It’s often said that
writing a novel is akin to running a marathon, not a sprint. For me, it’s felt
more like the long, painful, drawn-out process of training
for a marathon.
I am two and a half
years into the process of writing my fantasy novel, and even though I write for
about an hour every day, I’m only starting to see the light at the end of the
tunnel. Along the way, I’ve learned a lot of lessons about how I could have made
this easier on myself … and become an expert in the many ways to make this
process take as long as possible.
Make your introduction perfect before moving forward.
Since this was my
first novel, I wasn’t sure what my voice was yet. I didn’t even have much
confidence that I could write anything worthwhile. So instead of ripping
through the first draft and getting my ideas on the page, I obsessed over my
opening. I reworked it over and over and over until it was perfect. THEN I
moved forward. I wasted a few months doing this. Months.
Don’t worry about worldbuilding.
I knew my main
character when I started writing, and the general trajectory the plot would go
in. And … that’s it. So as my character moved through each scene,
I had to figure out where he was, what the rules were there, and why. What was
the world’s history? Myths and beliefs? Social structure? This meant a lot of
stopping and thinking during my precious one hour in the morning. Time that
could have been spent writing. This is more intense for a fantasy novel, but
every story has a setting that the writer must know intimately.
Plot threads what?
As stated, when I
started writing I had only a general sense of my main plot line. My first draft
helped me find the path and conclusion for that trajectory. But when my first
draft’s word count hit only 45,000 words, I realized I hadn’t thought a dot about
any other plot threads—I’d been too consumed with coming up with my primary
arc. My last eight months of writing
have been dedicated to creating and untangling these supporting plot threads.
Update changes as you go.
Because I made such
a mess of my plotting, there’s been many significant changes to my story’s
details as it has developed. At first, I wanted to keep everything nice and
clean, and went back and corrected inconsistencies right away. Then I realized
it didn’t matter how much cleaning I did in the rough draft phase, because soon
as I cleaned up one mess, I was sure to find another. Much better to finish the
draft, then go back and address all the changes together.
Spread yourself thin and overcommit.
I like to tell
myself that my novel is my top priority. But if I’m really honest, I’ve spread
myself too thin. My family is a priority, and my full-time career has to be a
priority too. On top of that, I run my own blog, with posts three times a week.
And just because I’m a special brand of crazy, I also launched a short story
zine last January. I have my reasons for holding on to these other pet
projects. But let’s get real—they’re getting in the way of finishing my novel.
How much does it
really matter how quickly you finish your manuscript? Well, that depends on you
and your goals. We all write at our own pace. Taking your time is not
necessarily a bad thing—after all, it took J.K. Rowling six years to write the
first Harry Potter book, and literary history is littered with other greats who
take their time with their works. I’ve learned invaluable lessons from my
sluggish process.
But if you dream of
supporting yourself from your writing, you can’t afford to take three years for
each book—even J.K. Rowling picked up her pace, releasing all seven books in
the Harry Potter series in 10 years. It’s a fast-paced world, and the more you
can organize your process for efficiency (without losing your creativity or
quality of writing, of course), the greater your career potential. More
finished works means more opportunities for success.
Emily Wenstrom is the editor of wordhaus, a weekly short story ezine. She also blogs about
creativity for writers, artists and professionals at Creative
Juicer. Follow her on Twitter @emilywenstrom.