In case you haven't heard, Eruheran, Phili, Vanya and I are collaborating on a new Quest: Novel Goals. The idea is to lay out our goals for finishing our novel in progress by Aug 8. Each novel is in a different stage, so come post your status here and what challenges you are currently facing and will face to meet your goal. Let's help see if it is possible to get finished by Aug. 8.

Each week I post a weekly goals thread, usually on Monday running through Saturday, and I encourage you to use both this and that thread to hold you accountable, motivate, and guide you to finishing your Novel Goal.

Here's what Phili wrote about her goal to Eruheran regarding her book Alaidia (Peter's Angel):

I'm unsure what my novel's title will be, but right now the series title is 12 Scepters Series.

My goal is to have a manuscript ready to submit by Aug 11, before I go to a writing workshop hosted by Ted Dekker. I am praying that I might meet some agent or publisher there who will want to take a look at my manuscript. It would be good to be finished by then.

My status is that I have the first draft of my first novel to work from. I've been taking an editing course for over a year and have a great idea of what I'm going to write. I will have to rewrite the whole book from memory and revisions I have in my mind based on character adaptations and a heightened conflict.

My steps to success:
1) Develop sufficient history of world to connect to the present.
2) Build character arcs
3) Interlace conflict with each character's goals
4) Outline scenes
5) Write the book!
6) Spell check and read for consistency
7) Hand to beta reader(s)

This week's goal, finish timeline of first 100 years or so including family trees of 12 Tribes. I'm finding this is crucial to establishing rivalries between families as well as how their powers will be influenced by whom they marry.

I welcome all support and hazing to get this goal accomplished, as world-building and outlining are not strongsuits. I'm @timothycward on Twitter if you use that.

Greetings,

I have three more drafts of my novel before the final version, the first of these being the largest. I'm going to be reexamining the entire story and planning out what needs to change (April/May). Then, in the summertime I will actually rewrite it and have it ready to send out to test readers by August 8 (May-August).

Let's do this!

eru

I'm considering this. Philadelphia wants me to set that as my goal for Prince of Yen. Book one is already over half done, I should be able to write the rest and type it all up in three months, especially without the play. But that means I would have to work on it almost exclusively. I'd rather set a goal for City of Lies, but it would be much earlier than ya'll's, since I want to finish it by the Createspace deadline, which I think is July 1.

I intend to finish the first draft of HRatAC, as well as do some more editing on what I have for TPoF.

Yay! More people joining in! Thanks for starting this thread, Tim.

That is a very good goal, Tim, with a nice immobile and motivational deadline of the writing seminar. By way of encouragement, the history you've posted thus far has been interesting, so you're doing well in that world-building regard!

Well, Katie, you can't set a goal for CoL, since you just finished the rough draft. Unless you want to edit and prepare for self-publishing... that would be cool. But I would love to see you write PoY. I think you can do it, faster than you expect, if you push yourself. Or allow me to push you.

I had a near meltdown making my May Goals, but God helped me in prayer not to be anxious, and even blessed me with a recent breakthrough after some major discouragement today on my story.

I've posted my goal for May:Week One to have characters, conflict, and setting prepped for Week Two, which is when I'll start outlining with an ultimate goal of starting writing my book in May. I know I can write 55k words in a month, but if I want this ready by Aug 11 I will be pushing doing that two months straight to finish. I won't even go into how hard that will be, because either it is or it isn't God's will, and if it is He will enable me.

I spent about an hour yesterday re-reading and updating my plot summary of the novel. Having a birds-eye view like that really gave me a good feel for what needs to be fixed, and now I have four major things to fix (by rewriting) by the deadline Once those are done, I can move on to my smaller revisions and then eventually editing....

eru

It's great to hear about the progress y'all have been making, by God's grace!

I've been working on the prologue of my fresh draft. Hopefully this is one of the hardest parts, because it's been difficult to keep going! But I'm almost done. Just a short transition passage and then I can edit in the draft I'd written earlier. Then it's on to the main plot!

