The Fall Novel Generator is a seven-month program designed to help a small cohort of writers complete the first drafts of their novels. Apply now for the 2026-27 Novel Generator! Deadline is Tuesday, July 7th. Learn more about the program here.

The worry I hear most often from students is that they’re not making enough progress on their novel. Providing craft lessons and brainstorming sessions can help, but it’s actually the little habits students already have that end up affecting their writing progress the most. Even if a student is aware of their small habits, it can be difficult to course correct. A little of some of these habits is normal while you’re writing, but too much and even seasoned writers can find themselves stuck in a loop and not seeing any progress. Here are some of the pitfalls I see and how to come back from them: 

Pitfall A: Editing/revising while drafting

The novels and stories we read always seem so perfect, so when writing our own we want our writing to be perfect as well. However, those perfect pieces of published writing are often the result of dozens of drafts and many rounds of revision. Revising and editing while in the midst of writing the first draft often means the draft itself doesn’t get very far, or progress is very slow. Instead, accept (and remind yourself constantly) that your draft won’t be perfect while you’re writing, and that’s okay! It’s a draft for a reason. If the urge to edit still rears its ugly head, you can try writing longhand or while not looking at the page to prevent yourself from making those revisions while writing. 

Pitfall B: You have multiple drafts of the first 5-10 pages

Sometimes a writer might want to start the draft over from the very beginning, whether they’re figuring out the best entrance into the story; they’ve made a major change in the story’s trajectory which requires the opening to be different; or general dissatisfaction with how the opening is written. Whatever the reason, starting multiple openings usually stems from one main problem: the writer is trying to write the perfect opening for a story they haven’t fully figured out yet. Even if the writer has the story figured out, as mentioned in Pitfall A, revision happens over the course of multiple drafts. Trying to write a perfect opening is only going to stop your progress. The solution here is to pick one of the drafts and use that to write to the conclusion, even if it’s not the ideal opening. If you need to, make notes for how you might change the opening, but don’t rewrite it! Once you’ve finished the draft, then you can go back and decide a better way to write the opening. 

Pitfall C: Not enough time to devote to writing

This might not seem like a pitfall, since there isn’t writing involved. And yet, that’s exactly why it is a pitfall. We’re all busy people, and we all dream of having uninterrupted time to spend on our writing projects. Believing that you can’t write unless you have a full 1 or 2 hours of writing time is a way of thinking that needs to be restructured. The writer who writes for 10-15 minutes, a few days a week, adding a few words or sentences each time, will be surprised by the progress they’ve made after a few months versus the writer who doesn’t write and continues to wait for long stretches of writing time. Not sure where the time can come from? Try these small increments: while waiting for pasta water to boil; when you first wake up; waiting in the doctor’s office; anytime you reach for your phone when you’re bored; etc. You’ll be surprised how many small increments of time you have once you start searching for them. 

Pitfall D: The shininess of a new idea

Coming up with new ideas is not a problem itself. It becomes a pitfall when you start investing time in those other ideas and stop spending time on the project that you are trying to complete. When working on a long term project, this can be extremely detrimental if you lose interest in the initial project. Solutions for this pitfall will depend on your attention span and diligence. If you’re able to focus on multiple projects at the same time, limit yourself to working on your primary project 60-75% of the time, and side projects the other 25-40% of the time (or some similar percentage of your choosing). The focus here is to ensure you’re giving the most attention and time to the primary project while making small progress on the secondary projects. If you focus better on one project at a time, then you’ll have to decide which project to make your primary and put the others aside for now.
 

The 2026-27 Fall Novel Generator applications are due Tuesday, July 7th at 11:59pm ET. You can learn more and apply here.