Advice from a Debut Author

One month ago my first novel officially released. As you might guess, I am proud of finally achieving that goal!

Death and a Crocodile is a fast-paced mystery set in ancient Rome, featuring a feisty female sleuth, quirky humor, a glimpse of the early church, and a naughty, sausage-snatching cat. It was recently named a gold medal winner in the Illumination Book Awards mystery/thriller category.

In case you’re wondering, my meteoric rise to fame began long, long ago in a phase of life far far away from my current reality. (As in mother of toddlers to grandparent.)

Over the intervening years I’ve spent countless hours learning, writing, getting feedback, writing some more, attending conferences, building platform, and writing. Ten years ago I actually completed an entire novel manuscript. Four years ago I complete the manuscript that became my first novel. Two years ago that manuscript was a finalist in the ACFW Genesis award. One year ago I signed a contract for the book with CrossLink Publishing. And now here I am, at the start of my career as a published author.

Author interviews often include a question something like “What advice do you have for beginning authors?” Since I have just transitioned from unpublished author to published author, I thought I would take a stab at answering that question.

Believe in yourself and your stories

When I first discovered that I enjoyed creative writing, I wrote short articles and drama sketches. Sometimes I would work on a few scenes of a longer story, but I never got very far. Partly because I hadn’t yet learned how to structure a story, but mainly because I didn’t think anyone would want to read the stories I made up.

My inner critic whispered that no one wanted to read my stories. My plot ideas weren’t good enough. They were stupid, lame, boring, or too odd for anyone else to enjoy.

It took me years to get over this hurdle.

And it was only after I decided to believe my stories were worth reading that I began to take myself seriously as a writer. Only once I had moved past that mental hurdle could I risk my work being seen in critique groups or actually decide to finish an entire story manuscript.

Give yourself permission to be a beginner

You’ve probably heard the advice that you must turn off your inner critic and give yourself permission to write a “bad” first draft. I suggest you take that concept further and give yourself permission to write a “bad” first novel.

Let me clarify! By “bad” I don’t mean poorly written, or awful, or a piece of junk. I merely mean not yet good enough to be published. I call them practice novels. A practice novel is not bad. A practice novel is not a waste of time. I think of practices novels as a hands-on writing course that helps us learn and improve our craft.

I recognize that God has called some of you to write a specific book, and therefore you need to continue improving and polishing that manuscript until it is publishable. However, for many of us, and particularly those who write fiction, our calling is to be a teller of tales, not necessarily any one particular tale. Therefore, creating practice novels that helps us hone our skill and find our voice is a perfectly acceptable use of our time and talents. I have heard many successful authors mention the practice novels they wrote, which gave me mental permission to do the same. I wrote three practice novels before writing Death and a Crocodile.

Do you need to give yourself permission to call your manuscript a practice novel and set it aside to begin working on something better? And who knows, a plot point or character from a practice novel could always end up in a future work.

Network even if you don’t know what you’re doing.

I am a card-carrying introvert. I was not born with a networking gene. One of the things I hate most in life is feeling alone in a crowd of people. Attending any large social event drains my energy big-time. (Are you getting the picture?)

So attending writing groups or conferences is a HUGE stretch for me. But I do it.

Because interacting with other writers face-to-face is an important piece of growing as a writer. All of the one-on-one meetings I’ve had at Christian writing conferences have been encouraging, and several of those meetings have led to further interaction with helpful authors. Also, every time I have attended a live conference, the Lord has guided me to people I could befriend. So even though I’m not a natural networker, and I didn’t realize I was networking, I have collected writing acquaintances over the years that I can turn to for advice, encouragement, and even an endorsement or two.

In other words, attending writers’ groups and writing conferences enables God’s providence to operate and lead you to open doors.

An example of networking and God’s providence: A woman I befriended at a local writers’ group met Cyle Young through attending a writing conference. When he was starting Almost an Author, she heard about it and passed the word to me, so I was able to begin writing a column here. That led to Cyle becoming my literary agent. Which eventually landed me a publishing contract. See all that networking? And it began with me talking to ONE writing friend and making the effort to join a group writing blog. That’s all I thought I was doing, but God had bigger plans.

If you know any beginning writers, take the time to encourage them in whatever next step they need to take on their writing journey. Encourage them to believe in the worth of their stories. Or perhaps invite them to come along the next time you attend a writing event.

Lisa E. Betz worked as an engineer, substitute teacher, and play director before becoming an award-winning mystery writer. She brings her analytical mind, quirky humor, and positive outlook to all she writes. She draws inspiration from thirty-five years of leading Bible studies to create entertaining mysteries set in the world of the early church, and then she fills that world with eccentric characters, independent females, and an occasional sausage-snatching cat. Her first novel, Death and a Crocodile, garnered a gold medal in the Illumination Book Awards.

In addition to writing novels, Lisa blogs about living with authenticity and purpose. Visit her at www.lisaebetz.com. Facebook LisaEBetzWriter Twitter @LisaEBetz and Pinterest Lisa E Betz Intentional Living.