A writer’s primary job is to write. Stephen King says that 3 months is sufficient to write a novel. I don’t know if he includes edits and re-writes or not, but I agree that you should be able to finish the novel in a short amount of time. My first three novels were written very quickly, roughly averaging 1,800 words a day.
Writers often short circuit their own progress. We like to do endless research, to the point that often we could get professional jobs dealing in whatever field we just researched. It’s no joke that a mystery writer on the scene of a crime probably could solve it in a matter of an hour!
So, what are some of the ways we end up sabotaging our progress, and how do we stop it?
The Read Through. Writers love to read their own novels over and over again, kind of like the garage band that loves to listen to the recording of their rehearsal that should embarrass them to death!. We excuse it by saying, “I’m engaged in a read through of my latest work”, and other writers nod. We like to tell ourselves we’re involved in an edit of our own work, when really all we’re doing is changing “To” into “for, then on the next ego gratifying read through we change the “for” back into “To”.
The Fix. Are you editing, or not? Make sure you engage in the proper edit process you’ve designed. The first edit should be a structural edit, and it involves VERY little reading. You’re just dragging scenes around in the binder or the cork board of Scrivener (I tend to use the binder for this), and checking to make sure your page and word count put the right story elements in the right spot. The Second Edit is easy, but frustrating, revealing and time consuming. Load one scene at a time into Pro Writing Aid, and run one check after another! The Third Edit stage is an elimination stage. NOW you get to read, find duplicative dialog, tighten up narrative, and eliminate any scene that does not move the story forward. The Fourth Edit stage is finally the cover to cover read through, to ensure you accomplished writing goals! This one goes quickly BUT… Major rule… Do not do this stage until the others have all been done!
Four Novels at once. If you’ve followed the tips I’ve given over the last year about training your mind to constantly troll for story ideas, you’re going to end up with at least four novel ideas you’re DYING to write, and eight more on the back burner! You know, the hard boiled gum shoe detective against the homicidal dentist, the psychopathic chicken farmer with the closet gateway to Venus, the Sports Star who at Midnight is transported to another dimension where people are barbarians with swords, and of course the Trident Gum Commercial fan fiction story. You’re dying to write them all. Here’s the truth – writing four novels at once yields plot holes, continuity problems, diminished nightly word counts, and procrastination galore. Essentially it’s procrastination raising its ugly head.
The Fix. You know the fix all along. Pick one. One. THEN move onto the Sports Star story.
Fan Fiction. This one’s going to be hard. But only choose to write ONE fan fiction story for your website – and no more. Why? It takes several months to write and edit for publication a story. If you write four fan fiction stories, you’re delaying publishable work for a year, with little return. Here’s my caveat, because I have TWO fan fiction stories – write only fan fiction stories you think you can eventually publish. One’s a freebie for your web site. The other must be for publication. If your entire muse is to write nothing but fan fiction to share with people on line, that’s great! Here’s my pitch – you’re developing a very marketable talent – wouldn’t it make a lot of sense to aim for the stars, and write your fan fiction part time?
The Fix. Write fan fiction story number one for your website. Then plan a moratorium on the next one for one year. Work on publishable, marketable novels for the next twelve months. Write fan fiction story number two while you pursue publication for the other three marketable stories you wrote. And only write Fan Fiction that can be published!
The 300,000 word novel. Okay, you’re running over. Bottom line is, you have four to five novels worth of material, and surely a lot of this can be cut out! Do you want the reviewers to say “Couldn’t put it down!” or, “A snoozer”. Longer sentences, longer paragraphs and longer chapters make a book much slower paced.
The Fix. Keep the longer version for you to read (maybe create a private Amazon Create Space just for your private books, and order just one copy at cost for you). Then slash out everything the story does not need. Move one scene at a time into a “deleted scene” folder in Scrivener’s research area until the book ceases making sense, then restore the crucial scene. KEEP DOING THIS until the book is done.
The Eleven Year Novel. If it’s taking you eleven years to write a novel, you’ve got major flaws in your writing process. You should not be day after day, month after month, year after year writing one novel!
The Fix – if it’s still not done, abandon it. Yes, I know that one of your children was born and made it to sixth grade since you started the novel. But you’ve still got the child, and the novel’s going nowhere fast! In 11 years, you should have written 33 to 44 novels, not ONE. Abandon it.
Now let’s learn to get organized. Buy Scrivener, abandon Microsoft Word. Do Nanowrimo. Let November teach you that you can indeed write 50,000 words in one month. If you keep to the same schedule you just learned (1667 words a day or more), you’ll be done with a 85,000 word by December 12 or so. That gives you January and February to edit it, and SEND IT OUT for publication!!! Couldn’t hurt to start by writing your query letter.
Whew! Dizzy? Lot of work? Guess what? That shows you can do an attainable goal of writing! Keep that pace GOING!!!!
There is NO BETTER FEELING for a writer than finishing a novel!
