by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
I have repeatedly gotten to the point I’m currently at with the novel, only to find some structural problem so severe that I feel I have to start all over. So, I don’t know. In a sense I think the go round is make or break.
I’m simply not going to start all over again at this point. I’d rather finish a flawed first draft than just keep re-writing over and over again. The premise is really, really strong. As such, the key issue is to simply finish a first draft. You can’t edit a blank page, as they say.
I am just about to finish the first act. I’m just about to enter the “fun and games” aspect of the story. I finally feel as though things are structurally good enough that all I have to do is physically put the work into writing. This has always been something of a Hail Mary pass for me creatively.
One thing that don’t tell you about writing a novel seriously is how it simply takes physical time to write a novel. Unless you’re Phillip K. Dick and on crank, you are going to have to manage your expectations about how long writing a novel roughly 185,000 words is going to take.
It’s really only because of a very specific set of circumstances that I find myself in a position to write a novel. It’s very possible things could change early next year and I will find myself with considerable obstacles. Thus, I’m shooting for Jan. 1 for finishing my first draft. So if the worst happens, at least I will have finished a first draft of a novel.
We’ll see, I guess.
