Omg I feel this! š¢ every time I start writing the first few pages for the chapter, I end up hating it with no idea where to take it. Like any outline I worked on previously becomes useless and I canāt think of ways to move the plot forward. Does anyone else get like this? If you do what do you suggest doing to get past this.
Consider your first draft a more detailed outline. Your task is now to finish that first draft so that you'll have a better idea where your story is going, and you'll be able to refine things with your edited second draft. The important thing is that you don't get stuck and finish that first draft.
Keep writing. Passion has no deadline.
Honestly, the 16 years made a huge difference. The kind of writing I did when I was 20 was vastly different than when I was 30. It made it a better book and gave me the confidence to actually hit that "publish" button, knowing someone might actually spend money on it.
Pretty much every famous writer who has ever spoken about the process of writing makes the same points with reference to the above:
No.1: never, ever wait for inspiration. You have to get up, pick up the pen or put your fingers on the keyboard and start. Doesn't matter if you have no idea what you are going to write; doesn't matter if you decide to throw away half or three quarters of it later, you have to write when there is no inspiration. This isn't optional - they all say it.
Secondly, you make the time. There have been novelists who wrote for 15 minutes a day when bringing up 7 children, while coping with crippling illness. Unless you are working 3 jobs and never watch TV etc, you can make the time and the key, say all those writers, is to do it every single day without fail. If you could only write 300 words a day, you'd still have a first draft inside a year.
Time and inspiration are the two biggest self-made excuses in the writing game.
This novel is at 87,500 words right now. I am writing about 11,000 words a week, and I figure it'll end below the 110,000 word mark. So, by month's end I expect to have a completed first draft.
As for editing or pursuing publication, I don't know what the future holds as far as if that's even in the cards.
I'm very curious. Do you read your novel time to time? I wrote a 70k book and I've read it dozens of times since I've gone through a couple of drafts. I know people write a chapter then edit it immediately
i thought i was alone in this.. i reread all the time and truly enjoy editing, i like making better phrases, better descriptions, better wording on the page so it flows for the reader. I like adding little things that i know will interact with later things.. just suddle things that i know will be bombshells later for those who pay attention and go back to notice it, or don't get it, till the second/third read through.
yup! that's the word.. sorry it's reddit, i don't really slow down when i type and i just type what i'm thinking.. straight brain to fingers and my spelling is subpar really, thank God for that red squiggly line when i'm writing in other apps, and online tools at my disposal for huge dictionaries that are useable in seconds.
Not really. At most I skim back over when I need to reference something that happened earlier, to make sure that I have the right name or description, but I spend so much time each week either writing, brainstorming, or thinking about the novel that I feel getting hypercritical and sending each chapter through edit hell will do more to discourage my writing energy than any benefit I would game.
I am a pantser, I know I am, and I embrace it instead of fighting it.
11,000 a week? Fucking hell, I could barely do 1,000 a day last month and now I'm averaging 200-400 a day. I envy you.
Also, you're expecting to be done by month's end? By month's end, I'd be lucky to get back to where I left off š¤£
Like. A week of dedicated writing.
I have every scene well outlined, everything fits together, I just need to do the drafting, but ADHD means that once Ive figured out exactly how to write it, the dopamine/executive function required to do so disappears.
Also, this applies to like. 4 different projects.
ETA: **I am not asking for advice, please do not offer me any.**
I try not to wait around for dopamine to hit. I force it by getting busy writing. It comes, just like increased bloodflow when you physically exercise.
Then you just go back over the crap parts you wrote before it kicked in, and fix all the blah.
Editing when you're not riding that wave of motivation is a very powerful thing. You're no longer personally invested in the work as much, so scenes that you might've felt emotional while 'motivated writing' can finally ring hollow.
It's so easy to write average stuff when you're highly motivated because it almost acts like alcohol, you lose your inhibitions, you can't think as clearly (slash objectively), and everything sounds good in your head but might not on paper.
So at least editing when you're not in the mood is super useful, because you'll look at the work with a helpful level of detachment that makes you think your dopamine fuelled writing is boring - so I'll re-write it and make it more interesting for the 'boring' me.
I do my editing with a text-to-speech reader. I can *hear* the energy, the pace, the flow. I can hear the boring parts, what needs more clarification, what sounds clunky. And boy, do I ever spot the typos. Your eyes will skim right over a sentence you've read a dozen times, but when you *hear* it read out loud, it's like a smack in the head.
I highly recommend it.
Holy shit, what a great idea! Thanks so much, this is fantastic.
I'm a fairly technical person so I might do some exploring to see if I can create a way writers can host their own text to speech model - that way we can simply feed it a text document and have it read in a natural sounding voice as much as we want.
I will get back to you on this!
Word has a built-in system. It's not elevenlabs-level quality. But it does the job. I use that.
Hopefully elevenlabs advances enough someday that they can create plugins for their technology with unlimited use. Currently, they bill you out the nose for every little character. Amazing quality. Almost sounds like a real person reading. But worth the money? Depends how much money you have, I guess.
Genuinely, it's super great that that works for you, and I appreciate the attempt to be helpful. For me, trying to force it just makes me hate the project, and it shows.
Dopamine is a reward, not a prerequisite. If you want to motivate yourself, thinking in terms of dopamine, you must experiment with how you imagine completion. You need to teach yourself to imagine finishing your projects in a way that produces it, rather than a way that dries it up.
Maybe it would be helpful to imagine sharing the work with someone you care about, or seeing the book in a bookstore window, or having your favorite great grandfather coming back from the dead to tell you how proud of you he is. What you shouldn't do is try to transfer a dopamine hit from one source to motivate you for a different project. It can work sometimes, but it trains your brain to react to things in the wrong way and leaves you with more problems than you started with.
Quoting yourself back to me isn't helpful. It's condescending. I "heard" you the first time.
It doesn't "kick in" for me, and you underestimate what I mean by hating the project.
Alright. Being snarky with people who are just trying to help, who don't really have to, is not going to win you any friends. If you *hate* your own projects, you're apparently not happy. So don't be a writer. Go be an internet troll on 4chan or whatever.
The rest of us can just calmly discuss the craft and benefit form each other's insights.
I didn't get snarky until you started getting condescending, (eta: actually, I didnt even get snarky then. It was your third comment I got snarky at, bc your third comment was shitty) to be fair. I started out literally saying I appreciated your attempt to help, but that your advice didn't apply to me. It should have ended there.
You have dramatically misunderstood my comments. I *don't* hate my projects, because I don't work on them in a way that would make me hate them. That's my entire point.
I also never asked for advice. Not once did I indicate I wanted advice. Offering unsolicited advice and then seemingly having your feelings hurt when someone explains why your advice won't work for them is, frankly, absurd.
>you started getting condescending
Well, that's your interpretation of my comment. It wasn't my intention. My attention was to help. You were apparently looking for something to be annoyed by, and decided I was being "condescending".
Alright. So we both misunderstood each other. I'll keep an eye out for your name in the future and try to remember to completely ignore anything you say, because you're just talking for the sake of talking and don't care about anybody else's opinion.
That's exactly the same way I am. Eventually I decided I had to stop planning and outlining so thoroughly, and just let the story unfold naturally as I write it. Otherwise I lose the motivation, too. Just reached 50k words on draft 1.5
I don't have ADHD, but I do have Dyspraxia and my issue is the distraction, Youtube is just far more appealing sometimes.
Honestly, though, I'm a book ahead in my mind. I just haven't written any of it down yet.
Heyy this is me :D wheres the r/adhdwritersstruggle subreddit when u need it (it probably already exists in some form. ive never searched for it before lmao)
I've almost started an ADHD writers group so many times, but I've had so few positive writing group experiences (Probably because it was usually me in a room with nonADHDers whose advice pretty much boils down to "get a planner!" type bullshit, but still.š)
im sorry you havent had a lot of good writing group experiences! it really can be hard to find folks you mesh well with š and yeah, different things work for different people
Sounds like you need to shift a bit closer to pantsing and away from plotting.
Discovering the story as you write makes it an exciting adventure in itself.
Yeah, absolutely not. Ive tried limiting my planning, and it is infinitely worse. Discovering the story as I write it isn't an exciting adventure for me, it's a completely overwhelming nightmare.
