Finish a novel 2024 accountability thread

[OctoblocksAssemble]

Hey, I was on one of these a couple of years ago and got the first draft of my novel pinned down in a year. Working on the sequel now so I thought I'd start another one.

So, my project. Book 2 of a trilogy, the first book is 2 drafts in, but I'd like to get 2 and 3 at the rough draft stage before I take the first any further. I want to have a good handle on the whole plot
It's a YA fantasy.

I’ve just hit 25,000 words so on course to finish the first draft around end March/beg april

Well done, that's brilliant news! I love the next part.

I'm down to 126k from 140k. I really need to decide on the next steps. I've also set it up for a sequel and a prequel - if I can be bothered.

Well done @Costacoffeeplease and @LuciferRising !
I've done absolutely nothing, after having a bit of a motivation crash due to other life stuff. I'm not entirely sure when I'll get my head enough above water to get back to it, but hopefully in March

I spent about 6 months procrastinating with this one. But doing writing sprints really helped to get me back into the groove.

Also need to get back into the groove, @OctoblocksAssemble also feeling lack of motivation because life has been so tough and busy the last couple of weeks! But motivation is supposed to follow action, so if we both start writing again, even a little, the motivation should follow - it’s just so hard getting going again isn’t it 🙈 when I literally feel like there is no time, our youngest DC (3) is having a ‘bedtime is bad’ phase and it is TOUGH 😥

I feel your bedtime pain, @HappyLittleTreeFriend , my youngest has always been averse to both going to sleep, and waking up, so both evenings and mornings are fun, sigh.
I took your advice to heart and got 187 words down today. It isn't much and it's fairly crap, but it is something.
Hope you can get going again too

So glad you got some words down @OctoblocksAssemble, I actually did too! Only about 300 but that’s something, and also on to the next event now so it was good progress 😊🙌🏻💜 I really do feel the story unfolding for this one in my head as I’m going along, which is nice, and I don’t want to put pressure on myself and then get a block, but I’m thinking I really do want to have a go now at sitting down and writing for a more extended time on it and seeing what happens. I’ve just been sort of snatching time here and there, and also I’ve just been tired and wanting to watch a show or read a little while in the small amount of evening time I’ve been getting - but I am going to set myself a goal of NOT doing that tonight and instead just actually writing first until I want to stop and see how far I get!

@HappyLittleTreeFriend how did you get on?

I’m on 30,000 words, which was my target for this weekend, so I’m pleased about that

I've decided to take it quite slow for the next couple of months. My goal is to get 10-20k words really nicely done in March/April. I have nearly a full semester of classes ahead of me and I don't want to rush past that while I'm still so actively learning about honing the craft of writing. (Along with a whole load of other assignments that aren't actively to do with my novel.) With my first few chapters nicely done, I'm going to enter a number of competitions too, definitely the work in progress ones. But I think I could possibly enter Bath and Cheshire too, as even if the back half of my novel probably won't be as polished as the first half, in time to submit the whole manuscript if I was shortlisted, they both offer the option to resubmit the same work the following year if you have kept working on it. And in both competitions, they have had winners who have resubmit work from a previous year.

I've redrafted my first chapter and gotten really great feedback on it. But I feel it's lacking something. And I have a bit of fear that the 'something' I feel it needs, won't become clear until I'm at a third draft stage because I'm trying to layer in very, very slight hints about the overall plot. I know it's possible that the overall plot could still change somewhat in the second draft so I suspect that all the subtle foreshadowing I wan't to add won't be possible until it's fully clear to me what exactly makes it into the climax.

That sounds like a good plan. I had been thinking about some competitions but know very little about them. I'm now on my 6th edit and am 'layering in' themes. There is a war and dystopia politics in mine but I am conscious it is very undefined and background noise. It needs firming up. Because ultimately, all the background noise informs the actions of my characters. My magic system needs to be clearer too.

The thing is, it will increase my word count slightly and although I've cut it from 140k to 126k, I think it's too long for a first time author. Not sure what to do.

