Two of the most important things to realize as a writer are 1) Your first draft is going to be awful. That is what edits and revisions are for. 2) You need the help of others to push your story to become better than it would be on your own. This involves friends to brainstorm with, critique partners who read your work, and making suggestions on anything from storyline to sentence structure and grammar. Each critique partner will have different strengths. I’m really good at looking at the big picture and tightening up fight scenes. One critique partner is really good at helping me cut out unnecessary words. Another is super amazing at grammar and punctuation. Even when we’ve gotten it the absolute best we can make it , I send it on to a professional editor who takes it through everything from big-picture revisions to word-by-word edits. My book has passed through at least a dozen people’s eyes before ever going to publication, and even then, typos will happen. No book is ever going to be perfect, but you have to get it to the best you can, and then let someone on the outside look at it and help you push it to something even better than you could do on your own. Writing is both a solitary and team sport.
 
Another thing you should know is there is a difference between revising and editing. Revisions are where you are looking at the big picture of the story. You are making sure that it fits story structure, the story makes sense, the characters are behaving in a believable way, your facts are correct, and that your story is engaging. Edits are were you zoom in and look a little closer. Is your sentence structure the best it could be? Are there better words you could use? Should this paragraph go somewhere else? Do you need to delete this part and expand on this part? Is your grammar and punctuation correct? There are all sorts of levels and nuances to this, but this is just the big picture look at what happens after you finish a rough draft.
 
When you finish your rough draft for the first time, I recommend setting it aside for a week (or really a month) or more if possible. Giving yourself some distance from your story will allow you to see things you wouldn’t have seen before. 
 
Another important thing in writing books is realize you are never done learning. Good writers are constantly studying writing craft books, taking classes and workshops to improve themselves, and allowing others to sharpen them into better writers. This is a HUGE thing, honestly in whatever career you pursue. Learning is neverending. If you want a list of writing craft books, I can provide those.
 
One last bit of information that is important when writing a book: Remember, your story will not be liked by everyone. It’s going to hurt when someone doesn’t like it–maybe even hates it–but the important thing to remember is everyone has different tastes. 

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