How to Finish writing a novel
Wondering how to finish writing a novel? If you have the right tools and the right mindset, crossing that finish line becomes much more doable. Here are some tips and tricks for how to finish writing a novel from the Good Story Company team.
Wondering how to finish writing a novel? We know you can do it. Keep writing, word by word, and you’ll get there!
Tips and Tricks for how to finish writing a novel
Love your premise, but stay flexible
This is the most important piece of advice I can give for how to finish writing a novel. You’re going to spend a ton of time with your characters inside the setting you’ve created, and the only way to maintain a sense of wonder and excitement about the writing process is if you love your story.
You shouldn’t love your story so hard, though, that you’re unwilling to deviate from your plans. That’s one of the things that delighted me about the writing process—when I was outlining, I had a completely different idea about how my story would play out. Once I started writing, though, I’d have these little epiphanies along the way about what needed to happen. I had to let go of many of my original ideas and let my characters guide the story to its inevitable conclusion. If I hadn’t maintained that flexibility—that willingness to “kill my darlings,” as they say—I wouldn’t have arrived at some of the twists that made my story stronger.
Break it Into Small Tasks
Even with writing this blog post, I’m doing it section by section. If you try to hold a whole piece of writing in your brain at once, you’ll get overwhelmed before you get very far—I do, at least. My MG manuscript ended up being around 43,000 words, which seemed like an impossible goal when I first started. Something that helped me reach that goal was breaking out each chapter into its own document. That forced me to focus on the scene at hand, rather than get distracted by the stuff I’d already written or the stuff I had yet to write. Sometimes I’d break it down even further, reminding myself to go page by page, sentence by sentence—even word by word, if it was a tough writing day. Just keep chipping away at it, and eventually you’re finishing a manuscript. For more on this topic, check out my post on how to organize your writing.
Strategize Your Consumption of Craft Texts and Blogs
The good thing about the Internet is that there’s so much free writing advice; the bad thing about the Internet is that there’s so much free writing advice. When you’re new to novel writing, it’s especially tempting to get caught up in reading blogs, following writing-related Twitter hashtags, or mucking around in Facebook groups for writers. All this stuff has its place and can be useful—if you’re smart about it.
Start by perusing available resources and evaluating which ones resonate with you. Writer’s Digest puts out an annual list of the 101 best websites for writers, and it’s chock-full of sites that offer instruction, inspiration, and advice. The list is organized by category, so you can hone in on genre or audience to find the most relevant resources for your writing. Pick a few that are updated regularly that you can add to an RSS aggregator or news feed. The idea here is that if you’re curating your content consumption, you’re less likely to feel pulled in fifty different directions with fifty different pieces of writing advice. Find the person or site whose advice and instruction feels the most helpful, and stick with them. They’ll help get you across the line for how to finish writing a novel.
The same goes for craft books. Go to any library or bookstore, and you’re likely to find dozens of individual takes on how to develop a plot; how to create engaging characters; how to layer in theme. To start, check out this list of recommended books on kidlit.com. This is a solid list of tried-and-true craft books that’ll serve you well in your writing journey. Personally, I like to pause the writing process when I’ve hit a major milestone, and use that opportunity to read a craft book. So I might pick one to read before I’ve started a draft; read another when the first draft is complete; read another in between edits. My theory is that the writing advice I’ve consumed is running in the background of my brain, helping to get my story on the page—but it’s not front and center, making me over-analyze or second guess what I’m doing.
Comparison is the Death of Joy if you’re wondering how to finish writing a novel
I try to stay away from keeping up with what other writers are doing. Once I start reading about people who regularly write 500, 1000, or even 2000 words in a sitting, I just want to curl up in the fetal position and give up on trying to be a writer. I don’t think I’ll ever be a writer who can crank out 500+ words every day, so why make myself feel inadequate by comparing myself to people who can? It’s taken me a long time to realize that I can only write like myself, at my own pace. And that’s fine. Maybe I can only conjure up 200 words in a day—it’s not 1000, but it’s 200 more than if I just decided to binge on YouTube videos after getting home from my day job. And if I stay in my lane and don’t worry about what other writers are accomplishing, then I can feel proud that I did some writing rather than feeling bad that I didn’t do enough writing.
how to finish writing a novel? Just Keep Swimming
Remember how I said that you need to love your characters and your story? Well, sometimes you won’t. Sometimes you’ll hate everything you’ve ever written. But just because you want to set your manuscript on fire at any given moment doesn’t mean that you’ll always feel that way. Step away from the work—for a day, for a week—whatever you need to powerwash your brain of those negative feelings. Remember that stepping away is okay—even necessary, sometimes—but you need to keep sitting down at the page if you want to achieve how to finish writing a novel. Doing something challenging, like writing a book, means that you have to keep chipping away at it, even when you don’t necessarily want to. Sometimes the words will flow like you’ve turned on a faucet, and sometimes it’ll feel like you need to stick a crowbar in your gut to produce a few lines of mediocre writing. It’s all part of the process, and the most important thing to remember is just to keep putting one foot in front of the other; writing word after word until you finally type THE END.
Many writers wonder how to finish writing a novel, but I know you can do it. Keep writing, word by word, and you’ll get there!
If you’ve finished your novel and want customized advice from one of our Good Story Company book editors, check out Good Story Editing.