How to Finish Writing a Book
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Writing a book is no easy feat. It takes an incredible amount of time, energy, effort, and stamina–there's a reason why so many people start books rather than finish them. The process can be tiring and disheartening, so if you have a current work in progress and you're in a writing rut struggling to get to the end, I’m going to teach you how to finish writing a book.
I’m going to go over some practical strategies and motivating tips to help you put pen to paper and finally complete the first draft of your book. If you are participating in NaNoWriMo or Finish Your Book Fall, then these tips will be especially pertinent to you.
Treat Writing Like It’s Your Job
My first tip for how to finish a book is to treat writing as your job. Now, most people who are writing a book have many other responsibilities that take up their time, whether that’s a job or family obligations. Writing often falls to the end of the to-do list and I totally understand why. Some days it might feel totally impossible to find any time to write.
If you find yourself in this situation, I challenge you to flip the script in your mind and instead of thinking of writing as a luxury you have to squeeze into your schedule, think of it as an obligation that you must fit into your schedule. Treating writing as a priority means carving out an hour or two in the morning or night when you have a bit of quiet time, or maybe during your lunch break, to just write.
This time can be whatever works for you and your schedule, but the key is to make writing something you have at the top of your to-do list rather than something you figure you’ll eventually get around to because, as we know, those things tend to never get accomplished. If writing is a bullet point at the end of your list, it’s going to continuously get knocked off. So by treating writing as a job and as your responsibility, you are going to create accountability for yourself.
Think about it this way: if you neglected any of the other responsibilities that you have, there would be negative consequences. Frame writing in this same way, because after all, there is a negative consequence to not writing–not finishing your book and not reaching this personal goal of yours.
Be Flexible with Word Count
My next tip for how to finish a book is to be flexible with the word count. Far too often I see writers get hung up on how long or how short their manuscript is. But this can stifle your creative process. For instance, you might have a vision that your novel is going to be 80,000 words when it's complete, but you're at 40,000 words and already feel like you've gotten through much of the plot, so now you're just feeling discouraged. How are you going to fill the rest of the word count? Where did your plotting go wrong?
I don't find it productive to be constantly reaching for a specific word count, because it can feel daunting. Remember, for a first draft, word count is not that important. Detach yourself from any ideas that you have about word count for the purpose of finishing your book. Instead, let the story flow organically and let the manuscript be as long or as short as it wants to be for this first draft.
It is going to be important to keep word count in mind later down the line when you are planning to publish your book, as you have to position your book in the specific genre you’re writing for. But for this first draft, just get everything on the page. You can always expand or reduce the length when you go through the revision process.
Use Placeholders
My next tip for how to finish a book is to use placeholders. You might be the type of writer where small details easily send you down research rabbit holes, and you find yourself spending hours Googling a character’s name origins or a geographical feature instead of actually writing.
This is where I recommend instead using a placeholder and coming back to it when you've completed the manuscript. You can use the abbreviation “TK” or any other symbol and then, once the draft is completed, you can do a search and go back in and fill in those details. This technique allows you to get the bulk of the story down without getting held up by details as you're trying to draft the story. This is going to make your drafting process a lot more efficient.
Ignore Your Inner Critic
My next tip for how to finish writing a book is to ignore your inner critic. Possibly the biggest hold up that writers face in finishing their drafts is their own self-doubt. If you feel yourself falling into this trap, you might feel like you're not cut out to be an author, or you might worry that your writing sucks and no one's ever going to like it. These destructive thought patterns can make you doubt if it’s even worth finishing the book at all.
At worst, these thoughts can keep you from sitting down to write at all, so if you find yourself going down this mental spiral, I recommend keeping two pieces of advice in mind. First, as long as you write, you are a writer. That is the one and only qualification. Two, your first draft is not expected to be perfect. It is far more important to get bad words down on the page than no words at all.
Remind yourself of these facts and ignore that inner critic who is keeping you from reaching your goal of finishing your book.
Plan Your Celebration!
My final tip for how to finish writing a book is to plan your celebration. If you are reward-oriented like me, then a huge source of motivation for finishing your book can be to plan what you are going to do for yourself when you have reached your goal. This celebration does not have to be something big, though if you want it to be, go for it. But even something as small as treating yourself to your favorite takeout meal the day you finish your book or delaying a purchase that you want to make until you complete your book can be a huge motivating factor.
It doesn't even have to cost money. You can tell yourself you're going to treat yourself to an at-home spa the day you finish your book, or celebrate with a friend you haven’t seen in a while.
I recommend writing down your planned celebration now to hold yourself accountable and so you don't forget to do it when you do finally reach that final page. In fact, if you haven't written a celebration plan, grab a pencil and paper or open a sticky note on your computer and do it right now. You can even place that note on your desk where you write or keep that sticky note on your desktop so you're continually reminded of that celebration you are going to enjoy when you finish your book.
Then, of course, once you do reach that final page, follow through on your celebration! You earned it and you deserve it. Keep that promise to yourself.
I hope these tips helped you restore your motivation to finish your book and gave you some practical strategies for how to sit down and put the words on the page.
Thank you so much for reading and happy writing!