One of the most common mistakes new novelists make is to constantly edit their work as they write. They write a paragraph, a scene or a chapter, and then they go back and try to figure out how to embellish the story, describe the setting, select better words or in general make the writing stronger. Have you caught yourself editing as you go along?

Stop!

When you're writing the first draft of your novel, you should never stop to read over what you've written, much less worry about editing. For one, you'll never finish the manuscript if you do this. I've participated in plenty of critique groups where after two years, novelists are still reworking the same chapters I critiqued two years before. Their manuscript is no closer to being completed than it was when they joined the group.

Another reason to avoid editing as you write is this: Your writing will become stale. The story will lose its vibrancy. Your characters will become lifeless.

Not to mention, you can't do your best editing when you don't have completed material to work with.

Editing is a powerful tool for the novelist, but it must be used the right way... and at the right time.

If you're starting a novel manuscript right now, here's the best advice I can give you: Write the story straight through. Whatever you know of the story. Whatever you know of the characters. Don't try to make sense of it all, and whatever you do, don't try to edit yourself as you go along. Forget about character inconsistencies. Forget about word choice. Put the dictionary and thesaurus somewhere you won't be tempted to reach for them. Write from the top of your head, from your gut, from your heart... whichever analogy works best for you, follow it. Just write the story as it appears in your imagination right now.

Stuck on a scene? Move ahead. Be cryptic. Outline it if you must. Get the basics down on paper. Write it this way:

"In this scene, Mary confronts Joshua. There's some arguing back and forth. M: 'Why did you say you'd help Mr. X when you know he's the one causing all the problems?' J: 'Can you think of a better way to keep him focused on the job?' She's moving around inside the store this whole time, nervously dusting objects as she's speaking. Eventually Cameron comes in and interrupts the conversation by telling them the place they're arguing about is on fire and they'd better stop squabbling and get over there ASAP."

After you've written that little passage, move on to the next scene and continue with the story. You can come back later and flesh out the cryptic scene when you have a better idea what you want to do with it. The point is: Do whatever it takes to get un-stuck and keep writing. Don't stop. Don't think. Don't edit. Just tell the story!

This raises a debate novelists often engage in about writing styles. Some novelists are "outliners" while others are "pantsers" - meaning they write by the seat of their pants; they just tell the story as it comes into their head, and they don't necessarily know where they're going with it. The approach you take depends on your personality and the way you work best. But either approach is compatible to writing without editing.

Personally, I like to take some time before I begin writing a novel (no more than a week) to do a very basic outline and get to know my characters as in-depth as I can, through note cards and character interviews. I trace character arcs and plot lines, I look at various threads, I jot down various scene ideas on note cards - not scene structure or details, but just a one-sentence description of a scene I believe will take place in the story. I do all this before I write a word.

Once that's done, however, I start writing and I don't stop to edit myself. In other words, I create a road map before I start, but I don't fill in too much detail on the map, and I don't allow the map to constrain me. Most importantly, I don't stop to censor myself as I'm writing the story. If I move off track and write myself into a corner - it happens! - I just make a note that this might not have been the way to go and I continue to write as if nothing went wrong.

It might sound frightening, it might sound like a waste of time - after all, a lot of what you write might not end up in your final manuscript - but trust me, you'll appreciate the results. When you write without stopping to edit, your work is more vibrant, your characters are more alive, the dialogue is real, the story is compelling, and your passion for the story and the characters comes through. This is something that can't be replaced by any method other than just writing the story straight from your gut, without editing.

And by the way, much of what you write isn't supposed to end up in the final version. It's not unusual for a novelist to cut nearly two-thirds of what he or she has written before publishing the book. When you write the novel, you are creating material you can work with. You will use that material and shape it into the finished product. A lot will be cut in the process. What you've written and cut is never a waste. You can't get to the finished product without having plenty of material to work with.

After you finish the first draft, you will edit - you'll do many levels of editing if you want to get it right. But the spark, the dynamism of your original draft will still be there. If, on the other hand, you constantly stop to edit as you write and don't allow yourself just to write freely, that spark, that dynamism will never be there. That's not something any amount of brilliant editing can make up for.

When you write the story straight through without stopping, you give yourself awesome material to work with during the editing stages. You'll be amazed what you can do at that point. Editing is where you add all the detail, all the texture, all the sub-text... everything that makes the difference between a mediocre novel and a great novel. But you can't perform editing magic until you have the fullest possible draft to work with. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time and talent.

Think of a beautiful piece of pottery, a gorgeous ceramic vase. What makes it beautiful? Is it the design, the careful craftsmanship, the exquisite attention to detail, the dynamic colors, the shiny finish, the unusual shape? Perhaps all of these? Do you realize not one of these features that makes this pottery beautiful would have been possible if someone didn't put a lump of clay on a potter's wheel?

I talked to a fellow writer just the other day who was driving herself crazy with her self-censorship... and she was only on the second chapter of her first draft! I told her to think about the clay on the potter's wheel.

"You're trying to stick your hands in the kiln with nothing in them, and you're wondering why it hurts!" I said. "Put the clay on the wheel first, then worry about what you're going to do to make it beautiful."

It's not always easy. In fact, it might be one of the most challenging tasks you've ever undertaken. But if you will allow yourself to write freely, uncensored, until you complete your first draft, your novel is off to an incredible beginning.

Janet Helin is a novelist, writing coach and Christian inspirational publisher. She offers free e-workshops on novel writing, life story writing and Christian inspirational writing and offers free advice to new writers. She can be reached at http://www.lifestoriesinspire.com.