How to write your debut novel, according to Penguin authors

If you love reading books, there’s a chance you’ve thought about writing one, too – which is where some words of encouragement can be handy.

Here at Penguin we love exploring this topic, so we posed the question to our authors: ‘What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?’ Below are some of our favourite answers, from global bestselling authors who have been publishing books for decades, to our debut writers who are launching their first novels into the world this year.

Focus on the journey, not the goal

"Focus on process rather than product, especially if you want to write for the rest of your life. When I was gunning for the product-oriented goal of finishing a novel, no amount of work I did ever felt like enough; the book always felt unresolved, a bullet point on a to-do list that would never be ticked off [...] When I began to concentrate, instead, on the process-oriented goal of clocking in shifts at the desk, I was able to clock out mentally at the end of each day, flushed with a sense of accomplishment." – Colwill Brown, author of debut novel We Pretty Pieces of Flesh

“In order to write good scenes, I have to let myself watch my characters live their lives without trying to orchestrate too much or get overly top-down with how each little thing fits into the broader arc or message. To watch my characters live more, to loosen up and feel what they’re feeling, I find music really helpful. I make playlists for all of my projects, like a movie soundtrack.” – Austin Taylor, author of debut novel Notes on Infinity

Read, read, read

“You can’t be a good writer without being a good reader first.” – Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

“Somewhere back in my early music-making days a mentor once said to me in respect to being creative: ‘You can only vomit what you eat.’ It has always stayed with me, that line." –Sam Lee, author of The Nightingale

“In Doctor Dolittle he tells the parrot, Polynesia, that it’s important to be ‘a good noticer of things’. It's an idea literary critic James Wood expands on in his 2008 classic, How Fiction Works: ‘Literature differs from life in that life is amorphously full of detail, and rarely directs us toward it, whereas literature teaches us to notice. Literature makes us better noticers of life.’ Before I write, I only feel strong if I have heaps of notes with all the little details I caught on the road."– Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia

Lose your inhibitions

“I can’t remember where I read this advice, but: write like your parents are dead. I remind myself of that sometimes, as a way to let go of inhibitions when I’m writing, to not worry about how a certain scene will be perceived. It was easier to do when writing my first novel, because I really didn’t think anyone would ever read it, let alone my parents!”– Ashley Audrain, author of The Push

"This isn’t entirely writing related, but I would say to follow your gut. Sometimes you just get a feeling about something, and in my experience, it is best not to ignore that feeling. If some part of you is telling you, you need to delete that scene you really like but doesn’t drive the story forward, you probably should!"– A.B. Poranek, author of Where the Dark Stands Still

"I once read an interview with Rebecca Watson, where she said ‘don’t ritualise your writing’. I really liked this, as I think waiting for the perfect conditions to write before you start, ultimately makes you procrastinate and build it into a big deal."– Olivia Ford, author of Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame

Harness your emotions

 “‘Writing is fictionalising memory.’ My work isn’t often autobiographical, but it’s always personal. I’m always trying to delve into feelings I have known.”– Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open Water

“Write what terrifies you.”– Rivers Solomon, author of Sorrowland

“There’s a lot of sacrifice involved in writing a book, I’ve found – sacrificing time with loved ones, sacrificing hobbies and leisure time, sometimes sacrificing sleep! What ultimately kept me going was the belief that I had an important story to tell.” – Fiza Saeed McLynn, author of debut novel The Midnight Carousel

“Write about what you know and really feel.”– Charlie Mackesy, author of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse

Take inspiration from unlikely places

“The best advice I’ve ever been given, full stop, was, ‘Make an effort to talk to the person in the room who looks the most uncomfortable or left out.’ This was given to me by my friend and bandmate Daragh, and is generally good advice that I’m pretty sure has also helped my writing.”
- Patrick Freyne, author of OK, Let’s Do Your Stupid Idea

"The main thing I’d encourage starting writers to do is to find obsessions, find curiosities; be fascinated by the people you write about, be a little in love with them, even the terrible ones. Especially the terrible ones. Nothing takes me out of a story faster than reading a character that the writer clearly despises — it makes the writing flat, makes you careless because it’s easier to write hatefully about someone ‘bad’." – Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep

