I finished the first draft of my novel last week. It clocks in at 233 pages and is 76,305 words long. I was aiming for 80,000 – 100,000 words so I came pretty close. When I write, I let the story just come out naturally. It’s like a journey and I can tell when the journey is nearing its end. Sticking to a rigid word count goal would’ve hurt the story. The story has been told and the ending is perfect. I hope.
It felt so great to type “The End.” It was a high that I can’t really explain. It just feels amazing to have spent so long on a piece of work and to see it come to completion.
Of course, this story isn’t done yet. I know that. I need to go back, edit it and revise it. And I will do that, but first I will take a break from it. I always do this with my work. Whenever I finish writing something, I take a little break, and then move on to another project. I can then go back to the story with fresh eyes. This allows me to see problems with it and fix mistakes a whole lot easier.
I’ve worked on it in one way, shape, or form for a year now. I started it last summer with a one-page typed intro. I didn’t really think the idea was good enough at that point and didn’t go any further with it. I thought about it a lot because it was a story that had some potential in it. I just didn’t know where it was going to go.
In January, I came up with a name for the character and wrote out a rough scene where he was talking to his roommate. I had more of a direction with the story at that point but still didn’t know exactly where it was going to go. But I sat down and started typing anyway. And the amazing thing is that the story revealed itself to me one piece at a time. I wrote almost everyday for the past four months. And slowly but surely, it came together.
And now it is done. It feels amazing to have completed it. It is my longest and most ambitious project to date. The only difference now is that prior to me finishing any of my other works, I always had an idea for the next book. Right now, I have nothing. I think I’ll need some time to recharge. Maybe writing is like running a marathon and I just need to take it easy for a while before the next big event. Who knows? All I know is that it feels damn good.
5 responses to “First Draft Done”
Your a teacher you should watch your mouth, Umm stories are easy if they are things and people that you know, it makes it easy to write things out and then come to some much ideas that you hurt your brain and you can’t write or type real quick.. all the stories that I write come from things and people that I know… How about write a short story about your class and how one student steals the answers to an exam or something and then you torture the class if the one that stole the answers… I don’t know my thoughts are going crazy and it’s a blah day for me I have the flu or CM posioning and I feel really off today!!!
I do watch my mouth. I just needed a way to express how I felt. It felt better than good but I didn’t have a good enough adjective to put there. Hope I didn’t offend anyone.
Anyway, as far as stories go, the best part of writing is making up characters and seeing what they do and where they go. It is a discovery. Writing about real people is limiting and can get you into trouble. I would rather make up characters than borrow them from real life. But real life people can be an inspiration or serve as a guide for the characters.
I’m glad for you.
I also think the break is a smart thing to do. Wishing you all the best with the editing work (and the publishing!)
Congratulations, albeit belatedly. You’re a trooper. Next step: get it polished and published!
Thanks for all the support. I am still in a bit of a drought when it comes to writing my next project. But I have a few ideas peculating right now. I hope to get to the editing and polishing stage for this novel in the fall.