This week, I’m covering a reader requested topic: how to actually start writing your novel. I’m going to start with some basics on outlining a book and then move on to the truth about starting a writing routine.

Outlining is a very long, frustrating process where you hash out the contents of each chapter. My outlines usually look like this (example taken from Chapter 1 of TFG):

• Prince Xuan (璇) of the Han Empire wakes for his coronation as Crown Prince.
• His servant, Zhen (真) enters to give him breakfast and to dress him, but the prince complains of never having enjoyed all the pomp and circumstance given to him.
• Zhen notes that it has always been in his nature, and that the prince has enjoyed simpler hobbies since he was a boy.
• At the ceremony, Xuan argues with his older brother Yang about being chosen to be Crown Prince
• Even through all the praise, Xuan finds the ceremony stifling and boring
• He returns to his study afterward to read and drink wine, but he falls asleep easily
• In his dreams, he meets a golden-skinned woman who claims to be a fairy messenger sent by the Jade Emperor to give Xuan a challenge
• The challenge is that Xuan must purge all earthly sins and matter from his body by abstaining from food, drink, sex, and killing of any kind. If he should do so, they will grant him the title of god.
• Xuan complains that if he abstains from eating and drinking, he’ll die
• The messenger claims that if he should die in his quest, Xuan would most likely be granted access to Heaven anyway
• Upon waking from the dream, Xuan finds the golden scroll with his instructions in his lap and decides that he will decide his own fate by taking on the challenge

Nothing special, and this format works for me because it tells me exactly what will happen in the chapter chronologically, but still gives me a little wiggle room to add more should I feel like it. My way doesn’t work for everyone, but I find my method simple enough where I’m not too bogged down with little details, but I have a map of where the story is going to go. I also like writing ideas up on a whiteboard. Some authors use note cards and organize them in order and make their outline off of that, some don’t use an outline at all (I would highly recommend you use one, especially for your first novel…not like I tried to write my first novel without an outline…what? Who, me? Never…..) Also note that your outline is not set in stone while you are still writing. Something doesn’t work out for you that’s in your original outline? Change it so it works better. Also if you have no idea on how to start outlining, I recommend searching “How to Outline a Novel” in Youtube. There are gems of videos that helped me and I know they can help you. I highly recommend Jenna Moreci’s outlining series because it covers from the idea phase all the way to the final outline.

But…what about the writing part?

This next bit is going to be some tough love for all my writerly friends out there. How do you start writing? Let me ask you this: Do you have an outline, note cards, whatever, to give you a roadmap? No? Make one.

You have an outline already? Awesome! I’m proud of you. Now get to writing. I believe in you.

“But, Julie,” you ask, “I thought you were going to tell me how to do that.”

I am, dear writer friend of mine. The secret is: WRITE. Just write. If you have an outline or even a clear picture of how this book will unfold, just write. Sit your butt down, put your fingers to the keyboard or pen/pencil to paper and just write. If you don’t write, it won’t get done. 

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What’s that? You’re afraid to write badly?

Everyone writes badly. I write badly. Let me tell you that my first drafts are garbage. Horrible, nonsensical garbage. But guess what? You can work with garbage, you can edit garbage. You can write, re-write, and edit until that story of yours is everything you hoped and dreamed. Some more real talk: The Moon-Eyed Ones went through seven revisions before it was published, this includes the developmental and copyedits. SEVEN. I rewrote that gosh darn book seven times before I deemed it publishable. The Four Gods has been rewritten three times already, and it’s getting ready for a developmental edit in a few weeks, but that won’t be the last of the edits it will have to go through. Novels aren’t one and done deals, they take patience, dedication, and hard work to get done. I’ve heard many authors quote John C. Maxwell: “Dreams don’t work unless you do.”

Whenever someone asks me how to write or they tell me that they feel bad they only wrote a paragraph today, I tell them that a paragraph or even a single sentence is more than you had yesterday, and that is better than nothing at all because you’re WRITING. I also recommend creating writing goals that aren’t specifically word count based, as word count goals stress me the hell out. Maybe set a goal that you’ll start writing today, and maybe your next goal can be that you’ll complete a scene. After you get in your habit you can move on to multiple scenes or chapters if you want to. Set reasonable and realistic goals for yourself so that no matter how little or much you write, you can still feel proud of the work you’ve done. And if you didn’t meet your specific goal, at least you can feel good knowing you wrote something. I also recommend writing between 3-5 days per week. Not every day, but enough to get a habit formed to where not writing feels weird but also to give you some days to decompress a little.

So what are you waiting for? Get started on that outline or that novel of yours! I know you can do it! It will be frustrating, it will be hard, but no one ever said that writing a book was supposed to be easy. 

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That’s all for this Writing Advice Wednesday! Stay tuned for next week’s post which should be my next round of Quarterly Goals! Woo!