One Year Ago... What Not to Do With Your First Draft

One year ago this month, I did something I'd never done before: wrote a draft of a novel from beginning to end.

It was a huge deal, because I'd talked about writing a novel for most of my life.  Normally I'd write a few pages, stop because I'd have no idea where I wanted to take the darn thing, and then never pick it back up again.

One year ago this month, all that changed.

My very first blog post was about my inspiration and endeavor to get that novel finished, and since I had about, oh, zero readers at the time, I thought it be worth revisiting.  So, once again, here's the story of How I Finally Finished a Novel:

In the Beginning

For the longest time, I said I was going to write a book. But alas, college came and went, and after graduation I put my BA in English to good use as... a purchasing agent? Eight years later, I felt like the last of my creativity had drained out of my toes, and was pretty sure I'd never see the day inspiration would strike again, let alone actually sit down and finish a novel.

Then, much like everyone else on the planet, I read and loved Twilight. For the first time in years, I felt the desire to create something again. I went online and read about how the idea came to Stephenie Meyer in the form of a dream. I admit, (hanging my head in shame) I was instantly jealous. I moaned to anyone who would listen that I had wanted to write a book my whole life, and here this woman was handed the mother of ideas on a platter as sparkly as Edward's skin. HMPH.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Earlier this year, I woke up from the strangest dream and knew it was going to be the subject of my story. 

I tossed ideas around in my head for two weeks before I ever put a word on paper. I had to figure out how to connect the characters, how to fill in their backstory, how to develop the plot based on the little snippet my subconscious had shown me. Once I had a clue, I started to write.

And O.M.G. was I rusty. But just four months later, I had a completed draft of word vomit, and I was as excited as a pig in you-know-what.


I decided I was ready to query.  Wrong.
 
Don't misunderstand, I was not - AM not - under the impression that my story is the next Twilight. But Stephenie Meyer proclaimed her query "sucked", and still scored herself an agent. I was pretty sure my query sucked too, but I was hoping the whole book-based-on-a-dream scenario would work in my favor, too. 

Twenty rejections later, I realized just how badly my query sucked. Not one request for a partial, not one request for a full.
 
I knew I had to buckle down and do even more homework. I bought reference books and found new websites, opened every link pertaining to queries (including the ones that popped up when my search was "why does my query suck") and tore my letter apart time and time again.
 
In the process, I realized how much work my manuscript needed. I came across a website, I think Chuck Sambuchino's, where I read YA novels over 80K words reflect the author's inability to edit. My story was 95,000 words. I chewed my nails, agonizing over my word count. I was sure there was nothing I could eliminate without hurting the plot.
 
Wrong again.
 
Three months after my last rejection, my manuscript is down to a more polished 88,700 words. And you know what else? It's not YA, either. I was nervous that my college student protagonist was too old, and I was right. My novel falls under the paranormal romance/urban fantasy umbrella. Good to know BEFORE you query, don't you think?


Looking back on that entry, I had even more to learn than I thought.  I had no critique partners at that point, because I was too scared and embarrassed to let someone read my writing.  I was afraid of people stealing my idea, and also of someone telling me how badly it sucked.


Now, I'm still pruning away the evidence of amateur writing, and excess words.  I was happy when I got down to 88,700, but now I'm down to 81,200 and still convinced I can trim it up some more.

I have two great critique partners I met through the blogosphere, both of whom believe my story could really have a shot with the right "renovations."  Their input and encouragement has been invaluable.

So if there are any newbies out there reading this, my advice is this: do it right.  Do LOTS of research.  Go to the how-to websites like Nathan Bransford and Query Shark.  Find helpful, introspective posts like this one from J.L. Campbell, and use all of them to hone your writing.  Then, find people you can trust, and let them tell you the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript, because when you're looking at it day after day, there are things you just won't see.

And don't rush it.  Stephenie Meyer is the EXCEPTION, not the rule, which I would have known if I'd done more research.  I thought her piddly "seven or eight" rejections was the norm.  I wish I'd known then that most people liken getting published to hitting the lottery.  I wish I'd known about authors like Brodi Ashton, who faced over a hundred rejections and went through two agents before landing her book deal.

Finally, I advise newbies to follow the blogs of published authors and agents, but also follow the unpublished ones.  We're quite the worker bees, and there are plenty of us who'll link to the posts we've found most helpful on a regular basis.  Stina and Heather are great for this.  Check them out BEFORE you jump into querying.

Hopefully one day, my finished novel will become a published novel.  But in one year I've come far enough to know it might never happen.  All the more motivation to reach another milestone- finishing a second novel.

So how did your first novel come about?  Did you always know you'd finish it, or were you as shocked as I was?

** Also, there's a great giveaway going on at Cleverly Inked.  Stop by and check it out!**