This is a teaser of What does it Take to Write a Novel and Finish Part II: Your Novel as Mistress, Master, and Tyrant. It's the second installment of a three-part guest post series I am doing on the wonderful blog For the Love of Film and Novels. Thank you blogger Marissa for creating and running such an awesome resource!
It's my advice about how to start writing a novel and not give up until it's finished. Check out last week’s post (Part I) for how to start a novel and check in next week for Part III: It's Time to Kill the Monster. This
week is all about the middle phase, which Winston Churchill described as a
point when your novel becomes a mistress then a master and finally a tyrant. Yippy!
Click here for Part I: Getting Started - An Amusement.
Click here for Part III: It's Time to Kill the Monster.
Click here for Part I: Getting Started - An Amusement.
Click here for Part III: It's Time to Kill the Monster.
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The First Draft is Not the Final Draft
One of the
biggest mistakes people make is finishing a first draft and running out to send
it off to agents and publishers who respond with either silence or absolute
disgust for even sending it at that stage.
When I wrote my
first novel, every single draft looked fantastic to me because I didn’t know
what a final draft actually looked like. When I had finished the first draft of
my second novel, I had just sent out the final copy of my first book, so
I knew what a finished piece looked like and boy was my first draft material
awful! Truly, truly awful! This is why writers like Stephenie Meyer, author
of Twilight, freak out when a draft is leaked onto the net. It’s
dribble! Check out Stephenie Meyer's open message about this event on her website by CLICKING HERE!
Treat Writing like a Job
You have to get
on yourself to work on a routine schedule, every day if you can manage or at
least a full work week. That might mean 300 words a day or five chapters a
week, but you have to keep trudging forward. Set a period of time when you are
not allowed to do anything else, that means no email, no Facebook, no dishes,
or laundry, nothing other than writing. I can’t tell you how many people will
actually iron clothes in order to get away from the blank screen. Find ways to
motivate yourself like rewards for finishing a draft or getting to a certain
point in the manuscript.
To view the rest of the post CLICK HERE!
Click here for Part I: Getting Started - An Amusement.
Click here for Part III: It's Time to Kill the Monster.
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