Blog Posts

‹ Back

Writing Your Debut Novel

 

Hello, and thanks for checking out my post. 

 

After a life long desire to write a novel I finally decided on the advent of my 60th birthday to sit down and write the bloody thing - a true bucket list wish. So, I embarked on a series of writing courses and watched countless hours of YouTube videos by writing guru's. Anything to teach me how to write. Then I sat there, staring at the screen, I contemplated, cogitated and even agitated but nothing happened. Apparently, these stories don't write themselves, it turns out that we have to actually put pen to paper - WTF!

 

My experience may appear a tad embellished and in some ways that is true but, what became apparent to me was, despite finally allowing myself the freedom to write that I was doing everything I could to avoid actually putting words down. I'd never written a novel before, how could I possibly compete with all the literary greats past and present.

 

It was then that I realised that I had to let go that unrealistic aspiration. I had to manage my personal expectations and with that my mindset changed, I was able to loosen the shackles of those anxieties and banish my imposter syndrome. I simply adopted the approach of sitting for 2 hours a day for 5 days and write something for me and see what happens (there's a bit more on this later in the post). Well, spoiler alert, it worked out just fine.

 

There are however other ways to achieve your writing goal and I thought it might be useful for any budding novelist to:

- understand that what you are not alone in going through this process

- get a feel for the process of writing a novel itself and the stages involved in its creation 

 

 

Write a Good Story

“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” — William Faulkner

 

Whether you’re writing a diary or the next War and Peace, your publishing dream has to start with writing a good story. I’m not going to tell you what genre you should write in or what stories are the most commercial. Maybe after you've written multiple novels, you might want to test yourself and “write to order.” However, I would highly recommend that, particularly for a debut author, you write something for yourself.

 

Remember, if you write a story that you would want to read, chances are someone else will too.

 

 

What Type of Writer Are You?

 

Authors often fall into three main groups:

 

PANTSER — This is someone who effectively “makes it up” as they go along, meaning they don’t plan out anything in detail (or plan very little). Freedom is key for pantsers. They don’t want a detailed scene-by-scene outline; they enjoy discovering the story as they write it. They like to get lost in their story and let the main character and their imagination lead them to a surprising end.

PLOTTER — These writers outline their stories before starting the first draft. Each chapter is mapped out, characters defined and described, and subplots detailed. A plotter values knowing what’s going to happen in their story before they start writing. They want clarity, and a plan gives them energy and intention. It saves them a lot of time when they write — and when they revise (more on that later!).

PLANTSER — Some storytellers do a little of both. A plantser might write a synopsis and come up with key details before starting but enjoy going rogue during the actual drafting. In reality, most novelists are plantsers to some degree, but they often lean more toward one side. You need to work out what’s best for you.

 

“The first draft of anything is shit.” — Ernest Hemingway

 

When I began my debut novel The Dark Harvest, I started with a basic premise: What would happen if a female scientist discovered an anti-aging serum in a business world dominated by powerful, misogynistic men? Other than wanting my “baddies” to get their comeuppance, I had no plan.

 

Because it dealt with anti-aging, I knew it had to be spread across at least one generation. But that was all I had to go on. I drew on my experience working in the pharmaceutical industry and as a board-level leader and set it in a location I knew well. I envisioned it as the kind of TV drama the BBC would show on a Sunday evening after the watershed — or even a four-part Netflix mini-series. As I “watched” this imaginary show unfold, I simply wrote what I saw.

 

I have since written three more novels (all at different stages of development but not yet published). Each one has been written (about 90%) as a pantser. But just because it works for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. You have to find your own path — and by far the most important thing at this stage is to WRITE. Simply tell your story; don’t worry about spelling, grammar, meaningful place names, or believable character names. All these can be fixed later in editing. What cannot be fixed later is the story itself.

 

 

The Phases of Writing

“Sometimes in a nervous frenzy I just fling words as if I were flinging mud at a wall. Blurt out, heave out, babble out something — anything — as a first draft… Until it exists, writing has not really begun.” — John McPhee

Work in Progress

There’s nothing complicated here. “Work in progress” (WIP) is simply the term we use for a project in development. Writing a story is very simple, it’s a process of putting one word after another.

 

The secret is to not overcomplicate it. Break it down into manageable chunks of time, whatever you can spare but try to be consistent with it, oh and most importantly, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Part of the writing process is thinking, staring out of the window, or going for long walks to mull over plot lines. Some days the words will flow; other times it’ll feel like a slog. Try to enjoy it and embrace the process, flaws and all.

 

Writing a novel is a marathon, not a sprint. Every writer works at a different pace; the key is to keep going until you can write “The End.”

 

And now for the not-so-great news: even the greatest novelists wouldn’t publish the first draft of their WIP. It’s called a work in progress for a reason. Ultimately, someone else is going to read your work, so it needs to be in the best shape possible.

 

 

So What Happens Now?

 

“Most times, I’ll just sit there, suffer, write shitty sentences, and hope I can make the next draft less putrid.” — Daniel Pink

 

I know you believe you’ve written the next bestseller and can’t wait to share it with the world. But to give it the best chance of success, it’s crucial to follow a tried-and-tested process:

Rewriting and Redrafting

Repeat until satisfied. For many writers, the first draft is just the bare bones — and often no one else will ever see that version. But once those words are down, you can improve them. This might mean new scenes or chapters, fixing continuity issues, or solving character problems. This first major self-edit usually takes at least a week and is often the most substantial. Most authors do this step themselves.

