The Writer's Road from First Draft to Submission

Congratulations, writer! You wrote a novel! …Now what? Kelly Loy Gilbert, whose first novel, City on a Hill, will be published in 2014, takes us from first draft to publication, and offers her best advice for each stage of the journey:

I’d been working on the same novel for four years, so when I decided to tackle a new project, it was jarring to start a whole new world where I didn’t know anyone or anything. The total freedom was, actually, incredibly paralyzing: why not have zombies show up at a high school? Really, when you’re staring at your blank pages at twelve a.m., there are a lot of ideas that seem a hell of a lot better than the ones you have. 

I wrote a draft NaNoWriMo-style to get everything onto the page. Writing something at that speed is immersive: the world of the story starts to bleed into your own, and it can be disorienting. But at the same time, it works. The beauty of NaNoWriMo is that you’ve pushed yourself to create something out of nothing, and all at once—in just thirty days!—you have the raw material to mold into the story you want to tell.

Putting feedback to use

I sent my draft to my agent. When someone’s reading a very rough draft, it can be hard to know what to do with their feedback. Treat the feedback as a way to get at the real question: what is the story that I really want to tell? What’s at its heart?

I was asked one question about the narrator: “If he knew what he was doing was wrong, why did he do it?” And I thought about that for a few weeks: Why did he? There were the obvious, plot-based reasons, but that didn’t feel like enough. Then I started thinking in broader terms: why do any of us do things we know are wrong, or things we aren’t proud of? That question eventually shaped what I was thinking about my characters and the heart of my story arc.

Shaping your second draft

The second draft is about sifting through the words and culling the ones that you still want—which can mean dismantling the entire thing. I got rid of a few characters, resurrected one who’d been dead in the first draft, gave others total personality makeovers. I changed the setting and timeline of the story. I removed big plot points of the first draft and, once I knew the characters better, looked for more organic ways they might find themselves in places they’d never expected to.

Waiting for your book’s fate

As much as I find plenty of things to moan about while actually writing (the decisions! the awful first drafts! the carpal tunnel!), actively writing is really the best part of the process. You’re productive, and the future of your project is bright and full of possibility. Then you hand it over to wait, and suddenly the flaws seem magnified, and, well, stress-eating a ton of gummy bears seems like a great idea.

The submissions process is tough. Writing is so active: there you are, the omnipotent god of your own world, making storms howl and cities crumble at your whim—and then you’re suddenly subject to the whims of strangers. When you’re waiting, anything longer than five minutes feels like eons. (I was lucky this time, because my book sold relatively quickly!)

Looking at the road ahead

You’re at the beginning of your journey. Take some time to celebrate your accomplishment, and take a break from your novel if you need it. Then look ahead to the second draft. Remember, you’re allowed to take everything apart more than once, and to let your beloved characters live different lives until you can pick the ones that work best for them.

The thing is: sometimes the heart of the story you want to tell takes a little time to uncover. Congratulations on bringing your world to life, and beginning the search for its beating heart.

Kelly Loy Gilbert wrote her first-ever ‘novel’ in fourth grade, and has been writing ever since. Her first novel, City on a Hill, will be published by Disney-Hyperion in Spring/Summer 2014. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her scientist husband. Her dream job would involve writing and her superpower of identifying Jelly Belly flavors by sight.

Photo by Flickr user Stuck in Customs.