Why You Never Finish Writing Your First Novel
Three things to avoid if you want to finish writing your book
You have an idea for a novel.
You start writing your story only to painfully realize that you’re going nowhere. Quickly, your story comes to a grinding halt, and the ending only becomes a distant dream you never reach.
Many writers who write a novel for the first time face this problem. You’re probably in the same boat too.
Shiny object syndrome is very real at this point. You start a novel, become bored, get a new idea for another story, start writing that story, get bored, and the vicious cycle repeats itself.
Why does this happen? Why do you never finish writing your novel?
The reasons differ from writer to writer. But as varied as the reasons may be, three major things come to mind. If your first draft isn’t progressing, it’s likely you’re guilty of one or more of these sins.
Reason #1: You have no outline
I talk about outlines a lot. That’s because outlines are important.
If your novel isn’t progressing, chances are that you have no outline to guide you. Without organizing your ideas and plotting out the sequence of events, you’re going to get stuck most of the time. Your story stalls. And eventually, you just give up. Over and over and over again.
Of course, writers who are pantsers figure out the story as they write without rigidly following an outline. Even then, pantsers still need outlines, though not as detailed as the ones used by plotters.
But if you get lost most of the time, not knowing what comes next because you have no plan, it probably means that you’re a plotter. And as a plotter, you’d be doing yourself a great disservice if you don’t have an outline.
I recommend new writers outline the first draft of their first novel. Think of your outline as a bible that guides you from start to finish. It contains all the information you’ll need, including the characters, the magic system, subplots, physical and cultural setting of your world, and so much more.
An outline will also contain what happens from chapter to chapter, or in more detailed cases, from scene to scene. It maps out everything from beginning to end and may even include multiple alternate endings.
But remember that outlines are not set in stone. As you write and discover more about your story, there are things you’d like to change. Update your outline with those changes and keep writing.
With your story planned, you’re more likely to finish quickly.
Reason #2: You have no writing schedule
You can have the most detailed outline on the planet, but if you don’t sit down to actually write your story, you won’t get anywhere.
Writing a novel demands commitment, and without commitment, you’ll never finish your book.
It takes anywhere between two weeks to two years to finish the first draft. Depending on various factors, it could even become more than that. If you’re the type who has no writing schedule and only depends on inspiration, it will take you about two to ten centuries — if you’re lucky to be alive then.
Create a schedule and follow it obsessively for your word count to climb until you reach the very end of your story. Your writing schedule will depend entirely on your own daily schedule.
If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can write a couple of hours every day. Busy most of the time? Identify what works best for you — perhaps a thousand words three times a week.
What’s most important is consistency. You need to show up to write whenever it’s time to do so. Without consistency, you’ll never finish your book. Writing as little as five hundred words every day adds up to 3500 words a week. That’s far better than zero words a week. At that pace, you can finish a fifty-thousand-word novel in four months. And that’s just 500 words every day.
Imagine what you can do if you increase the word count and write consistently. You’ll never have to worry about having unfinished books ever again.
Reason #3: You’re writing and editing at the same time
Nothing slows down your novel faster than writing and editing at the same time. You may have an outline for your book and may even write every day. But if you’re always going back to edit whenever you write, you won’t move forward.
Someone may write two hours a day over the next seven days only to realize that they’d only been working on chapter one. Why? Because they keep editing chapter one repeatedly without going to the next chapter.
I cannot overstate the importance of editing, but simultaneously writing and editing your first draft is counterproductive.
It’s best to focus on finishing your first draft. Do not edit as you write. Just write. I cannot stress this enough. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing trash or making the most ridiculous spelling and grammatical errors. Keep writing. Don’t go back to edit.
The purpose of a first draft is to see how the story turns out. In the first draft, you might even have new ideas for your story. Write them all. You can always revise it later. But the revision must come only after you finish the first draft.
Writing demands your creative energy, which doesn’t care about making mistakes. Your creative energy simply create without fear of judgment.
Editing, however, demands your technical side — the perfectionist in you.
You’ll need this perfectionist side of you to clean up the trash that is your first draft. But while writing, turn off that perfectionist, that inner critic who judges your word choice. Keep reminding yourself that everyone’s first draft is terrible.
Once you finish your first draft and want to know how to revise it, you can read about how I revise my novels to give you some ideas.
Final thoughts
If you’re having a hard time finishing a book, it’s not because you’re not talented enough. Or that you’re too lazy. Well, maybe you’re lazy. But I guarantee that your laziness is a result of a lack of clarity and direction. This can be easily solved by creating an outline.
Besides, you must also find the time that works best for you and dedicate it to writing. Consistency is key here. And while you write, turn off your inner critic and just focus on finishing the first draft. Only then should you revise your work.
Do all these and you’ll be finishing your novel in no time. Good luck to you.
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