John Green is Awesome (But So is the Rest of YA)

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With the massive success of The Fault in Our Stars and the recent announcement that Paper Towns will be hitting the big screen, there’s been this shift happening online. And it’s a shift that, quite frankly, needs a massive attitude adjustment.

Before I go on, I’d like to establish something.

First and foremost, I love John Green. I think TFiOS is a wonderful book and I’ve been a fan of vlogbrothers for a while, and I am so very happy to see how successful he’s been. It’s always wonderful when there’s a big success in books, and when it’s a YA success, I’m even happier. So go John Green. You’re awesome.

What I’m not loving so much, is this idea being perpetuated by the media lately that John Green’s books are worth so much more than the other YA trash out there like Hunger Games and Twilight and maybe now some real value will come out of YA because Green’s been so successful.

Ugh.

I’m not going to link to the article that basically said as much, because it doesn’t deserve the traffic. But there are so many things wrong with that message, and it makes me rather ragey.

To start, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but no one book is worth more than another. Twilight and Hunger Games are not garbage, nor are any other books out there, regardless of whether or not you read them or enjoyed them. It’s perfectly okay if one, or all of those books aren’t your thing, but that by no means indicates that they’re somehow worth less than TFiOS or any other book out there.

Secondly, the insinuation that there isn’t any value in what’s been published in YA thus far just tells me that someone hasn’t been reading very much YA. Some of the most powerful books I’ve read about love, sacrifice, betrayal, responsibility, power and self-discovery were YA novels. YA is showing teenagers that they’re not alone, that what they’re feeling and experiencing isn’t just them, that it’s wonderful to love and live and yes, sometimes life is hard and yes, sometimes loss is horrible, but we move on and become better people for our experiences. And sometimes stories with those messages have vampires and fights to the death and magic and demons and princes and faeries, and you know what? That doesn’t make them less valid.

YA is a beautiful category. And John Green is certainly a part of that, and his work has spoken to loads of teens out there, but you know what? So has Stephanie Meyers’s work, and Suzanne Collins’s work, and Tahereh Mafi's and Veronica Roth’s and Beth Revis’s and Cassandra Clare’s and Julie Kagawa’s and Lauren Oliver’s books. So have countless other YA authors, both male and female, writing in genres across the board from Paranormal to High Fantasy to Dystopia to Sci-Fi to Urban Fantasy to Thriller to Horror to Magical Realism and yes, even to Contemporary.

They're all equally wonderful, so rather than insinuating one book is worth more than the others, let’s celebrate the wonderful category that is YA equally and leave it at that.

*ragequits*

Twitter-sized bites:

Writer @Ava_Jae says no one book is worth more than another. What do you think? (Click to tweet)  

"Some of the most powerful books I've read about love, sacrifice, betrayal...& self-discovery were YA." (Click to tweet)

Book Beginnings: Where to Start?

Photo credit: Mine

I’ve been doing a lot of editing and critiquing lately. Between working on my WIP, reading for CPs and being semi completely addicted to Write on Con’s critique boards, I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve spent several days switching between several forms of critiquing and editing. 

I’m not complaining—I love it. But because of that, I’ve read a fair share of opening scenes lately that reminded me of the importance of starting your novel in the right place. 

Deciding where to start your book can be a difficult task. Oftentimes, new writers especially will fall into the trap of starting their novels too early, dumping a load of backstory at the beginning before the action starts. While this can be useful for first drafts to help the writer understand more about the story, when it comes to revised drafts for the readers, it’s often necessary to cut the backstory and weave it throughout the prose. 

The key to starting your novel in the right place is to start the first scene right at the cusp of where the story begins. 

That may sound obvious, but it actually requires you to think about where your story starts. Usually, and most effectively, this is right before the inciting incident—that is, the event that changes the course of your protagonist’s life. 

Let’s take a look at a few published novels and analyze where their respective authors began their stories: 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo: 

Inciting Incident: When Alina’s convoy is attacked in The Fold, she unwittingly awakens a dormant power that she never knew she had.  

Where the story starts: Alina and the convoy are about to enter The Fold. 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: 

Inciting Incident: Katniss’s sister is chosen during The Reaping to enter The Hunger Games, so Katniss takes her place to save her life.  

