Eight Tips for Finishing Your Manuscript
Remember in college when your professor would assign a ten-page paper and it seemed like the end of the world? I always waited until two days before it was due to start writing (I was mentally writing the paper, you see).
Ten pages is a (relative) breeze compared to a 300-page book, which is why it’s easy to get freaked out at the prospect of having to write one. I’ve heard a lot of people say they’d love to write a book, but can’t fathom having to write that many pages.
Like anything you want to achieve, establishing a goal and developing a plan of attack is the only way to scale that mountain. Below are eight tips to help you complete the first draft of the manuscript!
1. Write Every Day
Ask any successful author what the “secret” to their success is and you’ll hear one commonality: butt in the chair every day and write. No waiting for the muse or inspiration to strike. Just get in there and put some words on the page.
2. Choose a Time and Stick to It
This is a companion to the above advice which is to find a chunk of uninterrupted time each day to write, even if that sometimes means grabbing it on the sly. Colleen Hoover wrote her first novel during the rehearsals for her son’s play, sometimes coming home afterward to write until 2 a.m. Laura Lippman wrote before work, after work and on weekends while holding down a full-time job as a newspaper reporter. I wrote my novel, “Sweet Little Lies” every night after work from 9 -11 over the course of four months.
Whether it’s early morning, or late at night, no excuses. Find the time that works best for you. Consistency is ultimately what will get that first draft written!
3. Develop an Outline
Sometimes, it’s a matter of having a roadmap. You can’t get where you’re going if you don’t know which way to go. Experiment with mapping out your story via an outline. Try a loose bullet point outline or a narrative outline. Some writers swear by colored notecards. Give software programs like Scrivener, Novel Factory, or Novel Suite a whirl.
Experiment with different outlining methods and see what works best for you.
4. Write a Set Number of Words Per Day
The magic number for a lot of authors seems to be 1,000 words per day. I strive for 2,000 (sometimes, it’s more like 1,500). Do what’s manageable for you. That number may be 300, 500, maybe 4,000 (I think I’d be brain dead if I had to do write 4,000 words every day, but there are who authors do it).
Whatever you decide, stick to that goal. Some days, the words will flow like water. Other days, they’ll smell like s*%t. Here’s the thing though: you can’t edit something that’s not written, so write it and then come back later to pretty it up.
“Don’t be intimidated into thinking you must write your story in the order it happens.”
5. Write a Page a Day
One double-spaced page in Microsoft Word is approximately 250 words. Write one of these every day and in a little less than a year, you’ll have a full-length novel of 80,000 words. Or, maybe write two pages a day and have that first draft done in six months. There’s no rule, of course, that says you have to limit yourself to one or two pages a day. However, if it’s easier to write in micro doses, go for it. It’s like walking; we accomplish it by putting one foot in front of the other.
6. Write a Chapter a Day
If having to hit a certain word count every day gives you hives, consider writing a chapter a day. This way, you’re not a slave to the word count, but are still accomplishing a goal. It can be fun and easy to think of your story in terms of the action you want to convey vs. worrying about how many words you wrote. If you find that you write shorter chapters (like James Patterson), consider writing two, even three chapters a day – or more!
7. Write a Scene a Day
This might feel like semantics, but a chapter may have multiple scenes, while a scene is just that – a scene. This actually helps me achieve my word count goals because I think about it visually, rather than numerically. Writing scene-by-scene typically helps me meet or exceed my word count goal with (most) of my hair still in tact.
“Whether it’s early morning, or late at night, no excuses. Find the time that works best for you. Consistency is ultimately what will get that first draft written!”
8. Embrace Writing Your Story Out of Order
Focusing on writing your book scene by scene can free you from stressing out about word counts, chapters, or pages.
Don’t be intimidated into thinking you must write your story in the order it happens. Trust me, there’s no law that says you have to. It’s totally acceptable (and sometimes preferable) to worry less about writing in a straight line and concentrate on writing the scenes you want to when you want to (see “Write a Scene a Day” above.”) Writing out of order may even help you get the draft done that much faster because you’ve freed yourself from being totally linear.
What are some of your tips for finishing your manuscript?
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