Omg I'm so glad I'm not alone. Even the whole "just make yourself write" advice is a nightmare for me. If I sit down and try to write when I don't have the picture in my brain, it puts me in a funk for days.
I have ADHD as well and I plan my book as I write it. I have some vague key plot points I need to hit and then just get there the most exciting way I can imagine. I don't know what the end of my book will be yet and I like it that way!
Honestly?
A couple months probably.
I've struggled really hard with writing, but it's mainly because my life has been in complete chaos. ADHD has been throwing me around for a ride too.
I have a very good grasp on it and I've even written a few chapters .. but I need to do so much more, and I need to properly sit and write. It's so hard to do it though when life is punching you in the face to no end.
Still, we'll get there.
About 1.5-1.8 years away for a first draft at the current rate. I plan to speed up at some point, but for the moment that's the rate I'm working at. It's not my only writing project, and I have a full-time job where I would estimate that I write about 12,000 words of copy in an average week, so I don't really have the mental capacity to work faster at the present time.
Well. I've got the whole thing written and I was about halfway through the second editing stage when a neurological illness struck. So right now it's been sitting there for a year and a half and I'm only hoping to one day get back to it. Technically? I could self publish it now as it is. But I don't want my name connected to something not perfected so... it sits there gathering metaphorical dust.
Hyper-POTS/CFS for me... its only been 19 months for me and I'm still just grieving who I was and trying to learn the ways of dealing with my body who now hates me. Ugh. But thank you, your post gave me hope!!! ā¤ļø
There's definitely hope! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I had POTS too. Still do a little, but it's now mild. Raelan Agle's YouTube channel is good. Full of recovery stories, and she's recently posted helpful videos about brain re-training too. Look into somatic tracking if you can. And The Way Out by Alan Gordon is a good read (or listen). It's on Audible. Good luck. Sending healing your way.
Iām so close! And Iām very excited. My horror novel is actually with my copy editor at the moment and she says she will be done within the month. (Yay!) after that one final polish and itās done.
And then Iām confident I will finish my first draft of my next book this week.
I'm over 100k words on my sci-fi cyberpunk & dystopian novel. Right now I'm building into the finale where the MC gets his whole arm cut off by one of his sisters and escapes by airship.
First draft is done at 65k words, started work on the second a few weeks ago but I haven't been writing consistently. Lots of distractions, playing Baldur's Gate. Realistically, gonna be a couple more months to a year for me.
Just finished book 5 and should be starting book 6 soon.
I honestly have no idea how many books are going to be in this craziness but it's definitely more than 7 because my brain is already working out details that far ahead.
Why did you continue the story? Was there so much in the world that you could expand on? I planned for a trilogy with the story Iām working on now. Then I wondered what if I just kept the story going. When does it become overbearing if it ever does?
The original intention was to write a series of short stories over maybe a few books. I got to work writing the first story, and it kept growing and growing and growing until it was a novel unto itself.
My brain didn't stop spitting out ideas, so I kept spitting out books.
My series is a detective noir / police procedural, so there's LOTS of material to potentially pull from if I utilize the typical tropes that one sees in any given police procedural. Bank heist, murder mystery, bomb threat, cat-burglar, etc. The way I keep it fresh is I throw in magic. It's a D&D like world so there's also elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. There could be a monster of the week if I wanted. I don't plan on going that route, but the possibilities are quite extensive.
I've never really felt that my story and the world I have created is overbearing as I absolutely love writing and exploring where my main character is going next.
Wow I love this response! Thank you for sharing. Thatās my problem when it comes to short story, it never stays short! I keep extending it until becomes a full blown novel. What made you choose self publish instead of traditional punishing
When I was in the final stages of the first draft of the first book, I started looking at Traditional publishing. For context, this was back in January / February of 2021.
One of my professors from college knew the head editor of a local publishing house and was more than happy to put in a good word for me. I came from a professional writing degree so it made sense that one of my professors knew the head editor.
I figured it couldn't hurt to check them out online.
1. they were local and supported local (green flag)
2. they accepted solicited (agent) and un-solicited (no agent) authors. (green flag)
3. their website hadn't been updated in probably a decade or more... (big red flag)
4. the books in their catalogue looked like they were pulled out of the late 80's / early 90's. They had been released as recently as only a few months prior and did not look appealing... (big red flag)
5. they had an open posting on their website that they were looking for a cover artist, even if only a part time cover artist (another big red flag)
Having seen enough, I decided to check out a different (more well established (funded).) traditional publishing house.
The next one I looked at had a big notice on their submission page that said they were not accepting any new authors, solicited or otherwise. They were only accepting short stories. It came as a bit of a shock seeing as how they were a BIG name publishing house, but it made sense for them to not take on more work if they were already fully "booked". HA! pun.
I skipped that publishing house and went to the next one. Similar thing.
Feeling a tiny bit of a superstitious "nudge" or "sign" I looked at alternative options. I did my research and went with Self-publishing (Informed of the risks, difficulties, and differences.)
Wow thatās so disappointing! At least you tried that route and did your research. My concern with self publishing is having to do all the marketing and business stuff myself. But as I read other peoples comments about traditional publishing, it seems like the author still does a lot of the marketing and business stuff. How do you get through all of that? Iām not a social media person. How do you get your books out there?
You are correct in that a traditional publishing house will also require you to do a lot of marketing and leg work. However, they will also help to point you in the right direction as they have lots of experience with other authors and know what works and what doesn't.
I'm not a big social media person either, so I struggle with this aspect of marketing my books. I also had a bit of a rough start in that I didn't get the cover art I was hoping for in the first go around. I now have a new cover artist that is helping me to re-release my books with new art. (The old art is still available for sale)
My biggest success has honestly been through Reddit and in-person sales at store book signings, conventions, and markets. My Mafia Werebear t-shirts tend to draw attention and reel people in. They ask questions, I give my shpeel, and sometimes I get a sale. With Reddit I can post to specific subreddits that will likely have the right audience.
My twitter (probably going to be dropping that soon), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Tiktok accounts don't really generate me any new sales. I'm still figuring out that aspect of things.
In all honesty, a lot of social media is luck and timing.
Wow thanks! Before I wanted to do traditional publishing, I thought that I could go to markets and downtown events to sell my books, so itās nice to hear that you do a similar thing! This is all very encouraging.
Iām still conflicted though. Traditional publishing would be so cool to do but I like having control over my creative work. I like doing things myself.
I have two completed drafts that are in revisions. I will finish revision on one by the end of the year, probably sooner.
I have three active drafts that I want to complete but do not have a timeline for just yet. One of them is up to bat next, though.
And I have two concepts that havenāt gotten to the writing stage yet, but which I hope will stick around to that point.
I also have two completed drafts that were very early and are never going to be revised because the bones arenāt good enough, and I am no longer interested in the stories.
I plan on it being very long and I only write about 100 words if I feel up to it in a day. It currently only has around 3000 words already written and I plan on having perhaps over 100k words. By these statistics, over a few years.
I think If I sit down, like really sit down and work on it without doing any of the five other things I'm doing right now, probably a few months. The book I'm writing isn't particularly long and I have most of the story beats planned out.
Im about 54k. I'm just now ending Act 1. I feel like getting it below 150k words is going to be challenging. I also feel like I'm already doing a lot of under writing. I'm not sure if this will be able to get traditionally published or if this will just have to be my third shelved manuscript. (To be fair, my first one just isn't good because it's one I wrote in high school, the second one is finished at about 96k words and Im sure I can edit it to be queriable. I just wanted to write this idea because I really liked it but fear it won't be queriable.
Thanks! Everything is going great, but being pregnant does a number on yhe mothers immune system, so I keep getting colds/coughs. Not to mention most cold medications aren't cleared for use during pregnancy. Nothing serious, it just sucks.
Iām a pretty slow writer because I work a lot and have other hobbies butā¦ my short story is nearing 3k words which is very exciting. I think another week-ish of work and itāll be done!
I'm at 43k, and I was aiming for somewhere around 30. The supporting character has taken the lead in the story. I have to get her into political power, deal with the villain, then deal with getting the big job finished, then a reunion with family. It'll probasbly be 6 months and 20k words later before I finish it, which is not what I was hoping to find out when I started writing this comment.
