Now that I have written a first draft of a novel, said I am going to complete NaNoWriMo for 2020 (starts in a couple days), I have decided it is time I hand out paid advice.
You only have to pay with your time, but that is very valuable when you break it down that there is a finite amount you have. The total amount you have it never known by you, only those left behind. Dark, I know.
You have no reason to take my advice at all, but like with anything if you hear it in enough places it might sink in. Over the path I have taken on my adventure to becoming a published writer I have one thing keep popping up over and over.
Get the story out of your head quick. Make it perfect later.
The long version has many ways of explaining it from the many sources it was found. What I took from it was that until you get the words down, no matter how perfect you think they are, you can’t fix them. Or share them. How many times did you have a great idea and forget it before you could do anything with it. Enter a room and briefly forget why you went in there. Great words might fade before you get to do anything with them. Write, write, write, get the story into whatever you are using to write in. When you revise your work you can take however much time you want for that. Having not done it yet, I don’t know how long is too long to spend. I imagine the only reason to have a deadline would be if you have a contract or it is for work.
Second thing is determination. Just stick with it if this is truly something you want and have a passion for it. Zero words a session will get you zero stories written. If you only get a single word each time, eventually you will have it written. My first ever story I wrote after deciding I was a writer ended up just over 98k in word length. Setting many target dates to have it done by, many dates came a passed. But eventually I finished it.
That it is all I have so far, back to NaNoWriMo prep.