Hi gang. Just a short post to let you know that I finished the rough draft of my novel on May 5th. Yay!
Some scenes are fully written, and some are just described. Definitely an uglysketchyfullofplotholesvomitdraft, but I got to the end (really all one can ask for at this stage).
I've read that the first draft is basically you, the writer, telling yourself the story. I struggle to resist editing, which has really slowed me down. Then a few weeks ago I read an article about how to write your rough draft quickly. One of the methods was called a 'Fat Outline'. Basically an outline, but you give yourself permission to add as much detail as you want. For whatever reason that flicked a switch in my mind.
I put outlines of my already-written scenes into one document, in chronological order, with all the POVs. Then added outlines/descriptions of the unwritten scenes. In some places where I wrote a lot of detail, even bits of dialogue, etc. And in other places I quickly sketched what was happening. One of the hardest things was deciding how to interweave the various POVs. Even though that will change - probably multiple times!
The process really helped me see gaps in plot and character development. And now that I've pretty much described the ending, I realize I need to make my main characters' lives much harder. Bwa-ha-ha-ha.
But the thing that's become *crystal* clear, now I've 'finished' the first draft, is how much more work I have to do! Soooo much work. Happily, I'm still excited about it. But, time to put it aside for a week, perhaps work on other projects. Then come back to the novel with fresher eyes.
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