#first draft problems

[iamtechnos-world]

Ok... I'm officially stuck (warning: rant)

I need some help please!

Currently trying to write my first novel, but I cannot stop iterating. I have rewritten my first chapter around seven different times. I have made many, many synopses (I think that's the plural of synopsis lol). I have half-written some sections, and have barely touched (read: avoided) others. The whole "draft" is a mix of some first-drafted chapters and almost-rinsed-out others.

I feel like it is dragging. It's been stuck in my head for ten years, drawing inspiration from a lot of different works, growing from a snippet imagining a fight at night in an old building to a ridiculously sprawling world with intrigue and romance and creatures and magic and vampires and werewolves and castles and chaos and huge amounts of lore-

HELP!!

rant over, just needed to get this off my chest

Anyway, anyone who's writing novels, how do you manage to stay motivated and successfully finish them? Any tips would be appreciated!

I might just be posting up snippets of my writing too (I'll try not to spoil it though).

Thanks.

EDIT: Looking back through my notes and actually found some good-looking stuff that just needs editing. I think I might put that together and see where I am.

[sachermorte]

the only real way to write a fic is to have the characters talk shit constantly while one person desperately tries to get the plot back on track

[my-own-lilypad]

This week I have begun a new writing project. I've gone from the last edits of the last project to starting afresh with the new one, it's quite a different process and it's been a long time since I started from scratch; I've usually always got a piece of writing already written that I'm editing. So i feel a bit lost and at sea with it.

The first problem I have - as always - is tense. My 20 pages of notes are written in present tense. And it feels right to keep it that way, immediate and indicative. But then I've been reading online that people hate reading books in the present tense, that they turn away almost immediately. 

And then I picked up Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale because I was looking for a quote and noticed for the first time that it's written in present tense. Lol, I am not on a par with Margaret Atwood, but it seems to me that even the greatest writers see the use of it.

Of course I shouldn't be caring about this at such an early stage of drafting and should just write. Atwood said she's like a skier she just free falls the first time and worries about all that later. I should take her advice. And Steinbeck who said just get the whole thing out on paper first. But I'm certainly not free falling, more like yacking up hairballs.

Then I came on here to distract myself from doing the actual writing.

[mhoganmell]

Cherry Picker To-Do List

Get a better idea of who my characters are as people. Holland seems to switch from sarcastic and strong to scared and fragile easily. Give background characters more context. At the moment, they only appear when needed. We don’t know what their actual relationship to Holland and Hudson are other than just a prop to be used for dialogue. Hash these side friendships out more. Add inner thoughts.…

[nondelphic]

This draft is fantastic, it just needs work on pacing, character development, plot cohesion, emotional depth, world-building, scene transitions, tone consistency, theme integration, conflict resolution, dialogue realism, and staying focused for more than 2 chapters.

[vile-br4t]

wanna watch a show

[thewordsarestuckinmyhead]

I assume it’s important…

[a-queer-writer]

Writing Tip

Don't overly edit before you finish a first draft.

Get that draft down, then edit.

You'll never finish if you keep editing and don't just continue.

You got this.

[iamanauthor]

for every note this gets, I will write one sentence in my WIP so I’ll hopefully finish it soon (I need motivation)

[lannegarrett]

[utilitycaster]

I will say, if the gods became mortal at multiple points during a crisis without any intervention to achieve various goals and canonically even enjoyed it, it does kind of raise the question of "and this didn't come up as an option within the story of C3 until the very last minute and wasn't something the gods themselves proposed because...?"

[sachermorte]

what is ludwig filming?

the contents of a locked suitcase, for legal purposes

we're about 50k words in so this is the culmination of a lot of other stuff that goes on. someone gets pushed into a koi pond in zürich

[karovora]

Do you also feel like a shit writer while writing the first draft? Or is that just me?? All Im using are unintelligible half-made up words and names and the worst dialog with thousands of he asked, said, answered and replied just to get it out of my head and on the page. 😭

Editing will be savage..

[whumpty-dumpty-doo]

Late night mush-brained I-really-need-to-edit-this-draft-because-this-is-probably-all-way-too-much-irrelevant-information late night thoughts

[nondelphic]

adverbs are fine. stop bullying them. let the girlies "run quickly" or "speak softly" if they want to.

[bl-mitchum]

Catch me repeatedly reminding myself that it’s just a first draft and it doesn’t have to be perfect but also I can tell it’s not perfect right now and I’m wigging out over it.