It's Not You, It's Your First Novel (When to Set It Aside and Start Something New)

Some of you may have noticed my blogging hiatus this summer. The reason? I set a personal goal to write 50,000 words in one month.

Honestly, I didn't think I was capable. I'd given NaNoWriMo a try twice and failed both times. But I'm proud to say that I nailed it this time around. I went out to dinner to celebrate, then came home and pushed myself to write another 25k the next month.

Nailed it again.

This week? I'm putting the finishing touches on my second novel. It's around 82k right now, before revisions. (That's close to 300 full printed pages in Word, for those who don't go by word count.)

This, for me, is a major accomplishment. Not only because finishing a book is a major accomplishment in itself, but because my first novel took me six years to complete. Two years to write it all out, then four more years of revisions.

Heavy, weed-wacker-type revisions. Basically rewriting the entire thing over again. And then over again.

And that book still hasn't sold.

After six years of clinging to that baby, it was ridiculously hard for me to set it aside and start something new. I had been dabbling around with writing short stories and scribbling down bits and pieces of new ideas during those 6 years, but I never came across a project I wanted to pour my entire soul into.

When I commit to writing a book, it has to feel too big for me. The world-building needs to be an all-consuming process. Deep and intensely layered. Otherwise I get bored and toss it aside.

I went through each of my reserved story ideas over and over (I keep them all in a folder), and I kept coming back to this time-travel idea I had when I was 16. I started working on the world-building just for fun, and the more I played with it, the more it became clear that this was the next project I needed to work on. I ran it past several of my critique partners and they all agreed.

After six months of plotting and world-building, I sat down to write. Those first 50k words came so fast it was ridiculous and euphoric. The next 25k went a bit slower, but after three months, I'm down to the home stretch. And I couldn't be happier with my work and my progress.

The thing is, I didn't want to let go of my first novel. I still don't. I want it to be published. I believe in it. I have this indescribable love for those characters and their plight that I thought, until now, couldn't be matched.

But that book was never going to be my debut novel. I realize that now. It's an epic fantasy, and those aren't selling too well in this present market. Besides, I didn't know a thing about writing for young adults when I started it, which is a big no-no when your ultimate goal is, yanno, to get published.

Now that I've spent several years in the YA trenches, I know where I went wrong. And I'm okay with the mistakes I made. I really am. Because I know I can always go back and fix them later.

And because my new characters are becoming just as beloved as the old. I'm excited to wake up and work with them each day. I'm excited to see the path they might take to bookstore shelves. And it's not a dig against my first novel. It doesn't mean my first novel was the headliner at Suckfest. It just means this new novel fits the current market and has enough oomph to get my work noticed. The other? Strikes on both counts.

So if you've been struggling with the agent search for a few years; if you've been trapped in submission hell; if you've written several books but haven't sold yet; my best advice is this:

Write the next book.

Find a new idea that floors you and fits into the current market. That doesn't mean writing solely to fit into a trend, but it means digging through your idea folder and looking at old ideas with new eyes. Maybe it means weaving two old ideas into one new one, or brainstorming with a group of writers to take one of your ideas to a whole new level.

Because chances are, one of your ideas will be both: a delicious, fresh take we're all dying to read and just what the market is looking for.

Then, once you have your new idea, set your other awesome novel aside and write the book that's going to make you a published author.

Write the freak out of it.

Because I'd really like to read it.