February 24, 2008

This hub will explain to you the life of an unpublished writer

and also give other writers tips on how to improve their own

writing.

I have been writing since I was twelve years old. I wrote

poetry through middle school, short stories through high

school, and, a month before graduating high school began

my first novel. It took me a year and a half to complete.

In addition, I was on the high school newspaper staff and

was a copy editor in my senior year. I am going to college

full-time, so I don't have much time to write now, but I do

make a point to write every single day, only if for a few

minutes.

Why is it important to write every single day? Writing

every day makes you a better writer. I also recommend

reading. Read EVERYTHING you can get your hands on.

I read everything from the Princess Diaries series by Meg

Cabot to best-selling novels to short stories in magazines.

Other writers' works might inspire you to write a novel about,

for example, a group of friends who find a time-traveling

machine.

I recommend making a writing schedule. If you want to

make this your career, be prepared to write 6-9 hours a day,

sometimes more. If you have time, you can write that much

now--but if you don't, schedule your writing time around your

busy schedule. For example, I go to college full-time. I write

for at least an hour every night. My classes also offer 10

minute breaks in the middle of class. I write for ten minutes.

Ten minutes times twice a week is twenty minutes-and who

knows how much you could write in ten minutes.

I started a new novel on January 24. Oddly enough, it is

based on a dream I had the night before. Sometimes the

best inspiration for novels comes from your dream. I took

the dream, changed it a little, and the actual dream took up

the first two pages of the first chapter. But I was able to

expand upon that. My dream ended when I looked up at a

man in colonial dress. The novel began when my character

began asking questions. Questions can introduce a

character, setting, even conflict. When you have a main

character asking questions of a new mysterious character in

the novel, you let readers know more about this character.

I prefer writing in first person, through the main character's

point of view, because then the reader only knows what the

main character knows. As the story progresses, they will

find out more about other characters, but only as the main

character gets to know them. Readers will want to know

more about those secondary characters, characters who

might even include a love interest for the main character.

So how do you find inspiration for a novel? I'll talk about

that more in my next article.