How to Write a Novel in 90 Days*

by Holly West

*More or less

This week, I'm finishing up copyedits on my second book, Mistress of Lies. It's the last round of edits, which means that once it's turned in, it's pretty much done.

To be honest, it's a little hard for me to fathom. For years and years and years I dreamed of writing just one novel. That was my holy grail, the pinnacle of personal success that I thought I'd never reach. That being the case, writing two books was out of the question.

And yet, here I am.

Book one, Mistress of Fortune, took me about two and a half years to write and polish (much longer to actually publish, but that's another story altogether). Book two, my first under contract, took me about six months to write a draft suitable to turn in to my editor, meaning it was polished, but not all that shiny. Writing to a fixed deadline obviously required a lot more discipline than I'd displayed during the writing of the first book. Even so, I dawdled and complained, and generally waited until the very last minute to get that thing done.

It's how I roll.

Initially, I'd intended to write book two "by the seat of my pants." I'd written Mistress of Fortune with a loose outline but I didn't write the scenes in order. I jumped around depending on what I felt like writing on a given day. This method worked, but revising it was a nightmare; going into book two I thought that writing it in order, as it came to me, would be a better strategy.

Not so much. Three months before my deadline, I had about 20,000 words written but felt directionless, unmotivated, and miserable. I had no idea how that damned book was going to get finished, let alone be even remotely readable.

I had 90 days to finish the novel. Here's what I did:

Days 1-30: I'd sold the second book based on a synopsis and sample chapters, but the synopsis had been short and was an insufficient road map for going forward. Plus, I'd changed some major elements in the story with my editor's blessing. Hence, I gave myself nearly a full month to write a detailed outline and synopsis.

Coming from a screenwriting background, the three-act format has always appealed to me and I stuck to it faithfully in writing the outline. I used the outline to write the synopsis (about twenty pages), then had my husband read it to make sure it made sense. He provided some useful feedback and I revised the story accordingly. In this way, the developmental part of editing the manuscript was, to a large extent, taken care of in the synopsis phase.

Days 30-60: I wrote the first draft. It was weak in some places, but I had a finished novel, gosh darn it, and that was all that mattered.

Days 60 - 90: My husband and I both read through the manuscript. I revised it based on both of our notes, taking care to polish it as much as I could along the way. I reserved the last four days to do a complete read-through myself, knowing there was no time to make any big developmental changes. It was mostly just copyediting at that point.

Day 90 (Deadline Day): I sent it to my editor and crossed my fingers.

Though I knew it still needed work, I was happy with the finished novel. The story is much more personal for my protagonist and in my opinion, has more heart as a result. And surprisingly, the first edit letter I received for this manuscript was pretty painless--there were some character motivations that needed strengthening and an important, but not too difficult, story element that needed changing, but that was pretty much it. Further edits have gone just as smoothly.

I kinda-sorta feel like I've hit upon my method when it comes to writing a book, though it might only work for genre novels. Do I think I can write my next novel in 90 days? Perhaps not. But having a process that works for me gives me confidence that I can do this again and again.

For those of you who've written more than one novel, how did your process change with subsequent books?

Taking care of...well...you!

by: Joelle Charbonneau

Being a writer means you have to be an independent worker.  You have to self-motivate.  You have to be willing to ignore the lure of social media or solitaire on your computer and get work done.  While there are lots of people involved in turning a manuscript into a book, a writer works alone to create that book.  There is no one sitting next to you that makes you log in your time. 

Self-motivation is important as a writer.  The best self-motivators feel compelled to sit at their computers every day and log a certain amount of words or pages in.  Which is awesome.  Deadlines are big time motivators for authors—but often can add stress.  At one point I had 5 books under contract to write in 18 months.  I am down to the last book on that list.  The light is at the end of the tunnel, but while I have met deadlines and gotten the work done, I have not always respected the fact that burning the candle at both ends can have unpleasant results.  At the moment, I’m sick.  This is round 2 in the last 4 weeks of having this particular cold. 

Bummer.  Right? 

While I might have gotten sick anyway (I mean, I do have a 5 year old running around at home and several voice students who have had colds in the past few weeks.), the lack of sleep schedule I’ve been keeping lately could not have helped.  Writers, me especially, often forget that while getting pages done is important, so is taking care of themselves.

