MarieHow I Wrote the first draft of my novel
By Jessica Marie As the title may suggest, I have finished the first draft of my novel! January 25th, 2022 is when I wrote the last words of the first draft. April 1st, 2021 is when I started writing the first words of the novel. The title is, The Shadows of Dawn and it is a science-fiction and fantasy novel about; Magic goes through 2,000-year cycles on Esnevaria. When magic returns it plunges the planet into chaos, war, and political upheaval. That is my rough snippet. I am working on a further developed synopsis and some character break downs. But that is what I have for now. Now, I know a first draft is only one step in a long process that progresses from concept to published book. But it is an accomplishment and I am allowing myself to celebrate that win. One step down with a million to go. I am currently sitting down to really flesh out issues and details that I know are missing from the story and what I might do to remedy those. Deeper character development, POV’s, plot holes, etc. These are issues I know exist and that’s just based on what I remember. Before I dive into re-reading and adding more description and further flesh to the bones I have laid out, I wanted to help you get to this achievement too. How did I get my first draft done and how can you get your first draft done too? First, I’ll tell you how I did it and then give you some ideas to try. What I Did Find My Time I found I had the most creativity and drive to write in the morning. Not 5am, simply after my morning routine but before I started any other work for the day. I found that if I tried to write after I had worked for the day I was too tired to muster the energy required to put words on the page. Writing isn’t easy. I love this story and my characters, but it is a draining process. It takes a lot of repetition and effort to figure out what is happening and what needs to happen in the story to keep it moving forward. I need to see progress I need to be able to see my progress. Seeing the word or page count go up in the bottom left corner of my word document doesn’t motivate me very much. I prefer to be able to see it all laid out for me. I found a google excel sheet someone made that tracks your writing progress. I can write down my energy levels, my time spent writing, my word count, and more into this sheet. Being able to see how many words I wrote that day really motivated me. I also found putting a sticker on my calendar also helped motivate me. I could see exactly when I did and didn’t write, and I had the satisfaction of giving myself that sticker. Gave myself grace I gave myself grace to work at my own pace. I did not write every day. On average, I actually only write three days a week. I also generally only write for one hour a day. There are some weeks I wrote more than three days, and there were days I wrote more than one hour. But nine times out of ten I write three days a week and only one hour each session. That’s it. And I still wrote over 96 thousand words in less than one year. No Comparisons I didn’t compare myself to other authors or writers. Some people say you must write every day. Some people write in sprints, for 20-30 minutes at a time and they do that several times a day. I looked at those people, cheered them on, and continued doing what worked for me. I knew I couldn’t write more than once a day or for (generally) more than one hour. It just doesn’t work for me. So, I don’t even try. I don’t let any comparison or competition get to me. I let them do them and I do me and I carried on. And while they may get to their goal faster or slower than me, I didn’t care. I had my goal, to write the first draft within a year, and I beat that goal. I am happy! I worked at my own pace and still got here. I found encouragement where I could I let more experienced writers and authors encourage me. Not literally. I didn’t seek or have any experienced writers or authors telling me good job or to keep writing. But I did look at the things they said or did and let them guide or inspire me. For example, if they said they struggled with something I would take that into consideration and remember that when I got to that point and give myself grace if I too struggled. Or I would read their inspirational quotes and not let my inner critic get me down. For example, there were times I thought about how messy and absolutely terrible this first draft is. It is truly a dumpster fire at this moment in time. That is true for many, many writers and authors. So, I knew I was in the club, the boat, the same situation as many others. But they also said things like, this is the worst the book will ever be. It will only get better from here. My first draft is bad too. You will be so proud of holding that book in your hand one day. These words encouraged me. I wasn’t alone. I am only one step down. I can’t compare my first step with someone’s 500th step. So, I took those inspirational quotes, hung them (literally) on my wall and let them encourage me on days my inner critic was being extra mean. Just kept writing I just kept doing it. Despite all the inner criticisms, despite one month I didn’t