 Short Stories: July 29, 2009 Issue [#3187] |
  Short Stories
This week: Overwriting is a Good Thing Edited by: esprit  
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Writing advice is only that, Advice--not a requirement. This letter is intended to give a boost and one answer to those writers who get stuck or discouraged, and can't figure out why. They know who they are. If you can assess your writing temperament honestly, you've learned to work with your natural strengths and navigate around the areas that give you trouble. If your own method is to perfect each section before moving on and it works for you, why change it?
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Overwriting is a Good Thing
Once you've decided on a theme, plot, type of main character, etc. write as fast as the story rolls through your imagination. Focus on the story, not the spelling, typos and grammar. Just write and overwrite. Your creativity is working, don't stifle it by forcing perfection too soon.
We write from two levels: a creative, subconscious level and a critical, conscious level.
A good piece of writing comes from understanding how our creative side works. We create from an active imagination and I believe you need to use it or you'll lose it. Writing the scenes as they happen in the mind frees the imagination, encouraging more ideas to flow. It shuts down if the critical "editor" part of the mind goes to work too soon.
Beware of early reviews! They shut the creative level down when given too soon--truly they do.
This is very important to remember. Some of you know that I advocate serious, contructive reviews. They seem harsh, but they're helpful. But even I don't approve of giving in-depth feedback too soon in the writing process, and I won't unless an author insists. Experienced writers know what they're asking for. Beginning writers don't.
Think about it and see if asking for feedback too early isn't the cause of some of your writing issues. For instance, you created a short story that was funny. It made you laugh as you wrote it and it was really good. You wanted to share it immediately so you posted the first chapter not taking time to edit first. The readers liked it and said it could be funny, but it had too many errors, repetition, typos. The sequence was off, reaction was shown before the action. There were a lot of suggestions made, cut this and cut that.
Your balloon is popped and your ego deflated. It wasn't as good as you thought it was and it's not even funny to you anymore. As you start the second chapter you find yourself hesitating, watching for typos and misplaced quotation marks. You can't get back into the same free-flowing groove where the story seemed to write itself. Writers Block has you in its grip. Procrastination pays a visit. The cause? You've switched to the second "critical" mode too soon, and your creative side has firmly shut down.
 Reviewers can only comment on what's on the page, not what's still in your head. How can you or the reviewers know what should be cut until the story is completely written?
Overwriting is okay.
To develop the creative side, write the complete story while it's in your head-just as it comes to you. If typos bother you, don't look--turn the screen off. For a piece with a word requirement of one thousand, write at least two thousand words--more if you have them. Think of it as a garden. You know how you plant more seeds than you need to get one mature plant? These extra words are our seeds. Over- describe the characters, the setting, the weather. Use as many descriptors as you need to show the image you see.
"She ran, while her beautiful never been cut, ground-dragging long, yellow corn-silk colored blond hair, which had always made her swell with pride when seen through her azure tinted blue colored eyes, with its sun-bleached streaks the color of white-yellowish wheat blowing in the Kansas wind, whipped around her feet, trying to trip her every step. Finally restrained, she was unable to escape the unbelievable horror of having a real 'bad-hair' day. Subtly, she slyly reached into her aqua-blue, spagetti strapped dress pocket for the scissors she hoped were still there."
Deliberately over-writing means temporarily forgetting the rules of good writing. The important thing is that the pieces of the image get onto the paper in any form they can. Let it be cringe-worthy. It's supposed to be for your eyes only so who cares?
Remember, your 'creative' side needs to know it's safe and protected. That no one is going to criticize it in present condition.
When the final line is written, you will be anxious to put it up for the public to read, but don't do it. Showing the piece at this stage is not in your or the story's best interest.
Why not? Because it's going to be wordy and overwritten. Your reviews and rates will reflect that it isn't ready to be reviewed--then you will be upset.
You and your reviewers will waste a lot of time editing punctuation in paragraphs that might be cut during the rewrite process, or cutting content that's needed. Both critical and praising reviews too early will shut your creativity down. You'll either doubt the writing is worth continuing, (by allowing a rough draft to be reviewed) or you'll be convinced it needs no rewrite at all (through praise and high rates meant to encourage). Both assumptions will be wrong.
Reviewers can only comment on what's on the page, not what's still to be created. The ideas are on the page, but the prose and the storytelling aren't yet. How can you or the reviewers know which ideas should be cut until the story is completely written?
