Finishing Your First Book
The first book is the hardest.
Not the first one you publish. The first one you write.
When I was seventeen, I completed my first novel. It was a 170k-word fanfiction monstrosity, and I don’t even remember how long it took me to write. I do recall that by that point I’d been trying to finish a book for at least five years.
Immediately upon finishing that book—which is still available on fanfiction.net in all its terrible glory—I sat down and wrote my first original fiction novel. It was like a flip had been switched inside my head. I’d always known how to write, but now I knew how to finish writing.
Like a lot of modern writers, I got my start in fanfiction. It has several advantages over trying to dive straight into original fiction. The world-building has been done for you, the fanbase already exists, and you don’t have to worry about trying to get published, because you already know that will never happen. This makes it perfect as a stepping-stone for writing your first book. You don’t want to get too attached to that initial manuscript. Unless you’re the one-in-a-million exception, it will be terrible, and as you reflect back upon your career a decade in the future you’ll be glad it never saw the light of day. It’s like learning to play an instrument. You don’t want to record your practice sessions and submit them to a record label, but that doesn’t make the practice itself any less important. If you’re writing a fanfiction novel, you won’t be tempted to try to get your first book published, which will save you a lot of heartache in the long run. Remember, this book is just practice; it’s about figuring out how to execute the chords before launching into your debut performance.
The first thing you’ll want to do is budget time for your writing. A typical novel is 100,000 words long. That may seem like a lot, but 500 words per day is all you need to write to have the first draft finished in six months. If you’re writing a fanfiction novel, it’s possible all you’ll ever write is the first draft, and that’s fine. This is about learning to finish a book, not getting one ready for publication. If you’re a bit slower, or can’t allocate as much time to write, 300 words a day will still let you finish in a year. Or you can write as little as 100 words a day and have your manuscript complete in three years. You’ve probably spent longer than that already working on first drafts only to abandon them halfway through.
Once you’ve determined how many words you need to write per day to achieve your goal, just write. Don’t worry about narrative structure or whether you’re using too many adverbs. This is a first draft. The point is to finish. It never need see the light of day once it’s done. Perhaps later on in your career you’ll be like me and find it more efficient to create a readable manuscript on the first try, but for now you’re just getting through this practice session and not caring about the jarringly discordant notes. All you need to do is get to the end of the song, no matter how bad it is.
If you run into writer’s block, experiment. Add a new character. Throw in a plot twist. Ask yourself what could go wrong, then make it happen. Write a scene where your main character gets into fisticuffs with a thinly veiled representation of someone who’s annoyed you within the past week. Remember, your goal is to finish the draft, not write the next great American novel. This is practice, not performance.
Write every day. Even when you don’t feel like it. Even when the words don’t want to come. It’s just like practicing an instrument; the more days you skip, the harder it’ll be to get back in the groove. The greatest skill I’ve acquired from NaNoWriMo is the ability to sit down in front of my computer every day and put words to paper. The more you write, the easier it will be.
That’s not to say there are no reasons for skipping a day of writing. I go LARPing once a month, and it’s kind of hard to bring a computer with me when I’m camping in a tent. It would be equally difficult to bring along a musical instrument. That just means I have to budget my time accordingly. Either I write more when I get back, or I recognize that those three days at the LARP will mean it’ll take me three days longer to finish my book.
Once you’re finished, the switch will be flipped for you as well. After that, your next book—the one you’re really burning to write—will be that much easier to complete.
Not the first one you publish. The first one you write.
When I was seventeen, I completed my first novel. It was a 170k-word fanfiction monstrosity, and I don’t even remember how long it took me to write. I do recall that by that point I’d been trying to finish a book for at least five years.
Immediately upon finishing that book—which is still available on fanfiction.net in all its terrible glory—I sat down and wrote my first original fiction novel. It was like a flip had been switched inside my head. I’d always known how to write, but now I knew how to finish writing.
Like a lot of modern writers, I got my start in fanfiction. It has several advantages over trying to dive straight into original fiction. The world-building has been done for you, the fanbase already exists, and you don’t have to worry about trying to get published, because you already know that will never happen. This makes it perfect as a stepping-stone for writing your first book. You don’t want to get too attached to that initial manuscript. Unless you’re the one-in-a-million exception, it will be terrible, and as you reflect back upon your career a decade in the future you’ll be glad it never saw the light of day. It’s like learning to play an instrument. You don’t want to record your practice sessions and submit them to a record label, but that doesn’t make the practice itself any less important. If you’re writing a fanfiction novel, you won’t be tempted to try to get your first book published, which will save you a lot of heartache in the long run. Remember, this book is just practice; it’s about figuring out how to execute the chords before launching into your debut performance.
The first thing you’ll want to do is budget time for your writing. A typical novel is 100,000 words long. That may seem like a lot, but 500 words per day is all you need to write to have the first draft finished in six months. If you’re writing a fanfiction novel, it’s possible all you’ll ever write is the first draft, and that’s fine. This is about learning to finish a book, not getting one ready for publication. If you’re a bit slower, or can’t allocate as much time to write, 300 words a day will still let you finish in a year. Or you can write as little as 100 words a day and have your manuscript complete in three years. You’ve probably spent longer than that already working on first drafts only to abandon them halfway through.
Once you’ve determined how many words you need to write per day to achieve your goal, just write. Don’t worry about narrative structure or whether you’re using too many adverbs. This is a first draft. The point is to finish. It never need see the light of day once it’s done. Perhaps later on in your career you’ll be like me and find it more efficient to create a readable manuscript on the first try, but for now you’re just getting through this practice session and not caring about the jarringly discordant notes. All you need to do is get to the end of the song, no matter how bad it is.
If you run into writer’s block, experiment. Add a new character. Throw in a plot twist. Ask yourself what could go wrong, then make it happen. Write a scene where your main character gets into fisticuffs with a thinly veiled representation of someone who’s annoyed you within the past week. Remember, your goal is to finish the draft, not write the next great American novel. This is practice, not performance.
Write every day. Even when you don’t feel like it. Even when the words don’t want to come. It’s just like practicing an instrument; the more days you skip, the harder it’ll be to get back in the groove. The greatest skill I’ve acquired from NaNoWriMo is the ability to sit down in front of my computer every day and put words to paper. The more you write, the easier it will be.
That’s not to say there are no reasons for skipping a day of writing. I go LARPing once a month, and it’s kind of hard to bring a computer with me when I’m camping in a tent. It would be equally difficult to bring along a musical instrument. That just means I have to budget my time accordingly. Either I write more when I get back, or I recognize that those three days at the LARP will mean it’ll take me three days longer to finish my book.
Once you’re finished, the switch will be flipped for you as well. After that, your next book—the one you’re really burning to write—will be that much easier to complete.
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