A lot of the time when you think about authors, you think about the literary greats. You think about those stories people gush over and over — Orwell and Dostoyevsky, Austen and Le Guin. Books that make you look in the mirror and question the very nature of reality, meaning, existence.

Thankfully, for all of us aspiring writers, you don't have to be a one-of-a-kind genius to write a novel. You just need to be relentless. Your best friends are consistency and habit. That’s not to say a healthy dose of mad genius won’t help, but the thing that really moves the needle is consistency.

The truth is, there are a lot of things I wish I’d known before I started writing my first book. A lot more I wish I’d known before I wrote my second. And even now, with the 11th draft of this sucker sitting on my desk waiting to be edited… again, I’m still learning, figuring it out, finding what works.

So, here’s my list.

This isn’t your standard list — you know the ones: don’t use adjectives or passive verbs, show don’t tell, never qualify, only ever use ‘said’. There are hundreds of rules about the craft out there, some good, some you can ignore, but there’s very little to add.

No, this list is the sh*t I wish I’d known before I sat down and started my first novel. Because it would’ve saved me a whole lot of time if someone had just sent me this article before I ever began.

1. Keep it simple

Your book will get complicated. You’re going to be weaving together multiple plots and subplots, you’re going to write yourself into corners, and your characters are going to do unexpected things.

So, keep your idea simple. The complexity will come whether you want it or not.

This is also important for that moment when you try to sell your story.

If your idea starts off as, “A subtle satire of modern politics where a stranded astronaut has to navigate an alien society and accidentally causes a rebellion that spirals into a full-scale planet-wide war.” Well, that’s a lot harder to sell than, say, “A fantasy heist that gets derailed by romantic entanglements.”

The point is, you can add elements, complexity, layers, and depth later. But if you start with a full-scale G.R.R. Martin universe, a hundred characters, and twenty parallel plotlines, well, you’re probably not going to get to the end. I mean, even Mr Martin can’t finish his books.

2. Know where you’re going

It’s all very well to sit down with a fun character idea and “see what happens”, and some people swear by it. But I’ve found—though I’m not a big fan of planning, or admin of any kind really—if I don’t know where I’m trying to take my story, I get lost.

This can mean different things to different people. Some plan every scene in detail. Others just sketch character profiles and dive in.

For me, there are two sides to planning:

Character motivations. For each key character (protagonist, antagonist, side characters), I ask: What’s their ultimate goal, and what are they willing to do to get there?
Structure. I outline each scene, as well as the turning points, core conflicts and the ending that I’m steering toward.

Not once (I’ve now written four books) has my initial plan matched the final story. But it gives me confidence and something to write toward. I usually redo this outline at least twice during the process—usually after each major arc — to take stock of what’s happened, track loose ends, and figure out how to tie it all back together before it collapses under its own weight.

3. Know your characters

This should be simple, but it’s not.

I don’t mean just whipping up a quick profile for your protagonist. I mean in-depth backstories on everyone — even that shopkeeper in that one scene. Stop and think: ‘What’s their motivation?’ before you write them.

You need a clear understanding of what drives each character, their backstory, and their big-picture goal. Because characters drive dialogue. They drive conflict. They drive your story.

A useful exercise I’ve found is to draft up a one-page story for each character. Where did they come from? What are the important turning points in their lives? What made them the way they are? The more dramatic, the better.

4. Conflict is key

Conflict is the core of any good story. The hurdles a character fails to overcome are what make them likeable.

Conflict should be in every scene and every plotline. Your characters should hardly ever succeed — then when they finally do, it actually means something.

Conflict can mean many things. A fight, an argument, a betrayal. Or it can be more subtle: clashing character motivations, unrequited love, or a physical or mental barrier that they have to overcome. The important thing here is that conflict is included in every scene.

5. Know where to start and end

Every scene, every chapter, and the book as a whole should start as late as possible and end as early as possible.

Never start with your character waking up in the morning. Never end with them going to bed. You don’t need to convey their full life.