Where the story starts: Her last hunting expedition just before The Reaping. 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: 

Inciting Incident: Hazel meets Augustus Waters, the boy who turns her life upside down (in a good way).  

Where the story starts: At the Cancer Support Group, just before Hazel meets Augustus. 

I think the pattern here is pretty clear. 

Identifying the right place to start your novel is easier than you might think—once you’ve established your inciting incident, all you need to determine is where to start that gives your readers just enough information about your character and their surroundings to care when the incident arrives. 

Because just at the moment when your readers begin to connect to your characters is when you want to throw your characters into the event that will change everything for them. 

How do you determine where to start your story? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Does your novel start in the right place? Writer @Ava_Jae discusses how to determine a good place to begin. (Click to tweet) 

The right book beginning is key to hooking your readers. Did you start your novel in the right place? (Click to tweet)

How to Write Romance Well

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I received an interesting question over the weekend from a lovely reader (thanks, Robin) that uncovered an area that I haven't thoroughly discussed here at Writability. 

I'm talking about romance. 

I'll admit that I started this post with some trepidation, as I do not write genre romance. Now, that's not to say that I don't ever write romance—in fact, I often include a romantic subplot in my novels—but for me, romance isn't the core of the story, it's more of an enhancement. 

Nevertheless, even as a subplot, romance can go drastically wrong if not handled correctly, and so I still think it's important to discuss how to write it effectively. 

I suspect that romance in writing is something that every writer handles a little differently. For me, I usually establish what characters will be romantically involved before I write a word (with exception to instances where characters surprise me). At the very beginning of the writing process, I usually have a general sense of who the characters are, what they are like and a bit of their background, but I don't really get to know the true core of my characters until the writing begins. 

In my experience, the romantic subplots unfold much the same way—a natural growing relationship between two characters rather than a meticulously planned this then that plot. That's not to say that I don't plan it at all—I usually set down milestones while planning/outlining (first date, first kiss, etc.), but I try to be as flexible as possible while writing it. 

There are two dangers that I look out for when working out romantic relationships between characters:

1. Forced love. I've written a post detailing the dangers of forced romance in writing, so I'm not going to dive into it here. What I will say, is that the danger of over-planning a romantic relationship between characters is this forced romance. It's pretty easy to tell if your characters are victim to this danger—the relationship between them will feel stiff and unnatural, and reaching those milestones will feel much more difficult than it should be. The romance should unfold naturally, so if you're fighting your characters to get them to like each other, that's a pretty good sign that you might want to reconsider your romantic subplot.


2. Insta-love. This totally clever term was coined by one of my CPs, and I have stolen it (with permission) will be using it from here on out. Insta-love is a problem on the opposite side of the spectrum, and it's one that many writers often struggle with. Sometimes, when writing romance, we writers start to get a little impatient. We want to get to the good parts—the first kisses and the first l-word and those moments in romance that make our heart flutter. And sometimes, in our eagerness to get to the good stuff, we push our characters along a little too quickly. We end up with love at first sight and premature kisses and saying I love you so quickly that our readers get whiplash.
   
   The good news is that while this is a common problem, it's relatively easy to fix in revision. Your characters have chemistry—this is good—you just need to push on the brakes a little so it doesn't feel so sudden. Remember, most relationships don't form overnight, and if you want your readers to fall in love with your romance, you need to give them time, too. 

Once you've avoided those two major dangers, you can breathe easily knowing you're likely on the right track with your romance.

And for examples of particularly well-written romantic subplots, check out Graceling by Kristin Cashore and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  

What tips do you have for writing romance? Any book recommendations with well-written romantic elements?

When Writing, Cannibalize Everything

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It happened again! One of you fabulous readers (thank you, Robin) asked a question I haven’t yet answered that I thought most certainly merited a post (yay!). The question was this:

“I read your post about reading what you write, and coming to love your genre. So I was wondering, what if one incorporates other genres and mediums? One of my WIPs is a YA-fantasy adventure with a lot of fairytale elements, but I've taken what I learned reading horror (mostly of Poe) to create dread in my story, and I've paid attention to cinematic techniques seen in films by Studio Ghibli to create an endearing and living world. What is your perspective on cross-referencing genres and mediums?”

