Why NOT to Throw Out Your First Novel

Many writers throw their first novels out thinking them beyond redemption. I’ve taken the “dog-with-a-bone” approach and I just won’t let go of it. Every lesson I’ve learned has been through the lens of this novel. And every draft that isn’t good enough yet, is just a draft that needs more revision, or re-writing. For me, I just have to like my characters enough to stick with them. The story can change, my point-of-view can change, but I have to want to spend the time with the characters. And even they can change as I shape and mould my story into something someone else would like to read. Every problem is just looking for a solution.

There is so much to learn when we first come to writing, it’s hard to know where to start. (Personally, I’d recommend short stories!) Learning all these lessons through the length of the novel has meant many hours re-writing, and re-writing, and re-writing again. But that’s what writing is. Almost no one comes out with a good first draft. We come out with ideas for scenes, some good dialogue, some interesting images–and then the real work begins. Taking those snippets our imagination has given us and developing them into scenes and stories, fleshing out our characters, and lastly making our prose sparkle.

In my extensive re-write of my first novel, I’m really having to beef up the plot and put a solid story in there. I was suffering from the passive protagonist. But through this weakness in my novel, I’ve focused my latest efforts on story structure and making my protagonist active. These two problems are interrelated, the passive protagonist leading to the structural problem. This has made for a major shift in some of my characters and some of the plot, but ultimately will make for a more readable story.

If I’d just thrown my first novel out, I made never have stuck through to see where the real problems were, might never have understood what was “wrong” with my novel. You may choose to move on from your first novel, but make sure that you’ve learned all the lessons you can from it and you understand why you’re walking away. Otherwise, you may find yourself running into the same problems in your next novel.