Issue 90: Writing a novel draft in 9 months

I had the chance to talk with the New England Review for their “Behind the Byline” series for my short story published in their latest issue!

Last year, my main focus was drafting a new novel. This lined up well with my yearlong fellowship with The Center for Fiction, which included the opportunity to work with a freelance editor. I’d originally just planned on turning in a partial manuscript, but due to some logistics (i.e. planning a wedding this year) and my own overzealous attitude to get a draft out as quickly as possible, I ended up writing a full first draft (over 100k words) in ~9 months.

This is the second novel I’ve worked on where I’ve finished a full first draft. The first was a romance novel I wrote on and off during the pandemic, which took me almost two years to complete and I ultimately shelved. The goal then was, in part, to just make it to the end, to be able to even write something that was 70k+ words. With this novel, I drew from habits that worked previously and tried some new tactics.

I’m finding that each long project is different and teaches me new things about myself and how I can do my best work. I’ll dive into my learnings more in the next dispatch, but I first wanted to reflect on how the writing happened this time around, and how it changed as I got further into the draft.

Examining my influences

Before I began putting down any words, I reflected on my artistic influences for the book I wanted to write. This was a topic that came up in some past workshops I attended, and I always loved hearing people discuss what they felt was in conversation with a story, or instructors’ recommendations for other artists we could learn from. I spent a few afternoons journaling about stories, essays, and books that I thought were in conversation with my novel’s specific themes or characters. Specifically, I reflected on what I found successful or admired most.

A few examples:

• An Education by Cathy Park Hong (from Minor Feelings): Asian American women artists who take their craft seriously and are constantly defining/redefining themselves, discusses bipolar disorder and its influence on friendship dynamics
• High School by Tegan and Sara Quin: first person chapters alternating in point of view help capture the love and conflict in sister relationships / growing in different directions, delves into the ups and down of a creative partnership
• Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi: Asian American sisters who are each dealing with physical and mental illnesses and have an overachiever vs. aimless dynamic, subtle yet realistic depictions of disordered eating, how to effectively write towards recovery

Even when I was losing my way in my draft or didn’t know what scenes should come next, it was helpful to return to these influences and orient me to my original aims. As I’m preparing for a rewrite, this original exercise still holds true and serves as an anchor for me.

Researching along the way

Some writers prefer not to read anything too similar to what they’re working on, but I found it helpful to read books that covered relevant subjects in my project. Similar to reflecting on my artistic influences, I like situating myself into a larger context. It not only helps me understand how things can be done, but also clarifies what I am uniquely trying to do.

In the past, I struggled with when to stop researching and when to start writing. Doing it as I went allowed me to remain in the subject matter of the novel, and sometimes provided jolts of inspiration. Alternating between fiction, memoir, and nonfiction kept things interesting, and I particularly enjoyed listening to memoirs on audiobooks while I went for a walk.

Word counts and Pomodoro timers

This was the bread and butter of writing the actual draft. I’ve written about these endlessly, and it’s because they’re truly some of the most reliable ways I make progress. When I thought I was only delivering a partial manuscript, I went slow and steady, writing maybe 300-400 words a day, which was extremely doable. The editor matches were made around early summer when I was at almost 50,000 words but I was only a third of the way through the actual plot, so I had to pick up the pace.

I participated in #1000wordsofsummer which remains a reliable way to crank out a lot of words. I averaged 750-1000 words per day for 3 months to get to the end. Shoutout to Pomofocus, which was probably my most visited site last year. I spent most of my Saturday evenings at The Center for Fiction writing, when it was at its emptiest and most quiet.

Outlining

For a previous YA novel I tried to write, I went too far in the direction of an overly-plotted outline, which made the actual writing of it boring. (I only wrote 28,000 words.) So with both my last novel and this novel, I kept outlining to a minimum. While this was great for the first few months, I learned that daily word counts could only take me so far. I was writing hundreds of words in each scene, ballooning small details until they took up a disproportionate part of the chapter.

