Observations on my work at the moment

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Sat, 2007-12-29 08:38

I don't know how many people will find this useful but in writing what I hope may become a novel I have recently come to a couple of conclusions that have helped me a lot:

1. It doesn't matter how awful my first draft is because it is exactly that.

2. If this novel is rubbish I'll write another one that will be better.

I know that neither of these points is particularly original, but I guess I knew of them before I came, through experience, to believe in them. I have had a problem with wanting writing to be great first time around for ages & it's really liberating to (finally) learn how to control this weakness.

Anyway, 75 pages written so far and not too bad - for a first draft. Other people's words of wisdom always welcome of course.

Sat, 2007-12-29 16:47

Lorraine_Mace

www.lorrainemace.com I think too many writers worry about producing a perfect first draft - an oxymoron if ever I heard one. Here's hoping your hard work gets its reward.

www.lorrainemace.com

Tue, 2008-01-15 21:22

brownie_1

IT reminds me of something my mother used to say. "If its worth waiting for. It's worth having!" Good luck in your trying. J

Thank you for being kind. Jan

Fri, 2008-01-18 20:35

ggggareth

Krop, I know exactly the problem you have with the first draft. I do too. Happily, I have also found a resolution to it (I've practically written a first draft of a story in a few sittings, when previously it would have taken months.) I did this mainly by giving myself a deadline: "this story has to be finished today". I still didn't meet the deadline, but it was a great improvement! I also think that the storyline is slicker, more focussed, and hopefully more enjoyable to read!

Mon, 2008-01-21 14:20

Margharita

I'm relieved to hear other people have hang ups about the first draft. I used to spend so much time fiddling with it to make it perfect that I got bored wtih the actual story. I then figured out that it was just an avoidance technique - if I spent all that time on the first draft I never finished the piece and therefore never had to face up to whether it was any good or not. Now I just battle through to the end and then dredge out anything worth having. The bonus is that the stuff I don't use for the original story often forms the bones of another one. Deadlines are really helpful. This is what I keep telling myself as the deadline for the next piece of writing for my course gallops closer and closer...

Thu, 2008-01-24 15:24

blackjack-davey

Also there's a fear in novels about where you're going next - how to avoid the feeling of stepping off a cliff into thin air...It's much easier to rewrite than risk free-fall. I'm against writing a synopsis, hoping that scenes will be dictated to me in a dream or by one of those gooey interstellar bugs which doubled up as a typewriter in The Naked Lunch. Perhaps I'm resistant to writing.

Fri, 2008-01-25 08:32

Kropotkin38

I agree ggggareth that speed is the thing..... erm, if you see what I mean. I have taken to forcing myself to write very first thing in the morning every day of the week. I have reached page 155 and still pressing on, despite hitting something of a wall this week. I'd love to try just sitting down and writing for a couple of weeks solid, but life keeps throwing up things that must be done! Avoidance techniques are bizarre aren't they Margharita? I want to write, I really do, but every single day I have to prise myself out of bed; I have to remind myself not to turn on the pc until after I have finished writing for the morning, and I have to give myself a time to start that is either a quarter past, a quarter to or is on the hour. What is going on in my head? Blackjack-davey, I write to a fairly detailed plan so I don't face the thin air problem. However, I think the plan has other dangers. Chief amongst these is my creeping fear that a story that seemed reasonably interesting when I first thought of it is, in fact, just plain dull. Why would anyone read this boring crap? I think to myself on a regular basis. So here's my latest writing tip: always, always remember that this current project/word/page/chapter is very unlikely to be your last. There is time to find redemption, to improve, to sharpen your craft. One day you might produce something really fantastic. Oh, and this piece of rubbish is very probably a vital stepping stone on the way to that shining summit.

Sat, 2008-01-26 12:29

Margharita

You do the quarter past, quarter to or on the hour thing too! We're a bizarre lot, us writers.

Sat, 2008-01-26 13:11

Lorraine_Mace

I have to know what it is I'm going to write before I sit down at the computer and it has to be written on a piece of paper I place next to the monitor. If I don't do that I 'find' other things to do while I'm sorting out what it is I should be writing, with the end result of not writing anything for most of the day. www.lorrainemace.com

www.lorrainemace.com

Sat, 2008-01-26 20:24

#10

Kropotkin38

We're not neurotic, we're creative! :-)

Sat, 2008-01-26 20:55

#11

pombal

I'm thinking about writing a novel - just thinking mind - maybe ill never get round to it - but maybe if I think that the novel is just a bunch of short stories (chapters) with a common theme it might help me get over the fear of anything over a thousand words

Sun, 2008-01-27 21:48

#12

ggggareth

Don't take anything I say as helpful, because I'll do anything other than write - even watch "Crap in the Attic". But a novel is more than a bunch of short stories - it has to work as a whole. However, Pombal, I suspect you've worked out the solution: the secret of writing Big Stuff is to sit down and work out the word counts before you start. For example, a slim novel is about 60,000 words. So divide that by the number of chapters you envisage (this can change later) and then work out what is going to happen in each chapter. You know the average word count of each chapter, so just go from there. Good luck! Gareth

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