Paul J. Scribbans — Author

Some time ago, I asked a straightforward question to the #writingcommunity on X (AKA Twitter):

What’s the number one thing you learned writing your first book?

I received a considerable number of replies, many more than I expected. What wasn’t unexpected was that many of the answers had a common theme, and if I’d thought about it, I’d probably have come up with a similar list of answers myself.

It seems there are many common lessons writers learn when writing their first book. So, in the interests of sharing knowledge, experience and lessons learned I thought it beneficial to share some of these nuggets of wisdom, based on the feedback I received.

It seems there are many common lessons writers learn when writing their first book

Answer 1: Self-Edit

I’ll talk about the whole self-edit process in the future blog, and there are already many articles out there that discuss this subject – Check out Jenna Moreci’s YouTube blog, for example. However, for the sake of interpreting the answers: Essentially when you write a book, many authors follow this basic formula:

Write the First Draft – This is essentially a brain dump. It’s something you’d never show to anyone else. For one, it probably won’t make sense to them, would be full of typos, grammatical errors and the flow of the story will be off. After all, you haven’t edited it yet! Think of this stage as a very loose and messy structure to your story; all ready for sculpting.

Edit the First Draft: This is where you read through your story (from start to finish) and tighten up the loose structure. You’ll definitely be adjusting bits, removing bits, adding bits, fix plot holes, and flesh it out.

Repeat Step 2: Essentially keep redoing step 2 until you are happy with the story. Once you’re content with your narrative, walk away for at least a week and then repeat again. I’ll guarantee by taking a break you’ll find things you didn’t spot before. How many times do you redo? As many as it takes. For some writers that might be as little as 3-4 full passes, for others (like me) it’s more; sometimes much more! One thing to remember is that you are technically a better writer at each pass, you’ve practiced, learned, and improved. So as many passes as it takes.

Beta Readers: If you’re publishing, this is where you need more eyes on your work. By this point, you’ve edited your work to death, and you’ve probably become the writer’s equivalent of noise blind – you can’t see the errors because you stared at your manuscript for too long. It’s time to let others look with fresh eyes.

Finding experienced beta readers, how to organise their feedback (i.e. questionnaire), concerns over copyright, etc is a whole other subject. I beta read for other authors myself and it can be a challenge for both the beta reader and author. Jenna Moreci does a good YouTube blog on the subject.

Note: You shouldn’t have to pay a beta reader. Make this clear upfront. If a beta wants money, walk away before you send them your manuscript.

Post Beta Reader Edit: Here we go again! Your beta readers will find problems, guaranteed. Perhaps they thought a character was weak, perhaps they spotted a plot hole, perhaps theirs an issue with the world you created, maybe the timing is off in a scene or scenes, the list goes on. So, as part of your questionnaire, you want to ask the beta reader what worked and what didn’t work. Once armed with this information you can fix these additional issues and liaise with your beta readers to make sure the story now works.

Send to Editor: Now, at last, once you are completely happy send your baby to your professional editor, who will probably pull it to pieces for you again. See the next section for more on this.

Conclusion

As you’ll see, the self-edit process takes time, patience. Some writers love the self-editing process; some hate it – with a passion!

One final point, don’t be afraid to use the delete key. Sometimes you have to delete words, sentences, paragraphs, pages that aren’t working. See my blog post on this subject.

Summarised Twitter responses:

• Writing [with the view of publishing] isn’t easy.
• Sometimes your target word count can only be reached by pure determination.
• Don’t bother about your first draft – get it onto the page – it can be sculpted later.
• Editing takes MUCH longer than the first draft.
• It’s done when it’s done! Don’t try to rush it, some books take years to write.
• Keeping reading through it, until you’re happy.
• Patience is something you have to learn during the writing process.
• Cherish your beta readers, they’re worth their they’re weight in gold.
• If you have to rewrite – you have to rewrite. Don’t be afraid of the delete key!

Answer 2: Get a Professional Edit

A prevalent subject when talking about publishing is around Hiring a professional editor, and this is probably one of the first things I learned myself.

If you are going to publish, no matter how good you think your writing is always get a professional editor to double-check your work. An experienced author once advised me that “publishing a book without a professional edit is commensurate to killing your book before it’s had a chance”. The wealth of experience expressed in the answers concurred with this statement.

Publishing a book without a professional edit is commensurate to killing your book before it’s had a chance.