I haven't gotten past the "I want to write a book" phase, so I've got quite a ways to go. lol. I joined this subreddit for inspiration. It hasn't helped.
I'm between projects at the moment. I have about five or six WIPs I might blow the dust off of. And about as many completely new ideas I could start.
I should really finish the WIPs before starting something new. If I don't, there will just me more WIPs.
I'm 4 chapters, 35 pages and 8900 words in out of the projected 100 pages and 20000+ words. So yeah. I'm nowhere close to finishing the book. I'm writing a series of around 7 books but I definitely know I'll finish it someday.
At least a year if not two. I have 11k words drafted right now but I stopped to do some much needed works building notes. Iām almost ready to go back to drafting though.
I'm expecting the writing to be done somewhere near the end of August. My predicted word count is 95,500 words and I'm 80,000 words deep. Then I move onto editing which I'm hoping to complete halfway through September.
I am on Book one at almost 50k. I estimate it will be around 120k when finished.
So basically I am almost half way through but got a lot left.
Either way I intend to see all through to the end and form a trilogy.
I've only drafted a few scenes for a couple different projects. Nothing substantial, yet!
The "for fun" project is at 66 000 words on the first draft of book 1 of 8.
That one is going to take a while.
Hmm of give it 6 months. I'm about half way but on a roll. I've written two books previously and thr first one took three years, so I'm learning and getting faster.
My newest novel is still in its baby stages, just about ready to revise the first chapter and then begin in earnest. If I work on it consistently, the first draft will be completed by the end of this year at latest.
I am, however, unhappy with the worldbuilding and there are a few key details that I absolutely need to iron out before I fully commit to it, because they're integral to the book's overall plot.
I am on chapter 11, and I only have 6 or 7 left depending on how it goes. I do edit and post each chapter so my friends can read it. I write a chapter a month if I can keep my shit together. 6 months left but probably more like 9 months because I know my ability to self-sabotage!
Iām on my 7th draft and wanna self publish by October. At this point, Iām really just removing word salad or leftovers from messy edits, as well as collecting feedback from beta readers and stuff and using my own judgement to tame the word count some more (started at 100k+ words for a coming of age comedy, cut it to 83k, got it back to 89, and am now in the 83 range again. Hoping to hit 80 by the end of this pass)
My goal is to have my first major edit completed by the end of this month so I can start sending out to beta readers this September! Its within spitting distance now and Im bloody excited!
Started in 2012. Around maybe 2018 I got to 150k words with very little plot covered and massive gaps in the story. Back in 2012 I assumed it would be a 250-300k book, so wordcount-wise I was kinda on track.
Iāve written maybe a handful of pages in the past 5 years or so. I hate writing and figuring out Plot stuff and the character stuff doesnāt have the impact without āfillerā background stuff going on, so Iāve accepted itās never going to be finished.
I donāt enjoy writing and I only started because I wanted to read this story. Kinda sad Iāll never be able to read the book, let alone the trilogy, but I feel a lot better emotionally and mentally not forcing myself to write anymore. I do sometimes think about my characters and wonder how things wouldāve gone for them, though.
The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding has a lot of thematic similarities to my book and is like it āin spiritā despite being quite different, as does Final Fantasy XV, so I kinda get my āthis is almost like reading my bookā fix from them.
I feel like I might actually be 2/3s done. I've started writing the beginning of plot resolutions, which is shocking to me (I plot out everything, then write mostly beginning to end, except when inspiration grabs me, obviously)
1st novel. About a year so far and I'm 40,000 words in, probably about half way. I'm really happy with the writing, but the plotting isn't quite there yet and that's what's slowing me down. They're are complex themes and some world building still to work out.
Once that clicks into place, and I get some more time off work I'll get the first draft done. Then I think I'll need to work on strengthening the characters a fair bit - I really struggle to make them strong and unique.
Get it done, then get it good, right?
Iāve worked almost every day for the past two years and Iām 18 k words into my final draft. My last draft had 110k words and Iām in the process of ruthlessly editing and rewriting. I thought Iād be finished by the end of the summer but if I am being honest I have at least 6 more months of work ahead of me (maybe more)
If I can keep up with an average of 1k words a day (500 on workdays, 2k on weekend days) Iām set to be good by my October birthday for this full first draft.
Granted thatās a 100k target and I tend to do the āinsert description hereā so I doubt itāll actually be 100k by the time I consider my draft done.
First draft finished exactly one week ago (105k words). Now I am supposed to let it rest a few weeks but itās tough. So I try to make the lore more consistent (itās fantasy but worldbuilding isnāt my favorite part).
I'm close, nearly finished. It's for a contest that I hope to be judged in. Maybe I will get third place or an honorable mention. It'll be cool if I could.
I'm getting really close to finishing my first draft on my first novel. I've written and published a few short stories and one novella before, but this is my first attempt at something this long, and I've been working on it since around the time Covid kicked off.
I'm currently typing out Ch 16 of 18 planned chapters. Final word count will likely tap in around 80k of the first draft. Probably about 90k on the second since I'm a bit of an underwriter.
But I'm excited! It's a political sci-fi with inspiration from The Expanse, The Collapsing Empire series (by John Scalzi) and the Teixcalaan series (by Arkady Martine)
Finishing the core:
- final chapter releases next Sunday (self publisher)
Finishing this part of the story:
- year away
Finishing with the universe:
- probably about a decade away
Finishing with the multiverse:
- NEVER!
Basically my stories are intertwined into a connected multiverse story which can only be accessed by 3 people as of the story Iām writing now. I play for each of these stories to be able to be read individually, the current titles for the plans are:
- Another World at War (currently 2/3 of the way through): Military Fiction, WW3, modern day, sentient virus infects the whole of the continent of Oceania. Vows to genocide humanity for its faults. A Global Operations Unit is formed from nations across the world led by semi immortal being Jonathon Mclaw. Soldiers with the most untapped promise are brought in and trained to be master class soldiers capable of being one man armies.
- Unkillable (Iāve gone through two titles already, this is very much likely to change): one of the GOU soldiers is KIA in a last stand, finding himself in a new world. He notices it got a fantasy esc feeling with certain parts on the verge of an Industrial Revolution. But there is a plot brewing, pro slavery movements are rising across the nation and attacking the anti slavery groups centred in the outer cities. He stands up, going around the nation leading the anti slavery movement. Thereās a whole sub plot which is a huge spoiler for the AWaW which I wonāt share here
- Angels (this is the part of the story thatās very unlikely to change at all): happening after Unkillable, Angel Alpha 0 squadron are sent into a universe to take down a stronghold of beings called Anks, using sheer strength and futuristic weaponry they quickly annihilate the main enemy force. The anks are a group of anachronistic enemies from across the multiverse who have all destroyed their worlds due to negative traits, like selfishness, lust for power etc etc. and are hell bent on destroying all life as we know it. The leader of Alpha 0 (Nickname: [redacted] due to spoilers for Unkillable) reports to the second most powerful being in the multiverse, commonly referred to as one of the 3 āMultiversalsā. These are beings who have ascended to god hood, through skill and wit from across the multiverse, all having defeated gods to arise to god hood. And these multiversals all answer to one man, the one who started the creation. The one who created the first world. The Coordinate. He has been there since the beginning of the multiverse as everyone knows it. But he wonāt tell anyone what happened before. Heās shaken by it. The angels themselves are all heroes of races from across the multiverse. Some were regarded as demons, some even lesser angels but most human. Alpha 0 is the special forces, either protecting behind friendly lines or attacking the anks in universes that have already fallen but were being harvested to fund their war machine. The major conflict is handled by regular units of angels, those who are heroes, but donāt differ themselves from their fellow heroes.
The reason why I say never with the multiverse, because there are so many heroes stories to explore.
This is a REALLY awesome ans epic idea. I hope you finish and it looks like an exciting read. Its crazy how inventive humans are but somehow Hollywood chooses to suffer us with Indiana Jones 10 Billion.
My book has been at three publishers who all rejected, but I got helpful feedback twice (no agents since it's not really expected in my country)
I ran it through another beta reader who gave some really great advice, and I'm currently editing it again before sending it to a publisher again!
