when is a book done?
the answer big novel won't tell you
well, i hope you aren’t here for an answer to the question in the subject line. i have an answer, but it’s a bad one. keep reading if you want to know what it is! (okay, okay, you talked me into it. here goes: it’s done when you stop. want me to say more? FINE.)
i finished the first draft of the mmmbop book on june 17 or 18 or maybe today i don’t know. no, it was in june, but the entire concept of “a draft” is wiggly. that version still had some [stuff goes here] type brackets. the current version does too, but it also has a whole new opening chapter and a finished (for now) chapter 24 (it’s a major one and will definitely change more later).
also i decided this book is so-called women’s fiction rather than romance. unless it is romance after all. i have no idea! to be honest, it is probably none of my business! i’m a writer, not a book marketer, and genres are for marketing (or, if you really drill down, genres are for deciding what shelf your book goes on when it’s in a bookstore).
i knew the first draft was done when i had written everything that was in my outline/synopsis. but along the way i had figured out a whole bunch of stuff that needs to be added to the earlier chapters (i included it as much as i could once i had figured it out) and smoothed out so the threads all go together nicely. also i need to fix all of my drafting crutches, like writing stage directions instead of feelings. so, on to a second draft.
when will the second draft be done? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
my best answer is the second draft will be done when i am ready to send this book to my agent. or possibly i will decide to have a friend or two read it first, in which case it will be done when i send it to them, and i will send the third draft (draft 2 + any changes i make based on feedback) to kate. or maybe i will send to beta readers and kate at the same time! anarchy! your guess is as good as mine at this point!
for many writers, the first draft is a place to write badly, because getting the basic story onto the page is the important thing, so they have something to edit. there is nothing wrong with this method, but it doesn’t work for me. my first draft is, i think, a very readable, rather short novel with a few missing pieces. the prose may not sparkle, but it’s decent and in some places even beautiful. the plot may need more plottiness, but it exists. many of the scenes are more stage directions than actual human emotions, but some of them manage a balance.
draft 1 is about 67,000 words. I’m hoping draft 2 will hit 80,000 words, but I’d be happy with 75,000.
will that mean the book is done? absolutely not. i will send whatever draft to kate, who will have editorial notes. i will revise it again, and with any luck the next draft will be ready to go to editors. if one of them buys it, i will revise yet again.
when is a book done? maybe when no one (including yourself) makes you revise it again. or maybe never! i have no idea.
love,
annika
p.s. theo is all better, finally! and i’ve only written, uh, about 7,000 words of the distraction book! and the playlist is coming along well. lolsob.