Hello Phoebe, I spent much of my time while reading this saying, I do that! Or that's an idea to pinch. So thank you for sharing. I like a deadline, it motivates and nothing is better than working towards it, and I need to use them more often. I write, stop, and then go back asap to review, edit and then start the next section. This helps to keep me reminded of where I'm going as I have no plan, just allowing the story to play out.
I'm currently writing my first draft and just had two questions, but no obligation to respond!
- Despite having journalism behind me, I'm finding it really hard to shake off the nagging comparison with influencers landing book deals on v zeitgeisty topics and fear that publishers are less interested if you lack a ready community/following. I can see the commercial aspect of it, but it just makes me worried that what I say doesn’t matter if that makes (any) sense? Is this founded?!
- How crucial is genre at the moment? I've read a lot about agents and editors desiring to be transported to a different world - am I right in thinking a novel grounded in the modern hybrid workplace wouldn't have the potential to do that, because it would be fairly realistic?
Thanks for the post and please only respond if you have time - I look forward to your posts and hope the new role is going well!
I have 75,000 words and I'm at the faffing with little details stage. Maybe nine full edit sweeps in. Its just gone out to a few people to read this morning. And I can't leave it alone. But really, I think it's done.
I finished the first draft of my debut in a little over a month in July this year, after writing and abandoning the first page for over six months. I do not have much experience in writing first drafts, but I did a chapter a day. It was fun. I have chapter one on my page for anyone that wants to take a look. I'm also going to share the entire book on substack eventually. Since it's my debut suspense/thriller, I want it free to read online and physical copies self published.
Editing is the icing on the cake. My first draft is definitely like an experiment that went wrong in the kitchen: messy, lots of tidying up in the kitchen. Then the magic happens and out comes a perfectly decorated cake….🤣
I call it a "Zero Draft", if that helps. A much nicer image than being sick over one's keyboard 😅
I write everything in Scrivener, which allows you to pull snippets and previous draft chapters out of your ms, but keep them handy in the same project without needing to create a whole new doc.
It can also auto-number things for you, so I never worry about duplicating chapter numbers!
Other than those minor things, though, this is almost word-for-word how I write first drafts these days. You can't edit a blank page, as they say.
Thank you, it’s always helpful to learn more about first drafts. I wrote about 40K words in no particular order and then took time out to plot my chapters, then re ordered the work and carried on, I’m now at 69K words and the fact I know (roughly) what happens in each chapter keeps me going.
The single best piece of writing advice I ever received was: I can fix a bad page but I can't fix a blank page.
I wrote for a TV drama series once and it taught me to do scene-by-scenes. The dialogue was the final thing to be written. It worked well for me when I embarked on crime novels.
I need my premise and my opening, basic setting and a cast of characters and suspects, but once they are in place, I write first drafts the way you do Phoebe because I need to see words on the page (or more precisely, a screen) and feel progress. Too much crafting at that point for me gets in the way of flow and story, I find. The 1,000 words at a time target is a manageable goal, and that way if I go above that, I feel extra virtuous.
After leaving the first draft a few weeks, then reading it, I often find it's not as dreadful as I thought it was, though usually has plot holes, unfeasible happenings and unconvincing characters. That's when the real fun starts, in fixing all that and adding more twists that emerge from what I already have. The sense of achievement and pleasure at this point as the book gets 'layered' is that real buzz that I love as a writer. Sometimes I even end up with a more surprising and convincing perpetrator, and satisfying ending, than the one I first imagined.
Det erste Entwurf gefällt nach einer Weile nicht mehr. Man denkt da muss mehr passieren soannender sein. Das bedeutet meist alles umzustellen , aber wo am besten anfangen. Dadurch wird alles kompliziert, weil viele Ideen alles umwerfen.
I’m writing my sixth full-length book and my process for writing each has been different. This time round I’m using the Save the Cat method and chapter plotting. So far - this is my favourite!
I had to look up the Save the Cat method. Evidently it's a way to make characters likable. This is smart, because on Goodreads a big complaint is uniformly despicable characters.
My background is in History, and I began as a non-fiction writer. Long story short, I discovered I had a knack for storytelling. Earlier this year, I completed Jericho Writers’ year-long Ultimate Novel Writing Course to write my first novel.
What a leap of faith - from them and from me. I loved it, learnt a great deal and was challenged in ways that helped me grow and, ultimately, I finished my first draft.
I’m the sort of person who likes to have a course charted towards the harbor. The sea may change - the currents shift, the wind rise - and I might tack or even shift along the way or set a new destination. But having a direction helps me stay steady while remaining open to surprise.
That approach comes partly from my yoga practice: discipline balanced with flexibility, tuning out the noise to listen for my own steady light - a light to illuminate others as well as myself.
And yes, yoga runs through my book too - with it's diiscipline combined with openness - as a current for gaining clarity and courage when one chapter ends and another begins.
So here I am, in the turbulent and beautiful sea of editing - a very different stretch of water indeed.
I'm about 5000 words in and it feels as though I have SO far to go but this was such an encouraging post, Phoebe. And it's really true that once you hit a certain word count, there's no point going back. As Macbeth said when he was writing his crime novels, 'I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er'. Or have I misunderstood? :)
Hello Phoebe, I spent much of my time while reading this saying, I do that! Or that's an idea to pinch. So thank you for sharing. I like a deadline, it motivates and nothing is better than working towards it, and I need to use them more often. I write, stop, and then go back asap to review, edit and then start the next section. This helps to keep me reminded of where I'm going as I have no plan, just allowing the story to play out.
