One of the greatest accomplishments as a beginning author is writing that first draft. However, not everyone who starts a novel will actually finish it. In fact, it is believed that only 30 will finish writing a book out of every 1,000 people who start one. Which side of the line will you be on?
There are a lot of reasons why writers will give up on their novels. Some of the more prominent include:
- Fear of criticism
- Not enough time invested
- Lack of motivation
- Various life events
- Financial constraints
- Self-doubt
- Unrealistic expectations of oneself
- Severe writer’s block
Any one of these can be a severe hindrance when writing that first draft. Yet, I believe anyone can do it with the right motivation and determination.
Finishing the First Draft Is Empowering
First, I’d like to point out how finishing the first draft helps you build self-confidence. It reinforces the belief that you’re capable of accomplishing a great feat and gives you a great sense of pride.
Remember, only 3% of people who start writing a novel will actually finish the first draft. That means you’re putting yourself in good company with great authors. Now, I’m not saying that your first book is going to be a bestseller. But you’ll be on par with some of the greats when it comes to finishing writing it.
Once you finish the first draft, everything else begins to fall into place and you start having faith in yourself that you could become an author. You’ll then find subsequent books much easier to write as you begin to chip away at all of the things that hold you back.
Of course, there are some things that will take a bit of time to get over, such as impostor syndrome or a lack of time. However, you’ll find so many things much easier to manage once you get that first draft of your first book out of the way.
12 Tips for Writing the First Draft of the Novel
These aren’t just tips I’ve collected from other authors. These are actual elements I’ve put into practice to help me write all of the books I’ve published thus far. I cannot guarantee anything, but I can tell you that they have made a massive impact on how I write today.
The key is to find something that works best for you. Perhaps my experiences will help you find a flow that works best in your journey.
So, what has helped me write several books with more on the way?
1. Have Realistic Expectations of Yourself
Writing a book isn’t the easiest thing in the world. You have to be dedicated to crank out tens of thousands of words for a story that someone wants to read and that you want to write.
Too many people believe they can just sit down at a computer and begin typing. While that may be helpful to start, it doesn’t always work the way you think, which is why many people fail.
Also, don’t go into writing a book believing you’ll make enough money to replace your income. Keep in mind that the median income for self-published authors is around $12,755 per year. To put that into perspective, that’s roughly $6.13 per hour if it were a full-time job.
2. Set Aside Adequate Time
Time is a vital component when doing anything properly. If you don’t set aside enough time to write, it’ll be years before you finish writing that first draft.
For some people, time isn’t an issue. A lot of authors will take years before they are finished and are fine with that. Personally, I have too many stories to tell. I don’t want to take too long to write the next one as I want to explore my other ideas.
I use Asana to plan out my day. By setting aside blocks of time in my schedule for writing books, I can finish the first draft in a timely manner. That is as long as I can stick to the schedule without getting sidetracked.
3. Set Realistic Goals for Writing
Realistic goals are imperative to building motivation. By accomplishing daily or weekly writing objectives, you not only finish your book sooner, but you’ll also build confidence. That’s because of how you feel once you’re meeting consistent goals.
A realistic goal is something that you’re capable of achieving through effort. If you can’t physically write 10,000 words per day, then don’t make that your goal. It should be something that pushes you but that you’re capable of achieving.
I suggest keeping track of how many words you can realistically write in a single day or week. Then, the next goal will be to surpass that number by at least one word. This is perhaps one of the most influential practices I made to develop a successful writing career.
4. Don’t Strive for Perfection
Perhaps one of the more important tips I can give is to not strive to write the perfect manuscript. I’ve seen too many people stress about perfection in the first draft to the point where they often give up because the book is taking too long to write. Or, they simply lose interest in the story.
The first draft is supposed to be rough. The idea is to simply get the story out of your head and onto the page. Then, you polish up the manuscript during subsequent rounds of edits. No one writes and publishes a first draft. At least, no one looking to make a name for themselves as an author.
I often write light, which means aiming for a low word count. Then, I wind up adding thousands of words to the manuscript to flesh out the story, scenes, details, and dialogue during the edits.
