Just finished my first draft after 3 years and 2 months. The first chapter was 2 years in the making and very stop start.
My biggest challenge has been grammar. It has never been my greatest strength but i'm working on it and improving all the time.
Now time for some serious editing editing and more editing.
How long did your first draft take?
What was your biggest challenge?
I complete my first novel 4 years ago, it took almost 3 years.
My biggest challenge was editing, which is still going on and on.
what was your biggest challenge?
What genre are you writing helen? Sounds like fantasy or maybe sci-fi??
Mine is sci-fi and has 90,000, although I think after editing though that will go up rather than down as I have lots to add. I think it will be around 110,000 when finished.
My first draft took about six months - I just started writing it and couldn't stop until the story was finished! 165,000 words. Then I realised it needed a major edit, so I took it down to about 140,000, but that was after not looking at it for about two months due to moving house and all that goes along with that, As it turns out that was the best thing for me as I could see the flaws and over writing. I recently read 'On Writing' by Stephen King and he says the same thing - finish the first draft then don't look at it for at least six weeks before editing. So I would say my biggest challenge is not to over write, working out what all the unnecessary stuff is and deleting it.
I am now writing parts 2 and 3 to my story - getting there! All I need now is an agent...