If you are writing your novel at all, you are doing it right. There is no “right” way to write a novel…so please stop searching for it.
Transcript:
Stephanie (00:06):
Hello Writers. Now, some of you may have heard me talk before about the debacle that was our first few months with a new puppy during Covid lockdown. The short version is I didn’t know what I was doing. I’d never had a dog before and I made a lot of training mistakes. But here’s the thing, he’s alive and happy. Do I still have work to do to undo some of those mistakes three years later? Uh, yeah. But I didn’t do it wrong. There are an awful lot of people on the internet telling us how to properly train our dogs, and guess what? Some of it, actually a lot of it, is conflicting advice. Just like there’s an awful lot of writing advice out there, including from me, and frankly, a lot of it is conflicting. Here are some cases in point: you should plan out your novel versus you should just start writing and see where it goes.
Stephanie (01:01):
You should get help versus you should do it on your own. You should tell an original story versus there are no original stories. You should write every day versus you should write whenever you can. I would say that 99% of the advice for writers out there in the world is completely well-intentioned and genuine, but 100% of us are unique individuals and 100% of our stories are going to come out of us in unique ways. There is no right way to write a novel, but there are some things that could help. It would be irresponsible of me to tell you that you can just ignore all of the writing advice. There are some things that give you a solid foundation for your novel so that the first draft comes out somewhat solid versus a mishmash of disconnected scenes. There are proven strategies that will help you develop certain skills within your manuscript, and it’s my intention to streamline those tools for you in a way that they are available to you when you need them.
Stephanie (02:03):
But stuffing ourselves with every bit of information we can get our hands on, whether we need it right now or not, can add to feelings of insecurity and imposter syndrome, which we already feel so much of. So what if you let your own writing process develop organically? What if you approach it with curiosity and playfulness? Can you give yourself that grace? If you are doing it at all, you’re doing it right. If you’d like a little support, I’m here for you. If you’d like to have a chat about strengthening your novel in a way that works for you, apply for a free intro call with me at the link below in the description. And in the comments, drop a note and let me know what your favorite part of your writing process is., And remember to subscribe for ongoing support with your novel. Happy writing.