by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I’m now at the midpoint of the first draft of the first book in a projected five thriller project. I now find myself struggling with that I’m going to do next. Here are my options.
- Keep going and pray.
With this option, I just keep moving forward, regardless of how long the novel ultimately becomes. Right now, this thing is careening towards being well past the sweetspot of about 100,000 words. In this scenario, I just write the story and let the chips fall where they may. - Start a second creative track.
The next option is to finish the first draft, but while I’m in the process of doing this I start working on a second creative track. There are a number of different stories I could use as part of this second track. Whatever this second track is, it would be a way to have a calling card of sorts for the thriller. If I could pull it off, it would be way to at least prep the way for a novel that might otherwise be too long to sell for a first time, untested novelist. But the problem would be it would be a struggle to divert my attention away from the main project. - Finish the first draft then edit things down.
In this scenario, I finish the first draft, give myself about a month to reflect on things and then I write the second draft. The hope in this instance would be that the second draft will be short enough to fit in the sweetspot.
Which of these three options I ultimately do, I don’t know.