write a single word, despite being unsure if I was actually going to be a good writer, despite all this and more. I still kept writing. At my own pace, in my own time, in my own way. I kept doing it. Putting one word in front of the other until I had sentences, paragraphs, chapters and now an entire first draft. Ideas for you When Try different times of day and see how you feel, see what days or times work best for you. Maybe everyday in sprints is your jam. Maybe once a week for 10 hours is your jam. There is no wrong answer. There is no one way to be a writer. Find what works for you and do that. Once you have your method, put your blinders up and don’t compare your method to someone else’s. Find your motivators What motivates you? Is it stickers, word counts, sharing your favorite quote or progress on social media, snacks, something else? There are so many things people use to motivate themselves. Find what makes your motivation increase and do that. I don’t care if it’s silly, I use stickers! I literally give myself a sticker when I write. It works. Do what works for you. Find Your Friends I don’t have a group of people that I talk to about my writing. I don’t have content groups or critique partners. I have in the past and these all helped me grow into the writer I am today. These trained me to know my weaknesses and to prepare for them. For example, I am great at plot and world-building. But I am not good at character development. Who are these people and why should we care about them? Yeah, I suck at that. But I know I have to work harder at that. I am hoping in time to build a team around me that we can all give aid to each other’s writing in the future. But I don’t have that right now. But I did join writers’ groups on Facebook, and I follow indie authors on Instagram. I see what people are saying and draw information and encouragement from them. No Comparisons Allowed There is a fine line between gleaning ideas from someone and comparing yourself to them. You know the difference. Draw ideas all day until you have something that works. You can tweak as needed. But don’t compare once you have your system. Just Keep Writing The hardest part of all. Just doing it. You can’t never write and expect the book to write itself. You do have to write sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes. Little by little you will progress. Hang up those inspirational quotes and then write at your own pace. There you go! That is how I got my first draft written and my ideas for how to get your first draft written! I hope this has been helpful and I hope you are excited and brimming with new ideas on how to get your first draft finished as well. Like I said, I am now in a second round of plotting. Figuring out even more nitty-gritty details of my story and characters so that as I edit I can add these details in. There are many drafts and edits to come but each draft will take me one step closer to holding that finished, published novel in my hands. Much Love, Jessica Marie
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Author Interview with Selina R. Gonzalez
By Jessica Marie I did an interview with six-time author Selina R. Gonzalez. She is a fantasy author and a Colorado native with mountains in her blood and dreams that top 14,000 feet. She loves chocolate, fantasy, costumes, bread, history, superheroes, faux leather, things that sparkle, learning random bits of knowledge, snark, and Jesus–not in that order. She loves all things medieval Europe and is a huge Anglophile. She studied Medieval British history during a semester abroad at the University of Oxford. She also took medieval history and literature courses while earning her bachelor’s in history at Colorado State University, where she graduated in May 2018. Selina loves to travel, and has driven coast-to-coast in the US, visited Britain three times, and moved to Maine for four and half months. She has a list of places to go as long as Pikes Peak is tall, but she always comes back home to Colorado. Tell us a little about yourself. I am the author of six independently published fantasy books, including Prince of Shadow and Ash and a Thieving Curse, which is my most recent release. I am also a freelance fiction editor and book formatter. I’ve been writing fiction off and on since I was about 14 years old, which is when I started attending writer’s conferences, reading books and blogs on fiction writing, and the publishing industry. But I only started publishing recently. My first novella I published in eBook form only in November of 2019. Then released a paperback in January of 2020. Also, in 2020 I published two more novels, a novella, and a novelette. This year I published one more novel. I honestly do not recommend doing that much in one year, she chuckles. I got very burnt out. How did you keep up with that pace of writing and releasing? Part of it was, I had a lot written before releasing. The novels I released in 2020 were already written and in the process of being revised. The novella and the novelette that were released were related to those novels. So, all the planning and characterization work was already done. So, it was a