Vlog: On Making Changes Part-Way Through a Draft

So you're part-way through your first draft, and then you realize...your story's headed in the wrong direction. Or you need to make a major change. Or both. But how do you handle this realization when partway through your first draft?

RELATED VLOGS:

• On Consistency While First Drafting
• 4 Fast Drafting Tips
• On (Terrible) First Drafts
• What if Your Writing Sucks?

Twitter-sized bite:

What do you do if you realize mid-1st draft you've made a big mistake? @Ava_Jae talks handling first draft trip ups. (Click to tweet)

What Should You Focus On While First Drafting?

Photo credit: Brian Stetson on Flickr

I've frequently talked about how first drafts are meant to be terrible, and how I worry about nothing while first drafting except getting the story down. I've said time and time again that anything messy in the first draft can be fixed with revisions, but you can't edit a blank page, so getting the words down first is the most important thing.

But what's involved in "getting the story down"? What should you focus on getting on the page, rather than saving it for later?

As is the case with many things in writing, this answer is going to vary writer-to-writer. But after completing sixteen first drafts, this is what I've learned to focus on while getting the story down for the first time:

• The plot. Technically I worry about this while plotting, not first drafting, but the first draft is where I take note of whether or not the plot is working as it should be. A lot of times I can't really tell for sure whether the plot is working the way I wanted it to until the first read through and revisions, but while first draft I at least get a sense of the flow and the way one scene leads into another and how they stack up together.


• The characters. The first draft is really where I get to know the characters for the first time. This is where their personalities start to shine, where their interactions with other characters tells me about them, where I get glimpses into who they are and what makes them tick. By the end of the first draft, I don't have a full picture of my full cast of characters, but I usually have a pretty good idea of how the main cast behaves and how they get along (or don't). 


• The story. Ultimately, the first draft is where I follow a lot of gut feelings. It's not uncommon for my plotted scene card to say one thing and the scene itself to turn out another way entirely. Arguments happen where I didn't plan them—and so does kissing—flirting crops up between characters I didn't expect, and sometimes new plot ideas hit me along the way. I pretty near always follow those gut instincts and go wherever the story takes me, regardless of whether or not I'd planned for it before. And sixteen first drafts later, I've yet to regret going with what felt right as I wrote rather than with what I'd originally planned.

So those are the main things I try to keep in mind when putting words on the page for the first time. What do you focus on while first drafting?

Twitter-sized bite:

What do you focus on while first drafting? @Ava_Jae shares some experience and thoughts. (Click to tweet)

On (Breaking?) Writerly Patterns

Photo credit: TheZionView on Flickr

We all have different patterns when we write. Some of us write long, with tens of thousands of words we'll have to cut at the end. Some of us write short, knowing we'll have to add ten, twenty, thirty thousand words before it's an acceptable length. Some write chronologically, others mix it up. Some plot, some don't, some always have to fix world building in revisions, others consistently have issues with pacing, or character development, or dialogue, etc.

As I finish plotting my seventeenth book (whoa), I've been thinking a lot about patterns. Like Katie says in the tweet I embedded below, I too frequently worry about whether a novel will be novel-length as I first draft. It's not uncommon for one of my first drafts to fall in the high 40k - low 60k range, and though I know I pretty consistently add 15k - 25k in revisions, it's still a little nerve-wracking every time I finish a first draft and see a number below 60k. What if I can't fill it enough to be the length of an actual novel? I worry endlessly.

My friends are out there like "Oh shit, I have to cut 30,000 words from my manuscript" and I'm like "PLEASE LET IT BE NOVEL LENGTH???"

— K. Locke (@Bibliogato) May 7, 2017

So at this point, sixteen novels in, I pretty much expect my word counts to be low—and I usually can tell just how short it's going to be based off how many scenes I have set up when I finish plotting. I try to aim for fifty scenes and usually end up somewhere in the forty range, which is fine. But this time around, with MS #17, things have been starting off a little...differently.

To give you some perspective, Into the Black in its current form has fifty-two scenes (the first draft had forty-seven), and that's unlikely to change at this stage. Those fifty-two scenes fall at around 96k at the moment (word count, of course, is much more fluid and still could very well change before the final copies are printed). It's one of my most thoroughly plotted books, and also—probably not coincidentally—my third longest manuscript ever.

So you can imagine my shock when I finished plotting The Rising Gold and had seventy-three scenes.

Seventy. Three.

This is easily the longest plot I've ever had, and I have to admit, it's a little intimidating. It completely breaks a pattern I've consistently had for, oh, twelve years, and suggests I may be looking at a first draft of well over 100,000 words—which is scary given I usually add 15-25k in revisions because uh...yeah. That's long.

