Lessons Learned about Writing Fiction

Apparently, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something. What happens when those 10,000 hours (or probably much more than that) are spread across three decades and if, on top of that, the practice isn't "serious", as in "it's-just-a-hobby-and-I-don't-care-if-I'm-not-getting-better-at-it". Does that make it a waste of time?

I didn't learned much about writing fiction until I took it seriously -- still as a hobby -- and tried to write a full length novel a few years ago. I failed to complete the first draft. I had a target of 80,000 words and I never reached that. I came close and I did write every scene needed for the story to make sense but the manuscript isn't complete in my mind and I eventually gave up on it. The good news is that I had a lot of fun working on it, I'm ready to try again and I have a good enough idea of what went wrong with my first attempt to make sure I don't repeat the same mistakes.

Here's the main lesson I learned from that earlier failed novel writing effort: WRITE A COMPLETE FIRST DRAFT.

Just write!
Write a very bad first draft without over thinking anything. A complete first draft is essential before any rethinking and revision happens. Don't spend any time planning a sequence of scenes, developing the character's profile, etc, etc... until the story flows and these details come out of the writing rather than the planning ahead. The only thing I really need is an idea of the overall story, the main plot and one subplot.

In my first novel writing attempt, I did a huge amount of planning, research, structuring the entire storyline with complex sub-plots and in the end I couldn't even get the story straight in my own head because I had made so many changes along the way. It was a great mental juggling exercise but not a great novel. I still love the storyline. I just wasn't able to transform what was in my head into a readable piece of fiction.

I also ended up doing a huge amount of revision on the early sections of the manuscript and fiddling with words and sentences while being unable to complete the first draft. I need to remind myself to keep it simple and watch out for my tendency to come up with unnecessary twists and turns that will distract from the main theme and plot. My first attempt at writing a novel was overambitious, yet a great deal of fun. I'm ready for a second try!

Define what a complete first draft is.
Defining what a "complete first draft" is will make it easier to clear that hurdle and move on to a second draft/revision phase. A first draft is complete when all the scenes necessary for the story to make sense have been drafted. No specific word count needs to be reached. Any revisions of specific scenes, adding scenes or deleting scenes will be considered in a second draft/revision phase. Writing a novel is a long-term project. Having milestones and being able to pause and celebrate clearing these milestones is important. The first draft completion milestone is going to be my first real test. Since I've never gone beyond that I expect to learn more about revisions with this second novel writing attempt.

Don't commit to a tight writing schedule or a completion date.
The commitment to writing regularly will come from enjoying the process, not a timetable. I don't have a target date for completion of this first draft either. The only commitment I have is to sit down and write a scene or section of the manuscript at least every other day. My commitment to writing these blog entries about the process is going to be even looser because I want to make sure to put the emphasis on writing the first draft and not spend too much time writing about writing the first draft.

Coming up next, a discussion of the "didactic" element in didactic fiction.