{"id":1499,"date":"2017-02-15T12:32:03","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T17:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2017-04-16T09:12:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-16T14:12:27","slug":"ive-finished-2-novels-heres-what-ive-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/ive-finished-2-novels-heres-what-ive-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve Finished 2 Novels. Here’s What I’ve Learned."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With the release of Harbingers<\/i>, the story I began working on in 2009 with the hazy goal of finishing a single novel has now materialized into 2<\/strong> published books. Hooray!<\/p>\n

But something looks a little off there. 8 years to finish 2 books? Lots of authors\u00a0publish\u00a0novels on a\u00a0yearly <\/em>basis.<\/p>\n

I’ll tell you right now: I’m not<\/em> “lots of authors.” I haven’t\u00a0distilled\u00a0novel-writing down to a crank-’em-out science. But,\u00a0I also don’t think it’ll take 4 years to outline, draft, and finish Sword and Starship Book 3. Here are some factors that should\u00a0aid my turnaround time.<\/p>\n

1. I\u2019m more disciplined about writing now.<\/b> This is the big one.<\/a> From 2009 to 2014, I was only writing once a week or less, flying by the seat of my pants with no outline. Quitting my day-job<\/a> allowed me to make writing my full-time focus. Once I got connected with an editor who could guide me in the ways\u00a0of book-planning, things really started falling into place.<\/p>\n

All planning and good intentions aside, the book only gets written if I sit down to write it. I\u2019m blessed to be able to do that every single day. (Though I do take breaks<\/a> on weekends. Breaks are necessary.)<\/p>\n

2. I\u2019m more informed about the novel-writing process.<\/b> Novels are a LOT more complicated than short stories, which I was more accustomed to prior to starting this project. My first draft of Blood\u2019s Force<\/i> (which was later expanded into Blood\u2019s Force<\/i> and Harbingers<\/i>) was only about 80K words, and performed a breakneck speed-run through the plot without pausing to build up suspense, relationships, or other really important stuff.<\/p>\n

A ton\u00a0of prep work has to happen before any writing starts: figuring out character goals<\/a>, constructing an outline, mapping character arcs and relationships<\/a>. They won\u2019t be set in stone\u2014while drafting, surprises always happen that force you to change course\u2014but working in the mid-draft revelation is much better than petering out after 80 pages because you have no idea\u00a0what happens next.<\/p>\n

3. I know to finish the first draft before doing any editing.<\/b> Long before a first draft of Blood\u2019s Force <\/i>was done, I was taking chapters to critique groups, obsessing over word choices, etc. This is a HUGE waste of time. Surprises happen constantly while you\u2019re drafting. You don\u2019t want to know how many really polished scenes I ended up cutting as my outline changed, and how much I was tempted not<\/i> to cut only because I\u2019d spent so much time on it. This time around, I know not to start rewriting or soliciting critique in earnest until I have a complete story done.<\/p>\n

4. I\u2019m letting myself\u00a0be OK with imperfection.<\/b> This is hard, because it goes against the grain of my upbringing. \u201cMake all As!\u201d \u201cAlways give 110%!\u201d The demands of perfectionism are like a harsh spotlight blaring over everything I do.\u00a0When writing, I\u00a0pause constantly in search of the right word or turn of phrase. A\u00a0voice in my skull tells me\u00a0I\u00a0need to be funnier, more clever, more\u00a0profound. Get it right,<\/em> or else!<\/i><\/p>\n

Then a whole morning passes, and I\u00a0only have three sentences written.<\/p>\n

It helps to remember that the writing process isn\u2019t a one-time orchestral performance in front of a huge audience. It\u2019s more like sculpting alone in a studio. I can start rough where no one will see, then chisel out something more beautiful while editing.<\/p>\n

Eventually, though, I have to stop<\/i> chiseling and release my work\u00a0into the world as-is. There are always parts I think are still unacceptably weak, but they\u2019re probably not as bad as I fear.<\/p>\n

5. I’ve learned to prize clarity and simplicity.<\/b> As a younger writer, I wanted\u00a0my prose to be profound and complex and thought-provoking. Now, I just want to communicate clearly,<\/em> which should make drafting easier. I don’t need the fancy $10 thesaurus word when the first word off the top of my head will do\u2014especially in a first-person narrative where the main character is talking informally to her audience.<\/p>\n

6. I know how to leverage the strengths of my reviewers.<\/b>\u00a0I’ve learned my husband is great<\/i> for taking a pitch and improving it. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you do X instead?\u201d where X is something so much cooler than what I thought of. What he\u2019s not<\/i> so good at is at challenging me on the weak points in my writing\u2014pointing out awkward phrases, noting where I could include more emotion and reflection, etc. My editor is much better at this. So I\u2019ll keep these things in mind when seeking critique.<\/a><\/p>\n

All that said, I’m now outlining what I’d like to have happen in future Sword and Starship books! Wish me luck! :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the release of Harbingers, the story I began working on in 2009 with the hazy goal of finishing a single novel has now materialized into 2 published books. Hooray! But something looks a little off there. 8 years to finish 2 books? Lots of authors\u00a0publish\u00a0novels on a\u00a0yearly basis. I’ll tell you right now: I’m not “lots of authors.” I haven’t\u00a0distilled\u00a0novel-writing down to a crank-’em-out science. But,\u00a0I also don’t think it’ll take 4 years to outline, draft, and finish Sword…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,13,8,7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advice","category-critique","category-editing","category-sword-and-starship","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1529,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions\/1529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}