Your book should start at the turning point — where the everyday, the mundane, and the routine are interrupted. Start with change. And start each scene the same way: right before the conflict hits.

6. Cut it out

A lot of new writers (myself included) want to tell the story from before the beginning. We want to explain our character’s traumatic childhood or the war that happened a hundred and fifty years ago and caused this particular holiday.

And the truth is, nobody cares.

All that subtext, world-building, and backstory might be fascinating to you, but the reader shouldn’t even realise they’re learning it.

Never convey the mundane unless it adds to the story. A character brushing their teeth? Skip it—unless you’re building dread and something’s off (the toothpaste is the wrong colour, the mirror fogs up with ghostly writing, etc.).

If it’s routine, leave it out. It’s boring and adds nothing. Every word should earn its place.

7. Add motion to your scenes

So, you need to dump some exposition. It’s vital. You need to reveal this information, and you need to reveal it now.

The easy option is to drop it into dialogue — your characters sit down for tea and talk through your beautifully constructed plot. Great. Except you’ve also just bored the tits off your reader, and you know it.

So what can you do?

The answer: Make it an argument and add tension. Or better yet, give the characters something to do.

At least one character should have an action that moves them closer to their goal. Add motion and tension, and let the exposition happen in the background. Don’t stop the story to explain.

8. Keep your characters active, not passive

It’s tempting to let things just happen to your protagonist — they react to events, overcome obstacles, and move along the plot rails you’ve laid down. But that makes them flat and dull.

Always ask: What does my protagonist want, and what are they willing to do to get it?

That second part — what they’re willing to do — is the big part here. And it should evolve throughout the story. Their actions should drive events, not the other way around. And the more those actions bring them into conflict with your antagonist, the better.

9. Don’t fall in love with your words

This one hurts.

You’re going to write scenes you love. Dialogue that sings. Descriptions that would make Oscar Wilde weep for the sheer beauty of it. And then you’ll realise they don’t serve the story — and you’ll have to cut them.

I’ve deleted entire chapters — some really good ones too — because they slowed the pace or muddied the plot or otherwise just didn’t add anything important.

If a scene, paragraph, or sentence isn’t earning its place, it’s got to go. Save it in a separate document if you must (I do), but get it out of your manuscript.

10. Read your story out loud

Reading aloud is the fastest way to spot errors, find awkward sentences, and hear whether your dialogue sounds like people actually talking or whether you’ve accidentally written a Shakespearean monologue when someone’s just ordering coffee.

Your dialogue should sound natural. But don’t make it too real!

Skip the filler lines, the “hello” and “how are you?”

Cut straight to the good stuff and leave before it gets boring.

11. Your first draft will not be your last

That first draft is a mammoth, Herculean effort. You’ll sit down and drink tea, coffee, and occasionally quantities of wine that probably aren’t good for you. You’ll work for months and end up with something almost like a book — structured, maybe even coherent — and completely unpublishable.

Think of that first draft as you telling yourself the story. It’ll be messy and inconsistent. You’ll change your mind about plot points and come up with new twists and turns. In one of my novels, I thought I was close to the end, then, in the 5th draft, I changed a protagonist’s gender and added a whole new character POV.

The point is, getting that 1st draft down is progress. You’ve done more than 90% of writers ever do.

But you’re not done. Not by far. Put it aside. Work on something else. Then, when you’re ready, come back and start again. From the beginning.

Final Words

If there’s one key takeaway from this list, it’s that you only really figure out how to write a book by writing one.

You can read all the guides, take all the courses, and listen to all the advice, but none of it will teach you what it feels like to wrestle with a story that’s fighting you every step of the way.

So go write. Screw up. Fix it. Do it again. That’s the whole game.

When you finally reach that last page and realise you’ve actually done it, you’ve told a story from start to finish, there’s no feeling quite like it.

And then, of course, you’ll immediately start thinking about the next one.

11 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Writing My First Book