As I just mentioned in the monthly challenge, I am shamed into editing my second book on top of prepping and writing my third book. There is a June 30 deadline with Createspace that might motivate me to have my second book edited by then. I don't do well with dividing my attention, but if I commit one day a week to editing my 2nd novel (Was called The General's Shadow, but currently renamed to Hunter's Price...), I might be able to do it. That sounds like 8 days of editing, which seems unrealistic, but this could also be a side project when I'm burnt out writing so I can give it more time.

Tim, your second novel is not in any way connected to your first novel, right? Not a part of the same series? Having a side project that allows you to "take breaks" from your current project is a good idea, as long as you don't lose sight of your goals. That will be a struggle for me, as a writer that likes to flop from project to project, this coming month as I crank out Alaidia!

The Createspace coupon sounds like a good motivator.

There is no connection between the two novels. The one I'm writing is fantasy and the one I'm editing is sci-fi. I agree that it will be good to have a distraction, but I also agree it could be bad to have a distraction, so...

I am considering changing my goal for Alaidia - pushing the deadline for the rough draft back - and adding in goals for some of my other novels-in-progress. I've had a boost of motivation lately, and I want to resume and finish Faded, my NaNo novel. I also want to revise my sci-fi novella in preparation for self-publishing. I haven't nailed down specific goals yet, and I won't change my goal for Alaidia until I do, but I'm pondering it.

@Phili, what was your goal for Aladia? You said you were writing a prologue. Is that a book that had sections missing, or just the prologue and then you were going to edit it?

Createspace is a good motivator to have my 2nd book, TGS, edited and ready by June 30, but I don't know if I want to use them or self publish this, so I don't know.

My goals are shifting as well. My rewrite is going through Jeff Gerke's Plot vs. Character, which has pushed back my timetable of being ready to outline last Monday, to who knows when. This is a good thing though because I'm creating stronger, deeper characters than I ever have before.

On the other side of my Novel Goals is the edit of my second book, TGS (The General's Shadow). I am making great strides in an organized first pass that takes into account, character, plot, science, and politics/religion. I did this instead of one pass for each category because I'm finding points relate to each other and it helps to have somewhere to point in my notes if I do them all at the same time.

So, here's my conundrum. My original goal was to have the rewrite done before Aug 12 for the writing conference. Then I thought, well, what about my second novel, which already has a first draft done, and I think has potential? I've split the four day work week into two days for each project and then the weekend for whatever. Well, the problem with this is that splitting my efforts between the two projects means I might not have either one ready by Aug. 12. Instead of 50/50, I should be doing 80/20 with an emphasis on editing TGS. Then when I'm finished with that and waiting for beta readers, I can put more effort into writing and do 80/20 rewrite/beta read for someone else.

So, for next week, instead of a whole day for each, I will do 1-1.5 hours of prep for the rewrite, and then the rest of the day editing.

My goal is to have City of Lies done by June 30. (Createspace deadline, what else? ) That means as many rewrites as it takes to get happy with. I'm currently working on version four, piling up sticky notes on my monitor as my readers write back with advice. It's coming along nicely, but it's going to take some serious work.

I might have set an overly ambitious goal for my novel, as I'm looking at 20-30K words of revisions. But I have been developing story changes I need to make, and I've been pounding a lot of stuff out with my helpful story elves (Err, Willow Wenial and Suiauthon - thanks guys! )

eru

*is happy about Katie's CoL goal*

Tim, you have this thought out so well! You're taking this very seriously and organizing your time very effectively, it sounds. I agree that going 80/20 sounds like the best approach. It will ensure that you get one novel done in time for your August conference while still keeping pace with the other.

My original goal for Alaidia was to finish the rough draft by mid-June. This novel is effectively half-written, but everything's in bits and pieces all over the place. It's also looking like this novel will turn out longer than expected - my prologue was 5,000-some words!