Granted, maybe some of (or many of?) these scenes will end up being super short and I'll have nothing to worry about—which is totally possible. But even if I assume each scene will average out several hundred words shorter than Into the Black's average, I'm still looking at over 100k. But who knows? Maybe each scene will average around 1k and I'll have a low-70k first draft which would be perfect.

I don't know if this is an anomaly or if maybe I'm getting better at plotting and thus won't have to add so much in the end—only time will tell. But breaking a writerly pattern I've had for so long is a bizarre experience that should make the first drafting process—well, uh, let's say interesting.

What writerly patterns do you have? And have you ever broken any? 

Twitter-sized bites:

What writerly patterns do you have? And have you ever broken any? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

On breaking writing patterns while plotting, and the ever-evolving writing process. (Click to tweet)

On Diving Into a New Story

Photo credit: tableatny

As of this writing, I'm about 9,000 words into the NaNo novel I'm calling #MagicMurderMayhem. There's something really special about starting a new manuscript; there's that thrill of diving into a new world, getting to know new characters, and immersing yourself in a completely new story. It's also a little scary—there's the uncertainty of whether or not you'll reach The End, the niggling whispers of knowing what you're going to have to fix even as you write, the possibility that you'll finish the draft and never look at it again.

All of that is real, and valid, and seems to never actually go away, no matter how many manuscripts you write. #MagicMurderMayhem is my sixteenth manuscript (which kind of blows my mind, to be honest), and while there are definitely differences with this experience than, say, my first (more confidence, trusting myself and my process, solid organization, etc.), there's still a lot of the same, emotionally.

In many ways, for me, first drafting is the (second) hardest part of the writing process. Creating something out of nothing is hard, and I think it's important to acknowledge that. (The first hardest, for me, is plotting, where you're really creating something out of absolutely nothing.) Every time you look at a blank page and turn it into a combination of letters that tell a story, you're doing something a little like magic. You're creating a reality where the things your characters do, think, say, and feel will matter to a reader. You're weaving words until they create pictures, until readers form attachments and feel very real emotions.

Writing a book is a really special thing, so I hope those of you who are first drafting take a moment to pat yourself on the back and smile. Because no, writing isn't easy, but it certainly is amazing and worth celebrating.

Are you working on a first draft right now? 

Twitter-sized bite:

Working on a first draft? Author @Ava_Jae has some encouraging words for you. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: 4 Fast Drafting Tips

Want to try fast drafting but not sure where to start? Today I'm sharing my top four fast-drafting tips.

RELATED LINKS:

• myWriteClub: www.mywriteclub.com
• myWriteClub's Word Sprints
• How I Won NaNoWriMo in 9 Days
• All the NaNoWriMo (vlog playlist)
• On (Terrible) First Drafts (vlog)

Have you ever tried fast-drafting? 

Twitter-sized bite:

Want to try fast drafting but not sure where to start? @Ava_Jae vlogs about her top 4 fast drafting tips. (Click to tweet)

On (Finally) Drafting a Sequel

Photo credit: Pierre Wolfer on Flickr

So now that the news is out and I've shared my delight and excitement on just about every platform I have, I can finally talk about writing sequels.

Because for the first time since 2007 when I realized partway through a draft for a sequel for my very first manuscript that said manuscript wasn't going to get published (and good thing), I'm writing a sequel. Have been writing one, actually, since last month.

I've been calling it WIPThing, because until this week I couldn't actually publicly say I was writing a sequel for Beyond the Red, as the publication announcement for books two and three wasn't up yet. But now it is! So I can talk about what's it's been like to write a sequel thus far, because I am doing that thing.

I'd heard from many writers about the struggles involved in writing a sequel. There's a lot more pressure, as readers are expecting certain things after reading the first book, plus the pressure of any second book sequel or not to perform as well or better than before, plus the trials of writing a book at all, plus deadlines, so yeah, traditionally, sequel-writing has been known to be a difficult thing for writers.

I knew this very well. And I fully expected it for myself.

Plotting, as usual, was difficult. It helped that I already had a basic idea of how things would go and had been thinking about it since, oh, 2013 or so, but actually working out the details of this happens and that happens followed by this thing then this has always been difficult for me, and this time didn't prove any differently. Plus I had the added pressure of knowing if what I plotted wasn't good enough, my publisher might not want to publish it, so that complicated matters.

Eventually came time to write the first two chapters for the proposal my agent would submit to my publisher. I remember sitting at my computer, looking at the word sprint timer with a blank page in front of me, and that was the moment where I felt that pressure. Where I knew whatever I wrote had to be really good or it wouldn't get picked up. Slowly, I started writing, and I forced myself not to worry about the quality just yet (because revisions, I knew, would be in a few days, but not right now), and I wrote.

