The Big 50
Mon, 2014-03-24 01:17
#1
The Big 50
I've just reached the 50,000 word mark on the story I'm writing, the most I've ever written. I'm so excited, I thought I'd share it. Does that make me a novel writer now?
I couldn't have gotten so far without people on here - especially RJF and Veraclark for sticking with my series from the start and giving such great feedback and encouragement.
There's still more to write, but I feel encouraged :)
Congratulations, that's great!
You've got a novel, grover. Now you face a decade of editing. But you've done it and I feel so very pleased for you. Such hard work and so worth the slog. Well done.
Thanks Jewel and Vera - I've still got to finish the last part so I should hit at least 60k on the first draft. I've then got the task of adding extra to the start to build up the other characters a little more and give it a new beginning. At the start I was only expecting to go for around 10k words so it's very sparse on detail.
I have no idea where to even start on the rewrite!
Hi Grover
Congratulations! It's a great achievement. I know the feeling when I first hit 50k, too... 'How did I ever manage that?' Surprising how it just builds up, though.
I thought I'd more or less finished at that stage (did it for NaNoWriMo in 2011), but by the time I'd properly finished - new beginning, filling out chapters where I'd skipped over detail, reworking the ending - it was just over 73k, so you might surprise yourself!
The place to start with it, when you decide you have finished the first draft.... is to put it aside for 6 weeks at the very least - longer if you can manage it. Forget about it. Go about your life. Do other things. Take up knitting or something! Then come back to it and read through it. It's really the only way. You have to clear it from your head as much as possible. That way, when you come back.... it'll all open up for you, and you'll see what needs to be done. If you go in and try redrafting straight away, it'll go to pieces. Give it space.
Good luck
That's fantastic news, Grover. A big congratulations - that is an incredible achievement!
Well done Grover,
A real achievement and testiment to your dedication and commitment. Good luck with it As a matter of interest did you post it a chapter at a time or did you wait until you had the complete story if only in your head...
Moya
Thanks, Stan, Luke and Denzella!
Denzella, I wrote a chapter at a time with a vague idea of an ending. Some plot elements were planned from the start but new ones emerged along with new characters as I went along. For example, the character of Richard wasn't going to feature at all but suddenly came into it near the end and fitted in with the story really well. It's also changed the ending slightly to a point that I have two possible endings: a happy ending or a tradgic ending. I'm not sure which to chose. I've tried planning out stories with notes and flow charts but it bores me. I like to have an idea of where I want to go but I haven't planned anything of this novel. Knowing the exact course is boring.
Stan, good advice about putting it away for a break. I actually want to write a new beginning and change an element about the main character.
Dead right! I always start with just a general idea. Working to a rigid plotline goes against the whole idea of creativitiy, I think. Lots of writers write (or wrote) without plots. Stephen King, Raymond Carver, Flannery O'Connor, Steinbeck, etc. As King said 'If I don't know what's going to happen next, I've got a pretty good chance of surprising the reader, too.' Plus, it's magic when you're just going along and POP! - up comes a new character who changes things around!
Your ending will come to you in the rewrite. I had the same thing - wasn't quite sure how to end it. The ending was the last thing I wrote - which sounds obvious! But I mean I left it open until the rewrite... and then the ending I chose became the inevitable one.
Good luck!
Is the ending of In the Day truly the end? A certain character can get fished out by the coastguard and..
And well done Grover 50,000 - I'm impressed.
Haha... it's the end of what I wanted to say, Elsie!
Brilliant news Grover. 50k words is an acheivement. But, now the hard work begins. Finish it, edit it, market it, publish it, keep marketing it, etc etc. Good luck mate, hope all goes well.
Stan - there's no fun as a writer if you know every single scene and plot point before you've started the first word. If the idea's strong, then the plot writes itself, or so I find.
Thanks Elsie - the most I've managed before was 43k words and most of those words were pretty dire. I feel a massive achievement with this.
Thanks, Jolono - before the hard work I need to finish the thing. I thought the ending was closer, but it keeps floating away... ah well, so long as I'm still enjoying writing it :)
Well done. Keep it up and you'll be up to 100,000 in no time!
Grover,
You have inspired me to post part of a longer story that as yet I don't quite know where it is going if anywhere. At least I'm trying to pluck up the courage to post roughly 1000 word chunks. But so far i have only written about ten thousand words and I have another story of about the same wordage.that also has not seen the light of day but it's scary because I'm not that sure I can write serious stuff.
Writing is like giving birth it is only when someone else reads it does one know whether one has been delivered of a monster. Oh dear, I'm starting to get contractiions!
Moya
Thnanks, Mandy.
Denzella, I'll have a look if you post. I'm sure you can write serious stuff. I'm still not sure I'm writing serious stuff and feel like I'm just goofing around ;)
There's lots of good stuff I've read on here that's long. I was inspired by Lisah and her Elusive Cure story that came to around 50 odd parts. It's out in ebook on amazon and worth a read - I've even bought a copy.
RJH has started writing longer parts in a series, breaking it all down. It really makes writing a novel a less daunting task. When you've a house to build, concentrating on the first brick is easy. There are many longer works on here and I'm slowly trying to get around to reading them all.
If writing is like giving birth, then my story is going through the terrible twos :)
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for that. I might just dip a toe to see how cold the water is.
Moya
Hi again Kevin,
I've posted the first part.
Whew!
Moya
The first draft of my novel is done - nearly 60k words! Phew! Feels good to have actually managed to finish it.
Congratulations, Grover. Here's to the next 50,000!