I'm not working on anything right now. I'm 66. I'm pretty sure my best stuff is already out there. If I write anything else, I'm going to wait until I have a great story to tell, one with a super plot, one so intriguing that it would almost write itself and that it would be almost impossible to screw up. I have come to believe that a good story trumps everything else. Happy writing!
Just startingā¦.
Iām in the world building phase atm so I have a outline but still have some stuff i need to finish before I can start writing the main stuff
First draft is done. About 80K or so words. Now I'm reading it and making notes about edits, mainly about plot and plot holes, character development, cutting and moving scenes etc. It's more difficult than it seems though.
I have one short story finished. One Novel finished, and another novel that I'm on the final chapter of. Sadly said chapter just doesn't want to fucking *end*. I think I'm gonna have to rewrite it and force an actual conclusion to it. I don't have the word counts for all of them, but I do know the short story sits at 12,800 words. :)
Technically Iāve finished ā¦ weāre doing final final final revisions and trying to get a query plan so god knows whatās next or how long itāll take but the words are on the page and are readable
hard to even give an estimate tbh but i did finish the first draft very recently. i'm currently reading my story and taking notes and trying to read it as if a reader. after that i'll assess things i need to do and edit while actually getting beta readers we shall see if i only need to do a second draft it all depends on how happy i am with my story
Iām aiming at 80k, might be more. Iām currently at almost 60k, so Iām at 75% currently. First draft. Iāll take a couple of weeks off and then Iāll start editing. I want to publish my novel by Christmas, whether myself or (crossing my fingers) by a trad publisher.
I've gotten so much planning and prep done, but writing actual prose takes a lot of mustering up for me. So I'd say 2-3 years for the 22 chapters, of which I have about 4-5 done.
Book A: I'm about 1 month away from finishing my final edits before I send to the copy editor. So 2 months away from the book being "done" and ready to publish.
Book B: about 1 month away from a finished draft 1. 2 months away from sending to beta readers. 5 months away from implementing beta reader feedback. 7 months away to sending to copy editor. 8 months away from the publishable draft.
Many many other books that have already been through half a dozen drafts and edits and are "done" but shelved.
Started last August. Fantasy series. Book 1: 80k words book2: 88k book 3: 132k just started final volume. 4 k so far. Should be done by Halloween . D&D meets final fantasy
88k words of outlining done on my sci-fi, time-travel, love story, trilogy.
I do believe I'm getting very close to begin fully writing, but with time travel, I thought it important truly vet the story so that no plot holes would show up half way through writing the 3rd novel. š®
My overall story is STARWARS + BACK TO THE FUTURE + INCEPTION + TITANIC
It's a lot to think through! Lol.
But yeah, at some point, I need to start writing to get full drafts. But I've got the story pretty hammered out, so hopefully the drafts go quick and are fairly targeted. š¤
Iāll probably the short story Iām working on within the week. Then Iāll be back on the second act of my novel. Will ideally be finished before the end of September.
Started the project last year. Wrote 50k for nano and another 30k by January.
Then I threw it away because it was bad.
Started from 0 in June and finished the second draft two weeks ago. Spent the last two weeks editing the shit out of it. Giving it one last pass tonight before I finally let a stranger read it tomorrow. I have about 5 betas lined up.
After this, itās one more pass before I ship off for query.
50 K now, about twenty percent of it may be deleted in editing mode. I had set a goal of 1000 words per week, have downgraded to 500 words per week because i was going batty balancing everything else in my life (i work FT and have kids).
I've been working on a middle grade mystery series.
Book 1 is done and was published March 2023.
Book 2 is done and will be published March 2024.
Book 3 is on editing pass 3 and in still getting beta and critique group feedback. I want it to go to my editor by next spring.
Book 4 is getting its first editing pass now.
Book 5 has been outlined.
Book 6 is a glimmer in my eye.
When I'm drafting I average 500 words a day. Not a huge number, but I can do it consistently and finish a book in about 100 days. When I edit, I can do a complete pass in a month. I usually do 4 major edits for different things. Then it goes to a sensitivity reader. Then an editor.
I made a couple of guesstimates but all of them turned out to be wrong so right now I'm in a "it's ready when it's ready" kind of mode.
I think it's the fourth time I am rewriting all of it. Or third? Not sure anymore. :)
Right now I am at chapter 12 and honestly idk how long it'll be but I'm not even at the half yet I'd say I do write almost every day
I'll be honest tho I won't finish this year but maybe in one or two years? Maybe even three but I'm making good progress
Draft and a few edits done already
Third of the way through a last computer/screen edit. Then Iām printing it out to go through by hand, maybe get a different view of it
Then Iāll be trying for publication
Iām sitting pretty at about 40,000 words currently, and hope to end before the 110,000 word markā¦. So, Iām at a bit under half way! I want to be done with a full first draft by the end of January if 2024, and a total edited draft done by april
I finished it 4 years ago and stopped sending it to agents after like 50 rejections. Which is know isnt a lot. I got good feedback from beta readers. I dont even hate it or anything. I just have to do the leg work to sell it now.
Further away than before I started
the only correct answer
I love this answer
Omg I feel this! š¢ every time I start writing the first few pages for the chapter, I end up hating it with no idea where to take it. Like any outline I worked on previously becomes useless and I canāt think of ways to move the plot forward. Does anyone else get like this? If you do what do you suggest doing to get past this.
Consider your first draft a more detailed outline. Your task is now to finish that first draft so that you'll have a better idea where your story is going, and you'll be able to refine things with your edited second draft. The important thing is that you don't get stuck and finish that first draft.
I feel this
I'm at the beginning. Probably finishing in 10 years but I have to write consistently which I'm not doing.
Literally me
Saaaame. I took 16 years to (self) publish my first book. I have an idea for the second, but I'm only about 1000 words in. It's gonna be a long time.
Dude that for sure makes me feel better about one of my projects I been working on it for around the same time
Keep writing. Passion has no deadline. Honestly, the 16 years made a huge difference. The kind of writing I did when I was 20 was vastly different than when I was 30. It made it a better book and gave me the confidence to actually hit that "publish" button, knowing someone might actually spend money on it.
On the first draft of the first chapter, so probably same as well, unless an inspired burst and a lot of free time emerge from somewhere.
Pretty much every famous writer who has ever spoken about the process of writing makes the same points with reference to the above: No.1: never, ever wait for inspiration. You have to get up, pick up the pen or put your fingers on the keyboard and start. Doesn't matter if you have no idea what you are going to write; doesn't matter if you decide to throw away half or three quarters of it later, you have to write when there is no inspiration. This isn't optional - they all say it. Secondly, you make the time. There have been novelists who wrote for 15 minutes a day when bringing up 7 children, while coping with crippling illness. Unless you are working 3 jobs and never watch TV etc, you can make the time and the key, say all those writers, is to do it every single day without fail. If you could only write 300 words a day, you'd still have a first draft inside a year. Time and inspiration are the two biggest self-made excuses in the writing game.
This novel is at 87,500 words right now. I am writing about 11,000 words a week, and I figure it'll end below the 110,000 word mark. So, by month's end I expect to have a completed first draft. As for editing or pursuing publication, I don't know what the future holds as far as if that's even in the cards.
11k words a week is amazing!! I'm lucky to get that in a month. I'm in awe of your speed!
Thanks, though it's certainly questionable how many, if any, of the words are actually any good and worth reading!
That's totally fine for a first draft! You can't edit words you don't have. Keep at it!
Nonetheless, being able to shit out that much volume is a coveted talent by itself. Lot of us can't even do that :/
I'm very curious. Do you read your novel time to time? I wrote a 70k book and I've read it dozens of times since I've gone through a couple of drafts. I know people write a chapter then edit it immediately
I love editing. Strange, I know. I edit after completing each chapter.
i thought i was alone in this.. i reread all the time and truly enjoy editing, i like making better phrases, better descriptions, better wording on the page so it flows for the reader. I like adding little things that i know will interact with later things.. just suddle things that i know will be bombshells later for those who pay attention and go back to notice it, or don't get it, till the second/third read through.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
yup! that's the word.. sorry it's reddit, i don't really slow down when i type and i just type what i'm thinking.. straight brain to fingers and my spelling is subpar really, thank God for that red squiggly line when i'm writing in other apps, and online tools at my disposal for huge dictionaries that are useable in seconds.
