Writing a novel is quite a long process and you are bound to have days when you have writer’s block, lack of motivation, and are just feeling generally unproductive. That is just common. But you can start being productive only by doing simple rules. The simplest thing to do is to keep reading. Read books in your genre and also a wide variety of other subjects. Become as well read as you possibly can. Then, you can keep developing your writing skills if you write about subjects that are appealing to you. You may have a grand idea for a novel that you think will make you a millionaire, and in fact that may be the case. However, if it is a subject you have no interest in you are going to have a hard time staying motivated to complete an entire manuscript. If you’re writing on a subject which is near and dear to your heart or at least something you are very interested in, you’ll find the process of writing much easier. You’ll also find you won’t have to do as much research.
However, a lot of writers subconsciously censor themselves because they begin to think about all the other people who might read their book should they get published. So instead of freely writing, they end up writing very stilted descriptions with the thought in mind of who is going to be reading it later. To develop yourself, you must write without worrying about who will read your book. You must allow people to give you their honest opinion of your work. You also need to remember that you don’t have to take it personally when you get a lot of rejections for your work. Advance your writing skills by learning from these rejections. Editors may sometimes include notes for you and these will be great fiction writing tips that you can apply.
Another important tip is to join a writer’s group. This is important so that you can get constructive criticism that is objective. You may be showing your manuscript to your friends and family, but most of the time they are not going to give you very good criticism since they don’t want to hurt your feelings. But you need to hear what people actually think of your writing so that you will have a better chance of selling your work later. It’s great to show your unfinished novel to your friends, but in your writers group you will get the best critiques. Or you can join writing class though you might find it will only bore you. In fact, you will find golden nuggets of crucial and invaluable information and fiction writing tips in each and every class, sometimes from your instructor and sometimes from other members of the class.