In the almost thirteen years I’ve been working in the publishing industry, that time spent frequenting publishers and bookstores and websites and writers’ lives, I’ve learned a great deal about the business of publishing—from editor in chiefs to readers.
The saddest truth I’ve discovered in all of that time from readers is this:
- There are a lot of people in the world who consider themselves writers.
- Few of those people actually finish a novel.
You would think with so many sitting down with a pad and pencil or before a keyboard that there would be more people completing what they have started. It isn’t the case though, at least from what I have seen. Every day I receive emails from fans of established authors broaching the subject. Those email discussions go something like this:
- “How do I get published?” the curious emailer asks.
- “Have you finished your book?” I write back, already knowing the answer.
- “No, I haven’t,” the curious emailer responds. “But I just want to know how to get published.”
- “When you finish your book,” I reply with, I have to admit, a snarky grin on my face, “I will help place you on the path to getting published.”
99.9% of the answers are similar to that very simple exchange. And despite my very sincere offer of helping those people get their work in front of agents and editors, only twice has someone written me back after completing their book. Twice! Out of thousands of emails I’ve received and responded to.
The sad part of that equation is that many people don’t know what it feels like to finish a novel.
And oddly, from what you will read, maybe they are the lucky ones!
Yesterday I finished the first draft of The Dark Thorn, a book I am calling an “urban quest fantasy,” as it has elements of urban fantasy and high fantasy thrown together in a hybrid incorporating Celtic mythology, the history of the British Isles, the history of the Vatican and Arthurian legend. Having finished one book before, I am also aware of the amount of work still needing to be put in. There are scenes that need to be rewritten. There is an overall line edit I need to complete. There is a query letter to write and rewrite until perfect. There is a summary and an outline I should create in case I am asked for them. There is a marketing platform I should put together to show why and where my potential sales will come from. All important.
While that forthcoming work hangs upon me, I am still giddy with the realization I finished my second novel. When I wrote the last word of the book and saved the file, I sat back in my chair, stretched, took a deep breath, and all other ills in my life went away. I had done it. I had finished it. There was not another word to write. A complete story had been saved on my computer—and backed up elsewhere. I left my apartment to visit my favorite watering hole. I didn’t take my laptop for the first time in a year. I had a glass of wine. I sat and watched the USA beat Trinidad & Tobago in a World Cup Qualifying soccer match and didn’t feel guilty about not working on a story centered around other characters. After all, that story was finished!
But what is it like when an already published author finishes a first draft?
How do they feel?
What goes through their head?
I asked several of my writer friends last night what they feel upon finishing a first draft. Here is what they had to say:
| Joe Schreiber, author of Star Wars: Death Troopers, says: I always get a rush from finishing a first draft — both exhilaration and relief. That’s when I’m most in love with the work. It usually lasts about twenty-four hours… but what a great twenty-four hours that is. Then, back to work. |
| Sean Williams, author of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, says: Congrats! Finishing your first draft is a huge achievement. A lot of people who want to be writers never reach that stage. So it is definitely something to be celebrated. But it’s also the beginning of a whole new and sometimes much harder phase: editing and re-writing, and repeating until done. This can take longer, sometimes, than the first draft took to write, and is a bit daunting to contemplate. So when I finish a first draft, on the one hand I’m excited, because this THING exists that wasn’t in the world before, and that’s a very exciting moment in anyone’s life or career, while on the other I’m filled with a sense of heavy sobriety, because I know the job is far from done, and the end (which previously was just finishing the ms) now stretches far away into the distance. Does that help?  |
| Ken Scholes, author of Lamentation, says: When I finish the first draft of a book, there’s an immediate rush of satisfaction at near giddy levels. Of course, it happens in a bit of a tired fog because I often sprint to the finish in a book as the weight of the story drags me along after it. I also usually go through a kind of mild post partum about 3-5 days after but it’s nothing compared to the glorious joy of wrapping the draft. |
| Vicki Pettersson, author of The Touch of Twilight, says: It’s disorienting, and I feel a bit adrift. Like I’m a hot air balloon and the ropes have suddenly been clipped. I forget all of the things I say I’m going to do to reward myself when it’s done, like massages and cool shit like that, and annoyingly start looking toward the horizon almost immediately to see What’s. Next. Being a writer is like having an incurable disease. That you never die from. Geez. You’ve clearly caught me on a cheery day. {g} |
| Jacqueline Carey, author of Naamah’s Kiss, says: I actually HATE finishing a first draft. I’m an edit-as-I-go write, so my first draft is close to the final product. I go into literary post-partum depression when it’s done. When I’m working on a book, it’s the first thing my thoughts turn to in the morning, the first place I go in my head during a moment of downtime. When I finish the first draft… it’s gone. And I’m at a loss until I begin working on something new. Aren’t you glad you asked? Fun idea for a post, though! |
| Robert V.S. Redick, author of The Red Wolf Conspiracy, says: Honestly, to me in all three cases so far, it’s felt like a chance to sleep fully again after long, ridiculously long, periods where sleep became no more than a sordid, worry-wracked meandering through unresolved details of the manuscript. Not only that of course–it’s also like a sudden rediscovery of who you are and what you think and dream; because suddenly here’s this image of a lot of it, visible before you at last. Ecstasy, in a word. |
| Peter V. Brett, author of The Warded Man, says: Absolutely terrifying. While it’s unfinished, it’s still yours. Once it’s finished, you have to share, and you never know what people are going to say. You get to justify a few days off, though. That’s nice. |
There you go. An interesting look at how some writers feel about finishing a first draft. As you can see, for most of them, they have a few moments of happiness before work intervenes once more and they place their fingertips back onto the keyboard.
And that’s how I feel. Here I am, back at work, yesterday’s feelings mostly forgotten as I push on to bigger and better things! I have until April 23rd to put time into editing The Dark Thorn before handing it over to Ralph Vicinanza, the agent for Stephen King, Robin Hobb, Terry Pratchett and many others.
I will then know exactly what it means to truly finish a first draft. And if Ralph likes it, I can’t wait to begin writing Book Two!
To finish another first draft and regain the feelings from yesterday!
Congrats on finishing!
Like author Jacqueline Carey, I also edit as I write. It just works better this way for me. When I finish writing the story from beginning to end it’s closer to a 4th or 5th draft.
Then I do another 2-3 edits, looking for specific things, then a line edit. Lastly I have 2 others read and edit–usually a professional editor friend and someone else with good language skills.
That’s when it’s ready to give to my agent or publisher.
Afterward, I always feel a kind of let-down, almost a grieving. With my first novel Whale Song I actually cried–because I was finished and because the last 2 chapters were so emotional. Subsequent novels Divine Intervention, The River and Children of the Fog didn’t hit me quite so hard.
In some ways I liken it to being pregnant: writing a novel is exciting and nerve-wracking, and finishing it is like giving birth–painful, yet full of promise.
Cheryl Kaye Tardif
http://www.cherylktardif.com
Cheryl, you do an excellent job of editing! Man. I write a first draft of a chapter but I go back and re-read it once it is done. Quickly. Then I am on to the next. Now that I am finished with the entire first draft, I am going back to the beginning and re-reading and editing, hoping that I’ve placed enough space between then and now to see other problems that I might have missed.
I like what you had to say about it being “full of promise.” That’s how I feel about it exactly.
I added a quote from Robert VS Redick. Check that out too, readers!