: Re: Am I Breaking Too Many Rules? I've finally committed to writing my first novel. I've been listening to things like Writing Excuses which encourages first time writers to finish their works, but

@Kristi637

It's great that you're going to have 250K words to start from. Note that I said "start from." Keep writing, make your way all the way to the end of the story, and don't worry at all about the length, or any other publishing concerns --yet.

Once that's all done, it's time to get ruthless. Get out your sharpest knife, and carve out a single tight, perfectly structured, 75K novel with a beginning, middle and end, and without a single ounce of fat on it. It might all come from the beginning of your narrative. It might all come from the end. It might all come from the middle. Or it might be pieces from all across the scope of your narrative. It doesn't matter which one, as long as it works for your book. (It especially doesn't matter if it actually does line up with your college radio drama or not.) Remember, it's OK that approximately 3/4 of your writing will be left on the cutting room floor.

After that's done, if you have enough meat left to carve out a second great novel --or a third one, after the second one is done --do it. If not, start in on a new 250K words.

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