I’m in a strange and jarring place at the moment. Having finally typed The End on the first instalment in my Middle Grade fantasy/adventure series, I’m letting it rest.
The thing is, I miss it already.
I miss the feeling of sinking down into the chair every evening – fingers poised, urgently typing the bursts of ideas and thoughts that came to mind throughout the day. I miss staring vaguely at mounds of soapy bubbles, seeing through to the interactions and landscapes taking shape in a world of my own making.
For this work, I converted from a pantser into a semi-plotter – taking a story I had written for my eldest son and completely rewriting it to become the book I wish I had been able to read when I was a kid. It has gone from a suburban school drama, to a world with layers, characters, an Academy set in a mysterious castle. It combines technology and mystery, suspense and scientific possibilities to set the scene for a group of nine children who become caught up in it all.
It has been enthralling to write.
But now I’m caught in the ‘what do I do next?’ space. Do I dust off another manuscript that I abandoned for this one? Do I continue plotting out the intricacies of the universe I’m devising, writing background supporting material to stretch out my own knowledge for depth later? I have been tinkering with all of these things, along with deep diving into reading with renewed vigour and recording the contents of my dreams each night.
It is hard to see, though, how all of this is progressing. When work can’t be measured by word count, what measure does one use?
For anyone in the same boat at the moment, I have collated a list of some articles that have helped me over the past little while – even if just to reconfirm that yes, I should be letting the work rest and the magic will still be there when I return.
Fingers crossed…
What to do when you’ve finished the first draft
10 Things to Do Before Editing Your First Draft
So you wrote a first draft – Dear God! What NOW?
6 Reasons Why You Should Love Your First Draft
What did you do while waiting for your manuscript to settle? Any advice is very much appreciated! Or are you in the same boat as me? I would love to hear about your journey!
8 comments
Congrats on finishing your first draft, Emma! When Iām resting a draft I move onto the next MS, or I write blog posts.
Love it! Thanks for sharing š I find your tips and blog posts so useful – keep it up!
I got excited about finally getting to play with all the shiny new ideas I’d had to put of until it was done. But I think the best thing I did was to do some more work on my story craft (by doing a writing course). It meant that when I got back to editing my first draft, I knew a bit more about what to do to get it better.
But it is a weird feeling being done. Great job Emma!
Writing courses are so good, I definitely feel you! I have done three now, though only one for creative fiction – the others are freelancing related. I like the perspective of seeing the break as an opportunity though – a chance to play with new things. I’m taking that on board!
Well done on reaching the end! I’m a pantser who’s dabbling with some minor plotting, so I’m glad to hear this combination is possible.
It’s definitely worth letting the manuscript rest for a while (my first draft has been resting for several years now – that’s a wee too long) and I would throw myself into a new project. Or a concurrent one. I’m not good with focussing on one story at a time! It sounds like you’re still full of ideas and creativity, so build on that!
Love meeting other writers! Cool to know you are a pantser/plotter mix too… Thanks for the advice on letting it rest! I think it has been a good thing to have a break, but I’m keen to get back to it soon, which is probably a good thing? Who knows!
It sounds like a good thing to me! I hope you keep having fun with your story. š
Thank you! Best of luck with all your projects too š