I'm shocked how little I knew...

Deccydiva · Aug 28, 2008

... about writing a novel. Being a writer of short stories, technical articles and poetry the sheer effort of typing 100,000 words or so for a novel was daunting enough. Fuelled by images on film and TV that "all" you have to do was sit down and - er - write 100,000 words or so, I set that as my challenge. I was cute enough to realise that a certain amount of time needed to be spent on plot structure and similar technicalities so I set up a spreadsheet and off I went. :e2writer:

I have completed a 100,000 word novel. :hooray:

The catch is, that is not the end but the beginning. It has been revised endless times and I was horrified to find that I over-use commas and a certain phrase appears in one shape or form no less than forty two times. I found one word was missing entirely. I have probably written twice the final word count and it's taken forever; if I knew that to start with I probably wouldn't have risen to the challenge.
However, I've enjoyed the steep learning curve even though I'm only partly up it - or is it down - and I'm eager to get going on the next one.
I must be mad!

BenPanced · Aug 28, 2008

I've edited a manuscript 11 times over the last 4 years and I'm just now barely starting the query process.

maestrowork · Aug 28, 2008

The discovery is sometimes more delicious than the fruit.

Alpha Echo · Aug 28, 2008

I think it's crazy how much I've learned too, from the time I first finally pulled together my very first full-length manuscript to now...working on my third.

I personally love to revise. You get to learn about yourself and about your writing, and I just love going line by line, making it the very best I can make it. It DOES take time, but try to enjoy every stage. The original writing, learning, writing, learning, revising...

Have you set aside your manuscript yet, after finishing it? I would do that, and start kicking around with the idea for your next one. Then when you come back to it, you'll have fresh eyes.

Shadow_Ferret · Aug 28, 2008

I'm paraphrasing and probably badly, but someone once said, "you're only learning to write THIS novel."

rosiecotton · Aug 28, 2008

I wrote my first novel at 23. Just like the movies, I sat down with a few vague ideas and splurged the thing out convinced I had a masterpiece on my hands. Now I cringe when I think how awful it truly was. But it was the first step. I said I was going to do it, did it, became hooked.

So I wrote another. Got nowhere. Wrote another. Came closer.

Now I'm 35, have come close to publication a couple of times, and believe that finally I'm producing commercially viable work. It's a long slog but if you enjoy it, you must stick with it. Don't dismiss your work because of a few overused phrases, etc. Editing will eradicate those. 100,000 works rarely fall onto the page exactly as you'd like them. Honing the craft is a lifelong process. Attack your stories, stick at it!

Writing a novel is not for the faint-hearted - that's what makes the challenge and that's why we all love it! Keep at it.

josephwise · Aug 28, 2008

I think it's just a matter of attitude. The last novel I wrote finished at 60,000 words. But I added all of the drafts together and realized I had written some 380,000 words in order to get to the 60,000 I liked best.

If you go into it knowing that everything you write is completely disposable, the task is less daunting.

Bufty · Aug 28, 2008

This must be one of the most slippery crafts to master. The more I learn the more there seems to be to be learned.

jennifer75 · Aug 28, 2008

maestrowork said:
The discovery is sometimes more delicious than the fruit.

I agree. I've sorta learned a lot since writing those first few words of my WIP (my first ever) that I'm anxious to begin revising so I can see where I F'ed up and know that I F'ed up.

DeleyanLee · Aug 28, 2008

Bufty said:
The more I learn the more there seems to be to be learned.

That's one of the things I like best about writing, actually.

Shadow_Ferret · Aug 28, 2008

DeleyanLee said:
That's one of the things I like best about writing, actually.

That every day it seems I'm stupider than the day before?

DeleyanLee · Aug 28, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
That every day it seems I'm stupider than the day before?

That too.

Phaeal · Aug 28, 2008

Ars longa...

CGs on finishing the first!

Deccydiva · Aug 28, 2008

Thanks for the encouragement! Here's another naive moment: believing that moving from a short story writer of some thirty years experience to a new novelist was simply a matter of scaling up on the word count... :roll:

If anyone starting out novel writing currently believes this - read every thread on this section! Twice!

tehuti88 · Aug 28, 2008

It's probably best that you didn't know all this, otherwise you might not have finished a novel!

