The Fifty Page Mark

by Michelle Gagnon

Recently a friend asked for writing advice on behalf of her husband, who started writing a book a few yeaYou Are Here.JPGrs ago but hasn’t made much progress.

“Let me guess,” I asked. “He’s right around the fifty page mark.” She double-checked with him, and he’d stopped at sixty pages even.

I’m willing to bet that most of the people who never finish writing a book stall out right around that point, somewhere between 40-60 pages. And here’s my theory as to why.

After months or years of talking about writing a book (because at least as far as my experience at cocktail parties dictates, almost everyone believes they have a book in them), they’ve finally sat down and hammered some of those words on to the page! Initially, that’s excitement enough.

Because the outset is always thrilling. And things usually go swimmingly for ten to twenty pages. Then, something gets in the way–maybe they can’t figure out what to tackle next in terms of the storyline, or their day to day life intrudes. So they leave for a bit, and come back to it. Or they manage to overcome whatever hurdle they encountered, plot-wise or life-wise, and forge ahead. Another twenty pages in, they’re feeling a genuine sense of accomplishment. They’re doing what so many people talk about but never achieve–and they’ve already written around fifty pages! The rest should be a breeze, right?

So what do they do at this point?

Most people sit back and say, “Better take a minute to look back over what I wrote, see how it is.”

And that’s their downfall. Because invariably as they go back over their work, they start editing. And editing is generally a slow, time-consuming process. Upon review a significant chunk of what they wrote won’t be as good as they thought it was–which is disheartening. Other sections might be better than remembered, but still a little rough.

So after a few weeks or months of editing, they find themselves back where they ended: at the fifty page mark. And suddenly, having written fifty pages doesn’t feel like such an accomplishment.

Here’s my analogy. Awhile back I read Bill Bryson’s A WALK IN THE WOODS, an extremely funny account of his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail in its entirety.

After a rough start, the hike was going well. Bryson and his buddy were starting to feel seasoned, like they finally knew what they were doing and had gotten into the rhythm of the trail, so to speak. They stopped at an outfitters in Tennessee. Mounted on the wall was a map of the trail. For fun, they checked out how much ground they’d coveredBill_Bryson_A_Walk_In_The_Woods.jpg– and realized that they’d only made it through a tiny portion of the entire trail. At that point they flew home, took a break, and met up again later in Virginia, skipping a huge chunk of the hike.

And that’s exactly how it feels to be a writer at the fifty page mark looking up at the mountain of work looming above you. But unlike Bryson, you can’t just jump ahead to page 300. You’ll have to slog through every page.

For many people, that’s just too overwhelming. So they put the book away, resolving to come back to it when they have more time. And more often than not, that time never materializes.

Awhile back I wrote a post about never looking back. Especially for writers setting out to finish their first book, I think that is absolutely critical. If you’ve been through the process before, you know where you’re going to start experiencing that dread, and how to overcome it. You’ve hiked this particular trail. so although you know that at times it will prove relentless, you’ll get through it, the same way you have in the past.

New writers don’t have that experience to fall back on, so they tend to get discouraged. Here’s my advice on conquering the fifty page mark:

  • Don’t look back until you have at least the bones of the book laid out in its entirety.
  • Accept that your first draft is going to be just that- a draft. Editing can come later, but allow yourself to be just plain bad at times. You can go back and craft every turn of phrase later.

  • Even if you only manage to write a page a day, at the end of a year you’ll have a book, more or less. Set small, achievable goals, and feel proud for meeting each of them.

Remember that every writer has been at that exact same spot and felt just as daunted. What separates those who end up finishing with those who don’t has nothing to do with character or skill–it comes down to sheer force of will. As my mom always said, anything worth doing is a challenge. Rise to meet it and you won’t regret it. If nothing else, you’ll have accomplished what you set out to do: you’ve written your book. And no matter where it goes from there, that alone is a victory.

12 thoughts on “The Fifty Page Mark

  1. I think there’s a reason, Michelle. Beginnings are easy. You’ve got this great idea. It’s like falling in love. That may explain why getting those first 50 pages down seems like a joy. But then you face Act 2 and what, exactly, goes in there? That’s the mountain, and I shudder at those who start scaling without the tools — ropes, harnasses, even the right shoes. That is, at least a modest understanding of plot and scene construction. So I think you need to learn as you go: study the craft even as you write. And then finish the thing. You’ll learn a lot just by finishing a draft. Then do it again. And again. And never stop.

