Just hit 50,000 words on a novel draft and now I'm questioning everything

I finally crossed that 50,000 word mark for National Novel Writing Month last week and honestly I feel more confused than proud. On one hand everybody says hitting that number means you have a real foundation but on the other hand half of what I wrote is garbage that needs rewritten from scratch. Some people argue that the whole point is just to finish and then fix it later while others say you should aim for quality over quantity from the start. So which side is right for a first draft should you push through the bad parts or stop and edit as you go? Has anyone else struggled with this milestone or did you just feel great about hitting the number?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaronclark29d ago

Some people argue that the whole point is just to finish and then fix it later" - yeah that's basically the whole idea behind National Novel Writing Month. The name itself says it's about writing a novel in a month, not editing one. But here's the thing people get wrong about it. The 50,000 word goal was never meant to produce a publishable draft. It was meant to get you past that inner critic voice that stops you from writing at all. So if half of it is garbage, that's actually normal and fine. Most published authors will tell you their first drafts are terrible too. The real work starts now with the editing.

laurac9629d ago

Sure, it's fine to dump garbage on the page, but doesn't that just give you a bigger mess to clean up later? Sounds like a fun way to get overwhelmed for no real reason.