@Costacoffeeplease I got nowhere 😂🙈 must be more accountable! I’ve been thinking about the story and the characters a lot but no more words down - just really struggling to find a ‘good’ writing time! Going to experiment tomorrow with doing some in the morning, when both DC are having brekkie and are occupied watching a bit of telly 👍🏻👍🏻

That sounds like a plan. Have you tried writing sprints where you set an alarm for 15 or 20 minutes a few times a day?

I find writing ideas in a note book helps. Not sure how old your children are but I use to sit in the car while DD was in activities and write then. I also got to a tipping point where I found I preferred writing to TV and would sit in the lounge and write while DH watched movies. Now, I become obsessive with writing then it dies out for a week or two. Once I'm back into the habit, I become consumed with it.

Haven’t tried sprints @Costacoffeeplease but sounds like a good idea! And @LuciferRising that’s the tipping point I want to get to 👍🏻👍🏻 my DC are 6 and 3 but I’m a SAHM and my youngest doesn’t go to preschool yet so I’m with her basically all the time (she’ll start doing some hours in September), so come September I may have some guaranteed child free time I can set aside to write in during the day, though I’ll probably fill it with trying to get back into work! I know it’s a case of just making the time though, I know I can do it, there’s definitely times during the day when oldest DC is at school and youngest is occupied playing where I could prioritise writing for half an hour instead of housework/tidying/life admin etc 👍🏻👍🏻

@HappyLittleTreeFriend I find kids bath times oddly good for writing. Mine are 4 and 7, so they entertain themselves while I sit there and write on my phone (I use Google docs).
I'm still not in the groove on this book. The first one came relatively easily (even if version 1 wasn't great at least it wasn't hard to get it down).

It's hard to know how much is down to general life overwhelm, and how much is poor plotting. Mix of both I suspect.

11,600 words now.

That’s great. Keep going 😊

I'm rewriting a novel, so it's hard to track how much work I've done - a scene can take 2 or more days to rewrite 😰I'm also now on 102,000 words, so know that loads of cutting will need to be done

My 3yo is in the same place and it's trashed my writing ambitions is month 😔

@SmugglersHaunt what genre is your novel? I'm cutting. Have cut 18k and need to remove a further 4k to get under 120k. I've found focusing on theme repetition a good way to remove padding.

So it's a romantic comedy, so definitely needs to be below 100k. Once I've finished this re-draft I'm going to put it away for a month, start something else, then come back and cut cut cut. I think getting into scenes as late as possible and getting out as early as possible might be the way for me to go - but will look at theme as well. Thanks!

Hi ladies,

May I join? I've finally done it, started writing a novel-length story, after years of self doubt and inertia, starting and stopping. I'm just under 16k words in since Christmas and aim to complete by the end of the year. Writing about 600 words a day. I have a plan for all my chapters and a good ending, in my opinion anyway!

Reading some of the threads here there seem to be many writers who are fairly confident on their prose but perhaps less on the story, or at least based on the feedback they've received. I'm the opposite: I feel really good about my story, less confident on the quality of the writing. 😁

Do you plan where your story is going to go before you start or do you see where it develops organically as you write?

Welcome! I was just replying to the thread. I had a rough outline but my plot developed organically and changed to reflect the characters. It now has a sequel waiting to be written.

I finished my 5th edit yesterday and still have 3k words to cut. Decided to tackle 'the' but realised on reading I can still tighten the prose. Every single time I believe I have finished editing, I find I can do another round. Which means I am rereading again. It is incredible the amount of words you can cut as you become more experienced. But I'm concerned I'll be in a never ending cycle of trying to perfect.

I've managed to save for an editor, but don't want to waste the money on things I can identify.

Hi. I’m a pantser. For my current wip I started with a short story of 1000 words which was meant to be entered into a competition but I missed the deadline. I decided to expand on the story and see if I could make it book length. I’m currently at 40,000 words and aiming for about 70,000. I’m planning to finish the first draft in a month or so.

I have the opposite problem in that I write very sparely and can always find a space where I should have added more description, or dialogue

This is my third book so I have an editor lined up, and will self publish.

Can I ask how long it took to get from the initial 1000 to the 70k you have now?