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Struggling To Finish Your Novel?
It's believed that about 3% of those who start writing a novel will actually finish it. If you're struggling to finish your novel, here are some tips that may help: 1. Set a real deadline. One of the main reasons writers give up is because they begin to question whether anyone really cares. Pretend there's an editor or agent waiting, drumming his or her fingers, eager for that completed manuscript to arrive. Set a deadline that you have to meet, and then meet it. 2. Set a daily goal. Some writers have a daily goal of so many pages to write (usually three to five). Other writers have a daily goal of two or three hours. It doesn't matter which approach you take as long as you set a daily goal for yourself. A little writing everyday will get you to a completed manuscript faster than you ever imagined possible.   If you want to become a novelist, a good one, and you’re not sure what you must to do to develop the skills you need, Andrea Rains Waggener wants to help you. A novelist who sold her first novel for a nice advance to one of the biggest publishers in the world, Bantam Dell, Andrea Rains Waggener has created a plan that makes it easy to go from novel idea to completed, publishable novel. 3. Don't write a novel - write a first draft. This is a great way to keep you moving through your novel. Keep in mind that it's only a first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just get the words on the page. You can worry about how they all work together in the second draft. Allow your imagination to have fun the first time through. 4. Be careful whom you show it to. Writing can be a lonely profession, and we're all tempted to show our work to others. But be careful. Giving your work to someone who is frustrated with their own inability to write a novel is like handing them a gun ... pointed right at you. If you can avoid sharing your work, avoid it. If you can't avoid it, then make sure the person you share it with is going to be helpful and not destructive. 5. Spend more time writing than you spend planning. It can be helpful to have an outline and some basic research, but typically writers who mire themselves in creating lengthy drafts of what they're going to write rarely get around to actually writing. This is a very common problem for beginning writers. It's easier to spend your day researching than it is to spend your day writing. Don't fall into this trap. 6. Feel the joy. Remind yourself why you're writing a novel. Most people set out to write a first novel because they have a story to tell or a passion for the written word or the dream of seeing their name on a shelf next to writers they admire. Hard work may be the backbone of a writing career, but it's the joy of creating something amazing that keeps us going. Don't lose sight of your joy. That's it. That's all you need. So sit down and start writing that novel, and don't stop until it's done. You don't want to become a statistic, do you? Finish that novel you've been working on!
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