Why New Writers Give Up

When I started writing seriously back in 2017, I noticed two things immediately.

• The Writing was easy.

• The learning was not.

  
  

When you're starting out, you should just write for fun. Experiment, find your voice, and fall in love with revising. That's it. I've found that many writers try too much too early. They plot a more complicated story than their skills can accommodate; they start the same project (or different projects) multiple times without sticking it through to the end.

There will always be reasons to quit writing, but here's one that nobody talks about: the sheer amount of writing advice available to us online is almost suffocating. I know it seems counterintuitive, but just like that childhood English teacher who told you the word "was" tarnished your writing, not all advice is equal, and most advice is only useful if you're in a position to internalize it.

Which brings me to my three rules for new writers:

• Ignore advice until you need it.

• Read so much more.

• Choose beta readers wisely.

Here's what this means:

Ignore advice until you need it. The more "Avoid These Mistakes" videos you watch on YouTube, the more you'll sit down to write and freeze up, because you're untangling the words in your mind, while trying to avoid a hundred tiny writing mistakes that also happen to be on full display in every bestselling novel.

What many writing advice videos fail to do is provide good examples of famous authors ignoring practical writing advice. Don't believe me? Read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and within the first page, you'll realize she can write whatever she wants because she's learned how to tell a deeply moving story; she'll bend the words and sentences to accomplish that goal. I know many people say, "You have to master the rules in order to break them." And I agree that tends to be the case. But people giving writing advice, though well-intentioned, are often too focused on the rules, and they lose sight of what good writing is about. This can backfire if you're a new writer, so tread carefully and trust your gut. The more you write, the more you'll start to understand where you need to improve.

Read so much more. Reading is invaluable to a new writer. One novel can teach you more than a hundred videos and articles on good writing. Not only are you absorbing story beats, pacing, character arcs, and other useful tools, but you're holding, in your hands, proof that it works. If you've started writing and want to get better, then spend a year reading thirty different books, from different genres, writing styles, and time periods. You'll be inspired by what has worked, and you'll be motivated because you're a witness to what it can do. Keep reading and don't stop.

Choose beta readers wisely. This might be the most underrated bit of writing advice, but I believe careers are born or destroyed at the hands of beta readers. It's very hard to find the right ones, but they are out there, so don't give up! Here are three tips and one warning for choosing good beta readers.

• TIP: Use your family only if they are honest, actively reading fiction, and good at giving feedback. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to test this to find out, but some people are just bad at giving feedback. It's not always their fault; they just might not be your ideal reader. People will say to never use your family, because they're biased. To counter that, your family understands you (to a degree...hopefully), and a stranger does not. Yes, strangers can be helpful beta readers. But I've found that having a mix of family, friends, strangers, and professionals is the strongest balance for feedback.

• TIP: Trust your gut. I said this earlier. Every time someone tells me I need to fix something in my novel, I immediately know in my gut whether they are right or not. You have an instinct as a storyteller. Some feedback will make you go, "Wait, what? I don't see that at all." Other feedback will make you go, "Yep. I knew that was off somehow, and I couldn't figure out how to express it." Part of writing is accepting the feedback that resonates with you (even if you hate to hear it) and ignoring the feedback that falls flat. Be picky about what voices you allow to influence your work.

• TIP: Find your Avengers. This may be getting too far into the future for new writers, but I would start looking for one or two beta readers after you've finished your first project. They will be your Tony Stark. Over time, focus on adding to your close-knit circle. Find beta readers who have different strengths. If you have five beta readers who are all highly critical, you'll quickly get depressed. If you assemble a range of strengths, readers who are detailed, enthusiastic, critical, analytical, and truly enjoy your writing, then reading your books will be fun for them, not a chore, and there's a huge difference in feedback.

• WARNING: I've done manuscript critique swaps with other authors before, and while I didn't hate it, it felt like a chore, and that impacted the quality of my feedback. I also don't trust myself to offer good feedback, because in the back of my mind, I'm thinking "I would write the story differently," and because of that, I'm wary of taking advice from other authors. It's not their fault; they just tend to have more complicated perspectives than readers, and at the end of the day, I'm writing for readers, not authors. This delves into whether writing groups are effective or not, and the answers seem to be circumstantial. Good writing groups seem to produce a few good writers. If no one in your group is getting anywhere with their writing, I would consider finding a new group with more energy or relying solely on beta readers and editors.

  
  

I've seen too many writers give up too early because they trusted bad advice, they chose the wrong beta readers, or they relied on a stagnant writing group.

Trust your gut. Write as much as you can. Read fiction every day.

Now go get started.