In this week’s episode, we discuss eight tips for finishing your first rough draft.
You can also get 25% off any STEALTH & SPELLS audiobook at my Payhip store with this coupon code:
LEVELING
The coupon code will last until October 8th, 2024. You can get the audiobooks here:
https://payhip.com/JonathanMoeller/collection/sevenfold-sword-online-audiobooks
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 220 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 26th, 2024, and today we’re discussing eight tips for finishing your rough draft. We also have a Question of the Week and then close out the episode with a short preview of the audiobook of Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling, as excellently narrated by C.J. McAllister.
First, let’s have an update on my current writing projects. As of right now, I am 82,000 words into Ghost in the Tombs and if all goes well, I’m hoping to wrap up the rough draft for that next week. I am 24,000 words into Cloak of Illusion, and I’m hoping to have that out in November and I’m also 4,000 words into Orc Hoard, which I am hoping to have out in December, if all goes well, though obviously if anything goes wrong, we’re probably going to slip by a month or so there.
In audiobook news, the recording for Shield of Darkness (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) is finished. That just has to work its way through processing and should be up on the various audiobook sites soon, and we’re going to start on the recording for Shield of Conquest next week. The audiobook of Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling is done. That’s narrated by CJ McAllister and that’s probably going to be a while before it turns up on Audible and the other sites because, as you might remember from previous episodes of the podcast, I changed the name of the series from Sevenfold Sword Online to Stealth and Spells Online and ACX does not like that, so it’s going to take a bit for it to get through processing on ACX. In the interim, it is available on my Payhip store and as of today through October 8th you can get 25% off both Stealth and Spells Online audiobooks at my Payhip store with this coupon code: LEVELING and that is LEVELING. I will include that coupon code and a link to the Payhip store in the notes for this show. Remember that coupon code is valid through October 8th, 2024. So act now if you want to get a copy of Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling and listen to it before anyone else does.
00:02:10 Question of the Week
Now on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is designed to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week’s question: do you reread novels that you have previously read? Now, there are obviously numerous reasons to reread nonfiction- research, for example, or double checking on how to do a certain technical procedure. But there seems to be less of a reason to reread novels, so I opened up this question and people had a lot of thoughts on this. In all the times we’ve done Question of the Week, this is the most comments we’ve ever gotten. So rather than read them all, which would take something like 20 minutes, I’m going to read some of the more representative ones here.
Our first comment is from Mary who says: yes, a lot. I have lost count of how many times I’ve read The Lord of the Rings.
Joaquim says: Sure, I reread novels. When you announced Ghost Armor, I reread Ghost Exile and Ghost Night. Some things were different from my memory.
Shane says: I reread books pretty often. I just got my brother into your books, starting with Frostborn, so we’ve been reading them at the same time and having daily calls to talk about the exploits of Ridmark and his friends.
Surabhi says: when I was little, reading books other than those assigned by schools was an alien thing where I live, because books were expensive and people considered fiction a waste of time. My parents are more liberal, so I requested them to give me the Harry Potter series. I never knew another book for years, rereading Harry Potter twice a year. It was my escape, a little dose of magic and friendship in my lonely, backward society life. I’ve read Harry Potter like twelve times by now, and I rarely ever reread books except for occasionally going back to favorite scenes. It’s been a while since I reread Harry Potter, so maybe I will reread it someday. It was what got me into reading and still has a special place in my heart.
My next comment is from Michael, who says: yeah, I reread your books while I’m waiting for you to release a new one, which sometimes backfires when I’m only four books into Ghosts when you release the next one…what to do? And I reread Lord of The Rings and my other favorite fantasy novel every year, too.
William says: when I was stuck at Club Med for almost week on a family vacation, I ended up reading the first five Gotrek and Felix novels every day (twice one particular uneventful day) since they were what I had thought to pack. Rereading is a lot more optional now thanks to digital publishing. Anyway, out of all your novels, I have reread Cloak Game, Silent Order, Cormac Rogan and Stealth and Spells Online: Creation.
JL says: I frequently reread novels I’ve previously read. It’s fun way to go back through a series once the first time glamor and immersion has worn off tiny bit and think about how I would have reacted in certain scenarios.
MW says: Yes, I regularly reread old novels. I love new stuff, but I don’t just abandon old friends.
Shandy says: I constantly reread series. I’ve reread your Ridmark, Caina, and Nadia series a few times over. Wheel of Time is another one I reread every couple of years or so, and The Man of His Word series by Dave Duncan. Sometimes I want a familiar story and miss old friends.