I’m sure most of you have heard that you should write what you know. While I partially agree with that (more on that topic some other time), I think it applies especially well when referencing incorporating what you have learned from creative mediums, whether writing, movies, music, etc. You see, I’ve written in the past about why it’s so important for writers to be well-read, and this question right here is one of the many reasons why.

While I tend to read a lot of YA and some MG novels, within those age groups I read from various genres: paranormal fantasy, straight fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, etc. And from every book that I’ve read, regardless of the genre, I’ve learned something—whether it’s the importance of voice, or including poetry in prose, or what a good opening and memorable characters look like. And when I write and revise, I make a point to look back on those lessons and continue to learn new ones from whatever books I read throughout the course of the year.

One of the most important tasks a writer has is to absorb everything possible—what rain feels like in November when you’ve forgotten an umbrella, how that movie gave you the chills, why that book was so gripping that you stayed up until three in the morning on a work night to finish it, how that song makes you pause every time it comes up on your playlist. Nothing is sacred to the writer—not that terrible cut that required stitches, or your first kiss, or the first time you laid eyes on your newborn. Writers make note of and store their experiences for writing reference later on.

In short, writers cannibalize everything. Or at least, they should. And when it comes to genre, I don’t believe it’s any different.

Let’s think for a moment: when is the last time you read a book or watched a movie that was 150% one genre? Nearly every non-romance genre has some sort of romantic subplot (even The Lord of the Rings which is as straight fantasy as it gets has romance) and many non-mystery novels have some sort of mysterious intrigue and so on. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at a couple novels.

• Across the Universe by Beth Revis—Across the Universe is undoubtedly a YA Sci-Fi novel, but it certainly cross-references other genres as well, the most obvious of which include a romantic subplot and murder mystery. That doesn’t make it a mystery or romance novel, but it still has elements of those genres. To further draw a point, it’s listen on Amazon under “Teens > Mysteries” and at Barnes & Noble.com under “Teens- Romance & Friendship” and “Teens- Science Fiction.” 


• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green—I would have thought that The Fault in Our Stars would be listed under YA Contemporary, but I’ve found that it is often listed under romance. Regardless, it has elements of romance, realistic fiction, humor and even tragedy. That doesn’t mean you’re going to find it in the Humor section at Barnes & Noble (if you do, it’s been terribly misplaced), but you can’t deny that elements of those genres exist within the novel. It’s listed on Amazon under “Teens > Love & Romance” and at Barnes & Noble.com under “Teens: Realistic.” 

Just two examples of many, but the point is this: genre is rarely cut and dry and you certainly shouldn’t be afraid of drawing from absolutely everything you’ve learned along the way. Your writing will be better for it.

How do you pull from other genres, mediums and experiences in your work? What multi-genre novels can you think of as examples?

On Reading and Learning from Books

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After writing about reading so-called "bad books" last week, I noticed a theme cropping up in the following discussion, namely, learning from what we read.

When you're a writer, reading is more than just a hobby to pass the time— books are our bread and butter and they provide us with an arsenal of tools to use in our writing. Reading is about as optional to the writer as watching movies is to a Hollywood director or studying the brain and nervous system is to the neurosurgeon.

The great thing about reading is that especially for the writer, it's never a waste of time— whether you like the book or not, there's something to be learned.

You see, when you don't like whatever you're reading, the writer asks why— what is it about the book that you don't like? Does the pacing feel off? Are the characters not connecting with you? Does the dialogue feel forced? Once you've figured out what aspect (or aspects) feel off to you, push harder— what is it about the dialogue that makes it feel flat? How would you make it better? Why aren't the characters connecting? Is it a particular character that isn't working? Why?

On the other hand, when you love whatever you're reading, the writer asks why again— what is it about the book that really resonates with you? Is it the voice? The characters? Something about the plot itself? What exactly is working and how could you incorporate something like it into your writing?

Here are two examples from books I really enjoyed:

From Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (page 22):

"I take a sharp hit of oxygen. 'Funny. So did I.'

1

2

3 seconds pass.

He cracks a grin so wide, so amused, so refreshingly sincere it's like a clap of thunder through my body."