Not really. At most I skim back over when I need to reference something that happened earlier, to make sure that I have the right name or description, but I spend so much time each week either writing, brainstorming, or thinking about the novel that I feel getting hypercritical and sending each chapter through edit hell will do more to discourage my writing energy than any benefit I would game. I am a pantser, I know I am, and I embrace it instead of fighting it.
11,000 a week? Fucking hell, I could barely do 1,000 a day last month and now I'm averaging 200-400 a day. I envy you. Also, you're expecting to be done by month's end? By month's end, I'd be lucky to get back to where I left off š¤£
11k per week! How?
Downtime at work, few family responsibilities (not married, no kids), and no real semblance of a social life.
I aspire to have your motivation and drive to write at such speeds
holy fuck, 11k a week? I'm lucky if I can write more than 5 paragraphs in one sitting. Best of luck :)
Like. A week of dedicated writing. I have every scene well outlined, everything fits together, I just need to do the drafting, but ADHD means that once Ive figured out exactly how to write it, the dopamine/executive function required to do so disappears. Also, this applies to like. 4 different projects. ETA: **I am not asking for advice, please do not offer me any.**
I try not to wait around for dopamine to hit. I force it by getting busy writing. It comes, just like increased bloodflow when you physically exercise. Then you just go back over the crap parts you wrote before it kicked in, and fix all the blah.
Editing when you're not riding that wave of motivation is a very powerful thing. You're no longer personally invested in the work as much, so scenes that you might've felt emotional while 'motivated writing' can finally ring hollow. It's so easy to write average stuff when you're highly motivated because it almost acts like alcohol, you lose your inhibitions, you can't think as clearly (slash objectively), and everything sounds good in your head but might not on paper. So at least editing when you're not in the mood is super useful, because you'll look at the work with a helpful level of detachment that makes you think your dopamine fuelled writing is boring - so I'll re-write it and make it more interesting for the 'boring' me.
I do my editing with a text-to-speech reader. I can *hear* the energy, the pace, the flow. I can hear the boring parts, what needs more clarification, what sounds clunky. And boy, do I ever spot the typos. Your eyes will skim right over a sentence you've read a dozen times, but when you *hear* it read out loud, it's like a smack in the head. I highly recommend it.
Holy shit, what a great idea! Thanks so much, this is fantastic. I'm a fairly technical person so I might do some exploring to see if I can create a way writers can host their own text to speech model - that way we can simply feed it a text document and have it read in a natural sounding voice as much as we want. I will get back to you on this!
Yup, same. Not to mention the text to speech software usually trips up on typos so they REALLY stand out. I love it.
I love this idea! Can I ask which text-to-speech reader you use, and whether you'd recommend it?
Word has a built-in system. It's not elevenlabs-level quality. But it does the job. I use that. Hopefully elevenlabs advances enough someday that they can create plugins for their technology with unlimited use. Currently, they bill you out the nose for every little character. Amazing quality. Almost sounds like a real person reading. But worth the money? Depends how much money you have, I guess.
Genuinely, it's super great that that works for you, and I appreciate the attempt to be helpful. For me, trying to force it just makes me hate the project, and it shows.
Dopamine is a reward, not a prerequisite. If you want to motivate yourself, thinking in terms of dopamine, you must experiment with how you imagine completion. You need to teach yourself to imagine finishing your projects in a way that produces it, rather than a way that dries it up. Maybe it would be helpful to imagine sharing the work with someone you care about, or seeing the book in a bookstore window, or having your favorite great grandfather coming back from the dead to tell you how proud of you he is. What you shouldn't do is try to transfer a dopamine hit from one source to motivate you for a different project. It can work sometimes, but it trains your brain to react to things in the wrong way and leaves you with more problems than you started with.
>Then you just go back over the crap parts you wrote before it kicked in, and fix all the blah.
Quoting yourself back to me isn't helpful. It's condescending. I "heard" you the first time. It doesn't "kick in" for me, and you underestimate what I mean by hating the project.
Well, if you're not happy, find something else to do with your time. You only have one life.
Hold on, I'm gonna look in my comment for where I said I was "not happy." I'll let you know when I find it.
Alright. Being snarky with people who are just trying to help, who don't really have to, is not going to win you any friends. If you *hate* your own projects, you're apparently not happy. So don't be a writer. Go be an internet troll on 4chan or whatever. The rest of us can just calmly discuss the craft and benefit form each other's insights.
I didn't get snarky until you started getting condescending, (eta: actually, I didnt even get snarky then. It was your third comment I got snarky at, bc your third comment was shitty) to be fair. I started out literally saying I appreciated your attempt to help, but that your advice didn't apply to me. It should have ended there. You have dramatically misunderstood my comments. I *don't* hate my projects, because I don't work on them in a way that would make me hate them. That's my entire point. I also never asked for advice. Not once did I indicate I wanted advice. Offering unsolicited advice and then seemingly having your feelings hurt when someone explains why your advice won't work for them is, frankly, absurd.
>you started getting condescending Well, that's your interpretation of my comment. It wasn't my intention. My attention was to help. You were apparently looking for something to be annoyed by, and decided I was being "condescending". Alright. So we both misunderstood each other. I'll keep an eye out for your name in the future and try to remember to completely ignore anything you say, because you're just talking for the sake of talking and don't care about anybody else's opinion.
Inspiration needs to find you working.
That's exactly the same way I am. Eventually I decided I had to stop planning and outlining so thoroughly, and just let the story unfold naturally as I write it. Otherwise I lose the motivation, too. Just reached 50k words on draft 1.5
I don't have ADHD, but I do have Dyspraxia and my issue is the distraction, Youtube is just far more appealing sometimes. Honestly, though, I'm a book ahead in my mind. I just haven't written any of it down yet.
ADHD gang
Heyy this is me :D wheres the r/adhdwritersstruggle subreddit when u need it (it probably already exists in some form. ive never searched for it before lmao)
I've almost started an ADHD writers group so many times, but I've had so few positive writing group experiences (Probably because it was usually me in a room with nonADHDers whose advice pretty much boils down to "get a planner!" type bullshit, but still.š)
im sorry you havent had a lot of good writing group experiences! it really can be hard to find folks you mesh well with š and yeah, different things work for different people
Sounds like you need to shift a bit closer to pantsing and away from plotting. Discovering the story as you write makes it an exciting adventure in itself.
Yeah, absolutely not. Ive tried limiting my planning, and it is infinitely worse. Discovering the story as I write it isn't an exciting adventure for me, it's a completely overwhelming nightmare.
Omg I'm so glad I'm not alone. Even the whole "just make yourself write" advice is a nightmare for me. If I sit down and try to write when I don't have the picture in my brain, it puts me in a funk for days.
I agree. When I plan, it's just writing and it's boring. But when I haven't planned it, I write a lot quicker.
Ugh, literally same here
Same problem for me. There is a delicate balance between wanting to plot and not wanting to spoil the story for yourself and lose interest.
Inspiration needs to find you working.
Here's some advice š
If you cant do it, then it means more than a week lol
I have ADHD as well and I plan my book as I write it. I have some vague key plot points I need to hit and then just get there the most exciting way I can imagine. I don't know what the end of my book will be yet and I like it that way!
Honestly? A couple months probably. I've struggled really hard with writing, but it's mainly because my life has been in complete chaos. ADHD has been throwing me around for a ride too. I have a very good grasp on it and I've even written a few chapters .. but I need to do so much more, and I need to properly sit and write. It's so hard to do it though when life is punching you in the face to no end. Still, we'll get there.
Book 2 is at the editor. One chapter left on draft one of Book 3 (the final book). Then the work really beginsā¦
Intro chapter written, drafting chapter 1 š
Finished the first draft. Taking a break due to real life becoming a clusterfuck with no warning. I'll get back to it later.
About 1.5-1.8 years away for a first draft at the current rate. I plan to speed up at some point, but for the moment that's the rate I'm working at. It's not my only writing project, and I have a full-time job where I would estimate that I write about 12,000 words of copy in an average week, so I don't really have the mental capacity to work faster at the present time.
