How You Can Finish Your Novel’s Half-Written First Draft

Finishing the first draft of your novel is an amazing feeling. The characters, settings, and plot points you imagined and planned are finally set down in words. Once the first draft is done, you know you will be able to make it through editing.

The first draft is no cake walk, though. While it feels great to finish, it’s easy to get stuck in the middle of your first novel draft. There is a lot of fear and doubt involved in a first draft, and it takes time and energy to create. 

But when those last words are written and you can look back on your work, it is an incredible feeling of accomplishment. Novel writing takes work and is not for everyone, but because you are taking the time to read this, I believe you have the ability to finish the draft, and I want to help.

Three Years and 30,000 Words

When I started writing the first draft of my novel The New Dawn (working title), I knew it was going to be hard, and had no clue what I was doing. I almost didn’t finish.

The first 30,000 words or so took me three years to write. Three years for a half-written, unedited rough draft. 

During that time I experimented with many things. I promised myself I would finish, I restarted the draft half-way through, and tried writing consistently everyday, but it all failed. 

There was always something more important to do, and not enough time. On weekends I told myself I would write but hardly did. When there was time to write, I usually opted for an activity I didn’t need to think as much to do. 

The next day I would kick myself for not writing, doubt my ability to ever finish the project, and wonder if I was cut out for writing. After wallowing in my failure, I would recommit myself again to finishing the draft, only to look back two months later and realize I hadn’t added a single word. 

I didn’t understand what was wrong. I knew I loved writing, having written, and imagining my story. Therefore, why couldn’t I finish? Was I not cut out to be a writer? 

The Last, First Daft Sprint

Three years after I started this novel, my life changed when I discovered I needed two hip surgeries. Up to this point I had been dedicated to competitive figure skating. Now I found myself in a new and scary situation. 

I had my first surgery in August, and after a few months I began to realize I could not be able to return to the level of skating I had wanted. As I had these months off of skating, I decided to make progress on what I could still do—writing. 

However, this time around was different—I started making writing a priority in my life. Not only did I purposely sit myself down to write, but I used my spare time to learn about writing through blogposts. 

After my second surgery in December, I committed to writing 1,000 words on my novel every night while I iced my hip. I was scared to make this commitment because I feared I would somehow ruin my novel rough draft (which is ridiculous because the nature of rough drafts are messy). But I promised to write even if I didn’t feel capable or know what to write.

 For the first time in my life I kept my commitment. 

I wrote when family was hanging out, I wrote on movie nights with my siblings, I even made sure to write on Christmas. Some nights I didn’t want to leave to write, and other times I wanted to watch movies and TV shows instead, but I didn’t. Writing became a lifeline for me in my physical recovery. 

By writing 1,000 words every night and not wavering in my commitment, I finished my draft that January. It took a month and a half to write the word count that took me three years before to write. 

I proved to myself that I was capable of being a writer. 

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What to Do For Your Novel Draft

Now I’m not saying you need to boycott your family to write, but I am saying there will be sacrifices you will need to make to finish your novel. Whether it be time from your other activities or cutting out entertainment and social media, if you aren’t writing already you need to find the time somewhere. 

This is where making writing a priority is important. You have many priorities in your life. How can you tell what your priorities are? Look where you spend your time and energy. It could be work, gaming, family, watching TV, browsing on Pinterest, or exercising.

If your novel draft is not what you are spending your time on, then it is not yet a priority in your life even if you want it to be. To make progress on your novel draft you need to actively make it a priority. This may mean it takes the place of something else you have made a priority.

Prioritize Your Novel First Draft

This is a hard change, but it isn’t impossible. Think of what you really want to accomplish in your life. Is making writing a priority what you want your life to look like? Daydream a little now, and imagine the kind of life—the kind of person—you want to be.

Now act like that person. When choosing what to do in your spare time, ask what the person you want to be would choose. Would he/she binge shows or take the time to write or read? This is a practice I continually return to in my own writing life. 

Doing something important and challenging takes intentional work. It takes learning from people who have done it, writing when you don’t feel like you can, and constantly reminding yourself of why you want to do this. 

And then one day you’ll find you have done it, and that you love it.  

How to Finish Your First Draft 

The first thing you need to do is brainstorm when you can write, and commit to writing at that time. I don’t care how long it is, ten to thirty minutes or three hours. Maybe a good time is in the morning before anyone else wakes up, at lunch time, or after everyone is in bed.

Make this a priority in your day. Don’t let anything or anyone interfere. Let yourself do what you love. 

Secondly, find some blogs to follow that teach how to write and give you encouragement. I first started looking at writing blogs on Pinterest, and they were a great help. Here are a few that got me started, and could help you:

• Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s blog Writers Helping Writers
• K.M. Weiland’s blog Helping Writers Become Authors
• Kristen Kieffer’s blog Well-Storied

Also, follow some writers on Twitter, another social media platform, or connect with anyone in your circle who writes. Support can help you a lot when writing a novel first draft.

Thirdly and finally, think of how amazing writing your story is. You are crafting a story no one has yet imagined, unique to you. You get to write and share that to the world in a way no one else can.

The Novel Draft Trial Experiment

If you’re hesitant, make this novel commitment a trial experiment. Put aside your fear and doubts momentarily and just see where it goes. You will have an amazing time. 

The the month and a half I spent finishing my novel’s first draft changed my life. I went in committing to just this novel, not thinking of where it could lead as a career, and I found work I wanted to go all in on.

I believe you have the strength and ability to do that, too.

Writers, what do you think? Are you ready to finish your novel’s first draft? Tell me in the comments!

Featured photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash