Writing a novel - how to keep going

“These are notes you may find useful during your rewrite.”

Yes, these actual words left my lips while I was giving feedback on someone’s writing last week. And after four books, it seemed obvious to me. No first draft is ever perfect. A book is the end result, not the first try.

But I’d forgotten their effect on a first-time writer until I saw her collapse, grimacing and clutching for her heart. They’re not words. They’re daggers, poisoned spears.

If you need to rewrite (even six times, depending on your process) it doesn’t make you a failure. Most novels need rewriting and extensive editing.

And that’s, I believe, where many new writers get stuck. They believe their first draft has to be perfect, yet they sense that it’s not there yet. They lose heart and stop writing.

If you never finish writing, it, there’ll be nothing to work on.

So don’t be so hard on yourself. Sometimes you use the writing to work out ideas and develop characters. It evolves as you go along, which suggests that you’ll need to go back and improve what you wrote first.