Thread: Motivation for my novel

First day of a new year and all that, so here's a resolution with which I may need some encouragement.

Two years ago I started a novel, then stalled. The whole thing felt too big a project for me, so I took to the short story instead, using them to tighten my writing; to try to learn about character development, structure, and other tools I'd need. Basically, I felt completely under-prepared. Now I'm ready to have another crack.

My aim is to have a first draft complete by the end of the year. I'm a slow writer, and figure an achievable target is going to be more productive than asking myself to have a draft ready by the summer, which simply won't happen.

I reckon on a couple of thousand words a week. I'm going to spend this week reading through the half-dozen chapters I worked on before, seeing if they're of a good enough standard or reworking them; refamiliarising myself with the characters, and developing ideas for the different plots.

Then I'll be ready to go.

I'll post updates here, and therein lies my motivation. I'm challenging myself here. I can't post the updates if the novel isn't moving forward.

Wish me luck.

(holds nose and takes the plunge)

Good luck, Bilston! You'll do great. A couple thousand words a week is definitely achievable. If you keep at it, you might have a complete first draft by the end of the year, maybe even before then.

I've been working on a long short story for about two months, so my New Year's Resolution is to complete it, revise it, perfect it, and make it the best story I've ever written. I doubt it will take me a whole year to do it, but still, it takes me months until I'm satisfied with my short stories.

So all the best, to both of us.

Good luck to you. I have a similar issue. I'm posting the stuff on my blog.

I wish you a fair wind and a clear sky.

And if you don't succeed I will pull your leg mercilessly.

Go on, be a good example to the likes of me.

Thanks for the support. I must go through with this now I have a captive audience. Today I read through what I already have and was surprised to find most of it is quite usable save for some minor editing and trimming. I'd forgotten I'd written so much (14000 words). Tomorrow is for working on the plot and sub-plots; spider diagrams, time lines, and other boring stuff.

Nothing will stop me, only time is my enemy, and the cost of printer ink.


And good luck to you with yours, Dream; keep at it.

Update:

Wow. 12.5k words in three weeks, and I'm up to 23k in total. I will probably lose some of that in editing, but at the moment the story is pretty much writing itself. What's more is that I'm enjoying it, getting lost in the story even, when writing it. I'll have to stop or slow down at some point to get stuck into some research into the era in question, and to make sure the whole thing doesn't run away from me and lose direction.

Right then, back to it.

Good job Bilston! I am trying to finish my novel this year too. A good way to get it done is follow: 90-Day Novel (sorry can't remember the author right now).

The only motivation I have ever needed to write is that If I don't show the world the stories in my head, who will?

Good stuff, Scott. Once you get past the beginning and approach the middle, the story starts to write itself. Savour the enjoyment and keep going forward, even if it's only a couple hundred words a day.

Good luck Scott, I'm staggeringly impressed.
But I do wonder just how much your motivation will wane as the season draws to a close and your blue moon mob stay sitting on top!!

No pressure!

You wrote 12.5k words in three weeks? I can't help but say I'm impressed. Just. . . wow. Have you posted any of it?

Originally Posted by ShatteredUniverse

You wrote 12.5k words in three weeks? I can't help but say I'm impressed. Just. . . wow. Have you posted any of it?

I don't know if it's a passing phase, but in the last couple of days I've started to think much of what I've written is a load of rubbish, written too quickly. Not rushed, but not thought over as much as I'd have liked. Dialogue for the sake of dialogue, characters not drawn as fully as I'd like. I'll have to go back and re-do what needs it. Having said that, I did 1500 words yesterday that I'm happy with, and I did it slowly and it was hard work, which feels more natural. So lng as it reads easy, I don't care if it writes hard.

A third of the way through the story and it's starting to throw up twists I couldn't see coming. I'm going to read my favourite author over the coming weeks, to keep in mind how simple it must be and how easy it should read.

Found some more inspiration to complete this thing this morning. I came across a very old friend of sorts who used to edit a music fanzine I wrote for in the mid-90s. She ended up binning the idea of writing for the music press, started recording her own music independently, and has been playing shows around the world for the past ten years. On twitter that might be followed by #getoffyourbuttandjustdoit

I'll post a short excerpt or two in the Writers' Workshop in the near future.

Good work, Bilston, keep it going. No matter if the words are coming hard, or easy, so long as the flow stays turned on you'll get there eventually. I just hit the 99,000 word mark in my current WIP and I only average about 500 words/day. I hope to have the first draft done in May.

Oops!

It seems my wife and I are venturing into the world of small business in an attempt to improve our financial security. The novel has slowed right down to a crawl the past couple of weeks. It's on the back burner for the immediate future, but hopefully time will avail itself once more soon enough. I'll be happy if I can get a few hundred words a week done for now. Hopefully the new venture will mean I can eventually bin my current job which will leave more time to write. I'm really frustrated with the situation but it's a case of needs must.

Grrrr!

Imo if you fix the originality of the novel you will have enough of motivation to go through with it.