  2. Your advice is dead on target, Michelle. Like Jim says, Act 2 is the killer. The middle, or as I like to call it, the muddle, is nothing less that neck-deep sludge where everything can go to shit. Forging ahead is the only way to make it through.

    My son and I spent a week on the Appalachian Trail one summer years ago. The big difference with stopping at page 50 in a first-time manuscript is you can put it in a drawer and go have a beer. On the trail, you stop and you’re screwed.

  3. Small, achievable steps. Nothing more important needs to be said. I used to get depressed over how much work remained. “I’ve written 50 pages, but I know there are at least 250 to go,” really makes 50 pages not seem like much of an accomplishment.

    Then my Beloved Spouse taught me the concept of eating the elephant one bite at a time. I have a calendar, and I set regular, attainable goals for each day. When I’ve met them, I can stop. I don’t have to, but I’m allowed. Makes it a lot less intimidating.

    The other thing is to outline. It’s tough to be 50 pages in and not know where you’re going. With an outline you can just keep plodding away, going toward the next milepost. Then you can look back at what’s been done as an accomplishment.

    And I never edit until I finish a draft. I’ll look over yesterday’s work before starting today’s, but doing a true, roll up my sleeves edit has to wait until the draft is done.

  4. I wrote my first novel fast, because I knew if I stopped to think about it I’d convince myself I couldn’t do it. (Mind you, it took some extensive rewriting to make it salable, but I did it.)

    What helped me keep going: At a writers’ group a former member stopped by, and someone asked him about the book he’d started a few years earlier, and he said he’d never gotten any farther. At that point I realized that anyone can start writing a book, but few people finish, and I decided I’d be one of those who did.

  5. Amen, Michelle. At about 60 pages I start asking myself why I’m not an employee in a sheet metal bending plant. Would have to be easier than going forward with the book. Great insight from you. I just got a manuscript to read “Friend of a friend” and I read it wondering why she went beyond page 60. God bless.

  6. Dana’s advice here is spot on as well. Edit only what you did the day before, then push on. Set a word quota. It’s wonderful to look up three months hence and see a full novel, or at least a good sized chunk of it.

    Joe’s advice — more beer — seems odd, but at least you won’t know it’s odd at the time.

  7. I don’t know what it is about me, but I struggle the most with the first 60 pages. I usually have more than a dozen false starts; each time, about ten to 15 pages in, I decide it’s not working, and then I start all over. Once I’ve gotten up and running to page 50 or so, it’s usually because I’ve finally settled on my approach into the story. Once the “way in” is truly settled, it’s easier for me to keep going. I’m also more of a “rolling rewriter”–I don’t wait until the end to do a next draft. If I did wait, the number of changes I’d have to make would seem overwhelming.
    My theory for why many new writers stall at page 50 is that they’ve gotten into the story the wrong way, and the problems start to mount up. But the bottom line–write every day. Don’t let yourself stall out.

  8. Thank you so much for this post! I had already decided to stop re-reading what I’d written and keep moving forward for the exact reason you stated — I’d never get anywhere if I kept editing. It’s a relief to know that my decision to fight the urge to edit is the correct one!

  9. Best advice Michelle. Nice to know we are not alone out here in the muddledy middledy center of the book zone.

    Luckily for me I have a job that has long boring stretches between eyelids peeled back, Hi-G cheek flapping, crazy fast paced hurry up and get it done moments. Therefore plenty of time to muddle through the middles, and a trudge it is at times.

    So slug on sluggers, and you’ll get it done.

    Now, if I could just stay focused and not get distrac…oh look…something sparkly.

  10. Michelle, thanks for the excellent post. In research mode for my first novel, and I’m so glad I read this. I’ll let ya know in a year if I’m still in ‘research mode’ or on page 50. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Dana, thanks for the reminder of calendaring. I think I’m writing less because my goals are set more weekly vs. daily.

    Great comments and advice everyone.

  11. Thank you, Michelle. That’s just what I needed to hear right now. I wrote 2/3rds of a story, got bogged down and decided to read what I had. Got into editing and not writing. Slapping self on hand. Getting back to writing and not editing til it’s done.

  12. Excellent advice! As a pantser (versus a planner), I often reach that 50-page mark and grind to a halt in plot, conflict, characterization and action. That saggy middle is one of the most difficult things to deal with. The best solution I had was to simply skip ahead and write the most exciting scene next…and then work out how I got to that point afterwards.

    And then when I go to edit, I throw it out and write something even better.

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