I haven’t written one of these blog posts for a while, having put blog writing on the back-burner for the past few months while adapting a first draft of a novella I wrote earlier this year into a first draft of a novel.

Being a computer professional and certified nerd, I’ve decided to make this novel open source, meaning I’m going to post my draft, in its entirety and as-is, every week. This way the world can pour over it and see how truly cringe-worthy a first draft from an amateur novelist can be. I will have a comment section to allow any and all critical criticisms.

That said, I thought I would take this post to share my experience of (almost) writing novels so far, in hopes to inspire others struggling with their first novel or at least gives them assurance they’re not alone.

I’ve attempted to write a novel twice in the past, so I’ll start there and talk about why I believe this attempt will be different.

Attempt 1: About ten years ago I wrote approximately a page a day every morning before work (I’ve always been a morning writer). I did this for several months before giving up because the story ran dry some hundred pages in and I thought the writing was too horrible for me to stomach, let alone anyone else. I had started with a vague idea for a short story and tried to stretch it out to novel-size, assuming if I wrote for months instead of weeks my wishy-washy premise would solidify into something awesome. It did not. What was initially too thin to stretch across a dozen pages lost all integrity and fell apart across a hundred.

Attempt 2: Three years ago I tried again. I started with a clearer premise, although I didn’t have a real clear idea where I was going with it. My day job had become much less demanding so I could devote several hours each morning to writing. I spent the equivalent of about a year on the first draft, sticking to 1,000 words per day. When I finished it it was approximately 200,000 words long, which translates to around 650 pages.

Was it any good? Nah. I abandoned it after re-reading some of it, convinced it wasn’t worth a second pass. I still have it, but I’ll probably never use it. While that might seem a tremendous waste, I don’t think it was. I’d taught myself that I could write a novel-sized tome, even if it was garbage. It was my first marathon and I finished last but I managed to limp across that finish line, and that was what mattered.

Attempt 3: Third time’s a charm, right? Not always. I’ve read that for many aspiring authors, ten, fifteen, twenty time’s the charm. Unless you were born with a formidable gift for writing you probably have a lot of failure ahead of you before succeeding in mainstream fiction writing.

On my first attempt I had no plan or goal, and on my second I started with no plan but a concrete goal — to cross the finish line — and I achieved it. Progress! And it only took several years!

This time around I have some loftier goals than simply finishing. These are:

  • A first-draft worthy of a second-draft
  • Characters readers care about
  • An coherent plot

Since my last attempt I have been studying the art of story-telling more than ever. I’ve learned a lot about self-editing, pacing, characterization, and many other topics relevant to novel writing. I can see the mistakes I’ve made in the past, and my writing is improving. I don’t expect to have a traditionally publishable novel this time around but I plan to get closer.

I’m currently a hundred pages into the first draft and feeling strong (some days are better than others). Here are some things that have helped:

  • I made a rough outline based on the 3-act structure. I’m not an obsessive planner, but I need some kind of direction or I go off the rails. I review and update this structure every few weeks as necessary.
  • I keep a spreadsheet that tallies my average words-per-day since I began and tells me my projected completion date based on actual words written. My words per day can vary but I shoot to maintain a consistent average.
  • That average, for me, is 500 words/day. This is not the fastest I can write (remember I was managing 1000 words/day on attempt 2), but it’s a comfortable pace I know I can hit.
  • For the most part I’ve stuck to writing about things I know, so I don’t have to do too much research.
  • Every morning I start by editing the work I did the previous day.
  • I’m exposing my work on this site as well as on Critique Circle to get constructive feedback early.
  • I’ve worked to become a student of the art of writing, putting my ego aside so I can learn what I’m doing wrong and how I can fix it.
  • I have simplified my personal and work lives somewhat to allow a consistent writing schedule.

As the title of this post states, I believe the secret to becoming an accomplished fiction writer is brutal in its simplicity: iteration. Iteration is not the same as repetition, or doing the same thing over and over. It implies learning and adjustment between attempts, to continually improve.

I believe the road to traditional publication is a lot longer and harder than many writers initially expect it to be, and success is not guaranteed to anyone. So wish me luck.

Now that I’ve written this blog I’m a day behind on the novel. Dammit.