The Ten Day Draft
A Writers Guide to Finishing a Novel in Ten Days
Lewis Jorstad
The Ten Day Draft: A Writers Guide to Finishing a Novel in Ten Days
Copyright 2019 Lewis Jorstad
The Ten Day Novelist Book Two
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher and copyright holder except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or educational work.
Though the author of this book has done their best to ensure its accuracy at the time of release, neither the author nor the publisher assume liability for any errors or omissions, regardless of cause.
Published by The Novel Smithy, LLC.
Printed in the United States of America.
1st Edition, 2019
ISBN (print): 978-1-7332079-2-8
ISBN (digital): 978-1-7332079-3-5
https://thenovelsmithy.com/
My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.
Ernest Hemingway, American journalist and novelist
Contents
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The Length of a Season
Stephen King once said that, The first draft of a bookeven a long oneshould take no more than three months, the length of a season.
While I wouldnt have agreed with him even a few years ago, now I cant help but see the wisdom in those words.
Very few of us will become the next Tolkien. No matter how much we romanticize the slow, tortured process of creating an epic story, we simply wont spend half our life toiling over our magnum opusour own personal Silmarillion especially if we havent written a novel before. Though we may one day reach or even surpass literary idols like Hemingway, Rowling, Lee, or Tolkien, well never finish our first book if we dont find the will to write it. After all, becoming an author worth reading requires us to write, and write a lot, as we develop and hone our skills.
Despite this, writing a novel remains one of those undertakings most people view as a once-in-a-lifetime event. For them, writing a novel has to take years or even decades, so they slowly tinker away at their story hoping to one day discover a finished draft in their hands. Over time, their motivation fades and the inspiration they started with fades alongside it. Theres no endpoint for them to work towards, no final vision of their story to capture. The dream simply goes on forever until, eventually, it fizzles out.
I personally spent years following this same, doomed path, swearing up and down I would write a novel only to drag the process out indefinitely. In the end I always gave up, no matter how much I tried to make that attempt somehow different. Worst of all, I didnt understand why I couldnt stick with it. Im a sculptor by craft, and a ceramic sculptor at that, so Im used to projects taking months or even years to complete. Combine that with being a writer and you would think that, if anyone could handle the endless drag of slowly writing a novel, it would be someone like me.
However, in reality Im like most peopleif Im going to stick with a project I need to see meaningful progress. With a novel, that means chapters completed and scenes written.
This lack of truly visible progress is the real trap writers fall into, myself included. Without a way to see your hard work paying off it becomes harder and harder to stay invested in the story you hope to create. Staying motivated requires you to see a light at the end of the tunnel, something clear and definite to work towards, and planning to finish your novel someday doesnt give you that much needed endpoint.
Common wisdom doesnt help here either. Nearly every writer has heard the often-repeated advice: youll never be a novelist without sitting your butt in the chair and writing. However, what happens when you do sit down, when your fingers do come to rest on the keyboard or grip your pencil in anticipation? What next? Well, for most people, what comes next is months of uncertain work. They have no map to follow, no common path to tread. Writing a novel is an intensely personal process, but even stillfor the beginner, without a guiding hand, this personal process can quickly become an impossible one.
Fortunately, there have been efforts to change this.
Events like National Novel Writing Month and Camp NaNoWriMo challenge participants to write a novel in a single month, while similar projects encourage writers to reach their goal over three or four months. Whats so great about these events is that they not only push writers to dedicate themselves to their craft, but also make it easy to see real progress. Writers young and old have written hundreds of novels through these events thanks to the structure they provide.
In fact, this ten day challenge is in many ways a continuation of those types of eventsthe difference is that this book is a guide, not just a framework.
National Novel Writing Month only asks participants to write a novel in thirty days, 1,667 words per day, day after day. On the other hand, this book tasks you with writing a novel in ten days, but it doesnt stop there. Itll walk you through everything from how to prepare yourself to write a novel to how to set realistic goals, manage your mindset, handle burnout, develop a routine, tell others about your project, and organize your story. Itll help inspire you with ways to keep your storys conflict moving and your characters growing, and guide you as you finally wrap up your first draft on Day Ten.
Of course, this wont be dumped on you all at once. This is a ten day challenge after all, and the hurdles you face on Day Two wont be the same you face on Day Nine!
Thus, this book is divided into ten days, with each day guiding you through the challenges youre most likely to face at that stage of your draft. Alongside these chapters youll also find short sets of goals, ensuring you always know what youre working towards. Ultimately, the purpose of all of this is to give you the tools you need to keep moving forward, so youll never feel inclined to abandon the challenge.
Because thats the most important thing: sticking with it.
The real secret to writing a novelwhether in a season, a month, or just ten daysis to do it, through force of will, patience, perseverance, and a bit of careful preparation. It can be done. Many before you have done it and many after you will do it again. The choice you have to make is whether or not youll be one of them.
The purpose of this book is to ease that transition, to help you along as you prove that you are capable of creating something of this magnitudethat there is time in the day, that your story is worth tellingno matter what is consciously or subconsciously holding you back.
This challenge will be difficult, but by the end Im confident youll feel it was worth itso, lets get started.
