I shall explain better in an example that relates to me.
My story House of Naivin was essentially the first novel I finished. It was over 70k and even though it was the first novel that I completed, I was not happy with it…at all. I could’ve done more, I just wasn’t happy with the story and it overall. So, I finished at over 70k and because I couldn’t vibe with it anymore.
Though when I worked on stories after that, nothing clicked until Project Succession. Like I can’t or never explain it, I just love this story and stick with it much more than House of Naivin.
I finished the zero draft of Project Succession at over 115k. That was THE first novel I EVER finished in my life. I was expecting Red Reign to be that story, it never did. So, the moment I finished Project Succession, I knew that was the story for me in terms of completion and overall enjoyment towards the story.
I have to wonder if that is the same for you. If your first story is actually THE novel, then you can stay and comment still.
That first time I wrote a 40k “novel” (it was a novella, but I thought novels were anything over 20k back then ), was in 2012 or 2013. This story will never see the light of day, but I had never been able to actually write “THE END” to a long-length story before and that novel was the first one I ever finished and that I was proud of finishing.
At the time, I thought it was THE novel and I thought I was going to publish it. I even ended up trying to query it years later and of course got rejected. I also tried to hire an editor and they said my story was not ready…
So, I ended up trying to rewrite it (at this point I knew a novel was from 50k), and ultimately failed to continue, and then I used NaNo on it one year to finish the rewrite. I did. But then I had no will to continue the series (supposed to be a three-book series). And then I got caught up in writing other stories, and then, I slipped it under the rug
Still, it was THE novel at the time.
Today, the one I consider THE novel is different, of course. I would say another THE novel moment was The Facade of Quad in Nimrod (NaNo 2014). You may be surprised that Between Roses (NaNo 2013), while a fun time to write, was not a THE novel moment for me particularly at the time. Not until years later when I decided to edit it.
For me, I can’t separate the excitement, enjoyment, and finishing. The Facade of Quad in Nimrod also had a big mystery element in it that was so satisfying to bring together at the end and reveal everything. And I was able to hint at a big, big twist at the end (which ended up in me contemplating a sequel of sorts for quite some time). Anyway, once I finished that, it made me even more excited about writing.
It was also the first mystery type of story that came together successfully for me. Before that one, I suffered through a really big cringe of a mystery-fantasy story in 2013 CampNaNo April. That was slow, rocky, plot-hole-y, and just rough to write and read. That one might never see the light of day as well XD Then 2013 CampNaNo July, I wrote a fantasy story with a lot of stereotypical cringe and cliche. I rushed the ending, revealed the twist in a hurry, and wrote “the end” with a cliffhanger. I never went back to it.
Idk if I will. Idk. I like the name of the MC and his overall personality and solely for that reason, I might want to try to rework the story one day.
You know, actually, Between Roses’ first draft NaNo November 2013 was a chaotic and terrible time XD It was a struggle. It’s come a looooooong way.
If this is the story you feel most satisfied with, no one gets to say “well, what about your other stuff?” because “finishing” can mean different things to different people, I think
Or you could think of it as an adventure? Adventures come with ups and downs, but in the end, you find your treasure. A treasure can mean different things to different people. If your treasure is THE novel Project Succession, great! Awesome Then you go on another adventure for another treasure and another. You can go on to search for as many treasures at the same time as you want to. The important thing is that it means something to you.
True, and I did say that I wanted to do more stories set in Alagossia a while back. I did think about Red Reign again and some oldies, but also some new stories too.
The problem is starting another story, because I am so wrapped up in Project Succession that I am a bit nervous to try and focus on something else.
Not because I am afraid that I won’t like it, but rather because I will obsess over it, pushing Project Succession to the side.
Multi-tasking is bad for me when I ponder about it.
Maybe you need to do like you were before, have a Project Succession day and an Alagossia day alternating or something?
But if that wasn’t actually working, what if you allot a month to Project Succession and see how much you can get done with it? Then allot a month to Alagossia and alternate like that?
I’ve actually never finished something that is novel length. Most of the things I write are short stories that range from 3K to 10K words (just depends on the story I’m trying to tell).
Last year I set out to work on and release a Batman inspired story that was going to be broken up into chapters or “episodes”. The plan was to make it a Visual Novel. Progress on it was going well.
It would have been my first Novel length release but I ended up putting it on the backburner because I realized that the amount of characters, different outfits, and transformations would be costly when I went to hire an artist to make the character models.
I got discouraged and didn’t write anything for months. However, I started up again in December and I’m currently sitting on a story which I’m planning to make into a Visual Novel that it is sitting at 52K words! A major reason that this one is set in space and mostly confined to a ship is so that I don’t run into the same budgetary issue again, actually
This will probably be kind of a standalone case here, but yeah, my reason for realizing my first attempt at a novel (visual novel in this case) wouldn’t work out boils down to realizing I wasn’t going to have enough money when it came time to hire an artist, composer, editor, etc.
I would like to go back and finish my first story one day though!
Now that I’m thinking about it, I just realized I’ve never attempted a traditional novel and am surprised at that. For the longest time I wrote fan fiction and then shifted focus to extremely short horror stories. Neither of which seemed suited for being novels!
I have a feeling you could find more affordable-to-you ways of going about this if you really want to move forward on it. Where there’s a will, there’s way! (someone said that, idk who)
I’m either
and wanting to stare into space for hours in a state of shock and relief
or
and wanting to bounce off the walls in a state of Mad Hatter giddiness and delirium because I have so much left over adrenaline
For sure! There are definitely options! I just don’t like any of the options I’ve thought of and don’t want to settle DX I’m not a stubborn person, except when it comes to my writing; then I absolutely have to get my way
I’m a firm believer of limited resources leading to innovation. That said, I’m too excited with what I’ve got planned to do any cuts unless I look through it and am unsatisfied with the content or the content doesn’t stick with beta readers. I’ve looked at reassigning plot that happens to some characters to others, that way I could cut down the overall cast too, but it just never seemed like a good fit.
I’ve also been told that I could do something like a Kickstarter, but I’m not going to do that either. Truth be told, taking other people’s money always makes me uncomfortable and I’d like to “prove myself” with a few finished works (beyond the scope of a short story) before truly considering going that route.
), was in 2012 or 2013. This story will never see the light of day, but I had never been able to actually write “THE END” to a long-length story before and that novel was the first one I ever finished and that I was proud of finishing.
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