How do you keep yourself on track to finish a novel when it seems like it's going to take forever. I wrote about 50 pages when I started it a few months back. Then I realized it just wasn't all adding up or making sense or saying the right thing. A short break gave me a chance to figure it all out (the beginning at least). A week or so of major rewriting and I'm happy with what I've got. I couldn't just continue the story since it really was a mess. This isn't about planning or panting. We've all been at the beginning. And actually my 50 pages shrank to 30 so I'm even closer to the beginning. It just seems like this is going to take forever even if I work on it every day. I'm not going to quit. I just wish I was a little more along than I am. At this rate, I feel like it will take me a good two to five years to finish (including edits). That's much too long for me. How do you pick up the pace, or is that something that sort of happens the more you get into a story? And how do you keep convincing yourself you will finish this, even when there's no end in sight?
What happens after five years? Not being facetious, I'm just curious. I mean, if it takes six years, what of it? Unless you are under contract to complete a novel within a specific time frame, or have some major event approaching, after which you will no longer have the time or resources to write, I wouldn't worry about how long it takes. I'd just focus on working through whatever problems you're having now and get back to writing it.
Honestly part of me never wanted to finish my novel, because I loved working on it. If you enjoy it, so what if it takes five years? And if you don't enjoy it, why do it? I don't understand "that's much too long for me" - you're not on a timer, here.
I have mental milestones planned ahead of time in my stories that usually keep me going. It helps to slog through the harder stuff when I can think, "Once I get through this I can write their first kiss!" or "Just a couple more chapters and then they can have that big fight where they get to have make up sex after."
Remember John Steinbeck's six tips for writers? His tip #1 was: "Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised." So don't worry about finishing. You're on a journey; just enjoy it. You'll be sorry when it's over.
Stuff that helps me: The more you write, the better you get. And the easier it gets. You're always learning some new trick, something that will help you next time. The next book will be faster. Once you finish this book, you can write something else. That always keeps me going. Even if I'm not excited about this project, I'm always excited about the next one, and that pushes me to finish. Progress is often uneven. Even if you're going slow now, eventually, things often "click" and fall into place. The beginning is the hardest part (for a lot of writers). It's like rolling a ball up a hill; eventually you get over the hump, and things start rolling on their own. The first thirty pages might take you months, but the rest could go a lot faster. Try skipping ahead. That helps me a lot. I write my books out of order, though, so my process is a little "different." Whenever I get stuck, bored, or uninspired, I skip to the next exciting part. It helps me write faster; this way I actually care about the story, and I have a clear visual of what I'm writing. So basically... Hope keeps me going. I hope someday it will be easier, even if it's difficult right now.
I couldn't tolerate taking five years to write a novel either. I get it. I do the same as @Laurin Kelly - smaller goals, smaller milestones. Some people set themselves a daily word count (it's good to get into the habit of using word count, not page count, by the way - page count means nothing because of varying fonts, margins, etc). That doesn't work for me because I don't write every day, so I set weekly goals or monthly goals. This is a good tool: https://www.pacemaker.press/ Stop thinking about how many words you have left or how many days it will take you to finish at your current pace. It's overwhelming. Just focus on what you need to achieve today/this week/this month.
Thanks, everyone. I think I'm still worried about actually pulling this off and not having it suck. I'm sure that is a pretty common feeling at the beginning stages. I am going to enjoy the journey. That's great advice @minstrel. There are a few things that factor into why I can't take however much time it takes if we are talking years. It's a lot to go into here, but there is a bit of a rush on this for a few reasons. I just wish I was more like 100 pages in. I feel like I have so little done that I can hardly say I'm writing a novel. I did get a few more pages down today, but all these drops in the bucket wouldn't even fill a glass. I've done weekly writing goals in the past. Though I write most days, I want to be able to skip a day or two here and there. Since I want to edit as I go (I have to at least somewhat. Learned from experience), it's hard for me to just measure world count. Somedays I cut more than I add. Ideally, I wish I could write a chapter a week. I probably could, but I fear having to fix it. Just going through the first 50 pages and fixing all that took a really long time. Writing (and editing and revising) a chapter could probably be done in a month, but I'm not sure because chapter 1 just took so long to get right. The thing is, since I'm not a novelist, I have no idea how many novels I might have to write to be able to write a good one. I probably wrote over 100 short stories before I sold one for big money. Now, it's not all about the money, but nobody has time to write 100 bad novels before a good one comes out, do they? Please don't take 100 tries...
Some people sell their first novel. I almost sold mine, and only failed because I went into it without a commercial attitude (it didn't conform to genre standards because I didn't know what genre it was when I started). From anecdotal evidence, the average among very good writers seems to be 3-5 novels. But I know writers for whom it took one, and writers for whom it took eight. Better than 100, though.
As of this morning, I'm 20,121 words in on my MS. I'm shooting for about 85K, so I'm about a quarter of the way done. My daily word count varies due to having to "real" work to do, but at the pace I'm going, allowing myself holidays off, I should wrap up the first draft in early February. You said, "even if I write every day." If is the wrong word. Even on days when I don't have time to write, I make myself spend at least 30 minutes on something novel related (except for days I've allotted as planned time off - Thanksgiving, Christmas, our anniversary in late January). The day before Thanksgiving I didn't have time to write, but I spent 30 minutes researching Boston Whalers and shot off an email to them asking about a specific model. When I sat down Friday morning to write, they'd responded - I filled in that blank and got back to actual writing. The thing is, if you're worrying about how long this is going to take, you're not putting words on paper. Let it go. When I realized this morning that I'm a quarter of the way done, my first thought was, "Well crap, I don't have enough action in the first quarter! I need to go back through and ratchet this up! I still have 90% of the plot to put down and only 75% of the word count to do it! Damn it!" But again, let it go. Worrying about stuff like that is nothing but a distraction. If I end up writing 100K words instead of 85K, who cares? I'll fix it in the editing process. If it takes me until June to finish it, who cares? If I get 50K words in and have to scrap 25K, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Don't worry about the process, just get write the story, no matter how long it takes. Everything else comes later. And as izzybot said, "If you don't enjoy it, why do it?" If you're happy with what you have so far, then keep at it, but if you're really losing interest in it, then maybe it's the wrong story to tell. Just a thought.