 Oh, yes, there's one more reason. You may put a lot of effort into perfecting a scene that does nothing to move the story forward. It's a beautiful but useless piece of bric-a-brac, and it needs to be cut for the good of the story. You're not going to want to cut a perfectly written scene. When the final line is written, put it away and let it rest for a few days.
Time to rewrite and edit. Now it's time to switch to the "critical conscious editor level" and let it do its analytical job.
At the end of your cooling-off period, print the story and read it fresh. Make a copy of the original for the rewrite. Always retain the original and each subsequent draft in case you want to revert back to a particular line or scene.
 Prune the wordiness, trim the over-descriptors, repetition, and remove the oddities. You now know the path the story took and can remove everything that doesn't belong.
Good writing comes from good rewriting, and good rewrites come by having plenty of material to work with. You're going to shape and sculpt with precision, cutting away the excess to leave only the polished and completed story. Give yourself enough words to choose from by overwriting.
Read the rewrite from a printed page to check for bumps and groans.
Run spellcheck and do one more proofread. There's always something overlooked, and you'll feel more confident if you find them yourself.
If you find a lot of errors, let it rest another day or so and proofread again. When you find only a few, then you've done all you can for yourself, and you're ready for another set of eyes.
Get feedback.
Repeat the above process as many times as needed.
Don't be discouraged if it takes several re-writes. Writing well is a lot of work, but the results are worth it.
By the time it's in good shape you'll find the word count is down to the required amount, and best of all--every word will count.
Think about it like this; say you want to write a 500 word story so you set your word program to show the count as you type. When you reach the limit, you tie up the last loose ends and post it. You're kinda proud you were able to hit the word count, right? Sure, it's not easy to do first time.
Now, reviewers begin to suggest that it isn't clear: "why did he do that? Who is that character? You need details here." You know, all those nit-picky things reviewers notice just to get on your nerves. Anyway, you know if you add anything, your word count is toast. You're not sure what to do and you're stuck.
But, if you overwrite by at least twice the amount, you'll have plenty of room to cut the bad and keep the good. You can always cut to a word count and still have a tight story. It's not as easy to add details while keeping the story sensible.
So, you see--overwriting at the early stage can be a good thing.
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Comments on "Invalid Item"
Submitted By: Adriana Noir
Submitted Comment: This was awesome, Esprit. Thanks for sharing all these awesome tips. I'm always fascinated by what advice and tips authors have to share with each other
Me too. I like to find statics of writing tips to include in the newsletters, but so many forget to add 'writing tips' to their keyword section. Very few show up when I search.
Submitted By: AliceNgoreland
Submitted Comment: I am not sure if you have tackled this or not lately, but finding your way into a story can be a challenge. A good opening is essential, but it can be hard to not meander while hunting for the story.
Then this letter was written for you, Alice.  You need to allow yourself to meander through the outline, the first rough draft, mapping. Whatever you call it is up to you, but it's the way to find the story. Write the story in scenes, splice them together with transitions. Write the opening last, after you've found the story. Write the climax first, then fill in all the missing details surrounding it. There's a hundred ways to write a story, just find what works for you. The difficult part is keeping the work private until after the first re-write, at least it is for me.
Submitted By: PartyBee 
Submitted Comment: Great newsletter, Esprit! Very inspirational.
Thank you!
Submitted By: northernwrites
Submitted Comment: Good newsletter, esprit. What we know about writing from the bits and pieces we collect as we go along can make the difference between so-so and wow.
Good writers seek to learn more, but we all learn in different ways. It can make a huge difference when the teaching style matches our learning style. In college, I was getting a D from a professor who said I didn't belong in that major. The next year in the same class from a different professor, I was challenging the graduate students for top marks. When the first professor found out, he was in shock wondering how he could have been so wrong.
Figure out what style you need. Research the teacher before signing up for a class. When you're looking for a how-to book, it's worth taking the time to get one that's right for you. Audition several at the library. Writing how-to books are mostly in the 808s. Analysis books further along the shelves can also be helpful.
Northernwrites
You're so right, NW, and thanks for adding more great tips and advice.
We always look forward to feedback, and you guys are the best. Thanks! I love my job!
Editors:
Leger~ 
Shannon 
Ben Langhinrichs 
Your guest host this week is esprit
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