Second Draft Time

Well, it's been well over a month since I completed my first draft. I've not done any writing since then. Some would say that's a bad thing, but hey, during this time in my quiet moments, I've come up with all kinds of ideas.

One such idea is a shoot out sequence towards the end. I felt like the novel, overall, had a too much a dark tone to it. I've got this idea for one of the final shoot outs that will give a little light hearted touch to it. We'll see how it works out. I still want the novel to have a serious, dark tone about it, but I like this idea to kind of break up the tension a bit. I'm not going to reveal it here, for obvious reasons, but I'm excited about it. Now, I've just got to execute it.

Now, it's on to the second draft. The tone of the story will likely remain unchanged, but I know that I need to make some serious changes to the exposition parts. I read a book about self editing recently that said "RUE": resist the urge to explain. That's a valuable lesson I've learned.

It is finished...

Yes! I have completed my next milestone as a writer, I have finished my first draft. I've sent it off to a friend to give me some feedback on it and then it's back to grind stone.

While I'm waiting, I might get started on my next novel idea. I've always been intrigued by undercover cops, so I think I'll write a novel about one. I'll have to try and avoid the obvious cliches when dealing with that subject, as it's been done to death it seems. We'll see what happens.

Once I get myself a printer, I'll be reading through my first draft. I'll give myself a month or so to let it slip out of my mind a bit.

For now, it's celebration time!

Word Count Achieved!

I saw something interesting on my novel writing software today. It said "Word Count Achieved" and a sudden wave of relief hit me. I had actually done it. I set out to write an 80,000 word novel on March 1, 2009. My first milestone as a writer, and I can't be more thrilled at the moment. It took me less than a year, and I'm currently at 80,058 words...and still going.

I'm not really sure where the 80,000 word mark came from. I think I remember reading somewhere that the average novel was between 80-125,000 words, so I shot for the low mark on my first draft. I always thought that I would struggle to hit that goal, but, like I said I'm still going.

I'm about to get into Act 3 of the novel. I read in James Scott Bell's "Plot and Structure" book on novel writing (which is an excellent read, by the way) that one should structure their novels into three acts. I set out to write Act 1 as 20,000 words, Act 2 to be 40,000, with Act 3 cleaning up the mess with the last 20,000 words. Ha ha, how I underestimated myself.

I've just gotten to the big reveal of my novel. I'm working on that right now. I haven't gone back and read anything from the beginning, I've just been plowing forward. It'll be interesting to see how it all fits together (or doesn't :)) when I read the whole thing from start to finish and start working on the 2nd draft.

So, I've reached my milestone. To all who might be reading this are struggling through writer's block or whatever, keep at it. It'll come to you. You've just got to persevere.

Until next time, happy writing. Now, I've got to get back to work.

First Post

Hey, everyone. My name is Brian Cotton, I'm just your average twentysomething who's trying to write a novel. Okay, so maybe I'm not so average, but other than that...Ha ha.

Anyway, like I said I am trying to write a novel, and I'm about 3/4 of the way through my first draft, and I can tell you...If you are trying to write a novel, be prepared for the following things: the deadly inner critic, self doubt, boredom, killer writer's block, comparing yourself to the greats and falling short, but most of all, an incredible sense of excitement.

It's not all it's cracked up to be. I've been writing my whole life, but when I decided to get serious about it, the game changed. I always felt like I could just get on the laptop and type away a best seller, but was I wrong! I started criticizing every sentence, every plot hole, every character. But, you know what, now that I'm reaching the end and I see things coming together, now I'm excited.

So, what is the purpose of this blog? Well, I just wanted to create something to chart my journey, keep me motivated till I get to the end. I also wanted to share some of my insight to the other aspiring writers out there, how difficult the whole process really is. I hope that you find it insightful and not discouraging, because I can tell you, creating something like a novel is unlike anything I've ever attempted to do, and I'm sure at the end of the road it will be an adventure well worth taking.

So, yeah, that's basically it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section!