forum I feel too young to be trying to write a novel

Started March 01, 2018 by @TryToDoItWrite

tune

…im only 16 and I really want to try and get published, but……im only 16 and I keep saying, oh when I get older, when I get older.
Any words of wisdom? Any other young writers on here?

Started my first book at 12/13 years old. Didn't finish til I was 16. Thought I'd publish it when I was younger and then later realized how awful it really was. But like looking back, I learned so much about writing?? Mostly what not to do, but also how to do a lot of things. My advice? Write like you're running out of time. Try to publish, try to finish, try to edit. Put yourself out there. One thing you won't regret isn't having tried. It will only make you a better writer.

I'm 17 and still hoping to someday create something I'm really proud of. I'll get there, and so will you!

Lol i'm 14 xD I constantly tell myself that so i'll sit here for weeks at a time without making any progress. Then, i'll get angry at myself and go on this spree of just world building and writing. Then the process starts all over.

Dude I started writing when I was eight. But I never thought about publishing then. Publishing isn't necessarily what you should be aiming for, you know? Just because you think you can't get published yet doesn't mean you should quit for now or feel discouraged. I wrote when I was super young because I thought it was fun, not because I thought I could get it published. Just do what you love! Don't stress out about it, it's supposed to be fun! Yes, it takes hard work to create something of good quality, but humans were created for hard work. We're at our happiest when we work hard, especially at what we love. So don't feel bad, just write!

been writing since i was around 9, and I'm a few months from 18 now, with nearly 100 unfinished projects and 1 (yes! only one!) finished story behind me. write because you want to, not because you want to get published, because writing for the market won't make you happy at all. if you want to write, then write! there's no better time than the present. waiting until you're older will just mean you'll be a lot older when you're actually good enough to get published. the sooner you start, the sooner you can get out there. i mean, hell, i started by writing club penguin fanfics in a notebook. now i'm out here writing fantasy novellas and drawing my characters. my school published one of my stories in an anthology. i wouldn't have been here if i didn't start when i did.

I'm writing a lot of stories and I'm 12.

I'm pretty young as well. (I'm not comfortable with sharing my age, sorry) I like writing for fun even if I'm not exactly awesome at it. It's mainly coming up with characters and plots what I love. Putting them into a book that others would like? I'm never sure about that. I just write. I just like writing my imagination. I'll worry about publishing and making money later in life. :P

Oh and if it makes you feel better, I promise I'll read your book when it gets published..

:) thanks pal

I’m young, and I figure I might as well try to write. S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders at 16.

Mary Shelley is arguably credited as the author of sci fi and she finished writing her first and most famous book Frankenstein at 17. There is no too young; as long as the idea is in your head and you're passionate about it its worth getting down.

Also Frankenstein is really good!

Truth! I've always wanted to read it but never got around to

We read it in school and I loved it!

Ah in school I had to study Macbeth (awesome), The Sign of the Four (boring and racist) and An Inspector Calls (literally made as propaganda for the authors political career).

Honestly, just focus on writing, I think. Write write write write. Learn what not to do, learn what you like in books. And when you are ready to publish, there are ways to get your work out there. I got published recently for the first time (I was a finalist in a short story scholarship :D), through another author (he did a compilation of all the finalists and the winners). I also heard about Swoon Reads recently, where you submit your manuscript, and there's a community of readers. If they like your manuscript, they vote it up (or something like that), and if it gets popular enough, the book gets published. (Heard about this through Claire Kann's Let's Talk about Love, which was published through Swoon Reads). You can also self-publish through Amazon, which is mainly eBooks I think, but somewhere I heard of an actual print service that is a subdivision of Amazon or something? Honestly, I think it's just a bunch of googling and reaching out. It is hard when you're young tho (I'm 17). But yeah, google, reach out, follow Facebook pages (sometimes I'll get ads for writing/short story/novel comps where you get a publishing deal if you win). JUST BE CAREFUL and read your fine print and all that. Make sure the publisher is reputable, you don't wanna get your work stolen.
Sorry this was really long lol. Hope I helped!

When I was young, just starting secondary school (England) I joined the book club; the teacher who ran it had actually got published via Swoon Reads - Something about a runaway from England falling in love with a boy from Ireland or Scotland? I never read it; I was never very into romance but I think it's great at least that you can get published through it. Swoon Reads is orientated around romance books but she said there are likely loads of websites like it that are probably more open. But yeah, be careful publishing online though I'd say also, adding onto what kat said, another reason is because I think a lot of websites have copyright laws and could literally sue you if you tried to publish your own work elsewhere.

turning 12 in four days and sending my 128-page novel to five different publishers, never too young to start writing professionally man!

Oh and here's a handy way to do it!

1. Word vomit. Write about everything. Don't give a care about editing and revising, just write. The. Story.
2. Then go back and do some more writing. (I forgot all the character descriptions and my editor was about to kill me.) Fill in empty spots, erase some unneeded stuff.
3. Now, it's time to self-edit as best you can. Grammar. Punctuation. Dialogue. Spelling. Do as much as you can yourself.
4. Then, send it to an editor. You have to pick a good editor for your writing style. There are lots of websites to help you find the right editor, but some of them aren't that good. Pick an approved site. Then, check to see if the editor has done any actual editing other books or just freelance (editing your own books). If they've just done freelance, they're probably not the best choice. You can also send them a trial edit, in which you ask them to edit, say, the first page. If when they send it back you don't like their editing style, pick another.
5. I like to look at publishers early on because it takes a while to choose. Scholastic, Little House, and Penguin Books are some of my favorites. It's nice to have a renowned publisher, but as long as it's heard of and not phony, it'll get your book published anyway (although your book will probably spread better if it's by a renowned publisher. Although, this could take a longer time to get your book published by these sort of people because they're higher quality and they set the bar much higher).
6. You always have the choice of illustrations. I like writing the story and inserting little comics here and there to show how it's going. I have my talented artist friends do it, then they sign a form and give me the work, which I send in with the writing. The artists don't have to be professional - it's wayyyyy more expensive that way, too.
7. If your book does get published, don't feel sad if it doesn't get on the New York Bestseller list or win any awards right away. Trust me, most books don't. Keep writing. It's amazing.

I’m a teenager and I write novels. I probably want to publish books in the future, but right now I write them just because I like writing. I also know that practice makes perfect, so I might as well write, write, write to get better for when the time comes!
I say if you wanna write, write. You don’t have to publish. You can just write for the fun of it. You’ve got nothing to lose if you just write.

Exactly what I do. I'm glad someone else does the same :D

Yea. Because I'm always just like who would want to publish for a 15 year old. It goes through my head like all the time. Glad I'm not the only one. :)

I'm 13 years old and started writing when I was 7. I was always told I was too young even though I was a good writer. I mean, sure. A 7-year-old author, no thanks. But when I was in 7th grade(last school year), my ELA teacher gave me a way to publish. It's called CreateSpace and I recommend it to everyone who wants to write. I'm the second student my teacher has recommended it to, so I trust it. They won't turn you down because of your age I'm told.
So no, you are NEVER to young to start writing and publishing. Believe me.

S.E. Hinton was a teenager when she wrote The Outsiders, and that’s one of my favorite books! It’s really really good, and if you haven’t read it yet, I’d recommend that you do. Besides that, if you’re a great writer, then don’t give up on your dream of being a published author!

Yeah, The Outsiders is one of my favourite books ever and it's written by a fifteen-sixteen year old. You're never too young to start writing and/or publishing.