little easier than writing an entire new book and story. But I did get kind of burnt out by the end of 2020. Know what you can do and pace yourself. How did you come to your publishing conclusions? Since high school my plan had been to be traditionally published. To go through the process of querying agents and submitting to publishers. But since about 2018 and 2019 I got involved with online writing communities and writers’ groups on Facebook, which is where I began to meet more independent or self-published authors. What is self-publishing or indie publishing? Self-published and indie published or independently published are fairly interchangeable terms. Though many self-published writers, myself included, prefer the term independently published writer or author. As it emphasizes that we are approaching this as a business because that’s what it really is. Self-publishing sounds like we are doing everything ourselves, which is not usually the case. It varies from author to author how much and what they do themselves. But most authors are hiring out contractors for at least cover design, various edits, proof-reading, formatting, etc. But the term indie publishing can confuse some people as there are indie small presses. Which operate similarly to the bigger publishers. You don’t usually need an agent to work with them, but you do still need to submit and be accepted by their acquisitions team, and work with their editors. Then they foot the bill for things like editing, covers, royalties, etc. So, the term indie author can mean independently published or having worked with and through an indie press. There is this impression we get or are given from some places that indie publishing is for failed writers, or those who cannot get accepted by traditional publishing houses or methods. It wasn’t until I started to meet indie published authors online and checked out their books that I realized, dang, these are really good books! Which launched me into research mode. I honestly spent months researching and making excel spreadsheets with pros and cons lists. I wanted to make the best decision for myself and my work. I didn’t fall into self-publishing, I chose it. I learned how to indie publish and how to do it well. I spent a lot of time looking into traditional versus indie publishing. As both methods have their own drawbacks as well as advantages. Ultimately, I decided I wanted the greater control and speed offered by self-publishing. With traditional publishing it can take months to years of querying agents. Once you get an agent and find someone who is a good fit for you, then your agent has to query publishers. That process can take months to years. If you get to a point where you can sign a contract with a publisher, their editorial team will ask for changes which you may not want to make. For example, title or plot changes. After all that it can still take 6-12 months before you see your book in print. I decided I didn’t have the patience for that, and published them myself. Traditionally publishing will provide you with an advance royalty, which those paychecks are steadily decreasing. But that is also a check against your future royalties. So, you will not get another check until the publishing house recuperates that cost from books sold. No matter how you publish, the average author makes less than the minimum wage when you add up the hours spent versus return income. I started publishing in November of 2019 and May was the first month that I operated at a tiny profit. Which will immediately be going back into expenses. How did you become a freelancer? Freelancing is something I decided to do at the beginning of this year. Part of it was that I had learned how to do my own formatting for my books as a way of saving money. I am constantly learning new things and I get excited every time I learn a new trick and apply it. I decided I could do this to keep my skills sharp and help other authors. Plus, it is very hard to make a living as an author. I wanted to do something writing related, flexible, and that still allowed me to write. What is your writing process like? Honestly, I lean toward plotting and outlining things. I like to have a fairly good outline before I dive in. I have tried a few times to completely pants a book, and usually, it just does not get finished. But I do a combo of planning and pantsing. As I am drafting and writing, things will change. Characters will go, ‘nah, I wouldn’t actually do that’ and I have to adjust. A timeline might not make sense or may drag on, so I may trim or remove it. I write my outline and let the things change course if they need to. The rabbit trails that arise don’t always work and may get cut, but sometimes they do and I keep them. I also find that it varies from project to project. Prince of Shadow and Ash I had a pretty solidly outlined story and it didn’t change a whole lot from outline to finished book. But Staff of Nightfall had big holes in the outline, so it changed a decent amount. A Thieving Curse, I had written the outline years prior, but when I came back to it, I wrote almost the entire thing without looking at the outline. The bones stayed the same, but it did turn out different from the outline. What writing advice would you like to give? Writers love to give advice like, ‘this is what worked for me so it must work for everyone!’ But that isn’t the case. It is an art and everyone writes differently. Some authors can pants a story and it comes out perfectly, some only abide by strict outlines. It is subjective and whatever works for you and your story is the right answer. But it is good to try different methods and see what works best for you. If you try something and it doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean you are a failed writer. It simply means that method didn’t work for you. Tips for aspiring authors. It is a lot of work! It is also a lot of fun. If you are never having fun, then you may need to take a closer look as to why you are writing in the first place. But it is not always going to be fun. Some days are a lot like pulling teeth. There is a lot to think about and keep track of like continuity details, plot, character development, crafting strong prose, understanding grammar, punctuation, etc. It is also something fairly personal. I often put my own values into the characters and stories. It takes hours of work and many tears to write, edit multiple times, get feedback, edit again, then finally release into the world where not everyone is even going to like it. It is an art, it is subjective, not everyone is going to like it, and that is okay. Then there is the whole business side. You don’t just write a book, throw it online, and call it a day. If you are self-publishing you need to hire cover artists, decide paperback size, buy ISBN’s, make sure you don’t break any laws, know copyright, etc. No matter if you self or traditionally publish you have to be your own marketer. The author does the bulk of their own marketing. So, you will need to build and maintain a website, run social media, decide prices, run sales, pay for ads, do accounting, taxes, figure out shipping, sales tax, etc. All this to say, please know this is not easy. It is not a get rich quick scheme. It is a lot of growing, learning, and work. Which can be so much fun and be a beautiful process. I love looking back and seeing how much I have grown and learned. But sometimes the process is just hard work. Even if you traditionally publish you may not think you will need to know the legal side as much, but you will need to know how to read and understand contracts. There will be a lot of teamwork with your agents and publishers. Or lots of research if you go the indie route. Know what you are getting into. I am not trying to be a discouragement, but I also don’t want to sugarcoat this process and career. People often think this is going to be easy. When it turns out to be hard, they are discouraged and may want to quit as they didn’t know what it would really be like. If you want this, know it will be hard, but it will also be worth it. You need to know why you are writing. Something that motivates you outside of prestige or money as it is such a small fraction of authors who become James Patterson, Danielle Steel, Leigh Bardugo, or Pierce Brown. You can’t do it because it’s fun either, because, as we have covered, there will be many a day when it is not fun. On those days your why will keep you motivated. Answer these questions. What does success look like to me? What do I want to accomplish? Why do I want to write and publish this specific book? Who am I writing this book for? Why is this story so important to me? Who do I want to read this book? These truths can be a lifeline to cling to when it’s difficult, when it isn’t selling as much or as fast as you hoped it would. Which is how I decided to publish the Mercenary and the Mage duology when I did. I had A Thieving Curse written at the time, but decided to publish those two first. The Mercenary and the Mage duology was my, if I die tomorrow, I want these to be published as they were very important to me. Your why and your community are what will sustain you over the course of your writing career. Steps from first draft to publishing? One. You should self-edit at least once before ever looking for a beta reader. After writing I get other people to read it. Don’t ever publish a book that no one has ever given you feedback on. Your mom doesn’t count, she has to say it’s good. You need feedback from different people with different backgrounds as much as possible. Don’t pay for beta readers, at least I never have, people will want to beta read. Being involved, friendly, and helpful to other writers in writing communities will help. Fully explain the story and ask if anyone is interested in reading and giving feedback by x date and see who agrees. You can also get beta readers from your social following. For example, on Instagram I talk about my WIP’s a lot and it gets people excited about the story. When I am looking for beta readers, I can reach out to interested followers and some are more than happy to read the story that they have been following. Beta-readers are for when you have a pretty good handle on the story, you feel confident you have done all you can. Then you send it to beta-readers