How To: Finish Your First Novel

Some of you out there are reading this just as a distraction from what you've been telling yourself you're going to do for years now: Write you first novel. You've thought about it. You've got a basic plot and you know your main characters name. You've got a rough sketch of what they're like and what they'll go through when you finally put pen to paper.

But there's the rub: You haven't put pen to paper. Sure you've messed around with the opening chapter, which you've tweaked a million times and you've written down some thoughts and ran some ideas by your friends but you haven't written anything substantial yet. But you can do it and I'm here to help.

How can I help? Well, I was once the aspiring writer who thought about his first novel but never got past that part. I have finished my first novel and I'm shopping it around. I've also written two screenplays, so I finally understand what it takes to see something through to the end.

While you can pick up a dozen books spouting about how writers finish their novel, I'll make it easier and give you all the essentials right here. Even if you feel your style is unorthodox, you'll still be able to follow these rules and get through a first draft of your novel.

1. Write Whenever- Books say it's best to write in the morning. They also say that it's best to write for 1 hour a day or to crank out three pages a day. Other book will tell you it must be 8 pages or a first draft in 30 days. I say that none of that actually matters. What matters most is that you make progress. I don't care if you write for 10 minutes a day in the checkout line in the local supermarket. I don't care if you write 3 paragraphs a day while in your car caught by a freight train. You must write whenever you feel like it and do that. I wrote my novel while on break from work. Sometimes I would even sneak a paragraph or two in while I was on the clock. The point was that I got into a rhythm doing it that way, and I finished my first draft(243 pages) in 53 days. So write whenever you feel and don't get bogged down by deadlines. They don't matter. What matters is working towards it and keeping on that path.