How many manuscripts lie hidden away in drawers that will never see the light of day? How many books are stuck in purgatory, locked in ancient floppy disks that are no longer compatible with any contemporary computer? Nor can we help but wonder how many great works of literature are lost to computer games such as Far Cry, Half Life, or Grand Theft Auto… and other wondrous technological pastimes.

They say that a good plan executed today is better than a perfect plan executed several years from now. This is true, and if you have a book inside of you then getting it out on paper won’t hurt (much). With this in mind here are some tips to set you on the right track.

Regularity

Write regularly. Through habit and regularity you will condition yourself against writer’s block and therefor make steady progress. If you write regularly it is also easier to convince relatives and friends not to disturb you when you are at work. Most importantly of all, it’s all too easy to lose the knack of writing, and regularity guards against this.

Smashing through Writer’s Block

If you have writer’s block, then it is important to write something – immediately. Use Freud’s talking cure to help. The infamous (for his wacky ideas) psychologist Sigmund Freud would kick off a free association session with his patient using a keyword. They would have to respond to that word immediately without thinking about it. Whatever word popped into their mind they would say. A session might go like this; “Forbidden,” setting off the patient; “Chocolate, desire, cardinal, tornado, sigh, swing, bat, sky, song…” and so forth. Freud believed that at first the individual’s inhibitions would censor inappropriate thoughts (hence words) but as they continued to repeat the chain of thought at such a high speed the self-censorship would subside leaving insight into the patient’s subconscious. This stream of consciousness would reveal to him secrets the patient would not ordinarily reveal.

This is very useful for the writer as well. Writer’s block is often caused by anxiety about one’s writing. We want to write the best that we can, and worrying about it gets in the way. Is this story rubbish? Is it not as good as my usual work? We wonder to ourselves. Such anxiety is unjustified, there’s no such thing as perfection anyway. Get a word processor open and then type everything that enters your head in a stream of consciousness style of story, and keep going with that. Do not worry about how good it is. Everything can be fixed later.

Soon you’ll find that the block has lifted and that you’re enjoying writing again. You can either keep the stream of consciousness section and edit it later, scrap it, or reuse it elsewhere. Most of the time it actually turns out, not only better than expected, but often among your favorite bits.

Let Your Own Stories Inspire You

Somewhere in the world is someone who would love your stories. Where would we be today if Homer, Dante, and H. G. Wells had all kept their writing to themselves? Write short stories and start sending them to publications. This is very difficult, competition is fierce, and rejection letters will seem to be the only mail you get. But it’s worth it. Getting a short story published, having that there, being able to leaf through the pages and see your work beside the works of others changes the way you look at yourself and your writing. Being a published writer makes it harder to forget about your novel.

Musical Muse

Give your book a soundtrack. Create a playlist and play that when you are writing your story. Sound is a catalyst and will drift within your mind to spark thoughts and emotions that deepens world, the story and the characters.

Don’t Endlessly Rewrite

The end of the first draft is the beginning of your novel. Only once you’ve got the whole thing out and into existence can you see it in all its messed up glory. Each draft provides an opportunity to see its flaws and chip away at the rough form before you, until you reveal the form that lies within, (much like a sculpture). Herein lies the problem. It is quite possible to write and rewrite endlessly, to go through a thousand versions of the novel, to seek out perfection. When does a painter for example know when the final stroke of his brush has been made and the painting is done? The art of knowing when to stop is as important as putting the work in. Once finished, only rewrite to editorial order.

Join a Writer’s Group

A writer’s group will help you immeasurably by providing people who are willing to read your work (in exchange for you reading theirs) and offer advice and suggestions as to how it could be improved. Although editors also sometimes offer suggestions, nothing can beat the in-depth advice provided by helpful colleagues in writer’s groups. On top of that, fellow authors tend to point out useful websites, books and software. Even just the moral support makes it worth the effort.

Like all things there are good writer’s groups and bad writer’s groups, and no way to tell them apart except to try a few and make up your own mind.

Inspiration

Where do story ideas come from? Everywhere. Bang two ideas together and see if they spark. Suddenly you might find that spark lighting the flames of your passion. Some authors get their story ideas from reading a newspaper, while others just sit down at the computer and write, experimenting as they go along. Wherever you are in the world, keep an open mind and look around you as a thousand stories unfold. Often just being at the right time and the right place is enough, but don’t hang around waiting for inspiration, write every day regardless.

Setting

You would be amazed how many stories are set in the main character’s living room. While there is nothing wrong with this, be creative, set your scenes elsewhere. Back row of an abandoned theater, on a train, museums, grand plazas – ask yourself; Where do I go? And then ask yourself; Where would I like to go? In your book you have no time constraints nor budget constraints, use your novel to escape, send your characters places you can only dream of. They’ll thank you for it. Conveying a sense of place is extremely important, from that comes everything else. Take care of the setting and the characters have a world to live in, places to see, a whole universe of cause and effect. Suddenly your characters will come alive.

Characterization

As we have already seen, take care of the world and the characters take care of themselves. Avoid clichés though. Does the professor have to be absent minded? All stepmothers surely aren’t evil? Do rich girls always have to be shallow? More importantly your characters are people, and therefore they transcend boundaries and mess up easy categorization. Even if one of them is a professor, it doesn’t necessarily mean he is absent minded – he could be sharp as a surgical laser or better yet he could be just an ordinary guy. Being a professor doesn’t define him, only his actions do.

Read Voraciously

Nothing helps writing more than reading. It is through the words of others that we become inspired by stories and worlds, to look beyond the furthest horizon.

Most Importantly

Never give up. Writing a novel is a fun and rewarding pastime and nothing can beat the satisfaction that comes with getting one finished and out there among readers. With a bit of luck these tips will help. They are off course merely suggestions, take what you find to be valuable and discard the rest. In time you will find ways of working that suit you. So let that novel idea plant itself in your mind and grow through the pages until you have created a world, and spun a story; and someone somewhere will enjoy what you’ve written.