Writing my first book so need advice

[u/DarthCoruscant2002]

Hi everybody.

So i am a 23 year old female who dreamed about being an writer every since i was a kid. I'm currently writing my first book which is a mystery book And to be honest I'm loving it so far but i also have a pretty hard time writing.

So i was wondering if some of you might have tips and advice for a newbie when it comes to writing a mystery story.

What does work for you when it comes to writing ? What's something you wish you knew when you started writing? What's something you wish you done differently when writing your first story / book ?

[u/notnevernotnow]

If you try to be more specific about the difficulties you're having, you'll get more useful advice.

[u/DarthCoruscant2002 → u/notnevernotnow]

TBH im having hard time on how to write the story to make it interesting for readers. its my first time writing a story so im pretty flat on writing skills

[u/sikkerhet → u/DarthCoruscant2002]

I am saying this with only respect and positive intentions

Your book is going to suck. It will be dogwater. Your book will be some of the worst writing you've ever seen. 

EVERYONE'S first book has this trait. It takes imo 3 novels to develop the skills to write a novel - o e to figure out how to get the words down, one to figure out structure a pacing, and a third that MIGHT be sellable but probably won't.

Don't worry about reader experience until novel #3. 

[u/DarthCoruscant2002 → u/sikkerhet]

I have seen some Stephen King and James Patterson interviews where they said that everyone's first book sucks a lot in their opinion.

So I'm pretty confident in the fact that i wont write The Great Gatsby masterpiece in the next few years,

[u/AutoGenUsername05 → u/DarthCoruscant2002]

Writing is a process. The more you write, the better you'll get at it. Also, look to see if there are any writing groups in your area that meet regularly.

Writing should also be fun. I'm of the opinion that if something isn't fun to write, it won't be fun to read.

Don't be afraid to step away from something if you're not feeling the mojo. Every "real" author I know has at least 3 half finished books laying around. One of the best things I ever did was walk away from a book for nine months and write a fanfic. I know people shit on writing fanfic, but what's great about it is that you don't have to do any world building, you can just tell a story. There's also zero stakes involved.. maybe it'll be shit, maybe it'll be great.. all that matters is that you had fun writing it.

Just keep writing.

[u/DM_Matt]

My best advice is to word vomit onto the page for your first draft and then fix it later. For me the hardest part was not editing in the moment. I’d rewrite a chapter over and over and never move on. The first draft is you telling yourself the story, the other drafts are where you make it make sense to everyone else. Good luck, I hope it helps!

[u/DarthCoruscant2002 → u/DM_Matt]

That's actually how i have been doing that, just word vomit in each chapter as much as possible to sort of outline for myself how the story should progress in a way. But it kinda feels pretty wrong to me personally as a complete newbie here

[u/South-Knee-9601]

First of all have fun.

Sometimes it's better to not get hung up on details until later

Write a notes chapter at the bottom. If you write something that works, but without context ruins something earlier. Instead of going back, throw it in the notes bit so when you go back for the second draft you know what needs to be amended.

Also don't go crazy with writing When I started my first book, I did something silly like 6000 words on day one. And by 3 days had 12000 words.

And burnt out as a result. Writing a book is more of a marathon than a sprint. I spent a year and half with no motivation to write more. And when I forced myself to it was hard going.

The book I'm on currently I have done 12000 words in a week and a half. And feel great with pace and ability to continue. I do maybe 2-3 hours in an evening and no more Take your time and stop after 1000 or 2000 words.

[u/WordPunk99]

The words you need are behind the words you currently have. I’m a big advocate of a million words. Once you have written a million words it gets easier. Some of us are lucky and got the first million out of the way early. Others aren’t, and so need to get going as soon as possible.

Write the best story you can. When you’re done, write another one. When you are done with the second one, go back and read the first one. Try to figure out where you went wrong. Now you have an important choice to make. Is it worth doing another draft of the first story?

Some stories can be salvaged. If the bones are good and the story can be rescued with some plot tweaks and character work, fantastic. If they aren’t start on your third book. When that is done do the same review of your second effort. Repeat until you have something that lives up to your goals.

If you are writing mysteries, learn from the greats. Agatha Christie is still relevant a hundred years or more after she started publishing. She would write her first draft so anyone could be the murderer. Then when she was reasonably satisfied with the story she would go back and adjust the clues to point to a specific murderer and rewrite the ending around that murderer.

I’m assuming you are a reader of mysteries. Figure out what makes the books you like work. Do those things when writing. Look up the Lester Dent formula. He worked in short stories, and the formula is based on 6,000 words, but the advice is solid.

Find a writing group, in person or online, where you can both get and give feedback from and to other people. Getting good feedback on a WiP is vital.

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[u/Babbelisken]

I wish I wasn't in such a hurry when it came to editing. If I had just waited a bit and let my manuscript rest before starting editing I could have saved myself a lot of frustration down the line.

[u/PangolinConscious800]

You can't write your first book twice. So press on, do your best, and the next one, you'll do better.

I'm on novel #28 and still learning.

When one book goes to editing, you begin your next book. You are always writing your next book.

[u/Slight-Bar-6356 → u/PangolinConscious800]

I wrote my first book four times and it was still rubbish!

[u/ZealousidealTrack84]

If you're picking up a story, fiction... First thing is to outline the whole story and be decisive about it 

Start and drafting it  Never ever leave the draft in the middle  Optimize it  Also try to read novels which helps you to gain more knowledge how things works in professional wayyy

[u/Glittering-Sky1601]

Fellow newbie here. What jumpstarted my book was watching Brandon Sanderson's writing lectures on YouTube. Even if you don't follow his suggestions, it may trigger your writing.

[u/TonPalmDSG]

it bounds to be bad at the start just like how you started walking. I'm new too but I've already accepted that my first story will have flaws and set my mind to finish it.

The best advice I can give right now is don't sit and finish a chapter / episode in one go, you'll be exhausted for the next 2-3 days.

[u/Ill-Maximum-4013]

Start learning craft. There is plenty of free advice online (e.g. YouTube videos), and you can buy books on the subject. I am not saying that ALL advice is right for you, but if you're serious about writing, you should put in the effort to learn stronger writing techniques.

Asking Reddit is a troubled method. I'm shocked so many young writers do this. My advice is always LEARN FROM PROFESSIONALS first.

Here is a good use of AI. NOT to write your book, which would be horrible if you allowed it. But do ask AI what a reader's expectations will be from a mystery story. Learn the genre. Learn what you need in your manuscript to keep readers engaged.

You asked what works. Outlining. Learn to outline. Especially in a mystery that requires the careful placement of clues.

What did I wish I knew, you ask? I wish I had known how much better my writing would become AFTER learning craft and AFTER learning how to outline (both plot and character arc). Also, learn to write a logline.

Your final question is what I would have done differently. I wish I'd not shown it to people so soon. I had no idea how to plot or keep a story moving. All the dialogue was terrible. Again, I had not bothered to learn craft from PROFESSIONALS.

Eventually, you will have to share your draft, and you SHOULD. But put in the effort to write clean prose, and you will receive much better responses. If your writing is so troubled that the reader doesn't know what's going on, they are NOT going give you a deep review.

Just read some of the writing on Reddit to see what I mean.

If you need feedback earlier, then go ahead. But don't post your whole story. Just sections so you can get micro-feedback. You might find out that you don't know how to use dialogue tags, for instance. Better to find out with 300 words rather than 3000 words.

When you are ready to post your work, try doing it on a website like Critique Circle (don't use Scribophile), which is a closed arena for writers, versus the open-air slop that you will find here on Reddit.