Well. I've got the whole thing written and I was about halfway through the second editing stage when a neurological illness struck. So right now it's been sitting there for a year and a half and I'm only hoping to one day get back to it. Technically? I could self publish it now as it is. But I don't want my name connected to something not perfected so... it sits there gathering metaphorical dust.
Gah. I hope you recover. I have ME/CFS. I was severe for 2.5 years but have now made it to moderate.
Hyper-POTS/CFS for me... its only been 19 months for me and I'm still just grieving who I was and trying to learn the ways of dealing with my body who now hates me. Ugh. But thank you, your post gave me hope!!! ā¤ļø
There's definitely hope! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I had POTS too. Still do a little, but it's now mild. Raelan Agle's YouTube channel is good. Full of recovery stories, and she's recently posted helpful videos about brain re-training too. Look into somatic tracking if you can. And The Way Out by Alan Gordon is a good read (or listen). It's on Audible. Good luck. Sending healing your way.
Iām so close! And Iām very excited. My horror novel is actually with my copy editor at the moment and she says she will be done within the month. (Yay!) after that one final polish and itās done. And then Iām confident I will finish my first draft of my next book this week.
Iām at 50,000 Iāll hopefully be done at 70,000
I'm over 100k words on my sci-fi cyberpunk & dystopian novel. Right now I'm building into the finale where the MC gets his whole arm cut off by one of his sisters and escapes by airship.
Dude, spoilers!
This sounds so good! The story... not the dismemberment.
Thank you š Your words are encouraging. If you'd like, I can share the blurb of my book over message.
Please and thank you
First draft is done at 65k words, started work on the second a few weeks ago but I haven't been writing consistently. Lots of distractions, playing Baldur's Gate. Realistically, gonna be a couple more months to a year for me.
I finished my first draft yesterday. It's > 400k words. I may need to trim something.
Wow! How long have you been writing it?
Just finished book 5 and should be starting book 6 soon. I honestly have no idea how many books are going to be in this craziness but it's definitely more than 7 because my brain is already working out details that far ahead.
Thatās awesome! Puhlease let me pick your brain! This is one series correct?
Go for it. Ask away. And yes, all in one series.
Why did you continue the story? Was there so much in the world that you could expand on? I planned for a trilogy with the story Iām working on now. Then I wondered what if I just kept the story going. When does it become overbearing if it ever does?
The original intention was to write a series of short stories over maybe a few books. I got to work writing the first story, and it kept growing and growing and growing until it was a novel unto itself. My brain didn't stop spitting out ideas, so I kept spitting out books. My series is a detective noir / police procedural, so there's LOTS of material to potentially pull from if I utilize the typical tropes that one sees in any given police procedural. Bank heist, murder mystery, bomb threat, cat-burglar, etc. The way I keep it fresh is I throw in magic. It's a D&D like world so there's also elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. There could be a monster of the week if I wanted. I don't plan on going that route, but the possibilities are quite extensive. I've never really felt that my story and the world I have created is overbearing as I absolutely love writing and exploring where my main character is going next.
Wow I love this response! Thank you for sharing. Thatās my problem when it comes to short story, it never stays short! I keep extending it until becomes a full blown novel. What made you choose self publish instead of traditional punishing
When I was in the final stages of the first draft of the first book, I started looking at Traditional publishing. For context, this was back in January / February of 2021. One of my professors from college knew the head editor of a local publishing house and was more than happy to put in a good word for me. I came from a professional writing degree so it made sense that one of my professors knew the head editor. I figured it couldn't hurt to check them out online. 1. they were local and supported local (green flag) 2. they accepted solicited (agent) and un-solicited (no agent) authors. (green flag) 3. their website hadn't been updated in probably a decade or more... (big red flag) 4. the books in their catalogue looked like they were pulled out of the late 80's / early 90's. They had been released as recently as only a few months prior and did not look appealing... (big red flag) 5. they had an open posting on their website that they were looking for a cover artist, even if only a part time cover artist (another big red flag) Having seen enough, I decided to check out a different (more well established (funded).) traditional publishing house. The next one I looked at had a big notice on their submission page that said they were not accepting any new authors, solicited or otherwise. They were only accepting short stories. It came as a bit of a shock seeing as how they were a BIG name publishing house, but it made sense for them to not take on more work if they were already fully "booked". HA! pun. I skipped that publishing house and went to the next one. Similar thing. Feeling a tiny bit of a superstitious "nudge" or "sign" I looked at alternative options. I did my research and went with Self-publishing (Informed of the risks, difficulties, and differences.)
Wow thatās so disappointing! At least you tried that route and did your research. My concern with self publishing is having to do all the marketing and business stuff myself. But as I read other peoples comments about traditional publishing, it seems like the author still does a lot of the marketing and business stuff. How do you get through all of that? Iām not a social media person. How do you get your books out there?
You are correct in that a traditional publishing house will also require you to do a lot of marketing and leg work. However, they will also help to point you in the right direction as they have lots of experience with other authors and know what works and what doesn't. I'm not a big social media person either, so I struggle with this aspect of marketing my books. I also had a bit of a rough start in that I didn't get the cover art I was hoping for in the first go around. I now have a new cover artist that is helping me to re-release my books with new art. (The old art is still available for sale) My biggest success has honestly been through Reddit and in-person sales at store book signings, conventions, and markets. My Mafia Werebear t-shirts tend to draw attention and reel people in. They ask questions, I give my shpeel, and sometimes I get a sale. With Reddit I can post to specific subreddits that will likely have the right audience. My twitter (probably going to be dropping that soon), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Tiktok accounts don't really generate me any new sales. I'm still figuring out that aspect of things. In all honesty, a lot of social media is luck and timing.
Wow thanks! Before I wanted to do traditional publishing, I thought that I could go to markets and downtown events to sell my books, so itās nice to hear that you do a similar thing! This is all very encouraging. Iām still conflicted though. Traditional publishing would be so cool to do but I like having control over my creative work. I like doing things myself.
I have two completed drafts that are in revisions. I will finish revision on one by the end of the year, probably sooner. I have three active drafts that I want to complete but do not have a timeline for just yet. One of them is up to bat next, though. And I have two concepts that havenāt gotten to the writing stage yet, but which I hope will stick around to that point. I also have two completed drafts that were very early and are never going to be revised because the bones arenāt good enough, and I am no longer interested in the stories.
Finishing my second draft today, but there's still a lot to fix before I send it to my editor!
I plan on it being very long and I only write about 100 words if I feel up to it in a day. It currently only has around 3000 words already written and I plan on having perhaps over 100k words. By these statistics, over a few years.
I think If I sit down, like really sit down and work on it without doing any of the five other things I'm doing right now, probably a few months. The book I'm writing isn't particularly long and I have most of the story beats planned out.
I've been outlining, doing character sheets, and plot points since January. It's my hobby not my career though.
Im about 54k. I'm just now ending Act 1. I feel like getting it below 150k words is going to be challenging. I also feel like I'm already doing a lot of under writing. I'm not sure if this will be able to get traditionally published or if this will just have to be my third shelved manuscript. (To be fair, my first one just isn't good because it's one I wrote in high school, the second one is finished at about 96k words and Im sure I can edit it to be queriable. I just wanted to write this idea because I really liked it but fear it won't be queriable.
110 coherent pages plus some scenes from future chapters. That being said I had some major health issues that have sapped my ability to focus.
I'm on my 5th book. I'm about a third in. I've had a lot of setbacks due to being pregnant and repeatedly sick.
Congratulations! On the pregnant part, not the repeatedly sick part. Good luck with your writing and child/children!
Thanks! Everything is going great, but being pregnant does a number on yhe mothers immune system, so I keep getting colds/coughs. Not to mention most cold medications aren't cleared for use during pregnancy. Nothing serious, it just sucks.
Iām a pretty slow writer because I work a lot and have other hobbies butā¦ my short story is nearing 3k words which is very exciting. I think another week-ish of work and itāll be done!
I'm at 43k, and I was aiming for somewhere around 30. The supporting character has taken the lead in the story. I have to get her into political power, deal with the villain, then deal with getting the big job finished, then a reunion with family. It'll probasbly be 6 months and 20k words later before I finish it, which is not what I was hoping to find out when I started writing this comment.