Once I committed to delivering a full draft in October, I realized I needed to make sure the plot was advancing at a good pace too. I began agonizing over the fact that I didn’t know how to make points A and B connect because I’d done minimal outlining, but I also didn’t feel I could stop writing because the deadline loomed so large in my mind.

My fiancé, who is a screenwriter and has a much more structured outlining process, advised me to breathe, pause, and take a step back. He suggested I slow down to get my bearings in order to be able to not just move faster, but feel good about the progress and its direction. It was a good reminder of my free will (lol), and that outlining can take place at any point in the process!

Next time, I’ll talk about how this drafting experience is informing my current rewrite/revision. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what tactics or techniques have been helpful for you in sustaining long creative projects!

Creative resources

• 48 Books By Women of Color to Read in 2025, compiled by R.O. Kwon
• I’ve been enjoying the daily letters from 100 Days of Creative Resistance. One I keep coming back to is Laura van den Berg’s: “I’m just saying that when the awfulness of the world overwhelms it can help to go local, to start small, to think about how we can offer sustained support to the communities we live alongside.”
• Tin House just announced a great slate of spring craft intensives taught by writers like Yanyi, K-Ming Chang, and Venita Blackburn.
• “Enemies to Lovers: On the Romance Genre’s Mainstream Come-Up” by Angelina Mazza
• “How comfortable are we with the disappearance of entire swaths of careers and artistic pursuits? And who is making these decisions—private equity or journalists, AI or archivists, billionaires or workers? The answers to these questions, and the way we define ourselves today, will shape our culture of the future.” - s.e. smith on link rot (and a reminder to archive and preserve PDFs of your published work)

Recent reads & other media

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto was a great romance I read right around Valentine’s Day. Emmeline Clein’s Dead Weight was an interesting essay collection about disordered eating and its intersections with TV and film, religion, history, social media, and politics. While I didn’t find the pop culture-focused essays very compelling, I was struck by the ones that highlighted the contradictions and cruelty of our medical system, and how little structural support there is for long-term recovery.

I took my time reading and underlining Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown. Here are some passages that have most resonated with me:

• There is such urgency in the multitude of crises we face, it can make it hard to remember that in fact it is urgency thinking (urgent constant unsustainable growth) that got us to this point, and that our potential success lies in doing deep, slow, intentional work.
• …”all organizing is science fiction,” by which we mean that social justice work is about creating systems of justice and equity in the future, creating conditions that we have never experienced.
• Sometimes what is happening in the world is so terrifying and urgent that we forget our complexity, or wonder why we would spend time on ourselves or take time for our friendships when there is so much external work to do. What I am noticing is that it is not a privilege to practice coevolution through friendship—it is the deepest work.

Over Valentine’s weekend, some friends and I rewatched Brokeback Mountain at The Asia Society, which included a Q&A with Ang Lee. When asked if he would do anything differently, he (correctly) responded, “No, it’s pretty good.” I finally watched In the Mood for Love—gorgeous not just for its “era-defining aesthetic” but also its depiction of romance, regret, and the constrained roles one plays in society.

E and I watched a bunch of Oscar-nominated movies, including Flow, The Brutalist, The Substance, and A Different Man. We went to a Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Movie Singalong Party where E won a Donkey Roll contest. Paddington in Peru is absolutely delightful and Olivia Colman is the most hilarious nun. Mickey 17 was a fun meld of Bong Joon-ho’s past movies, Okja and Snowpiercer.

Recently read short stories: “Brokeback Mountain” by Annie Proulx, “Dorchester” by Steven Duong

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~ meme myself and i ~

Hello yes, this is dog. POV: the friend that’s begging for a candid photo. I am passionate about STEM. How was the dessert? If I was in Severance and realized I wouldn’t be friends with my outie. The correct reaction to trying an espresso martini.