Author Confessions: Ten Things I’ve Learned from Writing My First Novel by Migs Bravo Dutt

Writing a book can be a life changing experience in many ways.

Author Migs Bravo Dutt shares her experiences and the lessons she learnt while working on her first novel.

• Believe that you can and don’t listen to naysayers. All of us are at once capable and incapable, and we have a choice which frequency we tune into.

• Tools make tools. Borrow books (most libraries have great writing references), enroll in online courses (some of them are free), talk to experts and learn from their experience.

• Have an outline, but be flexible and let the muse take over when she visits, which is a grace accorded to a few.

• At every step, keep checking what’s the point of the novel. What’s the message of the chapter? And yet at the same time, avoid moralizing.

• It’s your book. Listen to inputs, but use your best judgment – some advice are worth listening to, while others are best ignored.