Hello! If you are new here, welcome. In my writing journey posts, I document the ongoing process of writing my first book so I can look back on it later. I’ve chosen to post them here so others can catch a real-time glimpse into the life of an aspiring writer. If you want to jump in, read on. If you’d prefer to start from the beginning, you can find the first post here.
Where do I begin? It has been about five months since I’ve released any updates about my book, and it has been at least three months since I’ve posted on the blog at all. Though school and work kept me busy, that doesn’t mean I haven’t made any progress on my book at all.
In my last update, I discussed outlining the third draft of my book after reading over and picking apart the second draft. Now I can say I’ve finished the second chapter of the third draft and am looking forward to writing the rest.
Here is a breakdown of what has been happening the past several months, and what my book is looking forward to:
Changing POVs (and more)
After I typed the second draft of TGH, I compiled all the notes I had made throughout the process and scanned them for anything that could be of use in outlining the third draft. I noted the highlights of draft two and kept them in mind when creating a rough outline of the next draft.
However, as I was filling in the blanks, I realized a huge piece of the story was missing: motivation. It seemed I had a solid goal and motivation for every character but the main one. I loved my main character, and she was fun to write, but it felt like I was forcing her into the other characters’ lives. Her involvement in the conflict didn’t seem natural.
I considered making the book dual-POV, but we all know that if one POV can’t stand up to scrutiny, two certainly can’t.
The next thing I knew, I was examining other characters’ motivations and the actions they would take to reach their goals. Without realizing it, I was searching for a new main character. I believed I found it in another character, one more closely tied to the conflict, so I resolved to make an outline from her perspective.
Before I could begin outlining, I developed the character a bit more and jotted down what I wanted her personality to be like, what direction I wanted her character arc to go in, etc. I also developed the other people in her family, as her story was connected to theirs. I created family trees, character profiles, and arcs, all in preparation for an outline that never came to be.
After I summarized what I wanted to cover from the new perspective and what shape the outline would take, I realized it was lacking something. It lacked action. It lacked thrill. It didn’t have a spirit of legend; it didn’t have any spirit at all.
That was when I realized I already knew what I had to do. Up to that point, I had been in denial; the story had always revolved around a certain prince and I rejected making him the main character due to a variety of excuses disguised as legitimate reasons. In truth, I didn’t like the idea of writing from the POV of this young man (who I will not describe further for the sake of the book) because I was afraid I’d get his story wrong.
But then I realized that a good writer ought to be able to write from all kinds of POVs. And I want to be a good writer.
I didn’t see the point in moving forward if I wasn’t challenging myself to write my main character perfectly. Why would I even consider publishing a book that wouldn’t earn a perfect score on a test of my ability as a writer?
To account for the change in POV, I also had to change up the storyline. A lot. Now there’s action and thrill and a character I’m almost afraid to step into, but I am deeply satisfied with the direction the story has taken.
Long story short, TGH might not be the same TGH anymore. (Remember how in the last post I said I was 96% sure the premise of this story wouldn’t change? The 4% won out.) But even though TGH has been transformed, it has only surpassed my expectations.
New third draft outline
I spent the first few weeks of summer building up the characters and storyline for the new TGH. Brandon Sanderson’s free creative writing lectures helped me out here. If you are a writer, I highly recommend listening to the advice of your favorite authors and not people whose work you have never read.
After I figured out everything I wanted to see in the story, I plotted it all and organized it into an outline. This took twice as long as I expected it to, but I’m grateful I took the time to craft a detailed outline that would guide the story along.
I mostly followed Sanderson’s outline format, describing each arc and listing bullet points that represent steps to what it’ll take to complete that arc. Then I took those steps and converted them into scenes. I advise you to check out his writing resources here.
The only problem I ran into while outlining was a hole in the worldbuilding. Since TGH takes place in a world I’ve been thinking about for years, I didn’t think I needed to advance the worldbuilding at all. That was a mistake.
As I was outlining, I realized how much politics and war were intertwined into the plot. I hadn’t done much worldbuilding in those areas, so I either left blanks in the outline where appropriate or jotted down some ideas that still needed some polishing. Later, I filled in the gaps in the worldbuilding.
With a mostly completed outline and new worldbuilding, I began writing.
Current writing progress
It took a week to finish chapter one. Usually I like to “speed write” and can finish a chapter a day. That’s not the plan for right now. Though writing fast gives me a lot of words to work with in the editing process, it also leaves a lot of holes to patch up later. Since this is the third draft, I’d like to focus on minimizing the rewriting I’ll have to do in the future. That means being intentional with every word I write and not throwing up on the page.
I am still writing in my notebook, mostly for aesthetics. It is simply more convenient, since I can bring a notebook where I can’t bring a laptop. And a break from staring at a screen is always welcome.
Currently, I just completed chapter two. As of right now, the end of chapter two marks the end of the introduction to the story and I am excited to dive into the deeps of the novel.
Looking to the future
From this point forward, I intend to write a few hours every weekday and rest on Sundays. I had made it my goal to finish the third draft by the end of summer, and that goal still stands. If all goes as planned, draft three will be the last major “rewrite” of TGH and then I can begin editing in earnest.
And for those wondering, though TGH has changed a lot, there is still a guild (of sorts) in the story. So if you enjoyed reading this blog post, join the guild by subscribing to my email list below. Thank you for reading!
