Permission to Start: How to Move Past ‘Not Ready Yet’ and Finish Your Novel

If there's one thing aspiring novelists tell me over and over again, it's this: "I don't think I'm ready to start writing yet." 

Maybe you've said these words yourself. Maybe you're thinking them right now as you read this, surrounded by half-filled notebooks, bookmarked writing articles, and that novel idea that's been living rent-free in your head for months—or even longer.

Here's what those words really mean: "I'm scared." And you know what? That's completely normal. But it's also the exact mindset that's keeping you from finishing your novel.

The "Not Ready Yet" Trap

Let me paint a picture that might feel uncomfortably familiar.

You've got this brilliant story idea. You can see certain scenes so clearly in your mind. Your main character feels almost real. But when you sit down to actually write... You freeze.

Suddenly, you're overwhelmed by everything you don't know yet. How does magic work in your fantasy world? What's the perfect opening line? Should you write in first person or third? What if your plot has holes? What if your dialogue sounds wooden? What if, what if, what if...

So you do what feels responsible. You research. You read another craft book. You take another online workshop. You tell yourself you're "preparing" to write your novel.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: you're not preparing. You're hiding.

One of my Notes to Novel students, Christina, put it perfectly. She'd been "preparing" to write her story for a long time. She knew she wanted to write it, but didn't know where to start. The research felt endless—and safe. Because as long as she was researching, she didn't have to face the blank page.

Why Endless Research Keeps You Stuck

Research feels productive because it feeds the illusion that there's a "right" way to write your novel—that if you just learn enough, you'll unlock the secret code that makes writing easy.

But here's what actually happens: every new piece of advice creates another standard you feel you need to meet. Contradictory information leaves you more confused than when you started. The gap between what you know and what you've written keeps growing.

I see this pattern constantly. Writers who can quote every writing guru but haven't written past chapter three. Writers who know the Hero's Journey backwards and forwards but can't tell you what happens in Act Two of their own story.

You could read every writing book ever published and still not feel "ready" to write your novel. Because readiness isn't about knowledge. It's about courage.

The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything

Here's the mindset shift that will transform your writing life—and it's simpler than you think. Courage doesn't mean feeling confident. It means giving yourself permission to start before you feel ready.

So stop thinking of yourself as a researcher who needs to learn more, and start thinking of yourself as a creator who needs to create.

• Researchers wait for permission. Creators give themselves permission.
• Researchers seek the "right" answer. Creators experiment until they find what works.
• Researchers accumulate information. Creators accumulate pages.
• Researchers prepare endlessly. Creators start imperfectly.

This isn't about arrogance or pretending you know everything. It's about recognizing a fundamental truth: you learn to write by writing, not by reading about writing.

Think of it this way: you can't steer a parked car. You need to be moving before you can course-correct. The same applies to your novel—you need to be writing before you can see what your story truly wants to be.

Jenny, one of my Notes to Novel students, spent over a decade in a researcher mindset—constantly starting over because she felt she needed to know more before she could move forward. But when she finally shifted to thinking like a creator and gave herself permission to write a messy draft without having all the answers, she completed her first draft in six months.

The difference wasn't more knowledge. It was permission.

She told me later that the biggest change wasn't the finished manuscript—it was how she saw herself. She finally felt like a real writer. Not because she'd learned some secret, but because she'd proven to herself she could do the thing she'd been afraid to try.

When you make this shift, everything changes. You stop waiting for confidence to arrive and start building it through action. You stop accumulating information and start accumulating pages. And you finally experience what it feels like to make real, tangible progress on the story you've been carrying around in your head.

"Safe to Fail" Experiments to Try This Week

So how do you actually make that shift? You start small.

Instead of committing to writing THE PERFECT FIRST CHAPTER, what if you just committed to writing a first chapter? Not the one that will be in your final book. Just an experiment. A test run.

Here are some experiments you can try this week:

Write your opening scene five different ways. Just a few paragraphs each. Don't worry about quality—just see what happens when you start in different places or with different approaches.

Write a conversation between your protagonist and antagonist that will never appear in your book. Set it somewhere neutral—a coffee shop, a waiting room, a stuck elevator. Aim for 500 words of pure dialogue. Just let them talk so you can hear their voices.

Set a timer for 15 minutes and write a messy scene from the middle of your novel. Pick any moment—maybe your protagonist's first failure or a moment of doubt. Don't stop writing until the timer goes off.

Why does this work? Because perfectionism can't survive low stakes. When you tell your brain "this doesn't count," it stops gripping so tightly. The inner critic that paralyzes you when you're writing "the real thing" has nothing to latch onto when you're just playing.

The point isn't to create usable material (though you might surprise yourself). The point is to lower the stakes so far that your fear has nowhere to hide.

When everything is an experiment, nothing is a failure. You're just gathering data and building your writing muscles.

How to Know If You Actually Need More Planning

Now, some of you might be wondering if you're the exception—if you actually do need more preparation before you start drafting.

Fair question. Because here's something I wish someone had told me early on: there's a difference between being "not ready" because you're scared and being "not ready" because you're missing key pieces of your story.

So how do you know which camp you're in?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I know the central problem my protagonist is trying to solve?
• Do I have a general sense of how the story ends?
• Do I understand why this story matters to my character?
• Do I know which genre I'm writing in (and what readers expect from a story like mine)?
• Am I avoiding decisions because I lack information—or because I'm afraid to choose?

If you can answer the first four with even basic clarity, you have enough to begin. You don't need all the answers. You just need a starting point.

And if you can't answer those first four questions? That's okay too—it just means you need to spend some time with your story's foundation before you draft. Not endless research. Focused exploration of your character, their problem, and what's at stake. That's a different kind of work than reading your fifteenth craft book—and it's work that will actually move your novel forward.

Your Permission Slip to Start Writing Your Novel

Still waiting for someone to tell you you're ready? Fine. I'll do it ☺️

You have permission to start your novel today. You have permission to write badly. To not have all the answers. To figure it out as you go. To be a beginner.

Because here's the truth: you'll never feel completely ready. "Ready" is a story your fear tells you to keep you safe. The writers who finish novels aren't the ones who felt ready. They're the ones who started anyway.

Your story is waiting. Not for you to be ready—but for you to begin.

Ready to finally finish that novel you've been dreaming about? My Notes to Novel course walks you through building a strong foundation, creating a workable structure, and drafting your complete first draft—so you're not just "starting," you're starting with a clear path forward. No more false starts, no more getting stuck in the middle. Enrollment opens soon, so click here to join the waitlist and be first to know when doors open.

👉 Want more help right now? Check out these free resources:

• Listen to the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast for weekly writing guidance
• Take the Author Success Blueprint Quiz to get personalized next steps for your writing, editing, and publishing journey
• Grab my free guide to see how real writers (like you!) pushed past these roadblocks to finish their novels: 5 Writing Roadblocks Keeping You Stuck & How to Break Through