More importantly, though, I'm questioning the wisdom of forcing Alaidia too fast. Given its lengthy, very personal history, I don't think it's a story I should push too relentlessly. I believe God wants me to finish it, and there's no reason I shouldn't get it done soon - but crashing it out might not be the best option. So I think I might change my goal to finishing the rough draft by August 8th. To compensate, I'll also be adding in goals for some other novels.

But I haven't made a firm decision on that yet. I'll leave my original goal until I decide on a concrete replacement, if I deem a replacement is necessary.

I agree. A challenge writers have to deal with is patience that this dream will take a while, but we don't want to put something out that isn't ready. I think you're doing the right thing writing this book the right way. God, your readers, and your future self will thank you for it.

My next point to consider is finishing my zombie short story before starting this new novel. I don't want to get too far separated after putting in all this work the past few months, but I guess the same goes for the short story. I'm going to try and work on both, so my work will be 70/20/10 edit/short/novel until the short is done. Now to figure out how those percentages work in real time...

Just an update here, so y'all don't think I've fallen off the face of the planet, and forgotten my goal I haven't done actual writing yet, but then again I just finished finals yesterday. I do, however, have a solid checklist of five or six major revisions to make and I'm going to be tackling one of those at a time. Hopefully I can get one done by the end of this week.

eru

May I jump in late?

I want to grab my NaNo novel. . . I'm not planning on getting the CreateSpace copy, yet I do want to edit/revise it. I have huge chunks of words that could just be cut out, so I figure that if I do about one hour of editing a week, I could be done in a few months. Of course, I would first go and edit out all of the typos toward the end where I was typing very quickly. Then I would do grammar/spelling/fragment or other mistakes, then get into the real part of editing. . . developing the characters more, smoothing out any plot bumps, fixing any character flaws, and so forth.

Of course you can, Elly! Glad you're in!


As far as my goals go, I've set a goal to release Red Rain by early September. I'll set a formal date soon. There's a lot to do in preparation for that, so I'm not sure yet how that will affect my other novels. However, I want to keep pace with both of them, so I can release them in good time as well. I'd kind of like to have Faded released by Christmas... maybe before? We shall see.

Thanks, Philli!

Right now, I only want to start revising. If I start a whole new novel now, then I'll never get around to editing my other novels.

Yes, Elly, feel free to jump in.

I have just started an edit on a nano novel, and my last episode of AudioTim discusses my approach to the first pass. Before I printed it out, I checked spelling, but left out line edits because that material might not make it once I do a more birds-eye approach of editing.

Also, the hour a day is great, though I've found at least a chapter a day as a better goal for me because sometimes an hour's worth of editing varies on productiveness, so if I've been slacking off, I have to work longer to get my goal. A funny realization lately, on my day off, I edited a chapter in 2 hours, whereas I would need four hours to edit a chapter if I allow myself to browse the internet in between.

Lastly, you may need to give space for the edit to take more than two months. If it's your first novel, you may have to rewrite a lot once you realize the rabbit trails and pointless scenes throughout. As an extreme example, my first novel was put through an editing course that after a year or so realized I needed to rewrite the whole thing keeping only the basic world and premise of scepters with magical powers.

*grimace* I don't actually...have any goals other than a vague promise to get it done this summer. Which doesn't look like it's going to happen given web designer and Russian and traveling

eru

The Russian is coming?

Should I be willing to forgive him for not finishing his book (if that happens - ain't no givin' up until the summer's over! You never know!) if he's redesigning my blog? I'm not sure if I'm that nice.

@Tim: Russian lessons. Equally dangerous...

@Philli: Oh, please do.

eru

I will, but only on August 9th. No sooner. Until then you must make progress, even if you don't meet your original goal.

I am pretty sure I won't meet the original goal, but I will do my best to meet it halfway. Or, in the words of Gomer Pyle, "Well, maybe just not right yet, but I'm willin' to meet 'im halfway." (Said with twangy southern accent)

Anyways. I'm slogging my way through the first of four major to-do points in revising the book. It proves to be the longest, but it still stretching out into a 5K rewrite. Then there's the next three to-do items

eru

*smacks the tongue face* None of that! Chin up, tongue in, and keep plugging! You'll never get anything done in life if you spend your days moping about the internet with your tongue hanging out. I don't know about you, but I can't type while making ridiculous faces like that.

