I know. I’ve written a novel before, and “I’m working on a novel!” sounds like one of those things people say for years without it actually coming to fruition. I thought I’d give an update on the situation, since I haven’t posted in quite some time. Insert “It’s been 84 years” Titanic lady gif here.
January 9, 2021: When I escaped from my crazy family to stay the night and write in a hotel room.
Why I Abandoned the “First” Novel, for Now
I wrote a novel in 2012. I edited it off and on for several years, but it never felt right, or finished, and I stopped wanting to live in that world, because I had another one in my head. So I let go of the super flawed story, and let the new one start to flourish.
Thanks to Google docs saving dates, I know I first wrote some notes and scenes for this current novel as early as September of 2016. I started officially working on it, writing out notes and ideas, getting to know the characters, in January of 2021.
3 Months of Freestyle Notes & Writing Exercises
May 9, 2021: Have a binder and separate it by categories like these, along with something like Research & Technical Things.
From January, 2021 to April, 2021 I basically did the above, freestyle writing and figuring out the story, plus a lot of “writing exercises.” By which I mean, the writing exercises in the back of The 90 Day Novel by Alan Watt.
There’s the beginning of a sentence like, “I feel free when…” or “The most important thing I learned from my father was…” and you write for five minutes as one of your characters. I tried to do at least two for the major characters (it’s multiple protagonist), and one for each minor character.
A word of warning: Do not be tempted to go down some plot hole that you will distract away from the real story, just because you now know that your main character’s sister’s best friend had an abortion five years ago. You should be able to answer questions and know these things about your characters, to drive their behavior, but you don’t necessarily have to put it all in the novel.
The Actual Writing of Chapters, Or as I Call Them, Scenes
August 29, April 23, and July 13, 2021: My youngest editor tears my work apart, and conducts her own research.
I like chapters on the shorter side. My “scenes” will probably end up being chapters, but some might be combined. Anyway. From April to May I started actually writing, and then, I took a brief break read Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody and consequently rethink everything.
In June, I started writing again, and continued doing so through February of 2022, which is when I finished the first draft at 91,258 words. About 34,000 of those words were written during November, also known as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
Now, I’m in the process of actually reading/editing the novel, a Things to Check/Add Later list at the ready. So stay tuned! But in the meantime, here’s how I got through writing the first draft, and what I’d advise others so far based on what worked for me:
Switch Things Up, But Also Have a Routine
March 3 and November 13, 2021: Reminder – writing longhand is allowed.
Sometimes I wrote in a notebook. I’ve gone through one and a half notebooks. Typing is easier, and quicker, while writing longhand can make you slow down and think things through. Towards the second half of the book I started outlining a scene before I actually started “really” writing it, on the computer. So I used longhand writing in that way, or if I felt stuck.
Other than NaNoWriMo, I switched up writing scenes with research, organization, etc. Occasionally, I’d switch up where I was writing.
However, I also had/still have a particular Writing Playlist (it’s mostly synthwave), and would usually start with a specific song. That would get me into the right frame of mind.
Pick Your Time of Day You’ll Write
July 14, 2021: That’s obviously tea, since I’m old and not going to drink coffee at 8pm.
I also trained myself to be able to write in the evening, even though that doesn’t come naturally to me. Writing in the morning is out, with child-caretaking and yoga, and also I need to read a book for at least five minutes.
I’m a full-time writer/editor/content strategist, and so I’m not going to, you know, write for my novel on my lunch break from my writing job, or immediately after work either.
It used to be torturous to wait until the kids were in bed to work on it, and I found I couldn’t switch gears immediately after this happened. Especially if bedtime did not go well. So I’d do a yoga session after the kids went down to kind of transition from mom and wife brain to novel writing brain.
So it’s about 8 or 8:30pm before I’d start working on it (and still now, when I’m editing), and I’d do so for 30 or so minutes. Then, I still have a little time to read/watch TV/enjoy a bedtime yoga session if I’d like.
Set Small Goals & Celebrate the Milestones
March 1, 2022: The different colors are different characters.
This is the biggest thing that kept me going with it. Small goals. Don’t think about the whole novel at once (except for when you’re, you know, outlining). Think in terms of, I’m doing two five-minute writing exercises on this character today. I’m finishing this scene today. I’m doing research on that chronic disease my character’s partner has today.
And keep track of your progress via a word count, stickers on a calendar, I don’t care. In the beginning I kept track of the word count on the cover of my novel binder. I switched to a Google sheet in November. Now, I’m using tally marks to keep track of how many scenes I’ve edited.
Buy Save the Cat Writes a Novel
After reading the fabulous 90 Day Novel (and if you don’t have children, you quite possibly can write the first draft in 90 days! I did it in 2012), I didn’t think I needed to read another novel writing book again. I was wrong.
Save the Cat Writes a Novel. Read it. Use it. The biggest takeaway I’ll tell you is that the novel is broken into three “acts,” and you keep track of each act and scene/chapter with index cards on a cork board. Or if you’re more digitally hip than I am, I believe there’s an online version as well. But this helps you “see” the entire thing. And it seems much less daunting when you do!
If you haven’t picked up on it yet – yes, you do need to have an outline. Know where your character is going, and make it far, far away from where he was in the beginning. The process is still malleable enough to allow for replotting and rethinking things along the way, should your characters surprise you.
What Happens Next?
After I go through editing it I will have other people go through and read/edit it. After keeping the novel to myself for so long this will be uber exciting!