And not fall into the trap that 97% of writers do…
I’m a firm believer that everyone has got a book in them – a story burning inside just waiting to be told but do you know how many novels that get started actually get finished?
The statistics are staggering.
Out of 1,000 books that get started, only 30 will get to the point of completion, the point where the writer can proudly write the words ‘the end’ and lie back and feel overwhelmed with accomplishment.
So, only 3% of stories that are started never get told. If we go even further, only 0.6% go on to become published.
That's a lot of stories that have never seen the light of day. But this got me interested… why is it that so many novels make it to the finish line? Why are so many projects consigned to the what could have been folder?
After looking through the core reasons why people drop the novel they’re working on, most reasons all have one thing in common: mentality.
Don’t see the huge word count, set bite-size tasks
One of the biggest reasons people get put off writing a book is they see the final word count and page number and get overwhelmed by it.
“I could never write 100,000 words.”
“I could never write a 400-page book.”
Undoubtedly, writing a book is a mammoth task. It is easy to see the final number and get put off, especially when you have the cursor blinking on a blank page and zero words written down. I think about those people who also have families and full-time jobs and social lives and need to find the time to work out.
It’s hard and, as a result, it’s easy to think I don’t have the time to do something like that.
However, let’s break this down. Because even you, working a hectic full-time job and managing a family, can write a book.
There are endless examples out there of the author who wrote their story in a notebook in between commutes or on the back of napkins and receipts – T.J. Newman springs to mind – but all you need is a small, attainable, target to hit every week.
For me, this was 1,000 words a week. And if I stick to that target, whether they are good words or bad words, I will have a 100,000 novel in less than two years.
Stick to that and just watch that word count grow.
Your first draft doesn’t have to be great and that’s fine
A lot of first-time novelists are also avid readers.
We all have our favourites, those writers we’d love to emulate, their talent we’d love to recapture.
But that in itself is a problem.
Because in the first sense that we feel our work doesn’t hold up to the novels that we see on the bookshelves or the ones we’re reading right now, it’s so easy to think your work is not good enough.
Here’s a truth: the first draft of your novel is probably not going to be great. But that’s ok.
Treat your first draft as a brain dump. Let your imagination go wild and just tell the story. Don’t worry about the details, the grammar, the artistic language, the making sure that you are consistent with your character details and arcs.
It can all come later.
Imposter syndrome is not an isolated feeling. Your favourite author at some point in their career has felt, and continues to, feel that way. The best advice any aspiring writer can give is as simple as it gets. Write the words on the page. You can’t make something better that isn’t there.
Below is one of my favourite quotes on this by the master of storytelling himself, Stephen King, which he wrote in his book, On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft…
“Stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
Getting over the messy middle
I’ll keep this section short because it is intrinsically connected to what was discussed above.
One of the biggest killers of novels is when we get to the middle and those long drawn-out sections where we’re working towards building up to the climax.
They’re not much fun. It can be pretty boring trying to write your way up to the big crescendo – better known as the moment when shit goes down – or work out how to move the story along when the beat is a little quieter in your story.
The advice from any author is always the same: just keep writing. Don’t think for one second that the new shiny idea that is itching your brain is going to be any different. You will start with a buzz of excitement but that buzz will always fade.
And while that buzz may disappear around the middle, there is no greater buzz than when you reach the end and have pulled it all together.
Sit down and do the work
Writers have become a meme on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
The procrastinator. The excuse-maker. The screen-starer, willing the words to appear in front of them.
Ok, I’m guilty of all of the above as well and, admittedly, it tickles my soul when I see these videos and reels pop up on my feed.
Writing is a lonely experience, especially when you’re struggling with writer’s block. It’s easy to say you will come back to it tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that.
Eventually, those days rack up and you will find that you haven’t done any writing at all.
So, map out a schedule and block out that time you know you’re going to write – even if it is just for an hour here or an hour there. But, most importantly, show up. Because no one is going to write the words for you – well, AI could but that’s not a road you want to go down.
Let’s wrap up
Writing a book is a big undertaking. There’s no denying that.
And it is for that very reason that very few novels that get started never get finished. That’s a lot of stories that never see the light of day, whether they are published through traditional or self-published means.
Largely, it comes down to mentality as to why that’s the case.
To summarise, below are some top tips to help you keep you focused and overcome that overwhelming sense of being, well, overwhelmed by that project you’re working on:
Break it down and don’t see the whole novel – set yourself an attainable weekly writing target and stick to it
Block out time for writing and stick to it – even if it’s just one hour on an evening before bed, carve out that time and make sure you show up
Your first draft won’t be perfect and that’s fine – get your story on the page in some shape or form. The editing process exists to make what you create even better
Work through the messy middle and writer’s block – avoiding them is not going to make them disappear. Sit down at your keyboard and work through it
Let’s keep our writing fun but also manageable.
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