You never learn how to "write novels." You only learn how to write the novel you're working on now.
Yes, they're all that different.
And just in case you wonder how long I've been at it, I've written 29 books and am in the 1982 Who's Who in American Writing.
So maybe I can share some things from my journey that'll help you with your journey.
Here's what I won't tell you.
What to write about, where I get my ideas from, stuff like that.
Maybe I don't answer this question because I think you should do it your way, not mine. Or maybe because I don't know how I do it. Or maybe both.
Here's what I can tell you about my writing.
Sometimes a story idea just comes to me out of nowhere and refuses to leave me alone until I write it. So, I do.
And, whenever I read a book that really fires me up, I find myself thinking, "I wish I could write like that." So, I just keep trying. I'll never write the best, but I'll always write my best. And get better every time. That's the "secret" of the writing "business," same as any other business. Always deliver the goods.
I read voraciously, a habit I recommend to any author who doesn't already have it. You'll subconsciously pick up on what does and doesn't work. Characterization, dialogue, pacing, plot, story, setting, description, etc.
But more importantly, someone who doesn't enjoy reading will never write something that someone else will enjoy reading.
I don't write "for the market." I know I can't, so I just write for me and then try to find readers who like what I like. I'm not trying to whip up the next bestseller and get rich. Not that I'd complain. But I have to write what's in my heart, then go find a market later.
This makes marketing a challenge at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
When you write, be a dreamer. Go nuts. Know that you're writing pure gold. That fire is why we write.
An author who I truly admire and try to emulate, Kurt Vonnegut, sweated out each individual sentence. He wrote it, rewrote it, and didn't leave it alone until it was perfect. Then when he was done, he was done.
I doubt most of write like that. I don't. I let it fly as fast as my fingers can move across the paper or keyboard, rushing to capture my ideas before they get away. Later, I change and shuffle and slice.
James Michener claimed that he wrote the last sentence first, then had his goal before him as he wrote his way to it.
Then there's me. No outline whatsoever. I create characters and conflict, spending days and weeks on that task, until the first chapter really leaves me wondering "How will this end?" Then my characters take over, and I'm as surprised as the reader when I finish my story.
Some authors set aside a certain number of hours every day for writing, or a certain number of words. In short, a writing schedule.
Then there's me. No writing for three or six months, then a flurry of activity where I forget to eat, sleep, bathe, change the cat's litter... I'm a walking stereotype. To assuage the guilt, I tell myself that my unconscious is hard at work. As Hemingway would say, long periods of thinking and short periods of writing.
When Hemingway stopped writing for the day, he always knew what he wanted to do at the beginning of the next day's writing. I like that idea. It beats starting your writing day staring at a blank page and not knowing what you want to start filling it with.
Another trick I sometimes use is to start my day by reading the previous chapter. I'm not big on self-editing during the writing, but doing just that chapter can kickstart my creativity sometimes.
I've shown you the extremes in writing styles. I think most authors fall in the middle somewhere. But my point is, find out what works for you. You can read about how other writers do it, and if that works for you, great. But in the end, find your own way. That's what writers do.
Just don't do it halfway.
If I can think of anything I would rather be doing than writing my novel, I go do that other thing.
The writing has to be that important. If it's not, your reader will feel it.
You will feel it.
The next step is self-editing. Fixing all the mistakes I made, that I can identify, in my rush to write it before my Muse took a holiday. Several rewrites. Running through it repeatedly with a fine-toothed comb. Deleting clichés like fine-toothed comb.
Then what?
There are stories that get rejected because the potential publisher hates them, but far more are shot down for other reasons. Stilted dialogue. Boring descriptions. Weak characters. Underdeveloped story. Unbelievable or inconsistent plot. Sloppy writing.
That's what you have to fix.
After my fifteen-year hiatus from writing, I started by using free online creative writing workshops. What I needed most was input from strangers. After all, once you're published, your readers will be strangers. Every publisher you submit to will be a stranger. What will they think? I was far too close to my writing to answer that.
Whenever I got some advice, I considered it. Some I just threw out as wrong, or because I couldn't make the changes without abandoning part of what made the story special to me. Some I embraced. But the point is, I decided. It was my writing.
After a time, I didn't feel the need for the workshops anymore, but I still use beta readers.
Your goal when you self-edit is to get your book as close to "ready to read" as you possibly can. You want your editor to find what you overlooked, not what you didn't know about.
Your story is your story. You write it from your heart, and when it looks like something you'd enjoy reading, you set out to find a publisher who shares your tastes. What you don't want is for that first reader to lose sight of what makes your story special because you've bogged it down with silly mistakes.
Authors don't pay to be published. They are paid for publication. Always. It's just that simple.
As an editor, I've worked with some authors who simply can't self-edit. Non-native English speakers, someone who slept through English class, authors with dyslexia, whatever. To them, paying for editing makes sense. This isn't paying for publication. This is paying for a service, training. Just like paying to take a creative writing class at the local community college.
By the way, I don't believe creativity can be taught. Writing, certainly. I took a Creative Writing class in high school and I still treasure it. But I already had the creativity, or else it would've been a waste of the teacher's time and mine.
(Years later I taught several creative writing classes at some universities in China.)
If you hire an editor worthy of the name, you should learn from that editor how to self-edit in the future. In my case it took two tries, because the first editor was a rip-off artist charging over ten times market value for incomplete advice.
If you choose to hire an editor, check price and reputation. And consider that you might never make enough selling your books to get back what you pay that editor. Do you care? That's your decision.
The first, most important step on the road to publication is to make your writing the best it can be.
If you're doing what I do, writing a story that entertains and moves you, then you will find readers who share your tastes. For some of us that means a niche market and for others it means regular appearances on the bestseller list.
Writing is a calling, but publishing is a business. Remember that AFTER you've written your manuscript. Not during.
Here's something you've heard before. When your manuscript is rejected -- and it will be -- remember that you aren't being rejected. Your manuscript is.
Did you ever hang up the phone on a telemarketer, delete spam, or close the door in the face of a salesman? Of course, and yet that salesman just moves on to the next potential customer. He knows you're rejecting his product, not him.
Okay, in my case I'm rejecting both, but I'd never do that to an author. Neither will a publisher or an agent. All authors tell other authors not to take rejection personally, and yet we all do. Consider it a target to shoot for, then. Just keep submitting, and just keep writing.
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