And you know? While I was scared and while I did feel the pressure, it also felt really exciting. Because I'd been dying to write this sequel for so long, and now I could finally write it. Or write two chapters of it, anyway.

After the two chapters were done, then came time to revise, trade with critique partners, revise, trade with betas, revise and send it off to my agent. There were a few more revisions after that, at which point I had to put it away and wait for news and focus on something else.

Then in June I got the thumbs up as well as a deadline and the real pressure began. I started drafting, and it was slow at first— my word counts were lower than I liked, but I was slogging through. And even though my daily sprints were taking longer than I wanted, I was still really excited because I was writing a sequel. And I was having a lot of fun doing it.

Eventually, I hit my stride. I'm now about 61k in, and I've been keeping to my 2k/day goal. Originally I'd planned for this first draft to be around 70k, but my math projections (yes, I know, math) comparing my current word count to the number of scenes I've completed and the number of scenes I have left is projecting the first draft will probably be closer to 86k, which means I may not be done with the first draft by this weekend as I'd originally hoped, but that's okay because I gave myself some wiggle room. But we'll see what happens—I may very well breeze through some scenes with a lower than average word count and finish closer to 70k after all. Or not. (UPDATE: As of this morning I have upped my word count goal to 85k, which is a more realistic expectation.)

As I've been writing, I've been making mental notes about what I'll need to add in revisions. I write drafts sparsely, often adding an average of 20k words in revisions, so knowing that I've missed some things is fine at this stage. But the more I write, the more I've fallen in love with my characters more and more, and the more I've loved returning to this world with deserts and monarchs and aliens and humans. And it's been so fun to deepen the world, to learn new things about the territories and expand upon what I built in Beyond the Red.

I'm not done with the first draft, not yet, but I'm proud of it already. It's felt good to finally work on this book that I hoped I'd be able to write for so long. It's felt amazing to reach this milestone, and I'm so delighted I'll get to do it again next year with book three, too.

I know there will be angsty days in the future, days where the pressure feels heavier and scarier and I'm not so sure about what I'm doing. But today I couldn't be happier, and in terms of first drafts, this one has gone pretty smoothly so far.

Sequels are scary, but being able to finally write a book I've been hoping I'd be able to write for over two years is an amazing amazing thing.

Have you ever written a sequel? Do you plan to? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

On first drafting and writing a sequel for the first time, @Ava_Jae shares her thoughts. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On (Terrible) First Drafts

Writing the first draft can be really challenging—not the least of which because it often feels like the writing is awful. Today I'm talking about first drafting and why terrible first drafts are totally okay.

RELATED LINKS: 

• First to Final Draft: BEYOND THE RED (vlog)
• On Editing (YouTube Playlist)
• On Writing the Perfect Project (vlog)
• How to Finish a WIP (vlog)
• Why First Draft Writing Sucks
• Why the First Draft is Usually Awful (and Why it's Okay)

Do you struggle to get the first draft down?

Twitter-sized bites: 

Not feeling confident about your first draft? @Ava_Jae explains why terrible first drafts are totally okay. #vlog (Click to tweet)  

Do you struggle with the drafting process? @Ava_Jae vlogs about why terrible first drafts are okay. #writetip (Click to tweet)

On First Drafting Again

Photo credit: Design Feast on Flickr

So in the past couple weeks, I've started first drafting again, for the first time since 2014. The first project was a short thing that didn't take long to knock out, but this week I started my first WIP experiment in a long time.

For those who aren't familiar with my process, I call all my new writing projects WIP experiments until I've hit 10,000 words. Usually at that point I feel fairly confident I'm not going to walk away from the project and work on something else (though I have on two occasions walked away from a project after hitting the 10,000 word milestone, so nothing is guaranteed). As of this writing I'm about 6.5k in, but I'm aiming to hit the 10k mark the day this post goes live, so fingers crossed.

After spending a full year focused entirely on revisions for various projects, however, first drafting has been...interesting.

I've written about how first drafts are not meant to be perfect and how you don't have to get (anything) right the first time, but the last year or so I've gotten much better at revising plot and recognizing big picture issues which means while first drafting my brain has been more nitpicky than usual. Plus the first full first draft post-publication thing probably is complicating matters too.