Honestly, you can't open to a page in Shatter Me without finding at least one poetic line full of refreshing imagery and voice. Shatter Me taught me about putting poetry back into the novel and not being afraid to break the rules.

From The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (page 53):

"When I got out of the movie, I had four text messages from Augustus.

        Tell me my copy is missing the last twenty pages or something.

        Hazel Grace, tell me I have not reached the end of this book.

        OH MY GOD DO THEY GET MARRIED OR NOT OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS

        I guess Anna died and so it just ends? CRUEL. Call me when you can. Hope all's okay."

Something I absolutely loved about The Fault in Our Stars was that both Augustus and Hazel sounded like actual teenagers I could meet at my local mall. Everything from the witty (and hysterical) dialogue, to the text messages like the ones I quoted screamed authentic teenager, and I loved how genuine it felt. The Fault in Our Stars reminded me about the importance of authenticity in dialogue and narration.

Lessons like these are best absorbed when we see them in action—that is, when we see them working in a book. So go pick up a book and read. You never know what you might learn that will help your writing in the future.

Now it's your turn: What have you learned about writing from reading a book?

The Gift Writing Gives Us

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“I think that is the gift that both reading and writing can give us; the gift of escaping the prison of ourselves.” –John Green

Although I couldn’t attend BEA (Book Expo America, for those of you wondering what all the talk about BEA is about), I’ve been listening to a lot of the live streamed and recorded events on the Book Expo America website, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the BEA staff that’s made those videos available online because the information they’ve recorded is pure gold (so if you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend it. With italics).

I especially loved listening to the Author Breakfast that featured a panel of Chris Colfer, John Green, Lois Lowry and Kadir Nelson, because between the laughs and heart-wrenching stories, the authors shared some really powerful advice. An example of this is the quote I started this post off with. You see, after Green joked about the progression from his first novel, Looking for Alaska, in which he shared quite a few traits with the main character to his most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, in which he didn’t share any traits with his protagonist, he said the quote that I included above, and I thought that he pointed out something really special about writing.

Because yes, we often hear about writing what we know and while I still think it’s useful to do so at times, what Green emphasizes is the unique ability writing gives us—the ability to escape ourselves and step into someone else’s life.

Writing gives us the chance to be and do whatever we want—and there are no limitations.

This is why we need to take chances as writers to explore new worlds and characters and ideas that are entirely different from our own circumstances. This is why Mary Sueism is more than just the sign of an undeveloped writer—it’s the sign of a writer who hasn’t yet discovered the true gift that writing gives us. This is why, as writers, it is our job to set out on uncharted territory and come out with a story that we might not have thought ourselves capable of writing.

Because, as John Green points out, the gift is for more than just writers—it’s a gift that we can share with our readers. A gift that can really make our work special.

So I encourage you to take a risk and step outside the prison of yourself. You might just return with your best writing experience yet.

Now it’s your turn: What other gifts do writing and reading give us? 

Why Writers Must Be Observers

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Contrary to popular belief, a writer must be more than a person who just writes. Of course writing is our primary goal, but in order to write authentically, we must first be vigilant observers. All the time.

You see, we writers have a pretty unique job; we are tasked with a mission to bring the impossible to life on the page, to create stories that pluck our readers from their everyday lives and to bring attention to details of the world around them that ring perfectly true. 

But in order to achieve that, we must first observe the world around us. When there’s a wicked thunderstorm and the trees are bowing to the wind and the claps of thunder and lightning send most people searching for their flashlights, the writer should be listening and watching very carefully, while asking, how would I describe this?

When overwhelmed with emotion—whether it’s happiness, anger, frustration or something else—writers must pause and pay attention to exactly how they feel so that when their characters experience the same emotion, it can be described with authenticity. A great example of this is one of my favorite passages from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green:

“Much of my life had been devoted to trying not to cry in front of people who loved me, so I knew what Augustus was doing. You clench your teeth. You look up. You tell yourself that if they see you cry, it will hurt them, and you will be nothing but A Sadness in their lives, and you must not become a mere sadness, so you will not cry, and you say all of this to yourself while looking up at the ceiling, and then you swallow even though your throat does not want to close and you look at the person who loves you and smile.” (Page 213-214)

I know that seems like a pretty depressing favorite passage, but the reason it stuck out to me so much is because when I read it for the first time, I nodded along and thought, yes, it’s exactly like that. Granted, my way of thinking when upset is pretty different from Hazel’s (the POV character), but the clenching of teeth and looking up at the ceiling and swallowing when your throat is so tight it’s painful are all things I’m sure many of us have experienced when trying not to cry.

