How to Write a Great Novel From Beginning to End | Part Four | Writing a Great First Draft

Warning: This article is chocked-full of useful information that may take a bit of time to read through. You have been warned….

Read more on How to Write a Great Novel

If this is the first article of this series that you have come to, then you may want to take a look at the three previous articles in the series which will help you build the foundation:

• How to Write a Great Novel From Beginning to End | Part 1 | Coming Up With a Concept
• How to Write a Great Novel From Beginning to End | Part 2 | Characters, Setting, & Research
• How to Write a Great Novel From Beginning to End | Part 3 | Story Planning And Outlining

Now back to the subject of this article which is writing your first draft. Once you have come up with a brilliant story concept, written a brief synopsis, worked on clarifying your setting, doing basic research, starting to develop your characters, and written a base story outline, you can get started with your first draft!

Note: You can totally write your first draft without doing any of the above-mentioned stuff (except coming up with a story idea, of course). However, I do recommend that if you haven’t already, consider at least writing a brief story synopsis and doing some basic character development work.

Writing the First Draft of Your Novel

Once you have written your story outline, you are ready to start writing your first draft. Your task is simple. Just start writing. Start filling in the blanks of your story outline. In case you want something more concrete, here are some tips for you.

Tips for writing a great first draft | Things to remember

• Just start writing. Don’t worry about grammar and spelling too much,
• Try not to read any of your story until you have finished writing the whole thing out. When you stop to read what you have written so far, you may be tempted to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite, or start doubting and end up not finishing the story.
• Let your imagination flow and don’t stop writing.

If you get stuck while you are writing:

• Keep writing, even if you think everything you are writing is garbage. As Jodi Picoult once said: “You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
• Take a break from writing if you need to, but make sure you come back to your story. If you get stuck on one part of the story, then work on writing a different part. You don’t have to write it in the order it will be read.
• Remember, you can do this!

Writer’s Block | When You Need Help with Writer’s Block

For More Advice and Help for Overcoming Writer’s Block check out this article: What to Do When Writers Block Hits | 5 Extremely Helpful Tips Used by Authors

Just Start Writing | You Can Do This!

The best tip for writers when it comes to writing the first draft is: simply just start writing. Grab your notebook and pen or your laptop and get to it. You have the idea, the inspiration, and the skills. All you have to do is start and the words will follow. As Louis D’Amour said:

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”

– Louis D’Amour

If you get stuck, don’t worry, it can happen to the best of us. Just keep writing. I know you can create a great novel!