Deccydiva · Aug 28, 2008

True, but for some perverse reason now that I've done it I'm gearing up to do another... :e2BIC:

Bubastes · Aug 28, 2008

Congratulations on finishing your novel! As a fellow short story/article writer, I hear ya on the challenge of writing novels (I have yet to finish one and I've had many false starts)! One thing I've noticed is that with shorter pieces, I can keep the whole outline in my head. With a novel, that's impossible. So now I've resigned myself to putting my novel outline on paper before writing my first draft. I can't wait to see what I learn along the way.

Good luck on your revisions!

superman skivvies · Aug 28, 2008

BenPanced said:
I've edited a manuscript 11 times over the last 4 years and I'm just now barely starting the query process.

You're crazy.

ccarver30 · Aug 28, 2008

It's a process!! LOL

Jimmyboy1 · Aug 28, 2008

Deccydiva,
I have a funny editing story for you.
My first mss was half real life, so I wrote it using the actual names of people, me and my son included. "Peter", my fifteen year old, asked for the name "Jimmy". My real name is Jim, and I chose "David" for my "new" name.
I then used Word 2007 to switch out the names, but somehow the system misread all the Jims and the Jimmys and everyone was now named "David"!
I had to go through the entire 85k words and manually find all the Davids that were supposed to be Jimmys and change them over, one at a time. He had to have that name!

Then.... I decided to change the whole thing from first person to third. Bwuoahahaaa!!

With my next mss... I edited as I wrote it! But my third, the longer one (109k), I'm going over slowly.. mostly because I want to.

A mss is like a child sometimes. You do your best and try to make it this and that, but it's going to be what it's going to be.

Congrats! Now you've found legal morphine. Enjoy!

Feathers · Aug 28, 2008

MeowGirl said:
One thing I've noticed is that with shorter pieces, I can keep the whole outline in my head. With a novel, that's impossible.

How's that quote go? That writing a novel is like driving a car at night, and you can only see as far as your headlights? I love this fact, because you can use your "high beams" if it's your style, or you can use your "low beams," or you can even race around with just your "fog lights." I always have an outline in my head, but it only extends for a few chapters. I outline more as I learn more.

But back to the OP: You've got the right stuff going, but man, I wouldn't worry about revising your grammar in the first draft. Or for the first three books. The way I see my first novels, the best way for me to learn was to write, and to keep improving my writing as I went along. If I stopped I would just kill the momentum.

Smile,
-Feathers

Deccydiva · Aug 29, 2008

Thanks! I'm very hot on spelling and grammar though so I would fret if I saw something wrong in there. I take the view that there is no excuse for incorrect spelling and grammar, I should get that right at least.

selkn.asrai · Aug 29, 2008

DeccyDiva,

Most important: Congrats on finishing your first novel!!! It's a great accomplishment.

And totally off-topic, but: You have a Dalmatian! He (or she) is beautiful! They're the best dogs on earth. My family has had dalmatians for most of my life - I can't wait to have enough living space to get one of my own.

Deccydiva · Aug 29, 2008

selkn.asrai said:
DeccyDiva,

Most important: Congrats on finishing your first novel!!! It's a great accomplishment.

And totally off-topic, but: You have a Dalmatian! He (or she) is beautiful! They're the best dogs on earth. My family has had dalmatians for most of my life - I can't wait to have enough living space to get one of my own.

Thank you very much! Rep point on it's way!

Ah, another Dallie fan! Take a look at my website (granardal) for more pics - I have two spottie horrors! The one in the avatar is Declan, Deccy for short, he's three years old and the love of my life :LilLove:

Deccydiva · Aug 29, 2008

Feathers said:
How's that quote go? That writing a novel is like driving a car at night, and you can only see as far as your headlights? I love this fact, because you can use your "high beams" if it's your style, or you can use your "low beams," or you can even race around with just your "fog lights." I always have an outline in my head, but it only extends for a few chapters. I outline more as I learn more.

-Feathers

Some days I think my headlights are switched off

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