Stay Focused and Write Your First Draft
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I hear from writers all the time that it takes years and years, and they still haven’t finished their manuscript. The first Delanie novel took me about five years to write and revise (and revise and revise). Then it took about another two years to get published. Here are some things that I’ve learned along the way that work for me.
Plot your book. I write mysteries, and I need to know “who done it” and where to put the clues. I’ve “pantsed” a couple of manuscripts, and I found that without an outline or at least a summary for each chapter, I got stuck in the middle.
When you get stuck, figure out what you need to do to get unstuck. The longer you leave a manuscript, the longer it’s going to take you to catch up and get back in the rhythm. Exercise, do something creative, read, or work on a totally different kind of project. Sometimes the activity is enough to spark your creativity and get you moving again.
Sometimes, you’re stuck because you have a plot hole or you’ve written yourself into a corner. This is where the outline/chapter summary comes in handy. If you stick to the plan, you know what happens next.
If you absolutely don’t feel like writing or don’t have the time one day, try to do edits, revisions, blog posts, or other book marketing tasks instead.
Life does get in the way sometimes or you just need a break. When that happens, don’t beat yourself up. Figure out how to get on track. Sometimes, if I know I have an obligation or event, I’ll try to write more on other days, so I don’t lose momentum, and I still hit my word count for the week.
When I start to write (after I have a high-level outline or chapter summaries), I keep track of my daily word count to show my progress. On days that I work at my other job, I try for 1,000 words, and on weekends/holidays, I aim for 3,000. If I can stick to this, I can usually finish a first draft in 2-3 months.
Finish your first draft. Keep writing. Don’t keep going back to try to perfect one chapter or a paragraph. If you do, you will never finish. If there is something you want to remember, make a note and keep going.
Try not to stop every time you need to research something. Make notes and do your research later. It’s too easy to get distracted when you hop on the internet to check something every ten minutes.
When you’ve completed your first draft, print it out and do a full read through. Fix plot holes, inconsistencies, grammar problems, and typos. I probably do three or four full revisions like this before I’m ready for the manuscript to go to a critique group or beta readers.
I am definitely much faster when I plan out my story and write every day. If you’re having trouble finishing a manuscript, try some of these ideas and see if they work for you.
