Writing Your First Draft - Book 5 (PDF eBook)

Writing Your First Draft is a practical guide to turning your planning, characters and plot into a complete manuscript.

Starting a novel is one thing. Finishing the first draft is another. This guide focuses on the actual writing process: building a routine you can maintain, turning plot points into scenes and chapters, keeping the story moving, managing point of view and tense, and reaching the end without constantly rewriting the beginning.

It also deals with common first-draft problems such as losing momentum in the middle, over-researching, doubting the quality of your writing, struggling with difficult scenes and worrying too much about word count before the story is complete.

Using clear explanations and practical examples, Writing Your First Draft helps you move from planning into consistent writing while accepting that a first draft does not need to be perfect. Its job is to exist so that it can later be improved.

The guide also explains how to:

• build a realistic and sustainable writing routine
• turn plot plans into manageable writing sessions
• write scenes that create meaningful change
• shape chapters without forcing them into fixed lengths
• keep point of view and narrative tense consistent
• recognise and avoid accidental tense mixing
• balance dialogue, action, description and interior thought
• keep momentum through the middle of the novel
• use research without allowing it to stop the draft
• keep a fix-later list instead of constantly rewriting earlier chapters
• work through difficult writing days and creative blocks
• manage length and pacing as the manuscript grows
• reach the ending before beginning the major revision process

Your purchase includes:

• the complete PDF guide
• a separate editable Microsoft Word workbook
• 17 practical first-draft exercises
• a final first-draft checklist
• a handover exercise to prepare the manuscript for the editing stage

Ideal for first-time novelists and independent authors who have planned their story and are ready to turn that plan into a finished first draft.

MyNovel Author Series — Book 5
Written by Mike Grobler