Structural Edit / Story Edit / Editorial Review

This isn’t a line-by-line edit (and is therefore cheaper) but rather an overview of what you can do to improve your story. It helps you determine whether you need to do significant rewrites or reorganization. You’ll usually get a report with feedback on character development, plot inconsistencies, and overall structure.

Revisions

After the structural edit, there will likely be lots of revisions — possibly even a dreaded rewrite. This can feel tough because it’s your “baby,” and someone has just “criticized” it. I would recommend leaving it aside for a few days to take the emotion out of it. Remember: a good editor has only you and your book’s best interests at heart. A top tip: make sure your editor works in your genre — their experience is invaluable.

Line Edits (Copy Editing)

This is the classic “red ink” edit. A copy editor goes through your manuscript line by line, fixing grammar, spelling, word choice, and highlighting repetition or awkward phrasing. It’s usually returned with tracked changes in a Word document. This is not a structural edit — it focuses on polishing what’s already there. Because line editing is often charged by word count, ensure your story is structurally sound first. You don’t want to pay for a 100k-word edit only to cut it down to 70k later.

Line Revisions

You’ll need to make changes based on line edit feedback. But don’t simply accept every suggestion. You’ve paid for this service, so treat it as a learning opportunity to help you with future projects. Editors may not fully understand place names or cultural references — don’t be afraid to evaluate suggestions critically. Remember, it’s your name on the book, not your editor’s.

Beta Readers

Beta readers are trusted readers who give feedback from a reader’s perspective. I recommend giving them the manuscript only when you’re happy with it — you don’t want to waste their time. Some writers involve beta readers earlier to check for glaring issues and overall readability, but ideally, you want them to review a near-final draft. I personally have three beta readers whom I trust to give honest (and sometimes brutal!) feedback. Many writers keep their beta group small (no more than five or six). Having beta readers is a must.

Proofreading

At this point, you’ll be so familiar with the manuscript that you’ll miss mistakes — I know I did! A friend once pointed out that I hadn’t started a sentence with a capital letter on page two. Proofreading catches these last typos and minor errors. You can hire a professional (usually reasonably priced) or ask a trusted friend or family member if budget is tight. If doing it yourself, my top tip: read it aloud. You’ll catch far more that way.

Post-publication Updates

If you self-publish (e.g., on Amazon), your book is essentially a digital file. If you find a typo later, you can update the file without penalty. The days of a book being “final” at publication are gone.

Of course none of these things come cheap, everyone has to make a living and utilising other people’s expertise comes at a price. Generally speaking, you might spend between £500 and £3,000 on these services, depending on what you outsource.

But, before you give up completely, there is some hope. If you can get your manuscript taken on by an agent/traditional publisher then they will perform a lot of these tasks at no expense to yourself. They may even give you an advance on future royalty payments! However, this ‘querying’ process is outside the scope of this page and requires a blog post all on its own.

 

 

AI – The Elephant In The Room

 

“AI will be the best or worst thing ever for humanity.” — Stephen Hawking

 

Now this is a touchy subject for us creatives and for readers and publishers alike. Whether we like it or not the cat has been let out of the bag regarding technology.

 

AI can write your novel for you – there I said it but don’t hate me – the novel will be both crap and unoriginal. AI has been developed on what it has been given, they would refer to it as datasets but in essence anything that has been written, that they can get their hands on, has been provided to the various companies as food for the insatiable appetites of their machine learning algorithms (this includes my novels, what worse is that they scraped the data from a known website that pirates books – a double whammy!). The point being that it is not new or original. AI generated novels are at best, written in the style of, or copies the writing of etc.

 

AI is not the witty charming storyteller that you are. No one has ever written your story before, nor have they written in your voice. It is unique to you, you are a complete one-off, a true original in a desert of banality.

It is because of this that traditional publishes and many self-publishing companies, such as Amazon, are opposed to publishing AI content. Does some slip the net, absolutely but let’s be honest here, people have plagiarised authors works in the past in the hope of making a quick profit – it’s really not that different.

 

Having said all that I am not naive enough to think that there isn’t a role for AI within the writing/publishing industry. If AI can write a novel it can certainly help with any part of the editing/revision process (There are plenty of people online offering courses on how to achieve this). There are definitely publishing houses evaluating AI and what it can do for them. We have to remember that for these companies this isn’t about the creative process, it’s not art it’s a business and if AI can save them money, making them more profit, they are going to jump on it. Simples!

 

At the end of the day, your use of AI is a matter of personal choice. There are a lot of haters out there so it might be best to keep your use under wraps. Personally, I like to have a human pair of eyes edit my books, particularly as I write more comic fantasy – not sure that AI knows how to laugh…..yet!

 

 

Looking Good!

 

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” — Terry Pratchett

 

This blog has focused on writing your novel and the steps to get it ready for the world. If you’ve read this far then I “doth my cap” to you!

 

I hope you’ve found this guide useful. If you have any questions, please let me know. I aim to respond to all emails within 48 hours, just enter your details on the contact us webpage.

 

Oh — one last thing before I go: millions of people say they want to write a book, but you’re one of the few who has actually done it. You should be proud of yourself. As a fellow author, I applaud your efforts — I know what it takes to get here. Well done!