“Writing is hard and takes a lot of time.” – Amanda Pleau, my wife, via Susan Conley, her mentor
When you see writers giving advice on writing, it almost always includes something to the effect of “finish something.” Meaning, don’t just start a bunch of projects and never finish them. This is the struggle, because if you’re like me, you get excited about NEW ideas at the exact same time you get sick of working on the OLD ideas.
And, if you’re like me, you’ve probably got a solid 20 pages of ten half-thought out books that you moved to your Graveyard Folder at the very first brick wall, like Han Solo dropping his cargo at the first sight of an Imperial Cruiser.
It’s easy to go, “Well, Thing A isn’t going anywhere, so what’s the point? I’ll just work on Thing B instead.” Sometimes you abandon things for one reason or another, but it should never be because you think it’s not worth it, or that it’s not a good idea, or you just read something else that is kinda-sorta similar to what you’re doing. Those are excuses your brain uses to trick you into abandoning something you’re not yet confident about.
My first novel has just recently been sent out into the world in hopes of finding a home, which means the manuscript was as solid as my agent believed it needed to be in order to (hopefully) sell. While this doesn’t mean it’s done (the future editor will surely have some suggestions), it does mean that, despite feeling like throwing in the towel constantly, I finished a god damn book.
It’s not a particularly long novel, but it’s a hell of a lot more words than get put into making a comic. No super talented artist to do the heavy lifting (sorry, fellow comic writers, it’s the truth—we have the easy/less essential job).
What it’s about doesn’t matter much at this point (if it sells you’ll be hearing me talk about it relentlessly, so hang in there), but it’s period crime fiction, so there was a hefty bit of research involved along with the plot machinations that accompany a mystery, so, it was pretty overwhelming to me as a first-time novelist.
But if you’re struggling to make it through that first draft, I’ve got the secret for you. The sure-fire way to finish that manuscript:
Sit down and do it, man.
I know, sucks right? It does. It really, really does. But that’s the only way to get it done, because no one else is gonna write that story except for you.
But, it’s not as romantic as that. It’s a slog. At least, for me it is. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE WRITING—once it’s time for a second draft. That’s a blast. That’s where the details are fleshed out, characters come to life, the plot makes sense (hopefully), and everything gets a bit more lively. But that first draft? Hell. Utter, utter hell.
As I mentioned, this first book isn’t an opus or anything—it’s around 80,000 words, I think. That’s about average for a mystery book, Google tells me. And yet, this process, all told, started in December 2013. It’s March 2018, and the book has just gone out for sale. That’s not including the solid year-plus I spent thinking about the story, when I thought it was going to be a comic (there are even pitch pages!).
That’s a long-ass time, and not sustainable if you plan on writing novels as a primary source of income. To be fair, a lot of that time was utterly wasted—time spent thinking I couldn’t do this thing and swirling in self-doubt. Time spent actively avoiding the project and doing other things. Here’s a simplified timeline:
December 2013 – February 2014: Start the book and get through maybe 20,000 words.
March 2014 – September 2014: Talk about how I started a book and got through maybe 20,000 words. I am stuck, so I work on comics stuff instead.
October 2014 – September 2015: I honestly don’t think I do any work on it. I focus on new comics projects because new stuff is more fun than finishing old stuff, as we know.
October 2015: I get a swift kick in the pants from a good friend (as well as my then-fiance, now-wife) about getting back to this book.
November 2015: Amanda and I use NaNoWriMo to set some writing goals for ourselves. Not the write-a-novel-in-a-month thing, but just commit to writing 1,000 words a day. We both do it, and by the end of November, I am at 60,000 words or so on the book.
December 2015 – February 2016: I keep going, and I finish the rough draft on a Valentine’s Day writing retreat in Shelburne Falls, MA where it is so bitterly cold that my car doesn’t start.
March 2016: Amanda and my best friend read this rough draft (beta readers are very important) and offer critical feedback (i.e., “This doesn’t make sense,” “what’s the deal with THAT guy?” “Where are all the ladies at?”) I make the appropriate adjustments, along with re-reading my rough draft and tweaking. Finally, I arrive at the first draft.
April 2016: I send the draft off to my future agent, Dara, who had read those 20,000 words way back when and is open to reading the rest now that I’ve finally finished.
April – August 2016: Months of this (and also a move to LA):
September 2016: Remarkably, the first draft gets me an agent and work on the second draft begins in earnest.
October 2016 – December 2016: Full steam ahead on the second draft, mostly addressing plot inconsistencies and structure and texture.
January 2017 – June 2017: More of this, along with starting a new job:
July 2017 – September 2017: Due to my time in the DC Writers Workshop, further revisions are put on the back burner while I go ham on the DC Universe.
November 2017: Another pass at the book, I add more scene-setting details and period texture.
December 2017 – February 2018: Yet another pass at the book, this time I add even more period texture and finalize some lingering character details and inconsistencies.
March 2018: Now it’s time for more of this, until the book finds a publisher and it’s time to work on some more likely edits:
All told, the actual time spent working on this, had I just sat down and wrote it all at once straight through without moving onto other projects or putting it in a drawer, is probably like six months. Six months that turned into four years because I was afraid that I couldn’t do it. But guess what? I could and I did. And I’ll do it again and it’ll be just as hard.
All of this is to say that this process has been long, requiring dedication, willpower, patience, and most important, support. I’m currently writing my second novel, the next in the series of this first one, and so far, it’s going… fine? I’m sure there will be hiccups and interruptions and distractions.
I’d love to get to the point where those six months are actually just six months, but the reality is that life requires a day job and family and socializing and cat snuggles. There are other projects with tighter deadlines. The length of time doesn’t necessarily matter, as long as you get the damn thing done. But, you know, hopefully do it in a timely fashion.
But remember:
Writing is hard, and takes a lot of time.