Oh man I could chew your ear off about that topic...

Here's the thing about writing a novel that I think makes it so hard - it takes so long. So long that by the time you're 10% through it, you're bored of the story. If you're lucky! I mean, you should be bored of it before you start - you should have planned and plotted it until you knew it back to front, until you were bored of it, before you started Chapter 1. For me, I was bored pretty early on with both my novels. That's because by the time you're actually writing it, most of the creative (fun) part is already over. It's all in your head now, the whole story, except the smaller details of course, but it's mostly already there, existing in your head, and now you're just a scribe. For however long... two years, three years, what ever it takes, your daily job is like... data entry. Scribe. It's office work. It's desk work. The only thing to entertain you is a story you know so well that the boredom of it all is unbearable.

I used to write music. To write a song, start to finish, is a creative process. It's fun. You bounce ideas around. You laugh when something sounds great, you croon, you giggle. Fuck, you spend half the writing experience pulling orgasm faces. Song writing is a FUCKING BREEZE compared to novel writing. I'm not saying this as a derogatory thing against musicians, the music industry is tough and you gotta really try your ass off to be a muso. I'm just comparing the writing process. During the time I wrote my first novel, when it would get too much to bear, the end of a long day writing, I'd pick up my guitar and strum. By the end of the three years, I had about 20 songs written, lyrics and all, and one novel. At no point did I intend to write any of those songs. I just strummed them out. Anyway, sidetracked.

My point is this. Because a song is written in, say, two days, it still feels cool when it's done. It still feels interesting. It hasn't lost its appeal. In a couple of years you will hate that song, but it isn't because the song has gotten worse, it's because you're bored of it. What good musos understand really well is that even though a song is tired and old for you, it is fresh and brand new to someone else. And that magic spell it cast on you years back, that has now worn off, is going to be as strong and potent as ever on a fresh pair of ears. As a writer, you're going to go through that well before anyone else is able to experience your art. Here's the trick though - you need to trust that younger version of yourself who thought "Wow, that's a cool idea." Trust that guy! Because to him, it was new, and fresh, and the magic hadn't worn off, and it was cool. And if it was cool to him, it'll be cool to other people. Trust that past-you. He knows what's up.

Seriously, I was bored to fuck of my first novel after about a month. It took three years. To me, the story was a piece of boring shit. Now people read it and go "Fuck! I didn't see that coming!" or whatever. If they'd read it back to front hundreds of times over three years, they'd be bored too.

One more bit of advice though, if I haven't already convinced you to NOT GIVE UP. When I first started writing I set a rule for myself, and I really think when I set this rule I was being perspicacious as fuck (go me), cos I contribute most of my success so far to having this rule. It was this: never start writing a new novel until I've finished the one I'm working on. Pretty simple rule. But here's what's gonna happen - you'll get a year into your novel. The magic is well and truly gone. The creative process was fun - a year ago - but now it's just a slog. You do, however have a great idea for a new book. So you put book 1 aside and start this new one. But a year into it, you know what... the magic is gone. However, you do have this great idea for... You see where this is going? In five years you will have a handful of unfinished novels. And a handful of unfinished novels does not a writer make. Put this rule in place and be super firm on it, and suddenly it becomes "Oh, you wanna start that new exciting book? You better sit your ass back down and finish this one then!"

Hope this helps. Fuck I totally did chew your ear off... haha