to give feedback on the story as a whole, characters, and plotlines. They give you feedback on making sure it is understandable and people as a whole are liking the story, characters, etc. Two. Set a budget. It is very easy to go over budget. Know how much you can afford to spend and keep that in mind when progressing. Also, know the purpose of your work. Will it be a freebie or a product to sell? Those answers will decide how much you spend on the process. Three. Make sure you are legally allowed to use any images or fonts that you use in relation to your work. Four. Cover design. I went through my online writer’s communities to find cover designers that they used, liked, or recommended. You can get a stock cover from a designer where they will only change the words and name, these are cheap but not customizable. Cost is maybe $25-$150. Or you can have a custom cover created, which, costs can vary on designer, experience, and what you want for a cover. But they can be anywhere from $200-$900. Which is why I taught myself how to format so I could save money on that and put more towards a cover. Five. You will need to buy a proof copy to ensure it printed correctly. Six. Many authors do pre-order goodies now. But that cost, no matter how you publish, comes from your own pocket. Deciding what you will provide, the cost of the goods, and cost of shipping and shipping supplies needs to be factored and decided. Here is a rough outline of the steps. All plot and characterization must be completed first. This comes from your beta readers, editors, etc. Then Line edits, then proofreading. Book formatting lets you know pages, pages informs book spine size which goes to your cover designer. These executive functions can take about six months to complete. My suggestion (as is Make Your Mark Publishing) when deciding when to announce a book release date, it is best to have everything done first. Don’t announce your release date until you have all of the above steps complete. You could release the book tomorrow if you wanted to, but you have nothing to wait on so you can focus on marketing. This is good in case any set-backs occur anywhere in the process, you are not stressed about release date pre-order punishments. For example, Amazon eBook pre-orders will let you push back a release once for up to 30-days, after that you have to cancel it and there are repercussions for that. How do you cope with harsh reviews? Being an author can be a bit of a lonely job as you are alone a lot. Having family and friends to turn to is good. But it is even more helpful to have author friends who are having the same experiences as you and can understand more fully. You can lean on each other. Also, keep in mind that reviews are subjective. Writing is an art and not everyone will like it, remember that people will receive your work differently. You can get reviews where one person says x character is underdeveloped and the very next review can be full of praise for the same character saying how well developed and well-written they are. We bring our own understanding, baggage, expectations, and tastes into a story and it can affect how we understand or like a book, story, scene, or character. Another way of looking at it is to see it like food. We don’t get offended if someone doesn’t, like me for example, enjoy pineapple. If you offer me something with pineapple in it, I am not going to like it. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad cook, or that the food isn’t well made. I simply don’t like pineapple, so I just don’t like that dish. I also don’t read very many reviews. If this person didn’t understand it, but maybe I didn’t write it for them. But you also get good feedback. When someone relates to a scene or character and they feel held, helped, or validated from something you wrote, that is cool to see. Tell us about A Thieving Curse. It was my most challenging release yet. The cover I wanted matte but it kept glitching and coming out glossy. My eBook, the release date didn’t get changed so the day I had my cover reveal, Barnes & Noble showed it as published and available. But it was also my most successful release yet. It has been doing well, I have gotten many good reviews, people are posting photos of it on Instagram. This is the first book I released a hardcover, which I designed the naked hardcover, and people are loving that design. It has gotten some fan art which is like a dream come true. It is a young adult Beauty and the Beast re-imagining. About a princess who is separated from her family on their way to her arranged marriage to the crown prince. She is found by a cursed dragon-man who claims that he is the rightful crown-prince, who is living in hiding because of his curse. This released in April and is available from most major online retailers. You can find Selina and her work at the following:
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AuthorJessica Marie Cunningham - Intentional lifestyle blogger, aspiring author, and podcast host. All things Slow Living, Books, Writing, Art, creativity, Christianity, and personal stories. Archives
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