Pippa says: I do reread some of my favorites and some of them multiple times. Daggerspell, the “trilogy” that ended up being 16 books by Katherine Kerr, I’ve reread that at least 10 times over the last 30 years. I’ve reread Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit many more times than that. I love revisiting the stories again, both because it’s comforting to read what I already know so well and also the enjoyment of experiencing new/different things in them as time and experience have changed me. I love your books too, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to reread them all for a while yet as I’ve still not finished them all.
Rob says: every time you release a new Ghost or Cloak novel, I start from the beginning and work through to the latest.
Caroline says: I reread the Malloreon series and the Mithgar series and the Dragons of (mispronounced word).
Darla says: I read my favorite books and sometimes find details missed the first time around. I reread Nadia’s and Caina’s books at least twice. Still great stuff.
Randy says: yes, some stories and characters (Ridmark, Harry Dresden) are too good to read just once, and some authors (Tolkien, Heinlein, Rowling) are just fun to read.
Becca says: I read a lot. My usually reading is often 40% new and 60% rereads. Some of my favorites I reread almost every year. Depending on costs, new books might go down or rereads go up.
That is always a challenge because of tight economic times, I’m afraid.
Gary says: I generally do not. I am not a fast reader, but I generally retain most of what I read, so rereading stories is usually dull.
Bob says: very rarely. I’m usually too busy keeping up with series and reading new books.
Barbara says: I reread my favorite books at least once a year. Asimov, Andrew Norton, Anne Bishop, Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley, yours, and many others.
Bonnie says: I reread your books all the time. Usually it’s the last two before the newest comes out. I’ve gone through all Ridmark a couple of times. The Master Reading List comes in handy for where the short stories fit in. Same with Demonsouled. A couple of others I reread are K.F. Breene and C.J. Archer.
Mary says: I reread Rosamund Pilcher’s short stories and novels.
Michael says: I rarely reread novels unless I read them decades ago and don’t remember much about the story.
Tom says: I reread several series and could still pick up one and lose myself: Harry Potter, A Song of Fire and Ice, Fable Haven/Dragonwatch and of course, Frostborn. By the way, that is only rereads. I’ve listened to many series on Audible that I have already read.
I actually do that myself because I usually listen to audiobooks while I’m driving and while I’m driving I’ll have an audiobook on, but only if it’s something I’ve already read, because that way I don’t have to concentrate too much on it, since while driving, obviously it’s best that your attention is on the road.
And finally, perhaps the most definitive comment comes from Rick, who says: yes and I’ll read them more than two or three times if they’re good. I’ll often reread a few books back in the series when a new one comes out to refamiliarize with setting and characters. Sometimes I read the whole series again if it’s still short. I reread series if I’ve gotten a few books behind, too. I’ve read Lord of Rings dozens of times since the first way back in fifth grade and it’s interesting how one’s perspectives can change over the decades. I don’t mean anything drastic, just in viewing characters, motivations, deeds, etcetera, and having a greater understanding thereof. Good novels are like old friends I’m always happy to see. I’m a voracious reader and can burn through a book quickly while having a high rate of comprehension and recall. I can also watch movies I really like multiple times. For example, I’ve now seen the 1986 movie Highlander close to 100 times since I was 20. I’m 57 now. I’ve gotten through some hard times that are visiting the words and tales within the covers of my many-paged friends, same with favorite movies.
For myself, I don’t usually reread novels and I’m usually looking for something new to read. That said, this year I have had a hard time finding something new to read, so I reread a lot of novels from the 2000s/early 2010s that I liked but could recall little else about. I have to admit it was enjoyable to come back to something I previously liked with 20-ish years of additional experience. I could appreciate the nuances and allusions in a way that I couldn’t before.
I should also mention that when it comes to my own books, I reread them like all the time because of the simple fact of continuity checking, where very often during the writing process I need to pause, open up something a couple books back, and then Control+F until I find what I’m looking for and refresh my memory on what actually happened. So that was Question of the Week. Quite a good collection of comments this week.
00:09:12 Main Topic: 8 Tips for Finishing Your First Rough Draft
Now let’s move on to our main topic, eight tips for finishing your first rough draft. This is a major hurdle for many new writers and was the reason that things like National Novel Writing Month existed is to encourage people to finish their first draft because that is a major milestone and also for lack of a better term, a major mental hurdle to get over. Because if you’ve done it once, you can do it again. And finishing that first novel rough draft is getting over that major hurdle and proving to yourself and possibly to others, that you can do it, through proving it to yourself that you can do it probably most (indistinct word) of all. So with that in mind, I thought I would share eight tips that would hopefully help you finish that rough draft and pass that mental hurdle.
