It was almost midnight, I had to work at 6 am the next morning, and I needed my eyes to stay open a little longer… Yes! 50,000 words, I’d won NaNoWriMo. That was 2018. For the first time, I finished the first draft of a book. It was terrible and never going to see the light of day, but I’d finished and it was mine. I thought, “I can do this again.” After years of dreaming of being a writer, I felt like I finally was. Knowing that I could do it again was the biggest takeaway. Before, it had felt impossible.
It was over two years before I finished another first draft. Then four more years after that. Both those early times were flukes; I did everything right but didn’t know what I had done. So how do you finish a first draft? And then do it again.
In 2018, I finished that draft because all my friends had left town for college, I had the major plot points completely planned out and knew my characters and world well, NaNoWriMo was my accountability and gave me a clear deadline and daily goals. I planned to sit at the home computer every night and stay up until I’d written enough words or midnight hit, whichever came first. And it worked. Much the same is true for 2020. But let’s break it down even more.
Planning
You will fail if you don’t know where your story is going. While some of us are planners, and some pantsers (I’m more on the pantser side), it doesn’t negate your need for a plan. In 2018, I drafted a story that stewed in my head for over five years. Even if I didn’t have a traditional outline, I powered through when writing was hard because I knew where the story was going.
You need an outline. If nothing else, know the inciting incident, midpoint, climax, and arc you are taking your character through. It probably looks different than it does for more planner-type writers. There are many resources for structure and outlining online, you can try a few different ones, or ask writers what they like to use.
Additionally, I had the time set aside. Every time I’ve finished a draft I’ve been working full time. In 2018, all my friends had just moved away and I poured all my social time into writing my book. In 2020 it was much the same. This year, with 100-day book, I was working more than full-time and running my art business, and I wrote 73,000 words in 78 days. No matter what your plan looks like, make a plan and plan a way to stick to it.
Accountability & Consequences
If no one keeps you accountable it’s much harder to reach your goals. There are many ways you can go about seeking accountability, online, friends, and family. I used NaNoWriMo for my first two drafts, and now I’m in the 100-Day Book program with The Write Practice. With 100-day book, you take your final word count (take a guess) and divide it by 100 and you know your daily goal. Then figure out your weekly goal. This was huge for me. I could track how far on or off track I was, and I knew other writers would see if I’d met my weekly goal. It worked for me. If you have a writer friend, send them your word count at the end of the week.
But accountability does little if there are no consequences to failing. These are my current consequences of missing weekly goals: No getting coffee or food out, deleting TikTok & Instagram, and canceling my Spotify subscription.
I really really do not want to cancel my Spotify, which is perfect because it motivates me to write. I have people who keep me accountable, so if I fail a weekly goal people will keep me accountable. Pick either a few small consequences, or a big one, and let whoever your accountability partner is know what it is.
Deadline
Set an end date. With NaNoWriMo, there’s a built-in end date. With 100-Day Book, there’s a built-in end date. If you plan on writing a book, pick an end date for yourself and send it to your accountability partner. Put it on your calendar. Announce it on your social media. When I was writing with 100-Day book, it was motivating to know that at the end I’d have a book in my hands; it could be the worst book I’d written yet, but it would be a completed book by that date.
Like all writing advice, it might not work for you. There are no hard and fast rules to writing. What works for you, works. This is what I’ve found works for me. I need just enough structure to get me through the first draft, but not too much that it kills my motivation to write. There’s a million other bits of advice or “rules” I could tell you, but these are the ones I think are most universal. Let me know if you have other things that push you through the first draft. What programs do you like? What was the first draft you ever completed?
Thane