The good news is I recognize it, and I know to remind myself that it's fine. It doesn't matter how many issues I recognize while first drafting. It doesn't matter if the pacing is off, or characterization isn't quite right, or subplots are jumbled, or ending fizzles. It doesn't matter if the writing itself is less than spectacular, or the dialogue is corny, or there are seven characters with names that start with S. Everything will be fixed later, but first the story needs to be written down so there's something to fix.

First drafting again is a relief, because last year I was feeling pretty not great that I hadn't written anything new.

First drafting again is scary, because I have no idea if I'll actually get through this WIP, even though I really want to.

First drafting again is helpful, because it's a great distraction from other things I'd be obsessing about right about now without it.

First drafting again is hard, because I've gotten used to working already-written words, and getting to the already-written stage can be challenging.

First drafting again is exciting, because I've got new characters to discover and situations to explore.

Regardless of whether or not this first draft actually makes it to The End, it's nice to be getting new words down on paper again. And with any luck, it'll become a project I'll actually get to develop and grow.

What writing thing are you working on right now? 

Twitter-sized bite:

Author @Ava_Jae talks first drafting again for the first time in over a year. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: Are You a Plotter, Pantser, or Hybrid?

Photo credit: Innovation Lab on Flickr

So as I have frequently mentioned here on Writability, I'm a rather devout plotter—though I didn't start that way. When I first began writing, the idea of outlining my novel ahead of time gave me hives. I told myself it'd be boring and take the fun out of drafting, and I firmly stuck to that belief until I finally gave plotting a try.

Unexpectedly, plotting turned out to be a very effective method for me. I learned plotting ahead of time allowed me to write faster and helped eliminate most of my writers block, which turned out to be actually "don't know where to go from here" block.

While I don't necessarily stick 100% to my outlines while writing (as I've said before, I use them more as guidelines than rule books), I now don't start writing until I've fully plotted out the book idea. It's been an effective method for me so far.

That said! I am more than well aware that plotting doesn't work for everyone, or sometimes only works half the time, or only works up to a point for some. And if there's anything writing with the intent to publish for a decade now has taught me, it's that everyone's process is different. And sometimes one person's process is different book to book. And that's okay.

So since I haven't talked about this recently, I'm curious, and thus am making this discussion post: How many of you are plotters? Pantsers? Somewhere-in-between-ers? What do your first drafting processes look like?

Twitter-sized bite:

What's your first drafting process like? Are you a plotter? Pantser? Both? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

How I Dive Into New WIPs

Photo credit: Justin Ornellas on Flickr

So I’ve written a post about my plotting process and also vlogged about how I plot, but I haven’t actually talked about the step between drafting and plotting, where I start putting down the words. And the truth is, those first couple thousand words of a manuscript are super volatile for me.

Even though I’m a plotter, when I start writing, I don’t really know everything about the MS. My characters are, perhaps, the most vague of the information I start with—I generally know what they look like, their names, how they are marginalized (if at all), and while I’m plotting I usually start to get a sense for their personalities. But the most important element to me—the voice—is still very much out there and I don’t usually know much of anything about it until I start writing.

Which, for me, is the dangerous part. Because I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve started and abandoned because the voice just didn’t click with me. But for me, discovering the voice is very much a sink or swim experience—it either works or it doesn’t, and I usually know a couple thousand words in. Sometimes, if a voice is especially strong, I’ll know after a page or two that it’s going to stick. Many times I stop two or three or five or seven thousand words in because it just didn’t manifest into something that’s clicking with me.

This is why I tend to be so secretive about my WIP ideas before I start drafting—I don’t tell anyone, not my CPs, not my agent about those initial ideas until I’ve written at least 10,000 words and decided that the story is definitely going to get completely written. Once I get into the Safe Zone, so to speak, then I start being a little more open about what I’m working on. But before that, talking about it feels too risky, since my rate of abandoning projects early on is probably around 50%.

So starting a new WIP for me tends to be a scary thing. I mean, the blank page is always somewhat intimidating to me, but knowing especially at first that whatever I’m working on might not make it past 5,000 words feels a bit like walking along the crumbling edge of a cliff.

Last year I was too busy revising trunked manuscripts to start anything new, but this year I intend to write a new project. I don’t know what it’ll be, not yet, but I know I’ll be walking along some cliff sides and hoping for the best.

How about you?

Twitter-sized bites:

How do you start writing a new WIP? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)  

Author @Ava_Jae talks voice, character development & more when it comes to starting the first draft. (Click to tweet)

On Keeping Track of (Fictional) Time

Photo credit: FABIOLA MEDEIROS on Flickr

Invariably, when the time comes to revise a WIP, I eventually realize I need to figure out the timeline for the manuscript. Because, as of yet, I've neglected to keep track of passing days/nights/weeks while first drafting (even though, you know, in theory it would be a good idea). And so I have to meticulously go through the draft the look for markers of time and write it down, then see where I need to adjust things so it makes more sense.

