Is it time to start closing up my novel?
I realize this may be a duplicate question. I've seen, for reference [ How long can a first novel be? ] yet I think my situation is a little more specific.
I find myself in a similar situation. My novel is a science fiction about the coming-of-age journey of a young woman searching for her lost mother (as cliché as it sounds) in a very large, unwelcoming setting. It has recently hitten 120k words.
While this is a nice thing per-se (I never got this far, this good), I'm stuck between the desire to finish the novel and wrap it up in a good package and the feeling that something is inevitably missing.
Reading questions here I'm under the impression that 100k / 120k words are enough for a first novel. Worse, that a lot gets trimmed in the editing process. I'm not against editing, of course, but bear with me for a minute.
I've probably been influenced by those factors and by my own desire to finish the first draft as soon as possible, to get a little breathing space and, of course, start the first revision.
While this makes complete sense (maybe marketing-wise), my understanding of the plot can't seem to agree.
If I had to describe the point I'm in actually, I'd say "somewhere in the second act". I had a major climax recently which ended with the death of a character very close to my MC, killed by an hostile, powerful entity. This thing had to happen for several reasons, but it didn't take my MC closer to her goal.
She should find her mother eventually in the third act, where I plan to close the novel.
I could make her reach the goal after the climax and close the second act here. I could wrap things up and (hopefully) use the wide array of open questions and possibilities in my very large setting to think of a sequel. But I can't shake off the feeling that it would feel rushed (a sensation confirmed by my alpha-reader).
The other option would be stop minding the word count and just keep on writing until I'm satisfied. This poses other problems, though. As far as my understanding of story structure goes, a climax should be followed by a brief moment of respite, then another, possibly bigger, climax, and I have no idea how to make that.
I could explore the setting more (there is a lot to be done), I could introduce new characters (there are a lot to to meet) and keep developing the existing ones. But I can't think of a way to raise the tension up again; and if the tension isn't raising, I feel almost like I'm wasting someone's time.
After all, I'm (at least) in the middle of the second act; there's little point in adding more meat to the fire if I won't have time to cook it. What's worse, it feels useless writing more scenes if they will eventually be erased in the editing process. Of course, there is value in exercise, but the thought somewhat blocks me.
TL,DR: I'm stuck between wanting to finish the story and the idea that it is incomplete, and forever will be without another 40k words that I can't even conjure up in my mind. Splitting the work in two books by 90k words each is not an option, since it would make even less sense structure-wise, and I have bigger things to explore in an eventual sequel.
So, summing up:
Is there some sort of rational way to help me understand, and eventually decide, what are the next steps to take? When do you decide that it's time to close your story (as a discovery writer)?
4 answers
Word count is a useful tool, but to feel compelled to cram an ending in when you are still in full stride with much of the story as yet unrealized is folly.
Your story will take as long as it takes and should not end before that. Sometimes, when someone tells me ‘see you when you get here’ I respond ‘and not a moment earlier ’. My book will be a series and, going by word count and general plot, I am half way through volume two. Unless it reads better as a larger single volume.
Mitchner could not have cared less for word count - his novels began the setting with the geologic creation of the location.
If Tolstoy had obeyed the rule of word count War & Peace would either never have been written or been released as three volumes - absurd.
Years ago, I was given the second volume of the Deryni Chronicles by Katherine Kurtz. I loved it - rich detail that brought all to life. I read the first volume - a slender thing that had no colour and little detail - just plot and the characters were brushstroked in. Had I read the first volume first, when she seemed unsure of her world and characters - or more concerned about word count - I would not have looked at the others.
Take as many words as your story needs and let it breathe.
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Remember your goal: you have set out to tell a story. So tell the story. Forget the wordcount. You feel the story needs more meat, give it more meat. You feel you need to explore more themes, go ahead and explore them. (If you don't know what to write, that's a separate problem - a separate question.)
A story should be exactly as long as it needs to be. Fahrenheit 451 and All Quiet on the Western Front are short. The Lord of the Rings and Les Misérables are long. Neither would benefit from trying to fit it to some Procrustean bed wordcount.