Thank you for the super helpful post!
I'm currently writing my first draft and just had two questions, but no obligation to respond!
- Despite having journalism behind me, I'm finding it really hard to shake off the nagging comparison with influencers landing book deals on v zeitgeisty topics and fear that publishers are less interested if you lack a ready community/following. I can see the commercial aspect of it, but it just makes me worried that what I say doesn’t matter if that makes (any) sense? Is this founded?!
- How crucial is genre at the moment? I've read a lot about agents and editors desiring to be transported to a different world - am I right in thinking a novel grounded in the modern hybrid workplace wouldn't have the potential to do that, because it would be fairly realistic?
Thanks for the post and please only respond if you have time - I look forward to your posts and hope the new role is going well!
I have 75,000 words and I'm at the faffing with little details stage. Maybe nine full edit sweeps in. Its just gone out to a few people to read this morning. And I can't leave it alone. But really, I think it's done.
Thanks! That is really helpful advice.
I finished the first draft of my debut in a little over a month in July this year, after writing and abandoning the first page for over six months. I do not have much experience in writing first drafts, but I did a chapter a day. It was fun. I have chapter one on my page for anyone that wants to take a look. I'm also going to share the entire book on substack eventually. Since it's my debut suspense/thriller, I want it free to read online and physical copies self published.
Writing a first draft is one of my favourite parts of making a book.
Editing is the icing on the cake. My first draft is definitely like an experiment that went wrong in the kitchen: messy, lots of tidying up in the kitchen. Then the magic happens and out comes a perfectly decorated cake….🤣
I call it a "Zero Draft", if that helps. A much nicer image than being sick over one's keyboard 😅
I write everything in Scrivener, which allows you to pull snippets and previous draft chapters out of your ms, but keep them handy in the same project without needing to create a whole new doc.
It can also auto-number things for you, so I never worry about duplicating chapter numbers!
Other than those minor things, though, this is almost word-for-word how I write first drafts these days. You can't edit a blank page, as they say.
Thank you, it’s always helpful to learn more about first drafts. I wrote about 40K words in no particular order and then took time out to plot my chapters, then re ordered the work and carried on, I’m now at 69K words and the fact I know (roughly) what happens in each chapter keeps me going.
Very useful piece. Thank you
I have a hard time writing anything without being asked. I gotta have someone to impress. I already impress myself : )
The single best piece of writing advice I ever received was: I can fix a bad page but I can't fix a blank page.
I wrote for a TV drama series once and it taught me to do scene-by-scenes. The dialogue was the final thing to be written. It worked well for me when I embarked on crime novels.
I need my premise and my opening, basic setting and a cast of characters and suspects, but once they are in place, I write first drafts the way you do Phoebe because I need to see words on the page (or more precisely, a screen) and feel progress. Too much crafting at that point for me gets in the way of flow and story, I find. The 1,000 words at a time target is a manageable goal, and that way if I go above that, I feel extra virtuous.
After leaving the first draft a few weeks, then reading it, I often find it's not as dreadful as I thought it was, though usually has plot holes, unfeasible happenings and unconvincing characters. That's when the real fun starts, in fixing all that and adding more twists that emerge from what I already have. The sense of achievement and pleasure at this point as the book gets 'layered' is that real buzz that I love as a writer. Sometimes I even end up with a more surprising and convincing perpetrator, and satisfying ending, than the one I first imagined.
Det erste Entwurf gefällt nach einer Weile nicht mehr. Man denkt da muss mehr passieren soannender sein. Das bedeutet meist alles umzustellen , aber wo am besten anfangen. Dadurch wird alles kompliziert, weil viele Ideen alles umwerfen.
I’m writing my sixth full-length book and my process for writing each has been different. This time round I’m using the Save the Cat method and chapter plotting. So far - this is my favourite!
I had to look up the Save the Cat method. Evidently it's a way to make characters likable. This is smart, because on Goodreads a big complaint is uniformly despicable characters.
That’s definitely a part of what it does.
My background is in History, and I began as a non-fiction writer. Long story short, I discovered I had a knack for storytelling. Earlier this year, I completed Jericho Writers’ year-long Ultimate Novel Writing Course to write my first novel.
What a leap of faith - from them and from me. I loved it, learnt a great deal and was challenged in ways that helped me grow and, ultimately, I finished my first draft.
I’m the sort of person who likes to have a course charted towards the harbor. The sea may change - the currents shift, the wind rise - and I might tack or even shift along the way or set a new destination. But having a direction helps me stay steady while remaining open to surprise.
That approach comes partly from my yoga practice: discipline balanced with flexibility, tuning out the noise to listen for my own steady light - a light to illuminate others as well as myself.
And yes, yoga runs through my book too - with it's diiscipline combined with openness - as a current for gaining clarity and courage when one chapter ends and another begins.
So here I am, in the turbulent and beautiful sea of editing - a very different stretch of water indeed.
I'm about 5000 words in and it feels as though I have SO far to go but this was such an encouraging post, Phoebe. And it's really true that once you hit a certain word count, there's no point going back. As Macbeth said when he was writing his crime novels, 'I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er'. Or have I misunderstood? :)