Hi
I'm having a hideous time with my novel and I urgently need advice as I'm loosing sleep over it and can't afford to (two small kids and a full-time job, no time for existential anxiety I'm afraid).
I'm half way through (I've got about 38 000 words) and the rest of the story is all planned. I know where I'm going and I'm having a good time writing, slowly but very regularly.
My problem is, I'm having big doubts about what I've already written, not so much in terms of content but structure.
Foolishly, I started writing without using chapters. The story is divided into three massive 25 000 words sections, but no chapters.
Also, there's a main plot, with very frequent flashbacks that slowly reveal what the plot is actually all about (it's a bit of a romantic thriller). The problem is, some flashbacks are 1 page long, others 18!
People who have read the first section didn't seem to worry about the structure and generally loved it, but I personally think it's a right mess.
My main question is: should I sort the first half of the novel now to make writing the second half easier, or should I plough on and only start editing when I'm done with the first draft?

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By the way, this is my first real novel and the only experience of long-term writing project I have is a silly 30 000 words story i wrote when I was 16 and a monster of a 200 000 words PhD thesis (good for the stamina but that's about it)

Also, it's in French so I can't even share my worries with my lovely WW group

If your readers don't have a problem with it, then I wouldn't worry too much for now. If you go back and sort it out now, you could end up winding yourself up in a knot, and losing track of what sound like good clear plans.

It can be that because you're nose down in the writing, it's much harder for you to tell how the whole thing reads: if something takes you a long time to write, it can really distort your sense of how long it takes to read, and therefore how confused the reader is (or isn't) likely to get. I don't think long flashbacks need be a problem as long as you're careful that readers always know where they are, and you bring them back to the main narrative very clearly.

What you could do is print it out and read it through, marking the flashback sections, and anything else you need to keep track of (different subplots? important theme popping up?) to give yourself a really solid sense of the balance and proportions of the whole. You could even mark where you think chapter breaks should come. If you do realise straight away that something needs changing, you can make a note of that, so it's logged without you getting distracted from experiencing the narrative as a reader would. You can still write the second half allowing for that change, without actually getting into the detail of the change now. If, later, you do decide that things do need moving around, you'll have a good map of the territory.

Good luck!

Emma

Plough on.
I write everything out of sequence and piece it together like a jigsway puzzle at the end of the first draft, and find that part of the process a lot of fun - but maybe that's just me.
Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it at this stage; just get it finished.


- NaomiM

I agree with what the others said. In the first draft you are finding your story. By the time you reach the end of it you will be much clearer about what it is and whether you are telling it in the optimal way. Keep going. It's absolutely normal to go through big self-questioning periods and worries and doubts. Get to the end, and then look at it from that perspective. If you 'fiddle' at this stage, you'll get self-conscious about your writing. Just go for it!
Susiex

if something takes you a long time to write, it can really distort your sense of how long it takes to read

Top advice from Emma but this struck a chord with me because in my edit I've really become aware of this. Because we write slow, we think so. But most of us, I suspect, read quite quickly. I wouldn't worry about it until you've got the whole cloth down. Push on, and you'll find it easier when you can see start to finish. That's my modus operandi anyway and it seems to work. I refuse to get picky and precise until the last word is down.

My book was episodic. Most chapters were around 15,000 words but I broke it down into chapters and it reads much better I think.

JB



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In an edit, I try to become as objective as possible. Critically so, erring on the side of intolerance. I read each chapter as if I'd picked it up in a shop and this seems to let me know when things are going too slow, or there's too much backstory, or I get confused etc. It's probably why both my books have shrunk significantly between end of draft and end of edit. But I can never do both together.

One reason that when I'm doing editorial reports I try to read the novel more-or-less in one fell swoop, is because if I have a long gap - several days, say - then my sense of the structure and pace can get very distorted; I feel the middle, say, goes much more slowly, and start trying to come up with all sorts of reasons and solutions, when in fact it was that the two days which took forever in the middle were my days, not the story's.

Emma

My advice would be to plough on. Get it finished.
Once you're there, you can begin the re drafting, which may end up in an entirely different structure. If you start toying now you risk never finishing ( it's happened to people I know ). Also it'a so much harder to unpick something that's tightly woven. Much easier while it's still loose.
HB x

Thank you so much, I've been so anxious over this and it's good to know more experience writers also experience those kinds of problems.
Plough on it is, then!
I guess I knew how long and hard it would be to write the whole thing, but I had no idea there would still be so much work left to do after that. I'm just realising it now, hence the shock!

I agree with all the advice you’ve had so far, and also would mention that it’s very common to feel like this in the middle of a novel. You’ve done so much but there's still such a lot to do, and your perspective starts to unravel. Like the others said, plough on and leave the rearranging until the next stage.

First drafts are always rough; it’s in the next draft when the story starts to come together in something akin to its final version. You'll enjoy that!

Dee

it's so much harder to unpick something that's tightly woven. Much easier while it's still loose.

I like this advice. How true.

JB

it's so much harder to unpick something that's tightly woven. Much easier while it's still loose.

Wise words, Helen, I think I'll add them to the list above my desk.

I just read your thread and it struck real chords with me - and I mean full on noisy riffs! Not only do I also have two kids and a full time job but the number of books that I have started and then lost heart with is probably into two figures by now. I find it usually hits at about 20,000 words as a result of a combination of lack of confidence and doubts, just as you have described, as well as any number of other excuses to do with the fact that I seldom have enough time to do a project justice before I out of love with it.

While I wholeheartedly endorse the sensible comments above, you may find that pushing on with it just increases the number of silly bickering arguments that you have with the words on the pages and then you risk a much more acrimonious fall out. So watch out for the point when, if you don't take a break from the book, you risk ditching it totally. Taking a step back is always useful, not least because the book always looks better when you finally get back to it than it did when you left it.

S

Just sit down at the end of the day with a cup of tea/cocoa/coffee/glass of wine and read a printout of what you have so far. Treat it as though it was a library book or a present you've never seen before.
Then, of course, just as it gets to page 125, it stops. There's no more pages....you're intrigued and start wondering how the "real" book ends, how the author really finished it...
By tricking yourself into thinking it was written by someone else, it will magically revive and will start raising all manner of questions.

Here's what a master writer said about the 'biggie':

"The creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything." - Virginia Woolfe

I have this in front of me all my writing time. It answers your question. But the impending shape has to be 'impended' (?!) by you, so you'll need to have it in mind and work on it as the writing proceeds.