in a rejection letter that I needed to do it! Here is an example:
I can't say: 'It was freezing outside.'
I should say: 'Olivia pulled up her collar and thrust her hands deeper into the pockets of her coat.' Or something to this effect.
I haven't 'told' you it was cold, I've 'shown' it in Olivia's actions. More about this can be found on the writing links provided.

Passive voice:
I can't say: 'At dinner pasta was eaten by Olivia.' - Passive voice
I should say: 'Olivia ate pasta for dinner.' - Active voice

The opening paragraph of the book needs to be interesting. Nothing about the weather or alarm clocks going off. Why? Because it's boring! I had both of these openings in earlier drafts. Start in the middle of some action or interesting dialogue.

Planner or Pantster means whether or not you write a detailed plan of the book before you start. I don't but there is no right or wrong way. The only thing I'm sure of is where it will end. I learn the rest as I go along. But some writers prefer to plan, they can probably get the first draft done much quicker. Make sure the ending, when you come to write it,is satisfying for the reader and that you have tied up any loose ends.

First Draft is the basics of the story. You type 'The End' and then the real hard work commences. But it's such an achievement to have got this far. It would be a shame to give up now!

The second draft is re-writing the story with more description, better dialogue, sentences that make complete sense, and so on. Including deleting a lot and adding in other bits. Switching chapters around and checking the plot works.

But there is still a lot to be done. This would be a good time to get a professional manuscript assessment. I can recommend somebody if you would like me to.
Once you get this back, you will have a better idea of what needs to be done to bring it up to a standard worthy of publishing. Once you have finished, it needs to be edited. You cannot do this yourself. Please believe me! Again, I can recommend somebody to help. I found a lovely lady who covers all areas of editorial work. It's good to have the same person because they get to know the characters and your voice. And you. The best editors are the ones who do not do the work for you, you do it yourself. It's the best way to learn. But they will help and guide you and make suggestions.
Once you get the edits back and have addressed them, get it checked over again at least once, but preferably more. This is very important even when self-publishing. It's people who don't do this that give self-publishing a bad name.

I hope I've helped a bit, it can seem overwhelming. I know this first hand. Many times I've sat with my head in my hands wondering if I can really do it. All I can add to this is that I'm finally happy with my book and hope some people enjoy it. Not everybody will, you can't please everybody. But that's fine. I'm ready for that because one thing is certain: I will get some bad reviews. Every author does, even best-selling ones. I've touched on this in more detail in my 'Weekly Witter' post. I've survived the agent rejections though, and honestly it wasn't that bad. Why? Because I was prepared for it. It's part and parcel of being a writer. But I was lucky enough to get some constructive criticism along with the form rejections. They have made me a better writer.

I hope this post has helped a bit. I'm certainly no expert by any means but if I can help further in any way please let me know. Writing a book is hard. But I'm doing it all over again with another book, so it's worth all the anguish. I hope! I'll keep you posted...

Love Pippa x