So here are a few things that writers need to remember to add to the check list along with all those pages written and words typed.  (And yes, I am writing this now because I neglect these things and need a swift kick in the rear.)

1. Get enough rest – writers have to write when they have the time.  For me, this is often at night after the kid is in bed or during the 2 hours in the morning when he is in school.  Too often, I am up until 1a.m. letting my fingers do the walking.  My body can handle doing this once in a while, but every night for weeks (or in this case 16 months) mean running myself down.  If your body is tired, your mind will be tired, too.  Writing tired can mean writing sloppy.  Take the time to get some sleep so you don’t have to do twice the amount of work on the editing end.

2. Eat well – this is kind of like the sleep thing.  Writers have to sit for hours on end in front of the computer which requires energy and stamina.  It is easy to say “It’s not like I’m running a marathon” and reach for the bag of potato chips, but remember you are running your own kind of marathon.  A novel takes weeks and months to create.  You need to keep up your enthusiasm and energy for the project in order to reach THE END.  A body fueled only by crap won’t be up to the challenge.

3. Read – This one gets me every time.  Every writer I know started out as a voracious reader.  Before getting published, I used to read between 150-200 books a year.  Now I’m lucky if I read 20 or 30, but I make sure to take the time in between projects to read because it reminds me of my passion for the written word.  It also keeps me looking at voice, character arcs and pacing in new and interesting ways.  Reading will help you remember why you love this business when you are ready to kick the business in the ass.

4. Get away from the computer screen  – Writers, performers, musicians and artists are inspired by the world around them.  In order to find that inspiration, you actually need to get out in the world and roll around in it.  Take the time to enjoy family outings, take walks around the neighborhood and experience the world around you in between getting those words on the page.  You’ll be a happier person and a better writer for it.

5. Give yourself permission to take time off  – I’m struggling with this one right now, but I’m working on it.  (Especially now that I’m working on the last book I currently have under contract.  The end of the tunnel is in sight!)  Writers need to write, and when I’m writing a project I write 7 days a week.  No one can keep up that pace day in and day out.  Take a break between projects to recharge.  Take time off on the weekends to regroup.  Like any job, you need to take vacations (and this means more than an hour or two here or there) to really get away from work.  After a week or a month or even a summer you will better remember and appreciate the reason you write.  And don’t we all do better when we are doing something we love?

What kind of things do you need to do to make sure you cope with the stress of work? Did I miss something?  I can use all the tips I can get because just like writing a book – no one but you can actually do the work to take care of you.

Whooshing Sounds

By Russel D McLean

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by" - Douglas Adams

At this moment in time, I am on a deadline. Both for the new novel and because The Literary Critic is in her car on the way here.

Deadlines are an essential part of the writer's life. They are the very thing that keep us going, that make us sit up and pay attention. You can ignore them, stick to them religiously, or you can do whatever the hell you feel like, but the fact is that deadlines remind all writers that there is work to be done and that there is an end in sight.

Without deadlines nothing would ever get done.

Now, you can argue and rant and rave that the muse needs to take hold and that no art should be held to a deadline of any sort, but in my thinking you'd be plain wrong. Because if given the opportunity and the funding I think most artists - whether painters, authors, actors, whatever - would keep focusing on the little things, always fiddling with a little something here and a tiny widget there. I know I would. I would go word by word through every one of my manuscripts forever and always find something new to change. If I didn't have deadlines, I would be a literary Sisyphus, condemned forever to keep going through the manuscript and changing this word here and that word there.

But at some point you have to let the manuscript out in the world, accept that it is right for that moment, if not for all time, that it deserves a life beyond your pedantic scrutiny.

I've talked before about how I won't go back and edit old, published work to make it better or more in line with what I envision it as being now. Because a literary work is of its time. Once that deadline has passed, once the work is out there, you move on. Now, editing for technical reasons (a misspell here or a wrong date there) is great but going back to try and rip out the guts of something and make it new, more in line with who you are as an artist, now? That's nonsense. Its counter-productive. Just because you don't like the old work doesn't mean someone else won't.

Which has rambled a little off the point. The point in question being that deadlines are good things. They focus the mind. They help guys like me remember that at some point the work has to be finished.

Sometimes they make a whooshing sound. But even then, that noise reminds me that I need to get a move on, that I need to make up for missing the deadline. And finally, finish the damn book.

Or in this case, the damn blog post.