Among the list below you’ll also see the ‘listen to your editor’ comments; again another important point. Don’t take offense if the editor pulls your work apart, it’s their job to point out problems for you after all. You’ll learn as a writer that absorbing constructive criticism is part of the game.

As you may have guessed, a professional editor is not a free service, and rates vary and are usually per word. Some editors will do you a deal, like the first 1000 words free.

Remember one important thing: They are a professional editor, they’re not emotionally invested in the story you’ve spent hours/months/years nurturing; they have a fresh perspective and they should know what they’re talking about. So LISTEN to them to improve your work.

Twitter said the following on this subject:

• A good editor is worth their weight in gold.
• No matter how good you are at writing – get an editor!
• Listen to your editor.
• You need a professional editor’s eyes to review your book before publishing.
• Draft then edit repeatedly. When you think it’s ready for publication – get an editor!

Answer 3: Patience, and Don’t Give Up!

Now, this is important to remember. Your story will never be completed if you [the writer] give up. You may feel that nothing can stop you from finishing your book; you’re pumped up and can’t wait to sit down and continue typing the next chapter. This is a great feeling, but perhaps you’re feeling deflated and ready to give up; you are feeling you are no good and you’re wasting your time. Maybe you’ve already succumbed and have given up that novel you’ve always wanted to write.

• All writers experience doubt, learn to push through
• Like with most challenges in life, the trick is to learn to push through, keep writing, keep practicing, keep reading other author’s works. This is all reflected in the poll answers:
• With every edit, you get better. You are a better writer when you start each edit.
• Writing anything is better than writing absolutely nothing.
• Your book won’t write itself!
• If you have an idea, write it down – write it down IMMEDIATELY!
• There’s no better time to start writing than now.
• Patience. Everything in the writing world, from the first word on the page to the first book on the shelf takes patience.
• Keep writing through the doubts, even during the bad days.
• Relax and don’t overthink, you’ll write better.
• Write daily. If you don’t have time to write for hours, make sure you get at least twenty minutes of focused writing done.

Answer 4: Read Books and Learn from Others

There were only a couple of answers in this category, but I think they’re worth a mention. Most people can write, but can they write a story? Getting an idea from your imagination onto the page can be more complex than it first appears. Writing a story/drabble/novel takes a certain amount of skill, a skill that you might not have – yet.

I spent many years learning to write fiction. Both through formal creative writing classes and by pouring over blogs, articles, watching YouTube videos, and reading. This last point is key, and I explain why in my How to Start Writing blog post.

As with most subjects, there is a lot of false information out there. Some techniques may not work for you. This is fine and many writers have different approaches. The correct writing technique for you is the one that works. If I can suggest one place to go for writing advice, both as a newcomer or a more experienced writer, check out Jenna Moreci’s YouTube blog. I’ve learned a lot from her tutorials, and she pretty much covers every writing subject you can think of, with a splash of humor.

If you don’t know the writing tricks, you’ll never be able to use them.

• Read books. Learn how other authors write, notice their style, read different genres.
• YouTube has a lot of practical advice, find a channel you feel comfortable with.

Answer 5: Picking a Title

A few comments were around the struggle some writers had picking a title. Now, this might sound like a minor problem, but I’ve experienced this myself. I wrote a blog post with tips and tricks for working around a title block.

Answer 6: Your First One Always has a Special Place

And finally, the end goal. The reason you’ve spent all this time and effort: To finish your work – there’s no better feeling. There are, however, a couple of things to mention here:

1. You might not want to publish everything you write. This may sound strange, but many authors have stories that were not good enough to consider publishing. Others may have been written to get them out onto paper, with no actual intention to share with the world. Often these narratives will never see the light of day. But never say never!

2. I’ve heard many writers say they cringle when reading their first book. If you think about it, this proves that practicing the art of writing makes you a better writer. Think about it, if a writer never improved, then their first story will be of similar quality as their last story. By practicing and improving you’ll soon spot some of the cheesy methods in your old creations; thus, the embarrassment. A very important lesson and something to consider.

How good it feels when it’s published, and you just want to write another one!

You can’t publish everything you write.

Like most writers, I cringe at my early work, while still being proud of it.

And that’s! A big huge thank you to the Twitter (now X) #writingcommunity for always helping fellow writers (new and experienced). If you are on Twitter come and join us.

Take care,

– Scrib