Writing Virgin

[Gavin Woods]

Hi everyone. I'm in the middle of writing my first Detective/Crime Novel. I'm up to just under 26,000 words. Does anyone have any useful hints or tips on putting your first novel together?

[Gavin Woods]

It feels great as it is all coming together. When I started putting ideas down on paper I didn't realise they would start to build into a proper story. I'm probably aiming for about the same 75-80,000 would be doable without killing the content. All killer no filler for an entertaining thriller...I'll be quiet now, hehe.

[Gavin Woods]

Indeed I.J. I have got a secondary plot going on that, at various points, is intertwined with the main one. It is something to fall back on.

[Mark Roope]

I too am writing my first book and I am now starting to come to the end of my first draft. 

What I am beginning to realise is that this first draft is not so much the story I am going to finish with but more of a very detailed outline. I think that after this the real work starts on the story when you go back through everything, cut bits, change bits, flesh it out and make the conversations a lot sharper.

The biggest bit of advice a well known writer friend is always telling me is

"Show don't tell".

[Dana King]

I forget who said this (might have been William Goldman), but it has been said by someone a lot smarter than me that "writing is re-writing." 

So, you've got that part figured out already. Well done.

[Dan L. Coleman]

Yes, just keep writing until you're finished.

[Gavin Woods]

Hi. Just to update I'm up to 80,000 words on my debut novel. I'm just wondering is the minimum 80,000 or 90,000 words? I've heard both mentioned.

[Jed Power]

I'm working on novels 6 & 7 and all have been just a bit over 70,000. I like that 70-75,000 word range for a few reasons--it feels right, looks right, that's the length I enjoy reading most in crime fiction, and the publishing economics work. For me at least.

[Gavin Woods]

Thanks Jed. I'm over 80,000 now and the story completed in theory. Just going to check that it all holds up.