This week, I was honestly struggling to figure out what my next article would be about. My first article I ever wrote for the Odyssey was about National Novel Writing Month — and one of my good friends suggested that I maybe do another article about writing, specifically how to get started on writing a novel.

Whether it be academic writing — a paper discussion your analysis of a piece of text (which always tripped me up); business writing; creative writing — creating characters and a universe in which they live and an issue/mission they need to take care of. Writing is hard.

I was fortunate enough to take a creative writing class three out of four years of high school. My teacher pushed to be better; she was always critical about my work — I didn’t mind; she knew I have potential.

You can ask my friend Sam, I’ve struggled a lot with this novel. I sometimes text her at midnight asking her to read a new draft to see if it was good or if I should scrap it. But she always takes the time to read and give me feedback — even though the first chapter is 29 pages and I’m sure she’s read it six or seven times now.

I’ll say it again: writing isn’t easy. To get started on writing a novel, I have a handful of tips:

1. Keep a journal

I found this beneficial because all of my writing was in one spot. I liked that I could see how many pages I’d actually written, and it made editing quicker. I start with the crappy first draft in my journal, then when I type it on my computer it gets very heavily edited.

2. Have a friend you can always go to, to rant/talk/brainstorm with

Shout out to Sam, who always reads my articles and is always down to listen to a brainstorming session. She helped me develop my major characters and some good plot twists. I was texting Sam when I figured out the major plot line.

She’s always excited to read a new installment, which motivates me to keep writing it.

3. Have a good writing playlist that gets you pumped up

I love having a good playlist when I write; keeps me motivated and going. I actually have playlists of ambient sounds, like “breeze blowing through the woods” kinda stuff so it’s easier to write in that setting.

Alright, now’s the fun part: Writing.

I used to sorta…Wing it. I would sit down, write an introduction, and just see where it went. That is, until recently, until I wrote a ten-thousand-word document outlining the plot, the characters (in detail) — who they are and how they relate to the victim.

If you can write a good story by just winging it — props to you. Writing a layout was one of the best things I’ve done. Everything is clear, I know what needs to happen and when. It’s helped me keep my thoughts organized.

After you get your major problem/mission figured out (mine was there’s a person murdered in a small town and nobody will confess, so there’s an investigation), it’s time to figure out who your characters are — and that means more than their name and description.

I go by the idea that I have to be best friends with my characters — how they take their coffee, what ringtone they use, what their favorite meal is. You need to know their personality, how they would react in certain situations.

With your characters, now it’s time to build friendships and relationships. Unless your main character doesn’t have any friends, this isn’t important. My novel is about a team, however, specifically three best friends who work together, solving crimes.

Their relationships are important; they have to be good friends and trust each other. But it’s important to remember that some people don’t give trust so easily; this is a good way to create conflict. Also, friends don’t always agree with one another, and they fight because of different points of view — another point of conflict.

Now you can start building your plot. You know where you need to go — for example, figure out the identity of the victim. How do investigators do that? Are there hitches in discovering his identity? How long will it take? These are all things that build tension. Having a friend to brainstorm to can help you with these questions.

What’s next? What’s the next thing they need to figure out? Who do they need to talk to? The rest of your novel is going to be asking a lot of how’s, why’s, and “what does this tell me?”

My teacher once told me, “Keep putting those sh*tty first drafts on paper.” And that’s one of the things that keeps me writing. We all have those terrible first drafts, and over the last 11 months, I’ve improved the first chapter. It went from maybe five pages to 29.