10 Tips to Finish Your First Draft

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Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is not the song we all know today. It went through years of iterations, changed hands, and was eventually discovered by Jeff Buckley. It was only then, after years of honing and redrafting, that we got to hear its beauty. 

Most things aren’t perfect right away–really, nothing is. Even Bob Dylan’s “I and I,” which he claimed took fifteen minutes to compose, was not complete until it came together in its recording. Sure, the initial version was strong, but it takes more than that to release a song. 

Writing a book is the same. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings took twelve years to finish while Fleming penned Casino Royale in just two months. Both became wildly successful, have spawned film franchises, and have massive fan bases. Yes, they are different genres. Yes, they are different lengths. Yes, there is more behind the scenes of both stories. That’s not what I want to focus on today. 

I have been writing for a long time considering I only turned twenty-seven last week. Still, as a kid, I remember clutching my pink flamingo pen and Bratz notebook—one with a junky heart-shaped lock to keep all my ideas hidden away. My whole life has been storytelling.

My work now is all in various stages of being written and edited, and most of my published work is on various company websites. I’ve made it my goal to get a book out in the world before I turn twenty-eight.

What does any of that have to do with “Hallelujah” or Casino Royale? My experience, until recently, was of the Leonard Cohen variety. It has been slow, even monotonous at times. My desire for perfect dialogue and flawless plot lead me just shy of nowhere. In April 2023, I had my Casino Royale moment. 

Some of you may know about NaNoWriMo. For those who don’t, it stands for the National Novel Writing Month, and it’s a godsend. In short, writers challenge themselves to write 50,000 words in November, but there are other events throughout the year. April is one such month. Camp NaNoWriMo, which is held a few time a year, allows writers to set their own goals. I intended to write 40,000 words. I wrote 80,000. 

I had no intentions of participating, but like a lot of us creative types, I got the itch and couldn’t stop myself from scratching. In the last two weeks of March, I wrote a 7,000 word outline and drafted 20,000 words of a brand-new story.

Having finished my own developmental edit and started a more rigorous one, I can honestly say I’m delighted with what I have so far. 

I am not one of those Best-Selling authors proclaiming I can teach you the best way to find your own success. What I can do is offer a few of the methods that got me to my Bob Dylan moment.

10 Tips to Finish Your Draft 

1. Outlining: make the decision

As a kid, I was constantly worried about wearing the wrong outfit. Every time I stood there, staring at the clashing patterns that lived inside my closet, my dad would tell me “it’s just one outfit of your life. If you don’t like what you end up with, pick a different outfit tomorrow.” 

While I know clothes and books aren’t the same, my philosophy for approaching each is wildly similar. 

I’ve always struggled with outlining. I didn’t know how anyone could sit down and figure out every plot-point without getting elbows-deep into their story first. That, I have discovered, is the mindset of someone who will not finish a draft. 

If pantsing—writing without a plan—truly works for you, more power to you, but I know a lot of skilled writers who can’t finish a project because they get stuck in the middle and can’t figure out what to do next. 

Write an outline. If you’re afraid of making the wrong decisions or don’t know where to take your characters, just pick something. (If you need help in figuring out what that something is, subscribe to get my next blog post straight to your email. Please forgive my one shameless plug.) 

The worst thing that can happen is you write yourself into a corner. Better in the outline than in the book! Would you rather go back a few thousand words or an entire act? 

Decide on a path for your characters and commit to it. Make changes as needed. Future you will be grateful.

2. Make bold choices

While we’re on the subject of decisions, make them bold. Allow your characters to make daring choices, too!

No matter the genre, stories are best when characters have autonomy. This means that, like anyone who has ever lived, they will make mistakes. Maybe those mistakes hurt people they care about. Maybe they lead your protagonist into the clutches of the antagonist. Maybe they force your main character to face a brutal reality. Dealing with choices and consequences should be a big component of your story.

Back your characters into near-impossible corners and use the skills they’ve accumulated throughout the story to get them out. No convenient plot armor here!

When both you and your characters dare to be bold, your story will stand out.

3. Plan out your series

If your book is a standalone, proceed to point four. For the rest of you, I firmly advise you to plot out the major points in your book series now. You don’t need to know every single detail, but you should know, broadly, what will happen to your characters and what will be revealed. 

Have you ever read a fantasy series where the magic system just keeps getting more and more ridiculous? Think the Dragon Ball franchise but taken really seriously. It reads like the author didn’t plan out the scaling ahead of time, or that they had to keep upping the stakes, which meant upping the power. Severely overpowered characters will make your job as the writer far more difficult and may make your story hard to read.

Another problem you may come across if you don’t pre plan things is character inaccuracy. Do their motivations carry over throughout the series? How does the new information we get about an existing character play into how they acted in earlier books? Are there secrets revealed in a character’s backstory that should have changed the way they saw the world back in book one?

If you don’t know your overarching plot trajectory (or your characters), you might find yourself stuck down the line. 

4. Have partners

If all this talk of planning has you feeling a little overwhelmed, maybe it’s time to find a writing partner! This can be an accountability buddy who is trying to get their own words onto the page, or someone in your life who can act as a sounding board.

I have a group of writing friends I talk to and work with on Discord, and their help has been invaluable. We’ll do writing sprints together, look at each other’s work, and talk through issues in the writing process. 

I also talk off my romantic partner’s ear when I’m trying to work through a particularly sticky plot point. Half the time, I’m not sure he knows what I’m going on about, but I’ve found that trying to explain my ideas to someone else really helps me think through them.

