Giving The First Draft A Chance
Your first draft needs faith.
I have been thinking about my first draft a lot recently. When I am not trying to start it, I am thinking about it – how I want the story to go, the characters and their backgrounds, the odd piece of description or dialogue that I think could work (most of the time I manage to write things down before they disappear out of my head forever. I have had things disappear and then I curse myself for not keeping a notebook nearby but that’s for another post.)
There are a few ways in which I have attempted to begin my story as I try to figure out where to begin. Should I start it with dialogue? Inner monologue? That’s the problem – you over think and then the false starts pile up and before you know it, you have 1,000 words of roughly the same scene. I end up going back to the beginning as I convince myself that what I am reading isn’t good enough. I worry Continue reading
by 
That Elusive First Sentence
That first sentence has become my nemesis.
I’ve now settled into the New Year and have just about stopped writing 2013 when I should be writing 2014. The new year brought new but familiar writing goals which is to get the first draft finally written in time to submit to the RNA in August (especially as I didn’t manage it last year.)
I have been thinking a lot about the first sentence as I attempt the first draft. How do you pick the moment and the words that will begin your novel? It has caused a little bit of stress particularly as it’s easy to overthink. Of the many books on ‘how to write a novel,’ that I own, having a good first sentence that grabs readers attention seems to be a common thread.
Of course, I know that Continue reading
by A Novel in Thirty Days. Am I Mad?
My writing world this week has mostly been working on National Novel Writing Month. Anyone who has taken part in it before knows it’s a marathon. It’s frustrating and hard work but it’s such good fun all at the same time.
After wondering whether to work on a new idea, I decided that due to my false starts, I was close enough to the beginning of my current work in progress to work on it for National Novel Writing Month in the hope that it will get me far enough into the draft to not be able to start again (and thus the end of the false starts.) There is some logic in my madness I am sure.
I am about 10,000 words into it now (at the end of the first week) – so far so good. One trap I have nearly fallen into though Continue reading
by Finding Your Own Path
This week, I have been thinking a lot about my writing process and how to approach it. I have to confess that, at the beginning, I did read interviews with authors, looking at how they approach their writing, trying to pick up tips to assist with mine. If it worked for them then surely it should work for me, right? Not necessarily.
The belief that published authors will somehow have some magical formula; wisdom that they can impart that will suddenly help you produce your book all comes down to many of them, in my experience, saying the same thing. There is no magic formula, aside from sitting down and actually writing.
That’s half the battle with writing a first draft, at least with me and that’s finding what works for me. I am forging my own path, my own way of working – finding which elements work for me and putting them into practise so that I can sit down and write.
by How Much Planning & Research is Enough?
This week, I have been thinking a lot about the research and planning of my novel. Before, I’ve not always bothered with it as much as I maybe should have done. It actually scares me a little. It all seems overwhelming. I’ll have a vague idea of the plot and who the main characters are but will then find that names will change half way through.
I continuously ask myself ‘how much is enough’ before it stops being helpful and starts becoming procrastination and a distraction from the actual writing of the novel.
The idea of planning also has me wondering, if I know too much about my characters and my story, what surprises are left for me to find let alone the eventual reader? The answer…probably more than I think.
by Book Club