Another (lighter) example from Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi:

“Every butterfly in the world has migrated to my stomach.” (Page 155) 

This example is less literal than the first, but I think we all know the feeling Juliette (the POV character) is referencing.

Our goal as writers is to take every day real things and translate them into words that remind our readers of that exact moment. That ring true and honest and have them nodding along and saying yes, that’s it, it’s just like that. But in order to do that we must first pay attention to everything, all the time, and take mental (or real) notes as we move through our lives and experience the world.

Then after observing, we translate those moments back into words so that we can share them with someone else.

Have you ever encountered a sentence or passage that felt exactly right? 

Voice: You Are Not Your Characters

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For much of my journey as a writer, I was aware of this thing called voice. I knew what it was, for the most part, and the theory behind how to develop it (that is, write and read a lot). I knew that an author's voice was different from a character's voice, but it wasn't until I started writing in first person that I came to realize that one can overpower the other.

In my case, my writer voice was way overpowering my character's voice (a problem, especially in first person) and this revelation forced me to stop and rethink how I view voice.

You see, your writer voice develops naturally over time—it's something that threads together with every word you write and every sentence you read. It evolves gradually, naturally into something that is you, into your mark on the page.

But the character voice — that's an entirely different battle, because your character's voice is not the same as your voice. Not even close.

I've been following John Green's "Only If You Finished The Fault in Our Stars" tumblr, and oftentimes people have asked him why he had Hazel or Augustus (the book's two main characters) say or think something. The most popular of these questions was why Hazel states at the beginning of the novel that V for Vendetta is a “boy movie,” and whether he believes V for Vendetta to be a "boy movie." I found part of his answer particularly interesting (and relevant, so bear with me):

"I am not a sixteen-year-old girl with stage IV cancer named Hazel Grace Lancaster, so I did not call V for Vendetta a boy movie. I was writing from her perspective, and it’s really important to note that it’s not necessarily my perspective. So I think HAZEL (at least beginning of the novel Hazel) would consider V for Vendetta a boy movie. I generally do not attach gender to films or other works of art, as it seems like a weird thing to do."

What he's hitting on here is golden advice for any writer: we are not our characters. I mean, we are in the sense that we create and develop them, but by no means are we them (because if we are, we have a new problem, namely, that you're writing a Mary Sue into your story, which is an entirely different post (and problem) on its own).

Your voice — that is, the voice of the writer — must be different from your characters' voices (unless you're writing an autobiography, in which case, carry on).

For me, that revelation meant having to rewrite my WIP while constantly asking myself if this is something my protagonist would think or say. I won't pretend it wasn't a lot of work, but I came out of it with an entirely new perspective on developing and writing characters.

How do you develop character voices? Have you ever found your writer voice was overpowering your character voice? How did you fix it?

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Photo credit: Goodreads

So as happy as I've been with the format of my last two monthly mini book reviews, after reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green in about a day, I knew I had to write it a separate book review.

Before I start ranting about how incredible the book was, here is the Goodreads summary:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

First and foremost, I'd like to say that John Green didn't write just another cancer book. The Fault in Our Stars is so much more than that, because Hazel and Augustus (the two main characters) are more than just two kids with cancer.

The Fault in Our Stars was simply beautiful. I don't often use that word to describe a book, but after reading the final sentences, I couldn't think of a better word to describe it. John Green has written something special—a story that feels absolutely true, that strikes you with the beauty and honesty of the prose, that will make you laugh and cry and leave you feeling like you experienced Hazel's story yourself. Like her memories are really yours.

I can't recommend this book enough. It instantly became one of my favorites, and it's one I'm sure I'll re-read in the future.

The Fault in Our Stars more than deserves its long run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Green has written something truly spectacular. 

What Makes You Keep Reading?

