 For Authors: January 29, 2014 Issue [#6126] |
  For Authors
This week: How Do You Draft? Edited by: Storm Machine  
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“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ~Calvin Coolidge
"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." ~Unknown
"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit." ~Richard Bach |
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I recently had the chance to meet Joe Haldeman (author of Forever War, among others). The funny thing was that everyone talked about his writing style, about how he carefully chose each word and then wrote them down sentence by sentence. A big day for him might be 500 words, but that once he wrote them down - those words were almost in the final form for publishing. I know Les Edgerton does a similar thing; we've talked about it.
What I learned from that talk with Les was that he thought he needed permission to write slow and consider each word. He had tried the NaNo-style, that I've heard called word vomit. It's that frenetic pace where a writer spews out whatever is in mind and edits it into something readable. Many times the word vomit is not accompanied by an outline, and becomes an expedition to find out the story the character really needs to share. It's also called that a Zero Draft.
I love the term Zero Draft. I feel like it doesn't have to make sense by the time I find the end, and it also signifies that I have to get through this thing once in editing to get it to a Rough Draft - and a lot more editing before it is coherent and beautiful enough to be a Final Draft.
When doling out writing advice, it is good to remember both sides. Some of us will use an endless amount of space to figure out where we're going, and others will think about it for much longer than they write and put it down mostly formed. Ann Patchett says she takes years to put a novel together in her head. She just thinks about it, considers different angles, but when she actually sits down to write it flows out better because she has spent so much time understanding all the angles.
If you've tried one way of writing, there isn't a reason you can't try another. It will feel right or wrong or maybe just a little different. I find it gives me a greater appreciation for how someone else crafts words. Maybe that Inner Editor you've been eschewing is really part of your process. Perhaps your writing buddy will always be much slower in the word count because of a specific premeditation of the words. Maybe the word vomit hasn't been turned over in the mind twenty times before being committed to print.
How you draft is different than the debate of pantsing versus plotting (whether or not one outlines). I outline and I also end up with Zero Drafts when I'm done. I spill them out as fast as I can manage, partly because I have limited time. I admit it is also partly because I have limited attention span during the day. Honor your process, whether it is fast or slow, whether you chew over it for years in advance or plop it all down in a couple days. Track your progress, if needed, for a few weeks or more to understand the changes in your pace and compare to the relative state of those writings. I have used Excel for that but you can simply write it at the bottom of the piece: 500 words, 4 hours, 1/21/14. |
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New BB 
What is common?
I. Ordering a burger, ordering fries, ordering water, passing a bill, paying with pennies decisions.Vampires hold out for good meat. (fresh meat)
II. Speaking your mind, giving a verbal compliment.Tyra.
III. 1.99 accuracy versus 99% accuracy.
IIII.Spill the beans, spill the beans and spill the beans vs. DISCRETION.
Words admonish but please don't hurt me with mature themes when I'm giving you ice cream already. [MATOOR]ly.
I have no idea.
brom21 
I found your words very helpful. You really laid the foundation for coming up with ideas and making my writing better. Out of all the six points you made, for me the hardest is reviewing and editing. I think a lot of people find their writing buddies here on WDC. If you ever attend college you have some kind of writing class, staying in touch with that professor would be a good writing buddy. Thanks again!
I'm glad to have helped.
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry 
We write what feels right.
Indeed we do.
Quick-Quill 
I love this NL. The middle of Oct. I was approached by the wife of a co-worker who offered to have her bookclub read my rough draft. Dec 5 I meet with them to hear the results. The pre-feedback, to my delight, is they love the story and feel its worthy to be reworked and edited. I'm so excited to get busy and make this novel publisher ready.
Exciting!
Solivagus
The quote you provided at the top of the newsletter spoke to me more than you may have intended. There is something I have been struggling with lately, the realization that I was not nurtured and lead in the right directions by my parents. I have wallowed at my wasted talents, and genius. But this quote really highlighted what I heard on scroll the other day as well. If you can't motivate yourself, at a certain point, you'll never succeed at anything. It's up to me to make the decisions to 'press on', in spite of my initial failures. God has instilled in me a desire for greatness, maybe all I need to do is set a fire to it and see how high the fuel takes me.
Good luck. I struggle with that as well, but I'm not letting the time pass without trying, and I know you're doing the same. |
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