Writing That First Novel: Outline for 2025’s Ambitions

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Here, I establish my ambitions for 2025.

With a single-paragraph pitch for a character-driven cosmic horror science fiction story, my goal is to complete the first draft this year.

I’m dedicating January to forming characters, setting, and a detailed scene-by-scene plot.

Writing begins in February. As a first novel, this must be lean, mean, and compelling with excellent pacing. No more than 75k words–fewer if it serves the story without sacrificing character development.

By July’s end, I aim to have the first draft completed and begin my own revisions. I want to have it ready for professional story and line editors by the end of 2025. I’ll tackle any revisions, and prepare it for publishing in some form by the end of 2026.

There are ongoing and foreseeable complications in life which will compete for writing time. Particularly in the latter half of this year. Still, a completed draft in July feels achievable.

I’ve minimized distractions, limiting non-writing activities to outside of writing hours. No more marathoning movies and calling it “research.”

After publishing this post, I’ll begin the foundational phase and provide an update next month.

Time to begin. Whatever your own ambitions for 2025, we’re both on the clock. See you in February with that foundation laid.

I am . . .

Born and raised in Oregon, I grew up in a family of avid readers, splitting my youth between juvenile delinquency and haunting the Multnomah County Library system and Powell's City of Books. After twenty years of engineering, I retired at forty and wandered, lost, until rediscovering my passion for reading and ambition for writing. Here, I document that journey.

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