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After reading a certain blue, white and black book written by John Green in a single day, I started thinking. Truth is, the only thing The Fault in Our Stars has in common with most of the books I read is that it happens to be a YA novel. There aren't any high-action scenes or evil villains to destroy or superpowers or magic or spaceships or horrific dystopian societies that must be overturned.

And yet, I whipped through its 318 pages like nobody's business and loved every moment of it. So it got me thinking: what really makes readers keep reading?

Because sure, cliffhangers and gun fights and epic magical battles and action-packed pages can definitely keep a reader hooked, but there are underlying threads deeper than that keep us turning pages in a book. That make it impossible not to continue reading.

Some Underlying Threads:

1. Make the readers care about the characters. This is a must. What's the point of reading to find out what happens to a character if it doesn't matter? (Answer: there is no point, so they won't read any further). Whether it's a voice that's impossible to ignore, or situations that make your protagonist sympathetic, or an endearing personality or all three, the readers have to care about the characters.


2. Keep the reader guessing. Will Katniss and Peeta survive The Hunger Games? Will Harry ever get to go to wizarding school? Will Hazel and Augustus ever find out what happens after An Imperial Affliction ? Although this is pretty directly tied to the last point, we need to keep the readers (and the characters) asking questions throughout the book. As soon as all of the questions are answered and choices are made, there are few reasons to continue reading.


3. Tension. I wrote an entire post on tension, so I'm not going to rehash the whole thing, but in short no tension = no reason to keep reading = book that doesn't get read.

There are other underlying threads, I'm sure, but these three are really what have stood out to me as I continue to read some truly fantastic books. And what better way to learn how to improve your writing than reading a great book?

Have you read any un-put-downable books lately? What makes you keep reading?

Why First Draft Writing Sucks

 "I'm increasingly convinced that while no great book can be written in a month, no great book can be written in a first draft no matter how long it takes you to write it." – John Green

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With NaNoWriMo in full swing, a lot of you are writing first drafts. 

Getting the first draft down is, in many ways, the best and worst part of writing.

Most writers love getting the first draft down for many reasons— the discovery for example, of a new world, of new characters and situations and creating a universe that until that moment didn't exist is mesmerizing. Or that moment when you really get in the zone and the writing just flows— incredible.

But writers often hate writing the first draft, too— it just depends what day you ask them, because writing a first draft is hard. Sometimes you get stuck and getting even a single word out is about as painful as repeatedly watching a Teletubbies episode with your eyes taped open.

Then there's the moment when you realize everything you've written sucks. Sometimes it hits you half-way through, sometimes before that and sometimes after you've completed the whole thing— but most writers will reach a point where it occurs to them that this sparkly first draft isn't so sparkly after all. It sounded great in your head— why doesn't it feel like it on the page?

Truth is guys, writing the first draft is hard, and oftentimes it doesn't come out anything like the way you imagined. Your first draft can feel like a disappointment, like you've somehow let yourself (and your future readers) down by writing this terrible drivel and calling it a novel. Sometimes the doubt and disappointment is so intense that writers feel like giving up.

Don't do it.

Guess what? 9/10 times your first draft is going to suck. What's worse is that feeling isn't going to go away— it doesn't matter if it's your first novel or your fifth, writers are notoriously unhappy with their first drafts.

Don't believe me? That John Green quote up there comes from this amusing and informative video on NaNoWriMo— you should check it out:

In case you don't watch it though, he makes another great point about writing first drafts:

"…if you want to think about it like sculpture, writing a first draft is like digging the clay out of the ground and revision is when you actually use the clay to like, build something that you like."

And my last gem from the video:

"What NaNoWriMo does for writers young and old, is give us permission to suck. So NaNoWriMo forces you to be disciplined and it gives you permission to suck, which are two of the things you most need if you're going to be a novelist."

So yes, first draft writing often sucks, especially when we can't stand what we've written so far, but guess what? It's ok, in fact, it's even to be expected.

And John Green isn’t the only one who thinks so—Tahereh Mafi posted a while ago about not being afraid to write a bad book.

If writing is hard, then writing the first draft is excruciatingly difficult— but don't worry about writing poorly. Right now you're just digging up the clay. The masterpiece will emerge in revision.

First draft writing is pretty big right now with NaNoWriMo— tell us your first draft writing experience (past or present). What do you love and hate about getting the first draft down?