All books are not created equal

By: Joelle Charbonneau

This week, I saw a facebook post that mentioned that there was a difference between writing a book and writing a book that is under contract.  As an unpublished author, I’d heard that writing a book under contract posed different challenges.  But unpublished me didn’t really understand how different those challenges would be.  I mean—the book still has a beginning, middle and end filled with plot and characters.  The mechanics are the same.  Right?

Yes.

And no.

Now that I have been under contract for a while, I can say that writing a book and writing a book under contract are more different than I ever imagined.  Here are three of the reasons why.

 

1)      The deadline—As an unpublished author, I approached writing as if it were my job, because that is what I hoped it would one day be.  It wasn’t just a hobby that I tinkered with when I was inspired.  While writing a novel, I wrote ever day until I hit The End.  Then I went back and polished and rewrote the book until it was the best writing I could produce at that time.  By the time I wrote Skating Around the Law, I knew that I could produce a manuscript in about 3-4 months.  Which is probably why it never occurred to me to be concerned with deadlines.  I mean, most established authors I knew publish an average of 1-2 books a year.  With the writing habits I’d established, I figured deadlines would never be an issue. 

HA!  First of all, no matter how quickly you write, a deadline is a source of pride and terror.  Pride that there is a contract proving that an editor wants the book you are writing.  You are getting paid for your writing!  This is now a job.  Terror because you are now getting paid for your writing and it is now a job with an expectation that the book will be done by a specific date.  No matter how disciplined you are at your writing, the first time you have a “must be completed by date” assigned to you stress will descend.  It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve completed or how quickly – THIS book feels different.  You worry that because it feels different to have a deadline, you may not be able to write as quickly as you have in the past.  The writing might suck and your rewrites might take longer.  The feeling that this book might not get done is always there as you sit at the keyboard.   

Deadlines are wonderful because they mark you as a professional writer, but the worry that you might not be professional enough has wrecked havoc with writers through all stages of their career. 

 

2)      The check—Getting money for a book before the book is written is another wonderful thing.  No matter how small or large the check, receiving the money is tangible proof that someone actually likes your writing.  It’s a huge confidence boost, but cashing the check is also tangible proof of your commitment to approaching your writing as a job.  The knowledge that you have been paid for something someone has never seen can be both wonderful and frightening.  What if they regret sending you that check?  What if they hate the book?  When a completed manuscript sells, the author is confident the editor likes the book.  They wouldn’t have purchased it otherwise.  But writing a book that was put under contract before completion brings with it a whole new host of doubts, which makes sitting at the keyboard and typing with complete abandon trickier than it was before. 

 

Perhaps I shouldn’t admit this, but the higher the check amount, the higher my anxiety about the contracted project goes up.  Writing a book valued at an advance of $5,000 feels a whole lot different than one valued higher.  The expectations I have of myself rise as the number of zeros increases.  (Note -I have never been paid 6 figures for 1 book, so I’m not talking J.K. Rowling money here, but still!!!!) 

 

3)      Readers—now that you are under contract, you are no longer writing for yourself.  While every writer hopes that the mythical creatures known as readers will some day purchase their book from a store or download it onto their E-reader, the audience the unpublished author is primarily writing for is an audience of 1 – themselves.  Writing a book under contract means that this book you are writing will be in bookstores and on e-shelves.  Readers will be able to read it.  Suddenly, each word that you type means more than it once did because it doesn’t just belong to you.  It belongs to them.  And that distinction can make all the difference in the world. 

Once I started down the writing path, being paid to write a book that was already under contract was a dream of mine.  To me, knowing that an editor and publisher believed in me enough to buy work sight unseen was a sign that I had earned the right to think of myself as an author.  (It took several manuscripts for me to even admit to friends that I was a writer, so calling myself an author took a bit more doing.)  This year, I have completed and turned in 3 under contract manuscripts.  The mechanics of writing get easier with practice, but the personal pressures that come with contracted books makes them each a very different challenge.  I’m thrilled I’ve been given the chance to learn what writing under deadline feels like and as I write on my current project, I hope that I meet the expectations that have been set for it by both me, my agent and my editor.  And if I’m lucky, once I turn in the last two projects that my editors have requested, I’ll be allowed to do it all over again.  Because no matter how hard writing the next contracted book might be, I wouldn’t give it up for anything.