I’ve noticed that beginning writers tend to have this one thing they all do.
Okay, there’re several things they all seem to do, but I’m just going to get weird about this one, because it’s kind of a doozie.
It’s totally one that I struggled with at first, too.
Sticking with a story until it’s done, and not starting another one.
No one can seem to do it at first.
I don’t know why that is, exactly. I think it’s the struggle of realizing how long it actually takes to write a book. We get started, we get a couple chapters in maybe, and have another idea that just screams for attention. We look at the couple chapters we have, and realize we’ve been writing for weeks, maybe months, and this is all we have. And we’re supposed to write a whole book?
We feel the enthusiasm for the first idea waning. Or intimidation setting in, take your pick. Maybe — we think — maybe if I sat down with this new idea — this new idea that’s so exciting — this wonderful new idea just might hold my attention better than this first idea. If I went with the more exciting idea, maybe I could actually finish the damn book.
We resist. I know I did, anyway. No, the new idea will be there once this book is done. I should finish what I’ve started.
Or maybe we don’t resist.
Maybe the very moment the shiny new idea appears, we toss the current work in a corner and immediately pounce on the new, pretty, fascinating idea.
But whether we resist or not, the end result is the same. We kick the first idea to the curb like the lover we thought was cute or funny at first and then became demanding or obnoxious.
We open a new text document, open a new notebook, pull out a fresh legal pad, and get started on the new idea. This, this is definitely going to be the one. This will be the first book. That first idea was dumb, anyhow. The very first idea of a brand new writer? No, how could that ever be as interesting as the next one, the idea that comes after we’ve had a chance to cut our teeth a little?
I promise, this isn’t the idea, either.
Another one comes along, even better than the first two, and another, and another, until pretty soon we have a hard drive (or desk drawer) full of started stories and nothing to show for it.
I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it repeatedly.
Like I said, I think the struggle is with how long it actually takes to write a whole book. The fastest I’ve ever written a whole novel was nine months. And that was fast. Usually, a whole stinking book takes a year. Or more. For just the rough draft.
I know there are authors whipping books out in a month or two all over the place, but I can pretty much promise that they didn’t start that way. That first book is tough. Speedy writing takes practice.
It was very hard-won knowledge for me to realize that if I kept skipping over to a new idea every time one struck, I was going to be ass-deep in unfinished books, and that each one was going to need more than a year to finish. It was also hard-won knowledge for me to realize that most new writers’ ideas are really, really, really ridiculously obvious copies of other writers’ works. Not just the first one, but the first several. It takes time for inspiration to stew into something new, something like what’s been done before but just different enough to be unique.
I personally started and then didn’t finish about six books before I finally got one done. And it wasn’t very good. And I started and didn’t finish about three more after that. And then I finally finished one, and it wasn’t very good, so I re-wrote it from scratch. It still wasn’t very good, but I started editing it, and it got better.
I’ve been able to finish every book since. Some I’ve had to re-start, but I’ve been able to finish them all.
I wish I had advice to offer. I’m not always good at recognizing the things that change in my technique or what works. When another authors/artist says, “I struggled with X, and then I did Y and it worked,” I can look at their technique and say, “Yes! That’s it! That’s what I did, too, and that’s what worked!” But when people ask me directly what worked, I just stare at them blankly while my brain spins in little circles in my head.
At any rate, I’ve definitely noticed that newbie writers are flighty creatures who struggle with finishing their work, especially longer work. When they finally finish a book, even a short one, it means they’ve graduated to a new level. We’re still noobs, but we’re upper level noobs.
And one thing I am still bad at is dissecting my work and successes to see what happened. I haven’t the faintest idea how or why I suddenly was able to finish one book. Or the next. Or the one after that. I’ve had other new writers ask me how I finally managed to finish books.
All I can say is, “practice.” Try your best to stick with an idea until one finally gets all the way to the end. It’ll happen.
If I could tell you how to get there, I would.
