Finding My Groove
On December 31st, 2022. I finished my rough draft manuscript at around 10:00 am. It was twenty six chapters long and about two thousand to three thousand words per chapter, an estimate of 78,000 words. This is officially the first time I've completed a rough draft all the way through (but I did get close for my very first novel). The work I completed took almost a year of writing and is what I consider my second novel.
Despite all these confusing numbers, the point shouldn't be lost that I created a product I'm satisfied with (until the second draft) in a painstaking amount of time. These long hours of work shouldn't be ignored. My last attempt to write a novel was a Nanowrimo November. It was both a success and a failure, a success in that I completed the challenge, a failure in that the work was rushed and delayed me writing an ending I wanted to complete on more organic terms. As that rough draft is, I still don't have an ending and don't see it proper to write until I've made significant improvements to the world and characterization.
The biggest problem I've had to overcome in writing is the big burning question; when to do what. It's still an issue I struggle with today despite having a better grasp on possible solutions to it compared to the past. Every large project I've done so far requires lots or research and worldbuilding, two things I haven't done enough of for both of my projects. The biggest challenge I've faced isn't even writing the story, but rather finding reliable information about the topics I'm writing about. A lot of the subject matter I'm exploring is so niche that finding proper resources seems almost impossible most of the time. Thankfully, I'm making more progress than years past and should be making more progress in this area in 2023.
The ultimate truth I've discovered about writing is one that doesn't surprise me. Just write. It's simple. Even with my limitations, I'm enjoying the direction both of my stories have taken. It's fun to make eons of notes and plot maps, but the best action to take is write them out. The story will go in its organic direction and will not follow original plans to a tee. It is best to go with the flow to make an organic story and not shoehorn in anything for the convenience of fulfilling a checklist. This message was brought home to me when writing my second novel. The entire book is surrealist which means it relies on symbolism and subtext to tell a story, that story being often up to interpretation. Creating a bizarre scene and trying to see how everything fits thematically is a challenging but fun task. While I'm not one to give advice, I'd recommend any aspiring writer to work on a surrealist story to take their skills to the next level. When comparing both projects, my second novel made my first novel seem much easier to manage.
Where all of this takes me is just another step into another unknown. There's a lot I've yet to do and learn. When looking at my material from two years ago, I can't imagine how I thought it was good. I'm sure I'll get the same reaction two more years from this current one. I've been writing for over two years now, but in the year of 2022 something changed. That thing was getting into an intense flow of creativity. Like a large rock at the edge of a hill, it took some hard pushing to get it rolling on its own, but when it did the results were nothing short of surprising. I was able to complete every chapter of my project and even had time to write several short pieces on the side. It's crazy to see what can be accomplished when one has a genuine desire to write. It doesn't come along all the time, but when it does I see it as sign that the idea I'd shelved deserves to be written.