I'm always curious when I see reviews praising the publication of a first novel. Are those really first novels or simply first published novels? As a teacher and editor, I see a lot of first novels and most are not ready for publication. Although the author is asking for my advice on how to revise the manuscript into something saleable, I often recommend starting a second novel. But it takes so long to write a novel, almost no one wants to hear this. After all, how can you throw away (or shelve) a year or more of work?

Curious about how many first published novels are actually first novels, I did a little research with the help of Poets and Writers Magazine, which featured a column called "First" during 2003. It turns out that all the first novelists featured had extensive writing backgrounds, either in other forms (including scripts, plays, and short stories) or within the structure and support of an MFA program. I also like to collect stories about the bumps in the road to publication of major writers. For instance, the award-winning writer Charles Johnson wrote six novels before his first one was published.

If you have a favorite author, get that author's first book. You won't be able to read the one that's under the bed, the one they couldn't get published (unless of course, it's Stephen King's first novel, which it's been said was better left unpublished). It's still instructive to read the first novel published and compare it to that writer's more mature works. I love Dickens, but I don't think The Pickwick Papers gives much of a hint of the complex plots, panoramic settings, and huge casts of characters that became his hallmarks.

I am grateful that I wrote my first novel when I was 13. I still have a copy of it and I wince when I look at it now—it's definitely worse than any of the first novels I see as an editor. Fortunately, I think I made every mistake one can make while writing a novel in that one manuscript. And that's what a first novel is for.

I often suggest my students consider their first novel a "practice" novel. It's a great opportunity to work out plot kinks, explore the dimensions of the huge canvas that is the novel, and find a personal voice. In fact, if you're writing your first novel, why not go ahead and make as many mistakes as possible? If you can deliberately create a boring plot or an implausible character, you should be able to do the opposite. And no one will be able to critique your work without making you laugh. "Great, that worked! I was trying to confuse you in that section."

If you've already written your first novel and you're feeling exhausted or depressed by the thought of revision, don't. It is possible to revise a first novel into a publishable manuscript. But it's a lot easier to write your second novel.