When do you close the story? When you've told it. When you've explored what you wished to explore.
I see sometimes books, and films too, that start out setting up a story, they start exploring it, and then suddenly they decide they must rush towards the end, plummeting towards it like the Niagara Falls. Those stories aren't satisfying. After plotlines have been carefully and meticulously laid down, we expect an equally meticulous resolution. You can't rush it, chopping off what doesn't fit. An example: Farscape. After carefully laying in the groundwork for season 5, the series got cancelled at the end of season 4. They had to wrap up the stories of a season in the space of a 3-hour miniseries. They did what they could, but many lose ends got resolved off-screen, and the whole thing felt a bit rushed. You are under no such constraints. Give the story the development and resolution it needs.
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You've still got plenty of room to run. For example, Elantris, Brandon Sanderson's first novel, is around 200k words, and it doesn't feel too long at all; it's big enough to tell the story being told. It sounds like you're closer to the end than the beginning of the second act, so it's probably about time to start closing your novel, but getting from the start to the end can still take a while. Focus on getting a good story written first and foremost; you'll have time to worry about the length and other details in revision.
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I am a discovery writer; and one that completes novels.
The key here, I think, is to remember you are discovering the story. If you are in the middle of the second act, then you have discovered half of it.
Also, hopefully, you have some notion of how what you have written could plausibly resolve into the finding of her mother; I always keep some kind of ending in mind. It isn't set in stone, but if the story leads me on a path I see will prevent the ending I have in mind, I have to come up with a better ending, or reverse course and abandon that path.
But you have discovered HALF of it. That doesn't mean you have discovered it well, or efficiently. So now is a good time to review and edit all you have written. Make a backup, change the name to include the date. Then with the outline of the story so far in mind, go look for things to cut, things you wrote that didn't go anywhere, characters you wrote that you can combine into one, or get rid of make some other character provide the role. Make the story more efficient.
What you have left should serve the story, in some sense. Just because it felt natural to write something at the time, doesn't mean it should stay there. Try to figure out how what you wrote actually serves the story: Sets a plot point, conceals something, defines a character trait (non-repetitively), whatever. What is its purpose?
Rewrite. Cut. Streamline. Turn the wandering path into a straighter road. Cut or combine scenes.
While I agree that a story is as long as it needs to be, the key word there is needs. Which is the same advice in Einstein's Razor; "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
If you think a lot will fall in the editing process -- Make it fall now. You know enough. Personally, I go through a full read-and-edit at every significant turning point, which is approximately every 1/8th of the book. If you are at 4/8ths, you are way overdue.
Added to better answer the specific questions:
Perhaps This Answer I wrote a few months ago will help; it outlines how I (a discovery writer) approach a story, consistent with the Three Act Structure (3AS) (But I split the second act into two equal parts; 'Reactive' and 'Proactive').
Understanding the 3AS is the answer to: "Is there some sort of rational way to help me understand, and eventually decide, what are the next steps to take?"
YES! As you progress through each half-act (about 1/8 of the book), ensure you have accomplished what that story segment calls for.
As for "When do you decide that it's time to close your story (as a discovery writer)?", the 3AS tells you that too. Each half-act (eight of them) serves a purpose in the story, and you need to progress from one to the next. For example, the first half of Act I introduces the "normal world" for the protagonist, and ends with an "inciting incident" that will eventually drive her (physically or metaphorically or both) out of her normal world (whether she finds it terrible or great). The second half of Act I shows the rising consequences of the inciting incident, and leads to the hero somehow breaking from her normal world to address the issues. And so on; until the second half of Act III, where the hero figures out how to solve the issue, and confronts whatever "villain" she is fighting (it could be a person, or situation, or internal mental issue). As we began with her "normal world," the conclusion may be a return to that, or often is a description of "the new normal", and where she fits in the world now.
So Streamline what you have done; eliminate extraneous prose. Then Map out what you have done, into the 3AS. Each of (I, IIa, IIb, III) should be 1/4 of the book. (If they are not roughly equal lengths; you likely have tangents and details unnecessary to the plot). Where you are tells you what to write next.
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