Novel writing ,
Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Writing
By Laura Starkey
I like to think that, during my forty-ish years on this planet, I’ve picked up some pretty useful lessons for living.
- Telling someone you love them is almost always a good idea, so long as you mean it
- Life holds few pleasures more perfect than nice cup of tea + sit down + good book
- Cheap bin liners are an utterly false economy.
Five books into what I hope will be a long and happy writing career, I’ve acquired a few author-specific insights, too.
I’m still learning all the time – but here are the most useful pointers I’ve gleaned thus far…
1. Writing is hard
The crafting of a novel is difficult. It’s a feat of creativity, but also of strategic planning, discipline and determination. At some point during the drafting of every book, I experience a crisis of confidence so profound it leaves me crying into my keyboard.
The task seems harder still when you consider it in the context of real life, where many of us have day jobs, children or other dependents, and homes to run.
But as Miley Cyrus famously said, ‘It’s the climb’ – and since when has anything worth doing been easy? I’ll probably always have days when I’m reduced to weeping at my desk. I’ve just learned to see them as part of the process: signs that I’m Doing The Work, and that it matters to me.
2. Writing is joyful
Consider the rush of crafting a conversation between two people who sound and feel real, even though, five minutes ago, they only existed in your head.
Remember the kick of satisfaction that comes with making yourself laugh, or sending a shiver down your own spine, as you type.
Think of those moments when you’ve hit upon precisely the right words to describe an emotion – a sentence that you know, in your bones, rings true.
They are your reward for the times when everything seems wrong, and you feel like giving up.
They are beautiful and you must savour them.
3. The book in your head will never exist in real life
Don’t ask me why – but something happens when you try to extract your lovely, shiny book idea from your brain and commit it to the page.
Maybe it’s that character sketches and plot points are stress-tested when they’re stretched over thousands of words. Perhaps it’s a strange kind of alchemy: the base metal of your book turning into gold, even if it doesn’t feel that way as you work on it.
Anyway, I’ve found stories rarely take the shape you initially expected when you actually start writing them. I have come to accept this.
4. Publishing is not a meritocracy… and luck does a lot of heavy lifting
The most talented authors are not always the ones who get the best deals or sell the most books. The vagaries of the market are too mad to make sense of, and the entire business is subjective. One editor’s trash is another’s treasure – particularly if it seems likely to blow up on BookTok.
In my experience, it’s liberating to accept that some proportion of the success you find (or keep striving for) will always be down to luck: your book finding its way to the right people at the right time.
Sidebar: I cannot stress enough how pointless it is to resent someone else’s achievements or feel bitter that yours don’t match up. Comparison is the thief of joy, but it’s also a total waste of time. Time you could be spending on honing your craft or pushing your own project forward.
5. Fashion fades, style is eternal
On a similar note, I think writing to fit in with a prevailing trend is risky – unless, of course, you’ve been commissioned to do so by a publisher and paid a tasty advance.
As Yves Saint Laurent supposedly said: ‘Fashion fades, style is eternal.’ What’s selling today might seem old hat by the time you’ve got a full manuscript together – but a great story, beautifully written in your unique voice, will always have its place.
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By Laura Starkey
About the author
Laura Starkey is part of the Marketing team at Jericho Writers. She lives in a small village in the West Midlands with her family, her constantly expanding book collection and a mini menagerie of pets. A former teacher, copywriter and digital content designer, she is the author of four romantic comedies including Love Off Script and The Spare Room, which was a top 10 Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia in 2024.