I Wrote Four First Drafts of My Second Novel

January 30, 2026

4am writing session

I wrote four first drafts of my second novel. The first three were wrong.

For me, the second draft is always the hardest. A reckoning: what did I spend the last three months on? But also demands I answer: is this the story I really want to tell?

For my first novel* in 2021, I was struck by how difficult it was to go from first draft to second. Everything—and I mean everything—was a mess. (For me, a draft means a complete manuscript—around 70-80K words.) So I worked for a year on editing. On deepening the story through eight further drafts.

For the second novel, I knew going from first to second draft would be difficult. But I had this gut wrenching feeling that no: this wasn't the right story. I just knew it. I had to outline a new story, and write a new first draft. After doing so, I was like: no—this also isn't right. So I did another first draft. And you know what? That draft was also not right, so I did another first draft and the whole thing fucking clicked. I knew when it clicked, because I just felt like it was the right story. Finally, finally, finally, I had a first draft I could work with.

For the third novel, I wrote a first draft and was like: no—this wasn't right. So I outlined another version, and it also wasn't right. Outlined again and again. Wrote seven different outlines. But it just wasn't right, so I said to myself: don't start this one yet. Wait until you're ready.

So I started another novel, my fourth, and I'm thinking this will be a "cleaner" first draft, a faster one. I'm being more diligent about what feels true to the characters and the story. I won't say this will be the final "first draft". But a writer knows when what they have is kinda good, kinda solid and I think this is. Through four books, my instincts as a writer are faster—I hope. I just have to keep going to find out.

*Technically, I wrote a first novel in 2013 that was horrible, so I don't count it in this list.