I finished the rough draft of the book at 44,003 words, which makes it not so much a novel as a novella. That being said, there’s probably another 15,000 words in there once I actually print out the pages and start ripping the thing apart and stitching it back together again. I’ve already got five pages of notes on needed repairs for the first edit. And the first edit will only, to be honest, make the damn thing legible, not even getting into continuity issues, character development hiccups, and downright ugly sections that ought to be burned. So, if there’s even really anything there worth saving from the bonfire, which I’m only halfway certain of, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Weeks of work. Months.
But, first, I think I’ll take the evening off. After all, I did write a book in ten days.
My first drafts are usually jumping-off points. (Not jumping off cliffs, though that does occur to me…)
I use them to keep certain scenes that worked (but need to be improved), jettison ones that don’t, and get to know my characters. I basically re-outline after that draft, and then make a new “first draft” more quickly, and one that is far superior that I can revise and edit.
But um – 10 DAYS?! Congrats! Heck, congrats either way. If it takes 10 years, 10 months, 10 days – whatever. Writing is writing, and you did it. And it’s scary to ‘finish’ something and have it be… imperfect. (You should see some of my drafts… wait, no, no one should.)
That’s awesome.
Thanks! I think the first draft will (hopefully) not need a “second” first draft, since I worked from a fairly extensive outline, made from about sixty million pages of notes that wound up being beaten around the apartment by the cats. (I guess if you include the note and outline time, it took 11 days to write). I also (in spite of my intention to force out a shitty first draft and be done) kept going back and reworking critical scenes as I realized they were wrong. So I’m *hoping* that I’ve got an actual first draft on my hands.
Of course, once it’s printed on real paper and I sit down at the table with a red pen, I may discover that it’s entirely irredeemable crap. I figure it’s a 50/50 shot.
Well done, indeed.
Now, take a nap, and eat a snack. :)
[...] It would seem that the editing process is taking a little longer than ten days. [...]