So, You Want to Write a Novel?
Are you sure? Are you very, very sure?
If you answer yes to those questions, let’s proceed.
First thing…sit your backside down in that computer chair and leave it there for two to three hours every day…six days each week.
When inspiration fails to hit, write anyway. Much of it will be crap, but once in a while, a tiny jewel will emerge from the pile of guano that will inspire you. At least for a little while.
When it’s written, and rewritten, and rewritten, and rewritten and has passed muster with a very good critique group, start querying agents. By a critique group, I do not mean relatives of any kind. I mean other writers also struggling to produce something of merit.
Before you query an agent, you must research him/her thoroughly. Make sure they like your genre. Make sure they’re accepting queries. Make sure you follow their exact (and I do mean exact) requirements as specified on their website.
Then, brace yourself for thirty, forty, sixty, eighty rejections. But keep on plugging. Being a successful writer is much more perspiration than inspiration. Quitting is not an option. Not if you want to write a novel.