So far, I’ve used three different methods for keeping track of time during the process of Going Back to Figure Time Out.

• The list. This is as simple as it sounds. Usually in Evernote (which is where I take a lot of my notes in general) I’ll start with Day 1, write a brief summary of what happens with bullets that day, and continue until I’ve reached the end of the book. Oftentimes I’ll do this before organizing it into anything else (i.e. the calendar), or I’ll just use this list as is. 


• The calendar. I did this once for Beyond the Red, mostly because the time system is different there (they have different ways of measuring days, weeks, months, etc.). If I remember correctly, I’m pretty sure I started with the list, then decided to create the calendar to help me see it more visually and also figure out other things. It also became important because I would have markers like “a week later” or “months” or something, and because they measure time differently, it got a little confusing for me to work it out just as the list.
  
  However, this could also be useful just in terms of keeping track of the days of the week and months, so it’s something I may very well use again in the future. 


• Aeon Timeline. I only have a free trial of Aeon Timeline right now, but it was so useful with the one instance I used it that I may very well have to invest in the future. The cool thing about Aeon Timeline is you can set up your timeline with whatever markers you’d like—including totally made up measurements. I used it while revising my YA Fantasy just in terms of Day 1, etc. because I needed to keep track of a few threads, and the number of days I was spanning was way too high for me to do it in list form (like, well over a hundred days). This also made it easy for me to see a visual representation of elapsed time, and it did math for me. So. Definitely useful. 

So those are methods I’ve used to keep track of fictional time. In the future, I plan to attempt to be more careful about keeping track while drafting…but knowing my track record thus far, we’ll see how successfully (or not) that goes.

How do you keep track of fictional time in your WIPs?

Twitter-sized bites:

Struggling to keep track of passing time in your WIP? Author @Ava_Jae shares a few methods. (Click to tweet)  

How do you keep track of fictional time in your WIPs? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Writing the Perfect Project

Does the perfect project exist? I'm answering a question from a lovely viewer/reader today. 

RELATED LINKS:

• What If Your Writing Sucks? (vlog)
• Write For Yourself First (vlog)
• On Trunking Novels (vlog)
• How to Know It's Time to Shelve Your Novel
• When Your Novel Isn't the One
• Books Written Before Debuts: Stats

What do you think?

Twitter-sized bites:

Does the perfect WIP exist? @Ava_Jae shares her thoughts in today's vlog. (Click to tweet) 

Writer @Ava_Jae says not to put the pressure of The One on any WIP. What do you think? (Click to tweet) 

"It's natural to be nervous & uncertain about your MS. Just don't let it stop you from writing." #vlog (Click to tweet)

First Drafts are for You

Photo credit: flossyflotsam on Flickr

As it's NaNoWriMo right now, it's no surprise that the topic of first drafts is on many people's minds—after all, I'd imagine November is probably the biggest first drafting month of the year.

So, naturally, it stands to reason that some discussion surrounding first drafts have cropped up, which naturally have got me thinking about—what else?—first drafts, and specifically who first drafts are for.

First drafts are understandably scary—in fact, I often find them more intimidating then revisions because at least with revisions you already have something to work with. When writing first drafts, on the other hand, you're quite literally making something out of nothing. Which can be exhilarating and incredible but also downright terrifying.

What makes it even scarier is the thought that someday, something might come out of that first draft. That publishing professionals might read it, that it may one day be printed and sold and held in your hand as a bound, completed copy. That family members and strangers alike may go to a bookstore and buy it.

It's a lot to think about—sometimes it can be too much to think about, and it's thoughts like these, I think, that frequently lead writers to to feel so unsure about the words they're putting down when first drafting that sometimes they stop. They feel discouraged because they can’t get the right words, because no matter what they write it feels off, because the epic scene in their heads aren’t so sparkly when they get on the page.

Here’s the thing about first drafts: they’re not meant for anyone but you.

Here’s the thing about first drafts: agonizing over every word will make the process a lot more painful than it needs to be.

Here’s the thing about first drafts: sometimes they need to suck a little (or a lot) before you can make them the story you imagined.

Oftentimes, the first drafts are just what you—the writer—needs to get to know the story. To slap words on paper and figure out how the basic premise goes and start to get to know your characters. Oftentimes, first drafts are words that you needed—it’s information you’ll rip apart later on, and tangents that are ridiculous, and it’s the mixed up, convoluted journey that you need to get from beginning to end.

First drafts aren’t meant to be perfect. Hell, first drafts sometimes aren’t even meant to be shared.

