Things I've learnt when writing a book

I've tried to write a book on a few occasions before. My first attempt was back in Year 9; this was around the time of Covid, and for some reason, our teachers thought it was a good idea to keep us in the main hall for an hour every morning. To get us to revise, they said, instead of lounging around at home. I used this time to start writing a book called Red for Yes, Green for No, about some immigrant kid in a dystopian society. I had read 1984 recently and was captivated by it, and wanted to write my own version, except I was no Orwell, and I tried to be funny, so it didn't work out. I still have the original, unfinished draft in my room - I could never dare myself to throw it out.

The second attempt came two years later, when I was studying for my GCSEs. It had evolved from a short story I wrote about a man in an airport having a horrible time, and I turned it into a 22,000 word long book. The plot barely changed, aside from the new guilt subplot relating to an old affair, but I enjoyed writing it regardless. I wrote it out on paper, too, before typing it up, and I did do some redrafts, but otherwise it's remained largely untouched since. 

The third attempt came from me realising how all my protagonists were almost the same, so I decided to mix things up by writing a female protag instead. An anxious first year uni student, that is. I wrote the whole thing in a few months, 15,000 words in all, but I've since gone back and tried to flesh that out into a lengthier, more serious attempt. It's on 30,000 words now, and aside from the odd doubt about the plot or characters, I'm enjoying writing.

From these three attempts, I've also learnt a few things, or at least, I took some points on board:

• It's always worth having a plot in your mind when writing something. It doesn't matter if, at best, that's knowing how it's going to end; you can always fill in the gaps later on.
• On that note, I think this will be incredibly useful to me in the future. I always struggle with endings, whether they're blogposts, or even real life events. It's easy to imagine ending a book perfectly, after all. Truth is, there will always be someone who hates how it ended, because they imagined things would turn out differently. So don't worry if your imagined ending isn't perfect, either - you can always change it! So long as it's your ending.
• Humour is alright, in fact it's nice when you read a book and the author's willing to joke about a bit. However, it only works if you're funny.
• When I was in year 9, my humour was more ridiculous and nonsensical - I was 13. That said, I really should have known better than to say something was "as bad as Birmingham" on the first page. Yes, it was that bad.
• This is something I've improved a lot since. My current book has a more sarcastic protag, which gives me an actual excuse to try and write some jokes. They also come more naturally as a result.
• But it's always good to know your audience and what they came for. Have common sense if you're going to joke - don't have a character laugh at someone dying, unless it works for the character. Try writing the scene with or without that witty one-liner in your head - does it work with or without?
• First person is the way to go.
• This isn't a strict rule, rather this was how I was taught to write short stories in English. I've never been able to be truly satisfied with third person since then, it just feels clunky. If you're going to describe what a character does, why wouldn't you want to write in their inner monologue at that point?
• It also means I avoid the trap of writing a narrator who tries to get involved in the story, as if I'm retelling it to a crowd of people. 
• A few protags is better than loads.
• Again, this isn't strict, but I find this to work well for me. Obviously you want to have loads of well-developed, well-written characters. However, the last thing you want is to have people confused about what each character does, as soon as they have their own plotlines that have barely in common with each other.
• I once read a book with three protags, but to be honest, only two of them were relevant to the plot. With the other, I found myself wondering why we needed to hear about them and what they were doing - what made them special compared to everyone else?
• I've usually stuck to having one protag in a book, maybe with the odd secondary character who's way more prominent than everyone else. All the other characters have development relevant to the protag - they're peripheral at best.
• Better to be simple than extravagant.
• I love writing metaphors, the weirder the better. My writing tends to be absurd in some form, so I'm always happy when I get to use some weird descriptions. However, it's not worth over-describing something, especially if it doesn't serve the plot. At that point, you're just bragging about being fluent in English.
• My writing nowadays is probably full of more straightforward words than it used to be. I want to convey a message or a story, so it's best to make that the focus. 
• Obviously, don't stop yourself from writing in flowery language to serve the character. Don't make it your wallpaper, though.

I could probably go on, but those are the few things I've tended to keep in mind when I set out to write a new chapter or short story. I'll also add I've never had a book published before, so don't take my words as gospel - if you hate this advice, you don't need to follow it. I am also always looking to get better at writing, so who knows - maybe I'll abandon some of these in the future in favour of cooler techniques I'd never even considered.

I should probably get back to writing, shouldn't I?

You can read some awful writing of mine over here.