What's the magic trick to completing a novel while posting on Wattpad?

My first three novels (The Scars trilogy) took nearly a decade to complete--my last two novels (For Us and For Keeps) took a mere four months each. I'm sitting here asking myself: what happened and how can I bottle that magic?? Was it Covid? Was it Wattpad? Was it a fluke?

I think, lovelies, that it was not a fluke and if it's magic, it's a trick we can learn and do over and over to not only dream up but also complete the novels of our dreams.

Okay but first, you can't talk about writing a novel without considering the burden of editing you'll have to do later. Preparing well for your novel project ahead of time can save you so much angst and heartbreak during your editing process.

And if you're writing for Wattpad, let's be honest--sharing your novel with readers before it's complete adds a whole layer of complication. Wattpad is brilliant to motivate writers...and also brilliant to throw big huge blocks in their path before they get their novel across the the finish line.

In Maggie Stiefvater's latest 'Telltale Crumbs' substack blog post, she says:

"Remember kill your darlings? That piece of advice always feels true to me when I edit a draft other people have seen. When a draft has gotten messy because it had to have a debutante ball too soon, darlings die all over the place. I kill my darlings. I kill other people's darlings. Dead darlings litter the hall. It doesn't feel great. I can never tell if I murdered too many.

But in a draft I write just for me? Everything is jotted and feathery, insubstantial as spiderwebs. Everything is an empty vein, waiting for my edit to pump blood through it on the next stage. Nothing is darling; no one has to die. You can't kill something that hasn't ever lived."

(Yup, Steifvater's blog that is absolutely worth the investment of thirty bucks a year. Link in the comments).

This is the trick, isn't it. I want to dive into a world of a new novel and feel playful and free as I write. BUT I also want to arrive at a beautiful satisfying ending after all those months of work. I don't want to find a room full of darlings I need to kill for the thing to make sense!

I want my words to carry my readers through the multi-sensory experience of my story, feel all their feelings, turn all the pages, and get up from their screens to resume their non-fiction life a little better for the time spent with my characters.

If I'm going to take care of my readers--and myself!--then I need to do some pre-planning before I launch into writing. I need a "feathery" non-living sketch of my story to capture the whole in one glance. What is the thing I want to make, without all the distracting details? I should have an idea of that whole, even if it's blurry like I'm looking at it through a squint, before I ever publish a first chapter on Wattpad.

Because once you start sharing your project with the world it's much harder to stay focused on the beautiful novel-creature you had in your mind when you first began. Other people's opinions and ideas intrude--and frankly your readers have no idea what the whole is going to look like. Most of your commenters just thumbed in the first thought that popped into their heads and then swiped away. It's not their baby--they don't care if they just left a knife sticking out of its back for no actual reason.

You are the only person who knows what this novel baby will grow into--you are the only person who knows what your novel baby's smile will look like when her teeth come in, and you are the only person who knows if your novel baby will be a graceful ballerina or an edgy punk rock star or a logical morgue technician.

Taking the time to imagine and sketch the shape of your complete novel baby helps you keep your focus, if you plan to write and post simultaneously. Preparing ahead of time will save you from endlessly re-writing and second guessing yourself mid-way through your project.

I call this preparation 'throwing down track.'

Trains are a part of the landscape in my prairie setting. They creep along the horizon in view of the highway I drive everyday, secure on their shining rails. Before I write a polished chapter to post, I run ahead of my story throwing down track for the novel engine to power forward without losing its way. The map made by this track is my version of Stiefvater's feathery sketch.

Next week I'll write my 'how to' and you can steal and hack it however you like to work for you. I'll use my new project as an example so you can get a peek into what's next!

If you're a writer, does any of this ring true so far? What have you found works for you?

Here's Maggie Stiefvater doing her thing on YouTube!

https://youtu.be/Jz4hwl752AU