Writing Your First Novel: 5 Ways to Stay Motivated

“The beginning is always today.”
— Mary Shelley

Writing your first novel can be overwhelming. You want to have the shiniest characters, the most innovative plot, and absolutely gorgeous language — and you want to have them now. But the reality is that writing a novel, especially your first novel, is a long, involved, often frustrating process that requires discipline and sheer determination to get through.

If you’re wondering where to even begin, you’re in the right place, because I’m going to share the 5 essential steps I took (other than writing) to turn an idea into 70,000 words in only 4 months.

Step 1: Make a promise

Commit. This is the single most important thing you can do. Don’t worry — I’m not going to make you promise to write 2,000 words a day. Yes, it helps to write every day. You’ve heard that advice a thousand times by now. We both know that if you write a little bit each day, soon enough you’ll have…well, a lot of words. But that’s not the kind of promise I want you to make yourself.

Instead, I want you to promise that writing is an important part of your life.

In the show Stranger Things, Mike explains to Eleven what a promise means. (Step 1 of writing your first novel)

That means no more downplaying it to your friends, family, or partner.

“Oh, I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Nah, just a bit of writing.”

“Not even worth reading yet.”

From now on, you admit that writing is important to you. You are excited to be doing this work. You are proud of your efforts. You won’t sweep your writing under the rug anymore.

Why? Because it’s hard to do something if you’re always hiding it. You’ll do it less often, you’ll do it less confidently, and you’ll like not end up doing it at all.

So instead, own your writing. Make a promise to yourself that you’re going to see your novel come to life. Then, make it happen.

Step 2: Study writing as a craft

To take writing seriously, you need to study it as a craft. I’m not just talking about university degrees. While those are great, I’m talking about continuing education. Self-driven self-improvement.

You wouldn’t expect your doctor to never pick up a medical journal again after graduating, right? Treat writing the same way. If you’re unhappy with the writing you’re producing, that’s not a sign that “it’s not meant to be.” It’s a sign that you have an opportunity for growth in a skill that excites you and leads to realizing your dreams. Time to make a concerted effort to actively learn how to improve your writing.

Much to learn you still have - Yoda (Step 2 of writing your first novel)

There are a lot of ways to go about studying writing as a craft. Here are some of my favorites:

Join a class or writing workshop at a local library or college (virtually or online)
Watch YouTube channels like Quotidian Writer or Brandon Sanderson’s Creative Writing Lecture series
Listen to podcasts like Savannah Gilbo’s Fiction Writing Made Easy
Read blogs (like this one!)

I don’t remember how I came across Brandon Sanderson’s Creative Writing Lecture series on YouTube, but I can say that nothing made me feel more like a writer than devoting an hour a day to learning from a writer I admire. Devoting consistent time (whether that’s every day or once a week) to studying writing as a craft made me feel like a serious writer, and that in turn motivated me to write more often. Not only that, it gave me the tools I needed to write better stories.

Step 3: Join a community of writers

Everybody knows writing is a solitary activity. But there is huge power in communities, in being surrounded by people who are just as excited about plot developments and word counts as you are. Writing communities are more than a support group — they’re an incredible motivator.

Five men writing together on typewriters (Step 3 of writing your first novel)

You can find active writing communities online on sites like Reddit (r/writers and r/writing are two examples, and you can even join genre groups like r/fantasywriters) or Archive of Our Own (which caters especially to fanfiction writers). Sometimes, you can find local writer’s groups through Meetup or by browsing your local library’s bulletin board. You could even start your own group!

Step 4: Set a deadline

Without a deadline, many of us will keep plugging away forever. Setting a deadline (and planning a reward for reaching it) helped me stay on track even when I didn’t feel “inspired” or particularly motivated to make progress.

Many of us are also chronic procrastinators, and we’ll let that deadline approach, dreading it all the while. Maybe this has worked for us in the past, and we were able to turn in that 20-page essay or 3,000-word article in the nick of time… usually after experiencing incredibly high stress and sleep deprivation to make it happen. That’s not healthy. And besides, it sure won’t work for a novel. While writing 20 pages in one night is somewhat doable, writing 300 is not.

So let’s establish some healthier habits. (Here are the 10 books on habit-formation and productivity that helped me leave procrastination behind.)

In the meantime, setting a strict deadline for writing my novel was such an important step to help me go from blank page to 70,000 words in four months.

Deadlines are my friends (Step 4 of writing your first novel)

Two things made my deadline work:

I taped my deadline right above my desk. Every time I sat down to write, I was reminded that this novel had a due date.
I picked a date that held emotional meaning for me — my 30th birthday.

My biggest tip for choosing a deadline that will actually help you write your novel: Choose a significant day. Don’t make it random; make it emotional. Think about how you’ll feel on that day, holding your finished book in your hands. Fantasize about it. Manifest it.

Step 5: Stay motivated

We all do it. We excuse ourselves for not writing. “I’m too tired today.” “If I was meant to write a novel, I would have done it already.”

Those are the excuses I told myself for years before finally realizing that the only one holding me back from following my dream of writing a novel — was me.

We let excuses win because we are overwhelmed at the idea of beginning. Of not succeeding. Of not being good enough. But thousands of people write books every year! Having the right mindset is 90% of the work of writing a novel.

If they can do it, why not us? Harry Potter gif (Step 5 of writing your first novel)

Writer’s block, procrastination, fear of failure — there are so many powerful excuses to not write that novel.

There are also many more powerful reasons that you should. Only you know what they are. And only you can remind yourself each day that those reasons are more powerful than the excuses in their way.

It’s never too late

That’s all; five simple tips (not about writing) to help you stay motivated and actually finish that first novel. It’s not easy. But it is worth doing.

So today, I’ll leave you with a quote that has helped me in my writing journey.

Motivational quote for writing your first novel — Fun fact: This quote is often misattributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald (author of *The Great Gatsby*) but was actually written for the movie *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*.

Whether it’s this quote or another, find words that sing to you every time you read them, words that make your fingers tingle with the desire to write, and put them somewhere you can see them each day before writing. Print the quote and put it by your desk, write it on a sticky note, or set it as your computer background. Let these words inspire you each day and give you the push you need to keep going on this amazing, backbreaking journey of writing a novel.

What helped you begin writing your first novel?
Tell me in the comments below!

Keep writing,