"If I’m feeling blocked, I try to go to a gallery or the cinema. I often have my best ideas while watching something completely unrelated to what I’m doing, it’s as if while my focus is distracted my subconscious can bubble away in the background and bring up what I need.” – William Rayfet Hunter, author of debut novel Sunstruck

“More often than not, one nice sentence would come to me as I was driving to work or cooking the dinner and I would add it to the Notes app on my phone. I feel very strongly that all of this ‘counts’ as writing. […] That throwaway line that pops into your head at the side of the children’s swimming lesson might turn out to be the thing the whole novel pivots on." – Claire Lynch, author of debut novel A Family Matter

The technical stuff

“Start the scene as late as possible and get out as early as you can. Perfect for nailing pace. And subtext, subtext, subtext.” – Jodie Chapman, author of Another Life

"The state of your manuscript in its current draft is the worst it will ever be. It can only get better from here."– Ela Lee, author of Jaded

"Stop for the day in the middle of a paragraph that you’re having fun with. That way, when you come back to it the next morning, you’re excited to get to work."– Holly Gramzaio, author of The Husbands

"There's a writer in the United States, Laura Kasischke, and she told me if you're going to write humour, balance it with darkness – it's called ‘duende’. I took that really seriously, and I think it has really really helped my writing." – Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry

“Don’t keep digging where the soil is hard. In other words, when you’re revising or rewriting your work, avoid exploring characters or scenes in the same way again and again.”
– Avni Doshni, author of  Burnt Sugar

“There were definitely moments where I’d feel stuck or overwhelmed. I think that’s partly why Confessions is told through multiple narrators. I would get stuck with one, then go to another to see if that would shift things.” – Catherine Airey, author of debut novel Confessions

“Probably also one of the best pieces of general life advice I’ve ever been given: ‘Never compare two things as though one were complex and the other were simple.’ Also: ‘first drafts are shit.’”– Jessica Moor, author of The Keeper

“Write something you’re passionate about, but also think about your audience and why they read. Without a fundamental understanding of story, I think it is very easy for a book to meander. No matter how good the writing itself is, if the story isn’t strong enough, many people will struggle to read on.”– Sarah Pearse, author of The Sanatorium

Take breaks

“I have learnt not to try too hard to push writing when it’s not coming to me. I can get more done in one good hour than five bad hours, and if I’m too tired, it’ll be bad hours, not good ones.” – Seán Hewitt, author of Open, Heaven

“I was so conscious about my other [novel] taking years and years and years. I wanted [my second novel] to be quicker and to feel more light and easy. I don’t think I will do this kind of binge-writing again. It worked very well for Consider Yourself Kissed but I became reclusive, a bit mad, and also got RSI.” – Jessica Stanley, author of Consider Yourself Kissed

“I always work in 'units' of 45 minutes. Then, I take a short break before starting a new unit. A perfect writing day consists of four units, and that way, I also have time for everything else I want to do in my life: spend time with family and friends, be in the forest with my dog, exercise, gardening, sew, whittling, etc. [...] My motto is to ‘live life in the slow lane!’” – Lisa Ridzén, author of debut novel When the Cranes Fly South

Write, write, write

“Write every day. I don’t always manage it, but I do find it helps me to have a consistent writing routine.”– Natasha Brown, author of Assembly

“I find find word count goals invaluable. I force myself to write 2,000 words a day. I write really fast, without stopping and going back and editing. I tell myself they can be terrible words (and usually they are!), but that’s ok. Nobody will ever read that terrible draft except me; I know I will eventually go back and fix, rewrite, make it better.” – Sash Bischoff, author of debut novel Sweet Fury

“Copy the whole thing out again in long-hand.”– Paul Theroux, author of Under the Wave at Waimea

“You can’t edit a blank page. It’s infuriatingly true.”– Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike series

"Finish the bastard. You never know how good it is or how good it's gonna be until you're finished. So just finish the story." – Irvine Welsh author of The Long Knives