"It's done, but it's not ready."/Photo by aquasolid of iStockphoto
The stats are daunting.
Only three per cent of the people who begin writing a novel finish, according to professional ghostwriter Victory Crayne.
That statistic includes the first trip all the way through the story, often referred to as a first draft.
After years of writing, research, blocks, travel, craft classes and colored sticky notes arranged on sketchbook pages, I recently finished the first draft of my not-a-horse mystery novel.
And, yes, it’s the first draft of my first completed novel ever.
So, I’ve been told by my peers that I am now among the 3% – even though I have a lot of work yet to do.
Having a completed first draft of a book is like finding a complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex half-buried in the Montana soil.
With that T Rex skeleton, we have to dig it out and clean off its bones before it can loom over museum visitors.
The same thing goes for a novel – we have to dig its out of that first draft.
Still a long way to go
See Karen Miller’s blog post about why writing a first draft is so tough – and how it’s not actually the end.
I went through all the self-doubt and angst she describes, too. After spending years on this book, I’m supposed to “let it cool” for at least two weeks – even though I’m itching to dive back into the story now while my energy is high.
If I stay away from the pages themselves for a while, I can return to the story with fresh eyes to, among other things, see if what I wrote was what I meant to say.
I should be able to tell better if I really did leave too much “yak-yak” in a sequence and glossed over the action. And I need to see which characters are expendable or can be merged into one.
With 600 pages or so of what should be no more than about 300 pages, I have a lot of “darlings” to kill. I wrote out every permutation a scene could take.
On the bright side, I got to know my characters well enough to figure out how to stress them for a reader’s maximum enjoyment.
So, even though my friends tell me to celebrate because I’ve finished a book and I’m right to feel a sense of accomplishment, I know that the book is not yet finished after all.
But I know I have reached a milestone. I feel it in my bones.
Tags: first draft of a novel, milestone, novel first draft, the writing life, writing a book
June 25th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Well done! Kudos!
Do something rewarding for yourself today.
Yay!
June 25th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Thanks, Marti! There’s a celebration dinner tonight at a local barbecue joint. (Southern setting kinda calls for ‘cue.)
June 25th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Congratulations!!!
June 25th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thanks, Karen.
June 25th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Congratulations! It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? I wonder what percentage of the 3% make it all the way through a second draft?
June 25th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
I’ve wondered about that, too. Thanks for the support, Sam.
June 25th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Congratulations, Rhonda! Way to go!
June 25th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Thanks, Laurissa! Good luck to you in your endeavors.
June 25th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Congratulations, Rhonda! Now comes the fun part: rewriting. Really!
I always think of the first draft as a big messy lump of story, and I love kneading it and trimming it and making it into something recognizable as a novel. You’ve done the hardest part. Now enjoy the rest!
June 25th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Thanks, Sandy. I’m not worried about revision – I’m looking forward to it. Too much, actually. Hard to keep my paws off the story until it cools. Thank you for all your support and good wishes.
June 25th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Congrats. Way to go.
June 25th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Thanks, Carole!
June 26th, 2010 at 6:48 am
Hooray Rhonda! congratulations on a very big deal!
June 26th, 2010 at 6:58 am
Thank you, Roberta!
June 26th, 2010 at 8:52 am
That first step is the hardest, ain’t it? Welcome to the next leg of the journey, Rhonda, and Congratulations Bigtime!!!
June 26th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Thanks, Kaye! You’re right about that “first step.” It’s a doozy.
June 26th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Congratulations! I had no idea that only three percent of writers ever finish the first draft of their novel. That really is a milestone!
In April, I completed my very first and very rough first draft. I’m in the tedious editing process, which is both fun and infuriating.
June 26th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Thanks, Melissa. With edits ahead, no wonder so many people have been asking me: “You’ve been celebrating, right?” Because the work is gonna kick in soon.
So, hang in there. You’ll get through those edits. You can do it, you can do it …
June 29th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Dear Rhonda -
Well done.
Now leave it alone for a short period.
You have to go through the next step which is -
“Who wrote this crap?”
Then the work begins. Editing. Tightening. Shifting stuff around.
When you are finally finished – you will not be finished.
As it is going to press you will make a hysterical call. “Can you wait just ten minutes? I want to make a tiny change.”
Welcome to the club. It’s a small one. But mighty. Congratulations.
June 29th, 2010 at 8:22 am
June 29th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Great work Rhonda. And I know you can reach the finish line.
Debbie