Hit 40,000 words on my novel draft last night and it finally clicked why I kept stalling

I've been stuck on this manuscript for about 8 months. Kept rewriting the same first three chapters over and over. Then a writing buddy of mine said 'just get the garbage version down, you can't edit what doesn't exist.' Last night I crossed 40k words and I finally understood what she meant. The whole time I was trying to make every sentence perfect on the first pass and that's just not how it works. Anyone else hit a specific word count that changed how you approach writing?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakejones1mo ago

Isn't that funny how the same advice works great for one person and not at all for another? I've seen this exact thing play out in all kinds of ways over the years. Some people do their best work when they just hammer it out and clean up later, while others need to take it slow and get it right the first time. It's like how some folks can rebuild a whole engine in a weekend with just a few tools, but others need a clean bench and every part laid out before they even start. The trick is figuring out which kind of person you are, not trying to force yourself into a box that doesn't fit.

williams.sage1mo ago

Gonna push back a little here. I've been writing for 12 years and hitting a big word count never made anything click for me. The garbage draft advice works for some people but I've honestly thrown out way more 50k word drafts than I've saved. The problem is you can write 40k words of junk and still have no idea what your story is about. I'd rather spend 3 months on 10 solid chapters than 3 months on 40k words I'll just delete anyway. Different strokes for different folks I guess.