First of all… Sorry that my video wasn’t showing up last week! I messed up somewhere and the post never made it out of draft mode. I don’t know what happened other than I clicked (or didn’t click) the right thing.
So if you were looking for last week’s storyworld building video, here is the link to it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgUm7D0DvWw
Over the past few weeks I hit a snag in my novel that slowed me down. I got to that place that I always get to—the place where the book kind of stalls. I have a good idea where I’m going, but I’ve started to make a mess of things, and I feel like I can’t keep adding words until I fix it. I talked about this in my last Jill report, but back then I think I was in a bit of denial that I could simply push through and write to the end anyway.
Alas, I could not.
So two weeks ago I took two ENTIRE days to completely break apart my manuscript. I went through and wrote an index card for every scene. Then I laid them all out on the living room floor, moved them around (there were lots of holes), and I plotted and rearranged and plotted some more until I had filled in all my holes and things were flowing in a logical sequence. Then I stacked up those cards and went through my manuscript and reorganized the file. I put all the scenes in order, added the new chapter headings I’d just brainstormed with a note of what needed to happen in each, and made sure my Word document matched my stack of cards.
Then I started at the beginning and began to edit. I didn’t want to. I wanted to keep up my 7500 words a week! But I know I’ll be saving myself time later on if I fix things now and get the story flowing as it should be with all the right characters behaving the way I want them to.
So that slowed me down. Looking at my goal of writing 7500 words a week, I came close on the week of February 18 and managed 7396 words, but the following week I only wrote 3953 words. And this week so far I’m only at 2535. (But there is still time. Mwa ha ha!)
This was a delay that ensured I did not meet my goal of finishing my first draft by the end of February. March was meant to be for editing! Yet now here I am in March, doing some editing on a book that isn’t quite finished. I hope to catch up in my edits this week and have two really strong weeks of writing, then be able to finish my edits through the end of March. I’ll check in then and let you know how I did.
How about you? How are you doing toward achieving the goals you set? Share in the comments.
Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms, and the author of several young adult fantasy novels including the Blood of Kings trilogy. She loves teaching about writing. She blogs at goteenwriters.com and also posts writing videos on her YouTube channel and on Instagram. Jill is a Whovian, a Photoshop addict, and a recovering fashion design assistant. She grew up in Alaska without running water or electricity and now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two kids. Find Jill online at jillwilliamson.com or on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Wow, that sounds so painful … but very productive. Sometimes you gotta let the word count slide, I guess? After last NaNo, my targeted and mostly achieved weekly word count has been around 8000. I’m in the second draft of one of my novels … some of the middle parts needed total rewriting and more thought, so my word count would be less. Also, I was really sick a few weeks back and only wrote around 4000 words that week, but I tried not to be too upset because I still wrote as much as I could every day.
I’m really considering plotting out my next novel, though, because I want to try something new and see if it speeds up my novel writing process ;D
keturahskorner.blogspot.com
Yes, it’s good to be flexible when writing. It is a creative process, and we can’t always force it to work the way we want it to.
And still getting 4000 words when you were sick is amazing, Keturah! Wow!
You should try it! It always good to evaluate your process, but if you find that it doesn’t work, don’t bother. Keep the tools that are helpful to you.
I love reading your Jill Reports! It’s impressive how you’ve figured out your problems so early on in the process and it sounds like you made a smart decision. By the way, are you going to be participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this April?
I’m definitely not against editing while drafting if necessary — if I see a problem, I want to fix it asap! — but I found with my last novel that I didn’t know how to fix the problems until I had the experience from finishing the first draft. It’s different for every book and writer, I guess, as many things are. 😛
I’m so glad you’re enjoying my reports, Josie. Yes, the more books you write, the better you get and knowing your own process. I won’t be participating in Camp Nano this year. I hope to have my book with beta readers then! *fingers crossed*
Yes, I find that I often don’t know all my problem areas until I finish the full draft, though the more books I’ve written, I often can see some problems coming, which can save me time in the long run.
I think that’s awesome that you’re taking the time to fix things.
Thanks, Ashley! I think it will save time later on. I hope so, anyway! ?
Right now I’m reading what I hope is a final draft out loud, all of it. This is showing me where I might need to change a word or two and I think it’s significantly helping me polish it for submission (wish me luck – it’s my first).
I’ve struggled with this a lot and I believe that reading it out loud is the final step I should take. Before I started that, I felt I’d hit the point of diminishing returns after multiple edits. I want this to be as good as possible before submitting it, but it seems like if I keep trying to improve I’ll never be satisfied with it. After all, I began editing this thing in NanoWriMo. I hope it’s better now.
I’ve finally hit my goal of writing a complete novel and I will quit editing after I correct what I find as I read it out loud. I realize there will always be things I can do better, but I need to avoid “analysis to paralysis.”
Consequently, I’ve written a query letter and synopsis I will begin sending this out within the month. My goal of course is now publication. I seriously doubt I’ll ever be as prolific as you Jill, but after that my goals move on to another book, depending on whether every letter I get is a rejection letter.
Congrats, and good luck!
Well done, Jack! Congrats on having a book ready to submit. I agree that it’s super helpful to read your story out loud to catch things you might have missed before. I save that part to be one of the very last things I do too. It’s a great way to do a final proofread.
I’m so excited for you as you submit your story! Keep us posted on how it goes! Starting to write something new is a great way to keep busy while you wait.
Despite the goal setback, it probably feels nice to have control over the plot again.
My lofty writing goals–finish draft #2 of my WIP–are about a year behind. Because, life. But I’ve learned to give myself more grace. And eat chocolate for the small victories.
Good luck to you too! And way to go with the chocolate. I think it’s important to give yourself rewards along they way, they encourage you to keep going. Don’t forget to have fun with it!
It does feel nice. That giddy feeling you get when everything seems to be going right.
Good job giving yourself grace! Is can be so discouraging when your plans don’t work out, but life takes precedence. Best to roll with it and keep a positive attitude. Sounds like that’s exactly what you’re doing!
:0)
Way to go, Jill! Even though you may not be where you wanted, you’re still working hard and getting a lot done! That’s worthy of all the high fives and chocolate *high fives and sends chocolate your way*
Thanks, Hannah! *happily accepts high fives and chocolate*
Best of luck with continuing to draft and edit! It looks like you made some great progress. That always gives me such a good feeling–even if the progress is painstaking and slow. (Although I am actually the rare person who prefers editing to writing.) I’ve been doing a lot of similar rearranging with my own story these past couple weeks. Sometimes, it feels like it’ll never end, but I know it will eventually.
(And I’m with Josie–I love reading these posts! It’s always cool and helpful to get play-by-play insight into another writer’s process.)
Eleanor | On the Other Side of Reality
Thanks, Eleanor! I’m glad you’re enjoying these posts. Good job with your progress! I like editing best too, though I like the editing that is all about refining over the big story surgery kind of editing.