Tip #1: schedule your writing time. All of us are very busy. Some of us are busier than others, but most people are busy. So for most people, if something isn’t scheduled, it’s not going to happen. Waiting until you feel like you have the energy or motivation to write means that it’s going to be put off a lot. Put it on your calendar like it’s an appointment. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, especially at first, but it does need to be consistent even if it’s only 15 minutes a day. If you do 15 minutes of writing a day, that adds up over time.
Most writers and most even well-known writers have day jobs and have to write either late in the evening or early in the morning to accommodate their work and family lives. Some people even use lunch breaks to write. I did that myself for quite some time. Back in the days when I worked IT support, I’d have an hour lunch break. And so for that hour lunch break I would wolf down my lunch quickly and then pound out as many words as I could on my laptop before it was time to go back to work. And if I did that every workday whenever possible, because sometimes other obligations to precedence but I did that whenever possible and that added up over time. It’s not impossible. You don’t have to be a full-time writer or have hours a day free in order to write. You just have to squeeze out a little at a time to get a little writing done. Just do it every day. Small efforts over long periods of time can add up to big results.
Tip #2: start small. Most people do pretty well with making small changes gradually. You can see a book like Atomic Habits by James Clear for more detail on how to make small goals effectively. Writing for 10 minutes a day is better than waiting for the perfect time to write or waiting to feel ready for some big challenge like National Novel Writing Month (which might be going away because of all the scandals for the organization anyway). Starting with a small daily or weekly block of time gets you into the habit of writing and makes the process easier.
Another anecdote might illustrate that. I had my yearly doctor’s checkup about a week ago, and the doctor was very happy with me because I was 9 lbs. lighter than I was that time last year. We talked a bit about that and she said that when it comes to making dietary changes, making small, sustainable changes you can actually do is better over the long term than going down some sort of crash diet or exercise program where you lose like 10 or 15 lbs. quickly in a couple of months, but then you can’t sustain what you’re doing, you revert back to old habits, and then all the weight comes back. That’s true of writing as well, where it’s better to do small changes consistently over time that add up rather than trying to do some sort of crazy crash program to get results quickly.
Tip #3: start with a plan or an outline. Many people claim they can’t write using an outline. However, that’s the sort of knowledge that, in my opinion, comes with experience, where after you’ve written a bunch of books and you realize you work better without an outline, that’s one thing, but if you’re just starting out and you find that you’re stuck, it might be a good idea to at least try writing with an outline and see what happens. I do think many people who are just starting out would benefit from at least a loose plan of the main characters, their motivations, conflicts that will happen, and major plot events. You shouldn’t get too in the weeds with it. That can be a form of procrastination, like we’ll talk about later in the episode, but having at least a rough plan sketched out makes it easier.
And it’s also a good idea not to think of your book as a single huge item, but as 25 to 30 pieces or chapters. One 3,000 word chapter feels easier to manage than a 75-100,000-word novel. Having at least a rough outline or plan sketched out makes it easier to tackle individual chapters and mark your progress and feel a sense of accomplishment. Outlines make it a lot easier to work when you feel uninspired or stuck. I’ve often used the metaphor that writing novels is like driving from New York to Los Angeles, which is a very long drive across the entire North American continent, and outlining is like charting out the route you will take before you make the drive. Now you could set out from New York with like no map and just the idea that you’re going to gradually work your way west and south until you get to Los Angeles, but you could easily get lost along the way and have to backtrack a lot and make the trip a lot longer and more complicated than it needs to be. With a road map and a trip plotted out in advance, you’ll get there much more efficiently. If you get to say, Wyoming and realize that there’s road construction or a better route you can take, you can plan around that, which is something an outline gives you when you’re writing a book; you have an idea of where you’re going, and if you get there and you have a better idea, you can do that, but you have an overall guide to where you’re going.
Tip #4: don’t edit as you go. This is a mistake that many writers make where they will write the first chapter and constantly be rewriting it, or maybe get like the first third of their novel down and are constantly rewriting it and trying to perfect it before they continue onward. Remember, perfect is the enemy of the possible. Write down some notes for future edits if you think of something major that will need revision, but keep going instead of stopping to edit or revise. Often when I’m writing and I come across something factual I want to check later, like you know, the number of miles between, say, Cheyenne, WY and Milwaukee, WI, I’ll just write down “look it up later” and then when I get to the editing part of the process, I will look it up and then put it in rather than stop writing to go on Google Maps and look up the distance between Wyoming and Wisconsin. Stopping to research while you write as well is often just as tricky as editing because you get caught in a Wikipedia spiral and waste your time.
