Hi everyone
I'm currently on my first draft of a novel I'm super excited about telling the world about. The planning stage of it went well except the 1st draft is feeling like such a long draft from start to finish. Please could anyone list a few points on how they survive the struggle.of the first draft. Thank you.
Just as every journey starts with a single step, every novel (even of War and Peace length) starts with a single word.
And if you add another 1,999 to that single word, and carry on at 2000 every day, you will make a hefty dent in your novel in three months.
Three months doesn't seem that long to me, but if it does to you, then try focussing on a daily target of 2000 words.
(I didn't pluck that number out of the ether; Stephen King suggests that number in On Writing and I've seen similar suggestions in interviews from other authors, too.)
Hope that helps.
Thank you very much guys, there is some really helpful tips here and I will definitely be using them and hopefully anyone else who is struggling with the first draft will find this helpful :-)
I went through a slump half way - self doubt kicked in big time! Who do I think I am thinking I could become a writer or even a published author... the usual self deprecating rubbish we seem to be good at - I'm up for an Olympic Gold on it.
But... I love twists in stories and because I had 2 on the horizon, I dumped the doubt and pressed through. I found that very quickly the enthusiasm was back.
James Scott Bell mentions the slump in his book 'Plot & Structure'. Apparently it's part of a writer's journey, even for successful authors. Knowing this helped me tremendously.
Another advice I was given - after you complete your draft, leave it for a couple of months before going back to it for revision. I was very reluctant to do it at first, I wanted to get it finished and sent off. I did do it and found it very valuable. The revision after the break has made it much richer.
Forums like this and Twitter also help. Sharing your milestones with others finds support from all corners of the world.
Keep going David. Let us know how you get on... Keep the faith as Jonathan says