*likes Gomer Pyle*

Anyway, I'm working on my mystery.

@Philadelphia: Well, I can type while doing such faces. *makes face* See, I'm doing it right now But I will now go and work on my to-do list for the book.

eru

All right, you little multi-talented procrastinator. Let me put it this way. You can't work on your book while you're over here typing ridiculous faces! So keep your tongue out if you want (don't blame me if your family gives you strange glances), but go be a nice Huey and write. Or else... something horrible... like NO CUPCAKES! And incessant Twitter pokes! And stuff!

OK, OK! at the thought of no cupcakes.

In all seriousness, I have been thinking a lot about the implications of the first item on my to-do list. I have a substantial bit of it done, but I'm having trouble with the time gap introduced by this. Perhaps I should start a thread on it as that's where I've been stuck for around a week.

eru

*giggle* You're fun to poke. (My, that sounded mean, didn't it? Nasty Philli...)

Yes! When you're stuck you shouldn't hesitate to bring in reinforcements. Start a thread, send some willing brainstormers a PM/email (like me!), or bug people in chat. We can help you figure it out, so don't use writer's block as an excuse!

How is everyone doing over this-a-way?

I've been mulling over my goals and shifting stuff around... and I think I'll change my goal to finishing Red Rain's revisions and line-edits by August 8th. That will make it ready for publication, save formatting. Then I can do Camp NaNo in August.

OK, so I am resurrecting this goal of mine which I have done nothing towards. *dies * I still am hoping to get my four-item to-do-list done, but so much for finishing the whole book revision by August.

Anyways, I have kindly asked Philli to poke me on Twitter (and I'm sure she will), so hopefully this goal will get closer to done.

eru

You'd better believe it!

Well, I've done a lot of work the last two days, and major plot holes are gone (I think). I'm going to be rereading my novel over the next few days, and then hopefully drilling down on some more specific, smaller plot holes which may need patching. I've also sent out the book to a few test readers, so hopefully I'll get some input on continuity, etc.

eru

*gasps and realizes she never posted in here *

Well, I’m finishing up with beta readers, doing some book edits, and trying to finish the second draft of my second book (which needs an ending before it can really be a first draft). After some rewriting and fleshing out, I am on page 21 of 145, so I still have a long way to go. The novel is expected to flesh out to be 20 more words than it currently is, so between cutting some fluff, adding in some needed scenes, and finishing the end, the book is right on track.

What I’d like to get done with the second book, is about 40 pages of reading/cutting/rewriting/minor editing in a week. That would be a great achievement, and show my dedication to the piece.

*is super happy for Andrew* See? All you had to do was sit down and "do it"!

That's a wonderful goal, Airianna!

That it is.

Let's hope I can stay focused, and get it done.

I'm sure hoping.

This coming weekend will be shot though, which I guess is okay. Those are my busiest times anyways, which is why I'm rarely around much Friday and Saturday. But my evening won't be spent on the book for those two days. I'm gonna try and kick it into overdrive this week though, and maybe I can make up for the weekend.

I will let everyone know how it goes.

We'll be awaiting your report.

Yes we will, precious!

Stick it out, Airianna!

Okay, so I didn't quite make the goal. I think I was supposed to have it done today?

Anyways, I am happy with my progress, though, as I said, I didn't "technically" make my goal. I wanted to get 40 pages done, which meant I needed to get to page 61. I only made it to page 52, however, I increased the story to 152 pages, instead of only 145, so I think I stayed pretty on target. My extra scenes and inserts kind of made my page number go down.

So, my new goal: I want to get 30 pages done in 2 weeks. I have set the page number back by 10 because I know I will be gone all next weekend, so that will cut out some of my working time.

Wish me well.

The report is here.

I'm glad you've made progress, and I hope it continues.

Thanks, Jonathan.