5. Try Outlining for a General Flow
There are some out there who can write by the seat of their pants (panters). This is when you just sit down and write without having a clear path as to where the story takes you. It can be kind of fun as the plot and characters develop as you go, but it can also lead to writer’s block quite quickly.
I am a plotter, meaning that I outline the story before I begin. Then, I connect each point as I write. Yes, sometimes this means having to re-outline the story when the characters do something unexpected. But it also means I have a clear path ahead of me.
Try outlining to help with writing the first draft. How much you outline is completely up to you, as you can plot with a single sentence per chapter or by planning every important scene in the book. There’s no right or wrong way to outline as long as it helps you write.
6. Consider Writing Out of Order
A lot of authors will write their books out of order. This can be helpful in a number of ways, such as leading up to scenes you absolutely want to show or to help break a bit of writer’s block.
For instance, I wrote the ending of Kingmaker long before I finished writing chapter one in the first draft. That’s because I always knew how I wanted to end the book. I had to rewrite the ending a bit to reflect things that happened in the story. But the idea was always present.
I wrote the ending of Fury as I neared the halfway mark.
The trick is to write in a way that connects all of the scenes together seamlessly. It takes a bit of practice but is something I do on a regular basis.
7. Use Beta Readers
Beta readers can help you solidify the storyline by giving you insights into plot and character development. If you have a question about how the story is progressing, have a couple of people read what you have thus far. They might be able to steer you onto the best path.
You need to be careful about letting beta readers go over an unfinished manuscript, though. Not because you’re worried that they will steal your idea but because you can anger a lot of people if you don’t finish the book.
In my case, it was near a point where a friend of mine refused to read anything I wrote until it was finished. Yeah, I have a lot of partial manuscripts out there and she was tired of getting her hopes up.
8. Don’t Assume It’ll Be Terrible
One of the things I did to help surpass impostor syndrome was admit that it’s arrogant for me to think I know what someone else would like to read. I’m not a mind reader, and I cannot control what someone will or will not enjoy. What I can control is the story I’m writing.
Don’t get halfway through your book and start hating on yourself. This is one of the biggest reasons why so many writers fail to finish writing the first draft. Essentially, they talk themselves out of it because they think no one will like the book.
You might not be everyone’s favorite, but you will be someone’s. Even the worst stories ever printed have cult followings.
9. Don’t Be Afraid to Learn
Learning and growing is how we become successful. Spending time understanding how to write a novel and then putting what you learn into practice builds expertise. Don’t be afraid to take some courses or utilize the hell out of Google search.
One of the most pivotal elements in my fiction writing came when I took the Reedsy masterclass. I learned things about structuring a novel that I would never have thought to Google. It’s why I am working toward getting a master’s degree in Creative Writing and debating going for a PhD.
The more you learn, the more powerful your storytelling becomes. Each subsequent book you write will only get better as long as you keep an open mind and hone your skills.
10. Don’t Be Afraid of Criticism
If you can’t handle criticism, you’re not going to make it far as an author. You have to develop a bit of a thick skin as you can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time. A lot of folks out there are going to hate for the sake of hating.
On the other side of the coin, a proper critique can be quite enlightening. This is especially true if more than one person points out the same problems in the book. This is why I choose to use beta readers before publishing.
Some of the people who never finish writing the first draft can’t get past the idea of criticism. Without constructive criticism, though, how will you learn what to improve? I relish the idea of bad reviews as they will only help me make the next book that much better.
11. Don’t Be Afraid of Offending Someone
A lot of writers won’t finish because they are afraid that they’ll hurt someone’s feelings. Again, you can’t please everyone and you will offend someone with your story. The level of offense will be up to those individuals.
Take a look at the current climate of today’s society. A lot of people in the bible-belt are banning books that denote any kind of sexuality because they deem it “offensive.” So, don’t get wrapped up in the idea that someone will take offense.
Hell, one of my goals is to publish books that get banned in Florida. It’s a badge of honor, in my eyes. I’ll be with some good company in that case.