Another good idea is don’t let someone read your book until the draft is done. Having someone read like your first chapter to see how it’s doing might seem smart and productive, but it can easily make your self-criticism worse and cause you to doubt yourself. You need a near delusional amount of self-confidence in your ability to complete a first draft and most people are not going to be able to help you with that and can hinder that, which is why I’ve noticed that very often people who successfully finish their first draft or do something like to return to a previous example, lose weight, when they do so do it in secret, they like start working out and don’t tell anyone they start eating less and don’t tell anyone or are writing over their lunch hour and don’t tell anyone. And then it’s only when they have noticeable results that they talk to people about the topic.
Tip #5: manage or suppress distractions. This reminds me of a very amusing tweet I saw a couple days ago where someone was arguing that console gaming was better than PC gaming because on console gaming you don’t have the constant distraction of social media notifications, emails, or YouTube videos to watch, which made me wonder how bad this person’s ability to concentrate was because he couldn’t even concentrate on a leisure activity like gaming without getting distracted by emails and tweets and so forth, which makes me wonder what his concentration is like when he’s trying to get actual productive work done. However, that is a good point. When you are writing it is a good idea to avoid digital distractions. If this is a challenge for you, there are browser extensions and apps to limit your screen time to just a few designated websites and apps like your word processor. Most phones also have settings where you can silence notifications for a set period of time and limit incoming calls to just your contact list or a designated set of people from your contacts. Digital distractions can be a problem.
Space distractions are a potential problem as well in your writing space. If you are writing in the kitchen or living room or the dining room, you may get distracted by other family members or roommates, if you don’t live alone. Find a place where you can go without being interrupted and often headphones can be very helpful with that as well as music. Some people claim they need to physically get away from where they live to focus without interruptions. Libraries and coffee shops are great places to do that. One may be preferable over the other, depending of course upon your personal finances and the state of the coffee shops and/or libraries in your local community.
Tip #6: adjust your expectations. You shouldn’t put too much mental weight on what your first draft is like when it’s done. It doesn’t need to be a masterpiece. It doesn’t need even to be good as a first draft. It just needs to get done. There will be plenty of time to edit, revise, and refine later. Silence your inner critic and just put down the words on the page. You know, write it down on a Post-it note and stick it to your monitor if you need the reminder, but just get the words on the page. Author Shannon Hale has a quote about the first draft that many have found helpful. She said “I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoving sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”
This reminds me a bit of a time I moved from an apartment on the ground floor to a third floor apartment in a building with no elevator. As you can imagine, I had a lot of books and carrying something like 20 or 30 boxes of books up three flights of stairs to my new apartment was a challenging amount of work (and a good workout, I have to add), but once the books were in the upstairs apartment, the hard part was done. The easier part was just unboxing all the books and arranging them on the shelves, which of course is still quite a bit of work. It is however, not nearly as strenuous as carrying, you know, 30 boxes of books up three flights of stairs. I’ve often compared writing the rough draft to carrying those boxes of books up the stairs. But once you have the rough draft done, you get to arrange and fix it nicely and make it look pretty, like taking all those books out of their boxes and putting them on the shelves.
Tip #7: beware of writing-adjacent activities that can suck up your time. By writing-adjacent activities, I mean things like research, updating your website/social media, looking at BookTok, and so forth. These things by themselves are not bad and if you are selling your book or want to sell your book, that can in fact be necessary. But they can give you the illusion of being productive when in fact, you’re just wasting time. The most important thing is to of course finish the rough draft. If these kind of tasks motivate you or you enjoy them, it’s probably a good idea to block off separate time for these tasks. It’s not that they’re bad, but they’re not actually getting any writing done. So if you really find the writing-adjacent tasks enjoyable, probably schedule separate time for them that is distinct from your writing time.
Tip #8: treat yourself or in other words, bribe yourself. Bribes work on everyone, not just upset toddlers. Most people respond better to rewards than punishment when it comes to their goal. Find a way to reward yourself for small milestones along the way like finishing a chapter. It doesn’t have to be an expensive reward or even a reward that costs money. You could just, you know, go get yourself a coffee after every chapter. But if you wanted to give yourself a reward that wouldn’t cost money, it could be something like doing something you enjoy, like going to the library, going to the park, making a new playlist, watching your favorite show on a free streaming site like Tubi or YouTube, calling a friend, or just wasting time on the Internet looking at funny memes for ten minutes. If you are the sort of person who enjoys stationery, you could get yourself some fancy notebooks or fancy pens or some kind of fancy coffee. It’s always a good idea to be a bit kind to yourself when rewarding yourself for (indistinct word) task. Compared to digging ditches or, you know, open heart surgery, writing isn’t hard, but it’s still quite a bit of work, which is why there aren’t more finished rough drafts out there, because it can be a bit of a slog at times. So if you follow these eight methods, hopefully this will help you finish that first first draft and get you over the hurdle in your mind of being able to actually finish a rough draft.
So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.
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