Anyone up for a novel writing support thread?

[Cel982]

Just thought it might be nice to have a place we could give each other a kick up the bum cheer each other along as we try to get our novels written.

I'm currently on the eleventy-hundredth draft of my first novel - hoping to have it ready for submission in the next month or two. Have been stuck on a niggly plot point for the last few weeks but had a bit of a breakthrough the other night so now the words are flowing again. Am a SAHM with a toddler at the moment so all my writing is done in the evenings when I can tear myself away from the TV. I know, I'm inspiring

So... you?

I'm on a first draft of an idea I first had about five years ago that I've finally decided to write... YA superhero/mutant novel... and I'm feeling good about the rest of the chapters but the first one just isn't coming easily :( I don't particularly want to write out of sync but I feel like it doesn't bode well for the rest of the novel!

There is no harm in writing a book in different pieces and then writing the first chapter at the end!

Is anyone writing MG? I'm nearing the midpoint and am struggling a bit to keep up the pace before the big reveal. I think after that i know what's going to happen it's just this inbetweeny bit I'm struggling with.

My title is also entirely bland. Does anyone have a title finding strategy? I don't think I'll have one until long after I've finished.

Hello. I know this thread has been going a while but wondering if I could join?

I'm only a few thousand words into my first novel as I've not been very disciplined at using my time out of work to concentrate on it!

Hi Flash.
I'm on the final draft/edit of mine. It's taken two years of consistently sitting down in the evenings once my DD is in bed for a couple of hours at a time. I find setting aside certain times really helps.

Please can I de-lurk and join? I've finally got some confidence to start writing, as well as an idea. May re-read this thread tomorrow to help with motivation - planning on starting this weekend.

several edits in - now working on chapter 3. I never thought that I was going to move on from prologue and chapter's 1 and 2 but low and behold have broken into chapter 3 today, which seems to be coming along nicely. I think it took me about two and half months to edit this far - didn't realise it would take so much time and patience but it feels really satisfying when things progress. Hopefully I'll be posting on here in about a months time, having progressed to chapter 4!
Anyone else work better in short bursts rather than sitting down for hours (time allowing)? I seem to lose concentration after about an hour and lose the zest for what I am doing.
Good luck everyone at what ever stage you're at.

Hello, can I join? Got the heads up about this thread form another poster southeastdweller I think, in my previous thread. I've just started writing and it's slow slow going. I'm writing longhand just now as the laptop is for hubby's work so once I get a laptop of my own, I'll start typing.

monkeytree my husband writes that way - short bursts. He also writes with the tv on or music on ... I need total silence to write, even to read. He's been writing for about a year, almost at 60000 words. I'm proa lay about 400 words that gets edited every single time I start reading what I write the day before, I need to stop and and just keep going.

fairy hi there, I'm writing a novel too. I'm also attending a writing class, so I have other exercises to do for that too. Sometimes I can incorporate them into my novel too, which is best !
I'm struggling a bit with getting my word count up, as I don't have much time to write. At the moment I'm trying to aim for 500 words a day which feels about right. Any more and it's just raw bad!

Really bad!

What's your book about?

500 words a day is a good target!

My novel centres on a group of school aquaintances, 25 years after they left school. After a chance meeting, they become actual friends this time, but it's really not the best idea they ever had! I'm too lazy to do research so its not a murder mystery but there is a sinister undercurrant. No idea yet what that will be.

Sounds intriguing. I've got to the stage where I write something, think it's ok, then have a rethink two hours later and suspect it must actually be complete rubbish. Then I tweak it a bit, but I still have my doubts!
My problem is I read a lot of really good novels by excellent writers and of course I'm nowhere near as good as them!

Seachangeshell You should read some of the books I've read lately! of the 3 I got as xmas presents, I couldnt finish 2 of them. The quality of the actual writing, like sentence structure etc wasn't the issue. I dont know too much about that at the moment but they didnt read as tryelu awful.

It was the sheer linear A - B - C that got me. ONe book, I worked out what had happened in chapter one. Read a bit more, still read like I knew what was coming. Skipped to the end ... exactly as I thought in chapter 1. And this was hailed as a 'If you liked Girl on a Train, You'll love this' book. Nope. The twist should not be telegraphed on chapter 1. Ever.

It was that which made me think I could write something. I'm not saying I can write any better, my ventures so far dont look promising, but if books like the ones I read can be published, there is a little hope that I can at least try. Someone once said to write the book you want to read. So I'm doing that.

I am sure your work is much better than you think - if you read and read a lot, I think that is a great start, you understand the basics of what makes a good book, what makes you want to keep turning the pages. I'm reading the Stephen King 'On Writing' right now (it came yesterday) and there is so much great advice there.

I also feel disappointed by so much of what I read and it's motivated me to get going on my own novel, instead of just 'talking the talk'.

Thanks south Maybe I should read more rubbish books!
I'm in a book group too, and when we read Girl on te Train, lots of people were really critical of it, that the male characters were no good, that the memory loss was too convenient. And I was just sitting there thinking, do you have any idea how hard it is to write a book? I'm a lot more appreciative of any books I read now I know how hard it is.
One of the things I'm trying to work on at the moment is my tendency to overwrite things. I just use too many words and overuse words like 'that'.

I've read that Stephen King book too. Very inspiring.

Sorry I should say thanks fairy!

I LOVED Girl on the Train. If i could find my copy I'd read it again. For me it was one of those books that I could not put down. (I also really liked the film but I know not everyone did).

Hello. Still writing young adult historical.

Recently I have

1. got an Alphasmart Neo for distractionless first drafting (it's an obsolete very simple word processor. No internet, switches on immediately, runs on AA batteries which last months, you just write on there then plug it in to a real computer for editing.)

1. Joined SCWBI, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and been to one of their critique groups, which was amazing and very inspirational in terms of the quality and commitment of the people involved.

I'm planning on starting my second novel soon as decided my first just isn't good enough to try for publication anymore.

It'll be in the same dystopian world as the first

Really tempted to get scrivener as want to plan this one carefully so hopefully it's better plotted and quicker to write and edit (last took 4.5 years!) so am procrastinating by watching YouTube tutorials ... probably need a kick up the bum to get going

I've got scrivener. It's great for me and I know I'm only using it to a fraction of its full potential.
I love it for moving my chapters round, attaching notes of things I need to research and setting word count targets.
Also it automatically saves your work so you don't delete anything. Another thing is you can take 'snapshots ' before you rewrite things so you don't lose your original.

I can't justify the cost of Scrivener at the moment (£19.99) so I use IA Writer, which is user-friendly and simple to use on my Mac. It costs just a few quid. Pages is OK but feels odd to me, clunky and fake like using their Numbers to do spreadsheets.

What software does everyone else use to write/type?

I use Scrivener. It's so great for organising. I think it's only really once you have got very large amounts of work and are doing multiple drafts that it comes into its own.
I can write first drafts anywhere, but it definitely makes life easier for the next phase.
It's a good present to buy yourself to celebrate finishing your first full-length novel draft, I think! (And they usually have a half price offer at the end of November for everyone who completes NaNoWriMo.)

I love my Neosmart! If I'm going off grid it's a godsend