Writing.Com General Discussion

Writing a novel can be soul destroying if you don't organise yourself. The primary fact you need to remember is the quality of your writing is going to stink in the first draft. The point of the first draft is just to tell the story.

After the first draft is complete, read it and see if there are any major structural items that need fixing - plot-holes, inconsistencies, poor character arc or story arc etc.

Any time you spend on editing right now is a waste, because you could end up re-writing those scenes for one reason or another. So just get the story down, worry about the big stuff and work your way down to the small stuff (like line edits).

You need to keep your passion for the story alive, so getting it all down on (virtual) paper is a must and should be your highest priority. Once you have, you can see how good the story is, and how it turned out better than you first imagined (it nearly always does), re-firing your passion so you can get on with the edits.

Correct spelling mistakes as you go, that's fair enough and if you're like me, spelling errors are a huge distraction, but don't worry about sentence structure or grammar. You are the only person who'll ever see the first draft, so take advantage of that and just let the words flow. Once you take this o board, you'll be amazed at how much more productive you are.