But that’s okay, because the first draft in all it’s ugliness, in all those raw-yet-exhilarating moments, in those bits of passion, and excitement, and yeah, cringe-worthy scenes, is for you. It’s what you need to start making the clay for your eventual masterpiece.

And when you’re done, then you can go back. Then you can make it everything you dreamed for that story.

But first you have to write it. And only you can do it.

Twitter-sized bites:

"Here's the thing about first drafts: they're not meant for anyone but you." (Click to tweet)  

Feeling discouraged by the quality of your first draft? @Ava_Jae says it's okay, and this is why. (Click to tweet)

Writing is Never a Waste

Photo credit: Image Catalog on Flickr

So while I’ve not (yet) seen it this year, whenever NaNoWriMo comes around, there tends to come a group of people who go on about how NaNoWriMo (and fast-drafting, in general) is a waste. They argue that anything written that quickly must be junk, that few people come out with anything decent out of NaNo, and that “word vomit” isn’t really writing.

Literary elitism aside, I feel like now is a good time to talk about something very near and dear to my heart, namely: writing is never a waste.

I’ve talked before about practice novels and immediately trunking manuscripts, so I won’t reiterate those posts. But as someone who has indeed put away a lot of manuscripts without attempting to edit them, who writes posts three times a week and still has to write essays for school, someone who does a lot of writing year-round even when I’m not working on a book—I can firmly say every bit of writing you do, whether’s it’s fanfiction, non-fiction, NaNoing, or something else, absolutely works toward making you a better writer.

There are so many novel-writing lessons you can really only learn by writing a novel, and another one, and another one. Every fanfic, blog post, essay, or article you write helps you further hone your voice and practice how to manipulate words, and sentences, and paragraphs to get your point across the way you want to.

The truth is, the only way to really learn how to write is to write. And if NaNoWriMo is the device that gets you to sit down and put words to paper, then don’t let anyone tell you it’s a waste—even if you never look at that NaNo book ever again after November 30th.

Writing, in all of its forms, methods, and strategies, can only help you hone your craft. And maybe when you NaNo or fast-draft, the words you put down aren’t as polished you’d like to see in a final draft, but the thing is, they’re not supposed to be. In writing, no matter how quickly or slowly you write, nothing is perfect the first time.

But even if you don’t go back to make those words better in the future, know that you haven’t wasted your time. That practice you got while throwing those words down is invaluable and can only help you in the future.

What do you think? Is writing ever a waste?

Twitter-sized bite:

Why @Ava_Jae says writing is never a waste of time regardless of type of writing or what happens to the MS. (Click to tweet)

You Don’t Have to Get it Right the First Time

Photo credit: re_birf

Confession: sometimes, when one of my cross-posted onto tumblr posts explodes, I like to cruise through the comments and tags. It’s a fun and quick way to see what people think about the posts and the feedback has often been pretty thought-provoking.

The posts that get tumblr-happy are often craft posts. And the comments and tags, I’ve noticed, often include writers stressing out about trying to nail all of the writing tidbit dos and don’ts while drafting.

Except here’s the thing: with the exception of writing tips specifically geared for first drafting, most are not meant to be tackled while first drafting.

To clarify:

Things you should be focusing on while first drafting:

1. Getting the story written.
2. See #1

Things you don’t need to worry about while first drafting:

1. Getting your opening right.
2. Getting your middle right. 
3. Getting your ending right. 
4. Getting your characters right.
5. Getting the worldbuilding right.
6. Getting the sentence-level writing right. 
7. Getting the pacing right.
8. Getting anything perfect the first time.

The truth is, the first draft is for you, the author. It’s about getting the story out and creating the clay that you can later shape into an awesome book. It’s about getting a feel for the story and the characters and working out the progression of the plot. It’s about putting down some words so that you have something to revise later.

It’s not about getting anything right the first time.

I’ve been finding, as of late, the more I learn about the revisions, the more I’ve gotten comfortable with making huge changes. And the more I’ve gotten comfortable with making huge changes, the more I’ve loved the end result. And the more I’ve loved the end result after making tons of changes and doing revision round after revision round, the more I’ve realized that old adage “writing is rewriting” is painfully true.

But it also takes a ton of pressure off the first draft. Because your sentences can suck and your pacing can be messed up and your plot can be messy and your characters can be not quite right and it’s okay. It’s all okay. It’s okay if you have blanks and cities and characters with no names or personalities. It’s okay if your book sags in the middle and if you use a terrible, clichéd prologue. You do whatever you need to do to get that story down and don’t worry for one second about making it right while first drafting.