12. Work On One Thing at a Time!
Perhaps another one of the most important things I’ve learned over the years is to work on one project at a time. It’s easy to build a massive collection of half-written manuscripts because a new idea jumps into your head. The problem is that they usually never get completed.
I had a terrible habit of doing this, and currently have about 30 story ideas saved in Dropbox. It wasn’t until I finished writing the first draft of Shadows of Atlantic City that I made a promise to myself to work on one story at a time.
It’s OK to save ideas for later, but don’t sacrifice time to write them when you have a manuscript already in the works.
What’s Next After Writing the First Draft?
Once the story is out of you and saved in your favorite writing app, take a few weeks off. Come back to it four to six weeks later before you begin editing the manuscript.
Be proud of the accomplishment and take some time for yourself. You are now one of the 3% who start and finish a book!
Taking time away from the book kind of refreshes your mindset. When you do, you’ll find all kinds of errors and gaps in the story that you didn’t see while writing. Plus, it’ll give your mind a bit of time to consider other possibilities.
During these breaks, I often find myself writing another book. In fact, I wrote 60,000 words in Fury after I finished writing the first draft of Shadows of Atlantic City. By the time I came back to Shadows, I was able to see all kinds of plot and character problems.
You’ll also want to consider your editing options. There are a lot of professionals out there who can help you polish up the manuscript quite nicely. Another option is to feed the book through AutoCrit to help you polish up your prose and fix structuring problems before handing it off to someone.
There are a lot of paths you can take, and it’s really up to you and how you wish to proceed. But one of the better ideas centers around editing. Never underestimate what good editing can do to help you engage the reader.
In my experience, you’ll probably spend about twice the time editing as you did writing the first draft…if not longer. However, it’s worth every moment as you can turn a bland story into something truly amazing.
FAQs About Writing a First Draft
One of the biggest issues a lot of authors face is trying to get a jumbled mess of thoughts and ideas out of their heads into a cohesive story. That’s one of the reasons why some authors will write scenes out of chronological order.
The amount of time it takes to write a first draft depends on the estimated length of the novel, how often you write throughout the week, and your typing speed. Ideally, some will aim for 2,000 words per day, which means they can write a full-length novel in about a month.
The very basics of the first draft are to have a comprehensible story from start to finish. As long as the basic idea is there, you can fill in the details and flesh out the manuscript during edits. Just get the story out of your head.
Some authors will focus on one to two hours per day writing the first draft. Stephen King will put in three to four hours to write “fairly clean” pages. I tend to focus on two-hour blocks of time to write between 2,000 and 2,500 words per day.
The purpose of the first draft is just to get the story out of you. It doesn’t need to be amazing, but you do want it comprehensible. The editing process is where you really make the manuscript shine for your audience.
Every author is different. Some will be quite successful as pantsers while others will succeed as plotters. It comes down to what method works best for you to get that first draft written. There is no right or wrong answer in this case.
The most common time frames for many authors is either early in the morning or late in the evening. It all depends on when you’re the most alert and energetic to put in the time to write. For me, I find I am easily a morning writer nowadays. However, I began my career writing later in the evening as that was the only time I had available to write after working a job.
If you use generative AI to write your book, you’re not an author. The AI is. You’re merely the prompt jockey who used a text field to request the programming to put something together. The AI did all of the heavy lifting, so it should get the credit.
How Do You Plan to Write Your First Draft?
I use Asana to plan out my week to ensure I have enough time to write my books. Then, I currently use Reedsy Studio to outline and plan the manuscript while setting realistic goals and deadlines. After that, I start writing.
As simple as it sounds, that’s all it really takes for me to jump into a new book. I have no shortage of story ideas and can usually come up with an outline relatively quickly.
A lot of this comes from practice. I’ve been writing professionally since 2012, and am constantly developing and learning new techniques.
If this is your first book, just focus on getting the story out of you. Don’t fret about editing, criticisms, or whether it’s any good. Just write the book and worry about the rest later.
Writing the first draft isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being completed.
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