*insert drumroll here*
I have finished draft 1 of the circus novel!
*and insert party dance music and confetti here*
It currently sits at about 67,000 words with 390 pages (with Scrivener export, will be fewer pages once formatted different). I have more words to pull in and plenty of words to chop, so subject to change immensely.
I was asked how long I’ve been working on it to really mark how momentous this occasion is, but that’s not something I want to think about right now. Let’s save that for a different discussion 😛 Suffice it to say, years! This is the story I won’t let into the world until I get all the details just right within some semblance of reason yet to be determined. It’s a twisty intricate complex tale that I’m not rushing out there. That whole “follow the formula” and “ship it” mindset just doesn’t work for this story, so I’m more on the George R. R. Martin timeline here. But 1 step down, so grab some cake to celebrate!
What’s next
One big thing I learned from publishing my first book (I Know You Like a Murder) is that finishing draft 1 really gives the momentum for any edits. So much so, better to skip the hard parts and come back to them in editing. Not just wallow in them for days/weeks/months/years in the middle of draft 1. Finish draft 1 and come back with the full picture in mind, and new life and energy is there to complete it.
(Sidenote to writers working on draft 1 of their novel: Angie Thomas talks about “draft zero” instead of the 1st draft. And somewhere I heard the 1st draft is telling the story to yourself. Both those concepts freed me to write w/out worrying about getting it perfect. Somehow the word “draft” doesn’t feel unfinished enough for me to let go of the details, but those concepts helped.)
So with that in mind, next up I have my intense editing process to go through. It’s even more in-depth this time, because, well, I’ve changed character names halfway through, created plotholes the size of a small continent, and all sorts of problems that I need to go back and clean up. And I waited to clean those problems up because I learned how I work best.
Will I have it ready for beta reading this year? Maybe. I’m optimistic, but not certain until I see just how big of a mess I have to clean up. Stay tuned for your chance to read it ahead of the masses and tell me how to make it better 😉 But for now, cake!
