Day 2 and 3: And I Had an Idea
At 7,668 words, I have moved well into the second chapter and the second POV character of the novel.
But after realizing that most of what I wrote yesterday and today came out badly rushed, I got call from Joce in Virginia. She related her adventures into the world of ceramics and pottery, including her process of carving and preserving her finished pieces. When we got off the phone I went back to writing and realized what I was doing was very similar. She starts by creating a rough outline on her piece, then gradually brings the whole thing to perfection as a whole rather than focusing on only one part of the piece.
To get a better view of my project, I looked at it with this sort of mindset. First, there was a rough outline in my little black book - notes, brief scenes and sketches of plot and potentially powerful POV characters. Then, there will be a very rough 60,000 word draft, staying as close to the outline as possible, while still allowing for some creative sidetracks. In the next few months, I'll adjust this draft, adding and editing down scenes as necessary. Only at the final draft will I begin polishing individual sentences and scenes to my satisfaction. Start rough and work toward polish.
While we ran through a similar exercise in Vanderslice's class this spring, I only applied it to short stories and had never taken the leap to practicing the same process on a novel. No time like the present, right?
So say we all.
Bri
2 comments:
Now that sounds like a good way to write a story. It's funny, drawing, like pottery, depends on getting a good, solid sketch down first, then the draft, then the final. If it works for art, why not writing? But we do tend to focus on the little things in writing.
Best of luck! I'll be watching to see how you go.
I tend to sketch a little more than that. Outlining individual scenes so I can keep them focused and not do silly boring stuff like wander into the character's headspace, or descriptive tangents.
That's my problem with blind drafting -- too many tangents. I like to keep a leash on myself by breaking the story in further detail before I draft, so that each scene has a kind of roadmap. Otherwise I'm too tempted to wander.
Some like wandering within their writing, but I've come to recognize more often than not those are the sections I completely X out during edits.
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