5. Set timers

If you struggle with blank-page blank-brain syndrome like I do, try setting a timer for yourself. It helps to have an outline to work from, but even a general idea of what you want to write is enough. Take that idea, that core purpose of your scene or chapter, and set a timer. My sweet spot is 20-25 minutes–just enough to get into what I’m writing, but not so long that I burn myself out. 

As much as you can, turn off your brain. Let your knowledge of the characters and story take control and just write for those 20 minutes. In my experience, knowing I’m up against a clock forces my mind to clear itself of the normal worries like grammar, spelling, and sounding pretty. All that can come later. 

After your time has run out, don’t go back and edit. I know it's tempting, but that will only put a stop to your momentum. Instead, take stock of what you just wrote and what needs to happen, then set a new timer. 

If you’re competitive like me, this method may just break you free of that blinking cursor on an empty document. 

6. Don’t drown in the details  

As I just mentioned, the antithesis of advancement in writing is editing too early. Not only does it stall progress, it may end up being a total waste of time. 

Imagine, you’ve just polished a chapter. The dialogue is witty and well characterized; you described the scene down to the scent of mildew wafting through the cave; everything is flawless. Then, you get a few more chapters down and realize your characters couldn’t have escaped the cave through an underground pool that feeds out into the Pacific. It’s winter–the water is ice cold. Your character is severely asthmatic–they couldn’t make it out. (Coming from a lifelong asthmatic, I can’t even imagine trying.) Now, the only way they can find freedom is through a small crack in the stone that wasn’t visible at night. You have to rewrite your perfect chapter.

Sure, it sucks to redo large sections of your work, but it’s so much worse when you've spent days carving Venus de Milo out of your hunk of word-marble. 

Don’t get bogged down in the little things like the exact smell of the basement or the storm’s symphony of rustling leaves. Get the meat of the story written down and focus on the details later.

7. Stories are like sculpting 

There are tons of visuals out there related to novel writing, but my personal favorite is sculpting, if you couldn’t tell from the whole Venus de Milo thing. 

You start with an idea-the block of stone. Slowly, you whittle things down until there’s more and more detail. 

If you prefer painting, think of writing as adding in shadows or the folds of a shirt after working up the right shapes and hues. Makeup more your speed? Have you ever looked yourself in the mirror before blending everything in and felt a little like a blindfolded toddler got a hold of your brushes?

Don’t fear imperfection in a first draft. It will get better in time.

(Sometimes, I think you should let yourself act like a kid with lipstick. Maybe you’ll discover something you hadn’t planned out ahead of time. If not, well, you can always refine it later.) 

8. Set firm goals

Do you remember elementary school? How about those little gold stars? In some ways, I think they really set me up for failure. Nothing is as satisfying as achieving something and then getting a sticker for it, not even the act of crossing something off my To Do list. Even though accomplishments aren’t quite as fulfilling in adulthood, it is still a nice feeling, one you rarely get as a writer if you look at your book as one singlular thing. 

I’ve always been a self-starter, but oftentimes, I’ll motivate myself to start and then get wildly overwhelmed by all there is to do. Inevitably, this ends in nothing getting done at all. 

Novel writing is a series of many smaller tasks. If you think about it that way, it’s not only less intimidating than looking at the whole, it allows you to break things down and cross them out. ‘Write 2,000 words today’–check. ‘Finish X’s character sheet,’–check.  

Setting writing, planning, and editing goals makes this job feel less mammoth, with the added benefit of letting you cross things off. Hell, maybe you could buy yourself a sticker sheet. 

I do recommend using something like the NaNo site or an app to track your progress, though, because digital calendars are far too easy to change or ignore. A good old paper calendar and a pen can work, too. 

Make goals and hold yourself to them.

9. Inspiration doth not a book make

I’ll be brief here because I know this piece of advice is a popular one. Writing only when inspiration strikes is no way to get a project done. It will either take years, or you’ll lose inspiration entirely. Make writing a habit and follow the goals you lay out. 

That said, it’s okay to fail. We’re only human! If you can’t keep up or miss a few days, just do your best to get back on track. That’s all anyone can ask of you.

10. Sometimes, you learn as you go 

I started off talking about planning ahead, so I’ll bookend this list by saying there are some things you can’t plan. 

In my most recent project, I was writing during one of my timed sessions and came up with a mini plot point that blindsided me. It’s a little silly, certainly not something I would have thought of in my outlining process, but it makes me laugh and adds to the depth of the story.

Allow yourself this breathing room. It’s one of the most fun parts of writing!

You may make similar discoveries about your characters, and that’s okay. Planners often make a big to-do about knowing your characters down to their shoe brand. While I do think this is important (see point 3), real life is all about learning and growing. In some ways, not knowing everything about your characters is as close to reality as you can get. 

This isn’t an excuse to ignore the big things, but there is joy in letting yourself find out your main character’s favorite food or a to develop a cherished memory along the way. It might even make things more interesting later down the line.

Bonus:

My last piece of advice for you if you want to write a book is not to fear it. You should plan before jumping in, but once you’ve built a solid foundation, let yourself leap. It might not go the way you planned. You may even hate what you wrote. That’s not a bad thing. 

If you’re writing, you’re learning, and learning is the best thing you can do. Even if your version of success takes years, maybe someday you’ll be able to say “Hallelujah.”