The End is Just the Beginning
Here we are once again. It marks a moment to pause and celebrate before moving on to the next step.
"The End"
I generally write all new words, as I call them, by hand[1] in a notebook. Today, I share with you, dear reader, one of the most satisfying moments for me as a writer—when I get to scrawl these precious two words below the last paragraph: The End.
We have been here before: see my commentary after I finished the first draft of my short story, "Gone to the Dogs"[2], blog/the-storys-end/. But this particular The End has been a very long time coming. This The End marks the completion of the first draft of my first full-length novel, Saeculum (working title).
The Reality of the "First Draft"
It's almost a stretch to call this a first draft. The prose toward the end is hurried and often reads more like summary than narrative (more zero draft[^3] than first draft). Nevertheless, this is the first time the novel has seen a complete narrative from start to finish.
[^3] A zero draft is more of a sketch of a story, but it is complete. An outline, by contrast, is effectively a bullet-pointed zoomed out version of a story. A zero draft is a narrative summary with most details included, and a first draft is the story completed, but unpolished. Saeculum is currently about 60% first draft and 40% zero draft. And I have an outline as well.
Of course, this merely marks the end of one part of the process and the beginning of the next. Revision is arguably the most challenging aspect of writing. As any experienced writer can tell you, the editing process always takes longer than the writing itself. (Unless you futzed around with the story for years, like I did!) For a novel, for example, one should expect at least a year for the editing process. It can be completed more quickly if your narrative is simpler and already well-constructed; longer if not. Fun!
Pop the Cork
I know some of you have been wondering how the story has been coming along. Most have probably forgetten I was even writing it. But, here I am sharing my enthusiasm in one of my rare posts! (I really REALLY need to make these less rare.) I celebrated with a glass of wine at a local cafe/wine-bar and I encourage you too to celebrate not only completions, but milestones. Milestones are the little successes that lead to the bigger success. And this one, for me … was a huge milestone completed. Cheers!