Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

How can a beginner write a good novel?Utsudo’s advice: if you want to write, just write — finish a draft first and worry later, instead of demanding technique or a masterpiece from the start. You have to love your story and move yourself before your work can move readers. If you already have the basics but feel you aren’t improving, try the writing guides available in bookstores.

It starts with stories that never end

　　I remember that in elementary school, I wanted to write novels because I read so many of them. Scenes I thought were beautiful or cool kept popping into my head, and I felt like maybe I could try writing too.

　　Most of what I wrote in elementary and junior high was written just to capture a certain scene or plot. I didn’t plan carefully or think through the setting of the story I’d started. On top of that, I had too many ideas and was always eager to try the newest one — and when I went back, I couldn’t continue the old story.

　　Yes — I wrote a pile of stories with beginnings but no endings, or with no planning or depth at all QQ

　　It wasn’t until high school that I had the focus to start writing full-length stories, and I began actually finishing them. Of course, finishing is one thing — whether it was well written, whether it moved anyone, let alone whether it was commercial, I still had no idea.

　　By now, you can probably guess what I’m getting at.

　　For me, everything I’ve encountered and experienced since childhood can be transformed by my sensibility into another kind of story. And through constant trying and polishing, your storytelling skills keep getting better.

If you want to write, write — finish first, worry later

　　My advice to beginners: overthinking won’t help. If you want to write, just write. I’ve met plenty of people who write an opening and abandon it, never finish, or spend ages dreaming only of writing a masterpiece — and years later still haven’t written a single word.

　　To me, a good work is one that makes people keep turning the pages. Whatever the form or style, what matters is a unique kind of charm — but that’s hard to pin down. Even after all these years of writing, I’m still figuring it out.

　　There are principles to writing a good story, but if you demand too much technique as a beginner, you’ll tie your own hands and lose the chance for your story to show what makes it unique… which is putting the cart before the horse.

　　Whether you like to plan everything before writing, start from a character or a setting, or grow a short story into a long one — any approach is fine. What matters is that you love your story first; then what you create is far more likely to touch readers’ hearts.

　　Remember: a work is very malleable. As long as you’re willing to write and put time and thought into building it, get at least a draft done before you start worrying.

　　Don’t fantasize that your first book will be a huge hit, or that your first work has to be perfect… Instead, ask yourself what story you truly want to tell. Move yourself first.

Recommended books on writing fiction

　　And for those who already have some basics and have written a few stories but feel their writing isn’t improving, I recommend reading some of the writing guides in bookstores.

　　The books below are ones I read back when my editor was whipping me into shape… ahem, I mean encouraging me to learn. Since I already had a fair amount of experience by then, I absorbed them quickly and also picked up a lot of advice and blind spots about commercial writing.

　　I hope they help if you’re feeling lost~~

　　《只要有趣就夠了！發行累計6000萬冊：編輯工作目錄》 (Chinese edition)

　　《故事造型師：老編輯談寫作的技藝》 (Chinese edition)

　　《超棒小說這樣寫》 (Chinese edition)

　　​​​​​​​

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #42 — What events happen when a print book comes out?
• Next: #44 — The happiest moments of being a novelist
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.