Question about a statistic I found on writing habits

I was browsing some writing blogs last night and found a stat that said 80% of people who start a novel never finish the first draft. That surprised me because I always thought the hard part was coming up with ideas, not sticking with them. I've got 3 unfinished stories sitting on my hard drive right now, so I guess I'm part of that number. Has anyone here found a prompt or method that actually helped them push through to the end of a draft?

3 comments

3 Comments

fisher.jessica10d ago

Has anyone considered that maybe the problem isn't finishing the draft, but starting it with the wrong expectations? I used to think I needed the whole story mapped out before typing a word. That just paralyzed me. What finally helped was writing the middle first, the part I was most excited about, and then figuring out how to get there and wrap it up. By the time I circled back to the beginning, I had a much clearer picture of what the story actually needed.

xena_hernandez9810d ago

The whole "map everything out first" trap is real. I used to spend weeks outlining and then staring at a blank page because the beginning never felt right. What broke me out of it was just writing a scene I could actually see in my head, even if it was supposed to happen later. Once I had that down, the rest of the story kind of clicked into place around it, like filling in the gaps around a puzzle piece you already know fits.

iris_barnes8710d ago

80% seems like one of those stats someone just made up tbh. Some people get stuck mid-draft and that's fine, not everyone needs to be a finisher. Is it really that deep if you don't finish a first draft?