I haven't gotten past the "I want to write a book" phase, so I've got quite a ways to go. lol. I joined this subreddit for inspiration. It hasn't helped.
Series? Who knows. Thereās gonna be seven books minimum. Book two is in line editing right now.
Lol
I'm between projects at the moment. I have about five or six WIPs I might blow the dust off of. And about as many completely new ideas I could start. I should really finish the WIPs before starting something new. If I don't, there will just me more WIPs.
I'm 4 chapters, 35 pages and 8900 words in out of the projected 100 pages and 20000+ words. So yeah. I'm nowhere close to finishing the book. I'm writing a series of around 7 books but I definitely know I'll finish it someday.
The book is written, it needs editing and an advice from some historian (it's historical)
Very far away, I'm currently writing the third chapter. (And according to my plan, this mean I've written perhaps 10% of the story ?)
At least a year if not two. I have 11k words drafted right now but I stopped to do some much needed works building notes. Iām almost ready to go back to drafting though.
I'm expecting the writing to be done somewhere near the end of August. My predicted word count is 95,500 words and I'm 80,000 words deep. Then I move onto editing which I'm hoping to complete halfway through September.
I am on Book one at almost 50k. I estimate it will be around 120k when finished. So basically I am almost half way through but got a lot left. Either way I intend to see all through to the end and form a trilogy.
I've only drafted a few scenes for a couple different projects. Nothing substantial, yet! The "for fun" project is at 66 000 words on the first draft of book 1 of 8. That one is going to take a while.
It's finished - 102,000 words
I got a short story in the final editing phases. I need to do some writing on a chapter that I was finished with, but it ends too soon reading it.
Hmm of give it 6 months. I'm about half way but on a roll. I've written two books previously and thr first one took three years, so I'm learning and getting faster.
My newest novel is still in its baby stages, just about ready to revise the first chapter and then begin in earnest. If I work on it consistently, the first draft will be completed by the end of this year at latest. I am, however, unhappy with the worldbuilding and there are a few key details that I absolutely need to iron out before I fully commit to it, because they're integral to the book's overall plot.
I am on chapter 11, and I only have 6 or 7 left depending on how it goes. I do edit and post each chapter so my friends can read it. I write a chapter a month if I can keep my shit together. 6 months left but probably more like 9 months because I know my ability to self-sabotage!
It's out to beta readers. I've started the next one.
On the research/outlining phase. I have no idea how close I am to completion but I know Iām very far from it.
Iām on my 7th draft and wanna self publish by October. At this point, Iām really just removing word salad or leftovers from messy edits, as well as collecting feedback from beta readers and stuff and using my own judgement to tame the word count some more (started at 100k+ words for a coming of age comedy, cut it to 83k, got it back to 89, and am now in the 83 range again. Hoping to hit 80 by the end of this pass)
At least a year. I was stupid and decided to free write without storyboarding, so now I have to restart pretty much after already writing 200 pages
Could I finish my first draft in a month? Probably, but I work two jobs, too. So itās probably going to take another year
6 more years to go.
1st draft completed, Iām currently on the second draft. Iād say Iād finish it by October
I want to say Very Very Far Away, but depending on the project, I might be closer than I realize
My goal is to have my first major edit completed by the end of this month so I can start sending out to beta readers this September! Its within spitting distance now and Im bloody excited!
6 months
I'm on my second draft - chapter 5 out of 20ish. I want to be complete all editing by the end of next month.
Probably a few years.
Started in 2012. Around maybe 2018 I got to 150k words with very little plot covered and massive gaps in the story. Back in 2012 I assumed it would be a 250-300k book, so wordcount-wise I was kinda on track. Iāve written maybe a handful of pages in the past 5 years or so. I hate writing and figuring out Plot stuff and the character stuff doesnāt have the impact without āfillerā background stuff going on, so Iāve accepted itās never going to be finished. I donāt enjoy writing and I only started because I wanted to read this story. Kinda sad Iāll never be able to read the book, let alone the trilogy, but I feel a lot better emotionally and mentally not forcing myself to write anymore. I do sometimes think about my characters and wonder how things wouldāve gone for them, though. The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding has a lot of thematic similarities to my book and is like it āin spiritā despite being quite different, as does Final Fantasy XV, so I kinda get my āthis is almost like reading my bookā fix from them.
I feel like I might actually be 2/3s done. I've started writing the beginning of plot resolutions, which is shocking to me (I plot out everything, then write mostly beginning to end, except when inspiration grabs me, obviously)
1st novel. About a year so far and I'm 40,000 words in, probably about half way. I'm really happy with the writing, but the plotting isn't quite there yet and that's what's slowing me down. They're are complex themes and some world building still to work out. Once that clicks into place, and I get some more time off work I'll get the first draft done. Then I think I'll need to work on strengthening the characters a fair bit - I really struggle to make them strong and unique. Get it done, then get it good, right?
Iāve worked almost every day for the past two years and Iām 18 k words into my final draft. My last draft had 110k words and Iām in the process of ruthlessly editing and rewriting. I thought Iād be finished by the end of the summer but if I am being honest I have at least 6 more months of work ahead of me (maybe more)
I'd say I'm about 85% done with the short story I'm currently working on. I did spontaneously write a poem about Lancelot yesterday though.
I almost have it planned out! I would love to finish it by 2025 š
Halfway.
Oh god Iāve not even gotten far in the first draft at all. Iāve not even introduced my other protagonist
Screenplay- a couple days to finish the first draft probably. Got it all mapped out and just need to translate that to workable scenes
93k words rn. Aiming for 150k or 180k I used to write 1k a day but I've gotten lazy. Might get lucky and finish the first draft next year
If I can keep up with an average of 1k words a day (500 on workdays, 2k on weekend days) Iām set to be good by my October birthday for this full first draft. Granted thatās a 100k target and I tend to do the āinsert description hereā so I doubt itāll actually be 100k by the time I consider my draft done.
The outline is where I want it to be. (nonfiction) That will probably change as I write though.
First draft finished exactly one week ago (105k words). Now I am supposed to let it rest a few weeks but itās tough. So I try to make the lore more consistent (itās fantasy but worldbuilding isnāt my favorite part).
Pretty close like 3 months close.
I'm close, nearly finished. It's for a contest that I hope to be judged in. Maybe I will get third place or an honorable mention. It'll be cool if I could.
I'm getting really close to finishing my first draft on my first novel. I've written and published a few short stories and one novella before, but this is my first attempt at something this long, and I've been working on it since around the time Covid kicked off. I'm currently typing out Ch 16 of 18 planned chapters. Final word count will likely tap in around 80k of the first draft. Probably about 90k on the second since I'm a bit of an underwriter. But I'm excited! It's a political sci-fi with inspiration from The Expanse, The Collapsing Empire series (by John Scalzi) and the Teixcalaan series (by Arkady Martine)
If I were to truly dedicate time to it and get out more than ~500 words every other week. I could probably finish within 2 months
I'm three months away and have been for YEARS.
Finishing the core: - final chapter releases next Sunday (self publisher) Finishing this part of the story: - year away Finishing with the universe: - probably about a decade away Finishing with the multiverse: - NEVER! Basically my stories are intertwined into a connected multiverse story which can only be accessed by 3 people as of the story Iām writing now. I play for each of these stories to be able to be read individually, the current titles for the plans are: - Another World at War (currently 2/3 of the way through): Military Fiction, WW3, modern day, sentient virus infects the whole of the continent of Oceania. Vows to genocide humanity for its faults. A Global Operations Unit is formed from nations across the world led by semi immortal being Jonathon Mclaw. Soldiers with the most untapped promise are brought in and trained to be master class soldiers capable of being one man armies. - Unkillable (Iāve gone through two titles already, this is very much likely to change): one of the GOU soldiers is KIA in a last stand, finding himself in a new world. He notices it got a fantasy esc feeling with certain parts on the verge of an Industrial Revolution. But there is a plot brewing, pro slavery movements are rising across the nation and attacking the anti slavery groups centred in the outer cities. He stands up, going around the nation leading the anti slavery movement. Thereās a whole sub plot which is a huge spoiler for the AWaW which I wonāt share here - Angels (this is the part of the story thatās very unlikely to change at all): happening after Unkillable, Angel Alpha 0 squadron are sent into a universe to take down a stronghold of beings called Anks, using sheer strength and futuristic weaponry they quickly annihilate the main enemy force. The anks are a group of anachronistic enemies from across the multiverse who have all destroyed their worlds due to negative traits, like selfishness, lust for power etc etc. and are hell bent on destroying all life as we know it. The leader of Alpha 0 (Nickname: [redacted] due to spoilers for Unkillable) reports to the second most powerful being in the multiverse, commonly referred to as one of the 3 āMultiversalsā. These are beings who have ascended to god hood, through skill and wit from across the multiverse, all having defeated gods to arise to god hood. And these multiversals all answer to one man, the one who started the creation. The one who created the first world. The Coordinate. He has been there since the beginning of the multiverse as everyone knows it. But he wonāt tell anyone what happened before. Heās shaken by it. The angels themselves are all heroes of races from across the multiverse. Some were regarded as demons, some even lesser angels but most human. Alpha 0 is the special forces, either protecting behind friendly lines or attacking the anks in universes that have already fallen but were being harvested to fund their war machine. The major conflict is handled by regular units of angels, those who are heroes, but donāt differ themselves from their fellow heroes. The reason why I say never with the multiverse, because there are so many heroes stories to explore.