Take the pressure off when you’re first drafting. Don’t worry about the work to come.

Just get the story written.

What do you think? Is getting the story right the first time important? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

"The truth is, the first draft is for you, the author." (Click to tweet) 

Writer @Ava_Jae says the first draft is "not about getting anything right the first time." What do you think? (Click to tweet)

First Drafting: You Don’t Have to Know Everything

Photo credit: larryvincent on Flickr

Over the years, I’ve become more and more firmly entrenched in the plotter camp. This is something I definitely didn’t see coming when I first started writing, considering when I wrote my first manuscript, the thought of writing an outline was one that let’s just say didn’t make me happy. 

As I’ve started consistently fast drafting, however, I’ve found that I work best with loose outlines. (Loose, being the operative word.)

When I first started writing, a large part of the reason I was so against outlining was because the thought of figuring out every little detail about what will happen in the book before you’ve written a word not only seemed like it’d be a lot of extra work, but I also worried it would kill the joy of writing. After all, one of my favorite parts about writing is the discovery, so if you already know everything, what’s left to discover?

As it turns out, however, most of the time when writers talk about outlining, they don’t mean J.R.R. Tolkien-type book-on-its-own-outline.

For me, outlining means opening up Scrivener and using the cork board feature to plot out what’s going to happen in the novel from beginning to end. I’ve also taken to writing the rough draft of a logline (and sometimes a query-length summary, depending on the MS) to help me stay on track while I draft.

By the time I’ve finished outlining, I know:

• Who the protagonist, antagonist, love interest and other important characters are. 
• What all of the major plot points (inciting incident, point of no return, etc.) are. 
• What the main conflict is.
• What my protagonist's goal is.
• How the book will end. 
• The (general) setting (which can be as specific as “x building in x city” or as vague as “a college up north”).
• What POV(s) I’ll use.

When I’ve finished outlining, I usually don’t know:

• How much of the outline I’ll actually stick to. 
• What my characters’ personalities are like. 
• What the voice of the manuscript/protagonist(s) will be like. 
• How my characters will get from scene 1 to scene 2, etc. 
• Whether or not the romantic part will go as planned (spoiler alert: it usually doesn’t). 
• Whether or not the book is going to suck.

The point I’m trying to make is this: even after I finish outlining, there’s a lot I don’t know about the book I’m about to write. Hell, half the time I don’t even know if I’m going to like the book (as a rule, I don’t usually declare a WIP an actual WIP until I’ve reached 10,000 words. Before that, it’s an experiment. I’ve abandoned many ideas before (and some after) 10,000 words).

I tend to look at my outline as more of a guide. I frequently make changes to scenes or find that characters aren’t behaving the way I’d originally planned, and that’s totally okay—in fact, I love when that happens because it means the story has taken a life of its own, and usually, the ideas I get while writing are even better than I’d originally planned anyway.

Despite that, I do continue to outline, because that guide? It’s ridiculously helpful, and when I’m fast-drafting, it absolutely helps me avoid getting stuck because I don’t know where the story is going (something that happened to me frequently in my pre-outlining days).

And sure, I don’t know everything when I start first drafting, even after I’ve finished outlining, but the fun thing is you don’t have to know every detail. And that just makes the ride all that more exciting.

Do you do any pre-outlining before your first draft? Why or why not? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

.@Ava_Jae says you don't have to know everything about your WIP pre-1st draft, even if you're a plotter. Thoughts? (Click to tweet) 

"Even after I finish outlining, there's a lot I don't know about the book I'm about to write." (Click to tweet)

Helpful Camp NaNo Links

Photo credit: hoosadork on Flickr

It’s July 2nd! Which means NaNoWriMo has started! Or at least, Camp NaNoWriMo has.

Since I am indeed participating in Camp NaNo this year (for the first time ever—eep!) I thought it’d be a great time to share my fast-drafting and NaNo posts all in one convenient area for your browsing pleasure.

So here we go!

Before you start (it’s totally not to late to jump in, by the way!):

• Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips
• To NaNo or Not to NaNo?

During NaNo:

• How to Fast Draft
• How to Write Quickly
• How I Won NaNoWriMo in 9 Days
• Helpful NaNoWriMo Links (for MORE awesome NaNoing links! Yay!) 

Good luck to all participants and happy writing! 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Are you participating in #CampNaNoWriMo? Writer @Ava_Jae shares some helpful links with NaNoing tips for you. (Click to tweet) 

Vlog: On False Starts & Trunking Novels

It's Tuesday! Which means it's time for another vlog!

Today I'm talking a little about the scariest part of my process: false starts and putting manuscripts away in the drawer. Or hard drive, I guess I should say. Anyway.

