How I Wrote My First Novel “Getting By” Part 2: Finding Substance

In my last blog, I mentioned that I didn’t have a rigid strategy for planning my novel. Instead of preparing any outline or notes, I wrote whatever came to mind, starting the plot of my book from the beginning.

However, over time, I decided it was best to create an outline for myself while my story grew. It was a helpful tool for notes and plot ideas more than anything else, as I hardly relied on my outline to plan out my novel beat by beat.

But having a kind of outline with me did help keep my story cohesive and avoid inconsistencies and plotholes, which is why I’ve come to recommend them for new writers.

While writing, I knew I wanted my story to expand throughout Carver’s junior year in school. As a result, I had to develop several plot ideas to tell a full-length story within this specific timeframe. Now, because I was also a junior at the time of writing my novel, I could base some events on my real-life experiences in school.

For example, Carver’s uncertainty about his sexuality throughout the book comes from my experience as a teenager. I struggled a lot with understanding my sexual orientation then, and it wasn’t until turning 21 that I became absolutely sure. We differ in that Carver understands his sexual orientation a little sooner than I did, but not without going through plenty of uncertainty.

In the book, Carver has a romantic relationship with one of his female friends, but I never dated anyone as a teenager, so I had to use my imagination. I created a scenario of what could have happened had I dated a girl as an uncertain teen. That became a vehicle for Carver to come to terms with his sexuality, serving as one of the main internal conflicts throughout the book.

Another internal conflict is his struggle to understand his recent diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome. Carver being on the autism spectrum was a last-minute addition before publishing my book. His diagnosis is based on my own received at 21; however, I decided to have Carver’s diagnosis take place months before the events in the book.

I decided to include this aspect because I felt Carver displayed subtle symptoms of being neurodivergent, so I wanted to confirm it in the book specifically. Otherwise, readers likely could speculate that Carver may have some ambiguous disorder, distracting from the more significant points in the story.

Then there is the American College Testing (ACT), which serves as one of the external conflicts for Carver in the book. His ambition to score well on the ACT is, again, based on my experience with taking afterschool lessons to improve my test-taking skills for the same standardized test. As Getting By is a YA novel, most of my readers would sympathize with Carver’s struggle here, as it weighs heavily on the high school career of many American students.

The biggest external conflict Carver must deal with is bullying. While I experienced minimal bullying in high school, I wanted this predicament to create considerable tension and conflict for my protagonist throughout the book.

Because I was uncertain about my sexuality throughout high school, I never felt bullies targeted me because of it. However, my reserved, quiet nature and perceived lack of masculinity by others made me an easier target for teasing and bullying from certain peers.

Unfortunately, bullying is a common experience in school for many, so I want to emphasize it with my book because I feel it would resonate with many YA readers, especially those harassed because of their sexuality.

Since I base many of Carver’s traits and experiences from my own, he is essentially an Author Avatar (a fairly direct analog of the writer inserted into a fictional tale.) Most of his personality, physical appearance, attributes, views, flaws, and fears come from me. I make some distinctions between us, particularly some of his interests.

For instance, Carver is quite interested in photography, whereas I am not. Still, his knowledge of photography is based on what I learned from taking Darkroom and Digital Photography courses in college.

He also enjoys an interest in playing the acoustic guitar, and while I never got into playing guitar, I once learned to play the piano and clarinet a long time ago. I didn’t particularly like learning to play either instrument, so I had Carver play something I had no experience with learning.

However, an interest that we both share is our love for Disney and Western animation. I used to draw Disney and animated characters in my sketchbook in high school and college, so Carver did the same in high school.

As an African American, I wanted to create a lead character that deviates from stereotypical portrayals of Black men to show broader representation. Growing up, I didn’t see myself in most of the fictional Black male characters presented in media. So, I based Carver on so much of me to see someone like me in the content I love.

Even though I didn’t know much about writing fiction, I knew how stories are typically structured from what I’d learned in school. Stories usually have a beginning, middle, climax, and end.

I had an opening in mind when I began writing my novel, but it was challenging to conceive enough material for the middle. But I knew the middle of my book would serve as the rising action, so it was important to build tension, stakes, and obstacles for my lead character until the climax, where the central conflict would reach its peak.

For the ending, I wanted Carver to undergo a significant change compared to how he was at the story’s start. What ensued was a bittersweet conclusion shortly after Carver’s intense combat with his bullies. I felt a bittersweet end would be the most fitting and realistic approach for my novel.

When it comes to polishing and the finishing touches, I edit as I write, but it hardly impeded my progress with finishing Getting By. I kept in mind not to obsess over making everything perfect until after a professional book editor reviewed it. To this day, I simply edit until I feel the writing is good enough before moving on to the next scene.

Instead, the delay in finishing the novel was due to a shift in priority. When writing my book in my teens, I had to focus more on homework, my ACT, graduating high school, and applying to colleges. As a result, I took at least a year off from writing Getting By before going back to finish it. By the time I did, it had taken me four years to complete the first draft.

There are a lot of ways to approach your writing, and my process is just one of them. Perhaps my method resonates with you, or maybe it sounds too stressful. Either way, what’s important is that you write.

Doesn’t matter how you get to the end of your story, only that you do. But I’ll get more into that with the final part of this series next time. Meanwhile, if you have questions or want to share your writing progress, please email me or reach out on social media.