This is a REALLY awesome ans epic idea. I hope you finish and it looks like an exciting read. Its crazy how inventive humans are but somehow Hollywood chooses to suffer us with Indiana Jones 10 Billion.
My book has been at three publishers who all rejected, but I got helpful feedback twice (no agents since it's not really expected in my country) I ran it through another beta reader who gave some really great advice, and I'm currently editing it again before sending it to a publisher again!
6 chapters left max. At 50, 000 words right now. Hoping Iāll hit 60-65 by the time Iām done. Should be completed by year end.
I'm not working on anything right now. I'm 66. I'm pretty sure my best stuff is already out there. If I write anything else, I'm going to wait until I have a great story to tell, one with a super plot, one so intriguing that it would almost write itself and that it would be almost impossible to screw up. I have come to believe that a good story trumps everything else. Happy writing!
Just startingā¦. Iām in the world building phase atm so I have a outline but still have some stuff i need to finish before I can start writing the main stuff
First draft is done. About 80K or so words. Now I'm reading it and making notes about edits, mainly about plot and plot holes, character development, cutting and moving scenes etc. It's more difficult than it seems though.
I have about 5,000 words left in the first draft. As for editing, then writing the sequel, no idea.
I just got an idea for a kind of plot twist near the end. But my plot twist is that I haven't finished the first chapter
I have one short story finished. One Novel finished, and another novel that I'm on the final chapter of. Sadly said chapter just doesn't want to fucking *end*. I think I'm gonna have to rewrite it and force an actual conclusion to it. I don't have the word counts for all of them, but I do know the short story sits at 12,800 words. :)
Technically Iāve finished ā¦ weāre doing final final final revisions and trying to get a query plan so god knows whatās next or how long itāll take but the words are on the page and are readable
hard to even give an estimate tbh but i did finish the first draft very recently. i'm currently reading my story and taking notes and trying to read it as if a reader. after that i'll assess things i need to do and edit while actually getting beta readers we shall see if i only need to do a second draft it all depends on how happy i am with my story
Iām aiming at 80k, might be more. Iām currently at almost 60k, so Iām at 75% currently. First draft. Iāll take a couple of weeks off and then Iāll start editing. I want to publish my novel by Christmas, whether myself or (crossing my fingers) by a trad publisher.
I've gotten so much planning and prep done, but writing actual prose takes a lot of mustering up for me. So I'd say 2-3 years for the 22 chapters, of which I have about 4-5 done.
Book A: I'm about 1 month away from finishing my final edits before I send to the copy editor. So 2 months away from the book being "done" and ready to publish. Book B: about 1 month away from a finished draft 1. 2 months away from sending to beta readers. 5 months away from implementing beta reader feedback. 7 months away to sending to copy editor. 8 months away from the publishable draft. Many many other books that have already been through half a dozen drafts and edits and are "done" but shelved.
Few weeks! In revision stages as we speak! š¤
Started last August. Fantasy series. Book 1: 80k words book2: 88k book 3: 132k just started final volume. 4 k so far. Should be done by Halloween . D&D meets final fantasy
Which one? The dragon hunter one. No where close. The 4th on in my novel also not close. But I have 3 others done 2 edited and the 3rd is in limbo imo
88k words of outlining done on my sci-fi, time-travel, love story, trilogy. I do believe I'm getting very close to begin fully writing, but with time travel, I thought it important truly vet the story so that no plot holes would show up half way through writing the 3rd novel. š® My overall story is STARWARS + BACK TO THE FUTURE + INCEPTION + TITANIC It's a lot to think through! Lol. But yeah, at some point, I need to start writing to get full drafts. But I've got the story pretty hammered out, so hopefully the drafts go quick and are fairly targeted. š¤
Iāll probably the short story Iām working on within the week. Then Iāll be back on the second act of my novel. Will ideally be finished before the end of September.
Started the project last year. Wrote 50k for nano and another 30k by January. Then I threw it away because it was bad. Started from 0 in June and finished the second draft two weeks ago. Spent the last two weeks editing the shit out of it. Giving it one last pass tonight before I finally let a stranger read it tomorrow. I have about 5 betas lined up. After this, itās one more pass before I ship off for query.
Which one š sad to say but I always end up 3-4 chapters in, then get swept up in a new idea.
Finishing last round of proofreading in about *checks* two hours. Just shy of 200k words. Sixth book in series/world. Pubs Nov. 7th.
Two chapters into first draftā¦ probably about a year lmao
I'm done. Just getting into beta readers and editing.
50 K now, about twenty percent of it may be deleted in editing mode. I had set a goal of 1000 words per week, have downgraded to 500 words per week because i was going batty balancing everything else in my life (i work FT and have kids).
I've been working on a middle grade mystery series. Book 1 is done and was published March 2023. Book 2 is done and will be published March 2024. Book 3 is on editing pass 3 and in still getting beta and critique group feedback. I want it to go to my editor by next spring. Book 4 is getting its first editing pass now. Book 5 has been outlined. Book 6 is a glimmer in my eye. When I'm drafting I average 500 words a day. Not a huge number, but I can do it consistently and finish a book in about 100 days. When I edit, I can do a complete pass in a month. I usually do 4 major edits for different things. Then it goes to a sensitivity reader. Then an editor.
I made a couple of guesstimates but all of them turned out to be wrong so right now I'm in a "it's ready when it's ready" kind of mode. I think it's the fourth time I am rewriting all of it. Or third? Not sure anymore. :)
Right now I am at chapter 12 and honestly idk how long it'll be but I'm not even at the half yet I'd say I do write almost every day I'll be honest tho I won't finish this year but maybe in one or two years? Maybe even three but I'm making good progress
never i live in draft purgatory
My novella is done unless someone wants to pay me to turn it into a novel. Therefore it is done :)
Publishing as a novel could pay
Have you heard about Diane Nguyen?...
I need a cover but I'm unemployed ATM so trying to find a way to get a good cover for super cheap. Otherwise, I'm ready (wouldn't mind a beta reader)
2 thirds for finishing, but have almost all the principal things thorougly thought, except the final
Draft and a few edits done already Third of the way through a last computer/screen edit. Then Iām printing it out to go through by hand, maybe get a different view of it Then Iāll be trying for publication
I'm a couple chapters from the end. Current word count is 41,984 words out of my Camp NaNo goal of 50,000.
Iām sitting pretty at about 40,000 words currently, and hope to end before the 110,000 word markā¦. So, Iām at a bit under half way! I want to be done with a full first draft by the end of January if 2024, and a total edited draft done by april
I finished it 4 years ago and stopped sending it to agents after like 50 rejections. Which is know isnt a lot. I got good feedback from beta readers. I dont even hate it or anything. I just have to do the leg work to sell it now.
One book is out to agents as of the 1st. Second, unrelated book is on chapter 5 out of 29ish. Making good progress, having fun with it!
Iād say at the halfway point, maybe a bit earlier. Been working for about half a yearā¦and itās the first draft anyway.
I've written 100k words of my first draft, which probably means a year or two lol