Enjoy!

Have you ever had a false start or trunked a novel? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about the scariest part of her writing process: false starts and trunking novels. (Click to tweet)  

"There's no such thing as wasted writing," says writer @Ava_Jae. What do you think? (Click to tweet)

On Immediately Trunking Manuscripts

Photo credit: rich115 on Flickr

Confession: I have not polished every manuscript I’ve written to a submission-ready gleam—or even tried to, for that matter.

Over the course of eight years I’ve written eleven manuscripts. Of those eleven, I brought five of them to what I at the time considered submission-ready. To be fair, one of them I only just finished a couple weeks ago and thus isn’t ready for editing, so if I remove that from my statistics, that brings me to an even 50% immediate-trunk rate. Or polish rate, if you’re half-glass full.

So now you may be wondering what happened to those five manuscripts I immediately trunked and/or thinking they were a waste of time, but I assure you they were not.

If you’re looking just at time spent, I usually take about an average of a month to month and a half to finish first drafting, so you could say that I “lost” a month with every WIP I immediately trunked. But I don’t consider it a loss, because I gained a whole lot, too.

My first insta-trunked MS, I learned just how much I enjoy making up new cultures and worlds.

My second insta-trunked MS, I learned how not to end a book, and how not to write an antagonist, and why certain clichés really don’t work. I also learned I can indeed write a book in a month. (Unsurprisingly, I don’t anticipate removing this one from the trunk ever. But I suppose you never know).

My third insta-trunked MS, I remembered certain character types that I adore—I remembered I love writing characters who are rejected by everyone, who live on the fringe of society, trying to be the best they can be while everyone around them refuses to see them for who they are. I also reminded myself that I really don’t want to write an antagonist like that. Oops.

My fourth insta-trunked MS, I learned I like writing about aliens and making up languages. I also learned that writing with an outline works really well for me.

My fifth and most recent insta-trunked MS, I learned to let my characters go and try not to strictly plan their romances. I learned writing with an outline doesn’t mean I have to stick exactly to plan, and I learned when my characters suffer real consequences for their actions, they’re so much more powerful than a slap on the wrist.

These lessons may seem a little all over the place, but in my two most recent manuscripts, I used many, if not all of these lessons to better my work.

As for why I put them away to begin with? The reasons varied, but generally it was because somewhere between the first read-through and deciding on edits, I came to realize I either wasn’t ready to start editing for one reason or another, or I didn’t love the story as much as I had while drafting. Which isn’t the end of the world, but in order for me to get through edits (and do them well), I need to believe in the story completely.

Now I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably say it again, but trunking a manuscript does not mean it’s forever condemned or it’ll never escape the trunk. All it means is that I need to put it away for the time being, and true, some of them will probably never escape the trunk, but I have hope for others that when the time is right, I’ll polish them up and they’ll be ready.

But until then, I’ll keep writing.

Have you ever immediately trunked a manuscript? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

"Trunking a manuscript does not mean it's forever condemned..." (Click to tweet) 

Have you ever trunked a MS? Here's why one writer put five WIPs in the drawer without querying them. (Click to tweet) 

Discussion: Do You Write in Chronological Order?

Photo credit: Raoul Luoar on Flickr

I’m a fairly organized writer. I usually plot a basic outline with plot points to guide me along the way before I write a single word, and I always write in chronological order. I tried writing out of order once and it ended in disaster (and an uncompleted manuscript), so it’s unlikely I’ll be trying that again anytime soon (but never say never, right?).

However, I am more than well aware that not everyone works remotely close to the same way I do.

There are writers who pants completely with absolutely no idea where the MS is going to take them when they sit down to write, and there are writers who plot every last detail then write completely out of order.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to go about it, which is why I like writing about process so much—it’s fascinating to me to see all the different ways writers operate.

I’ve often seen writers encourage each other to write the scenes that excite them first—I tend to do the opposite: I write the scenes as they come, and when I have a scene ahead that I’m dying to write, I use that motivation to get me through the scenes I’m less excited about. If I start to get bored at any moment, I make something happen—both to entertain myself and future readers who will likely be bored if I’m getting bored.

Being that I’m a fairly logical person, chronological order to me makes sense—my scenes build off each other and unplanned ideas I get in earlier scene often weave their way into future scenes.

However! That doesn’t mean my way is better. It’s just what works for me.

But enough about me, I want to hear from you guys—do you write in chronological order or do you skip around? Why? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Do you write in chronological order when first drafting? Join the discussion at @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)  

Do you write the most exciting scenes first when drafting? Share your process at @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)