I'm starting to learn the hard way that a first draft does not have to be perfect. Somewhere along the line I started to be extremely hard on myself about every single line I wrote, to the point where I began to question, does this make sense? does this fit? does this sound natural? Delete, delete, delete. That's why I avoided NaNoWriMo, because I knew I wouldn't be able to produce that many words in such a fast amount of time without going insane. Bottom line: I don't trust myself as a writer.
So, I've written over 10,000 words on this new draft and it has taught me to write and think later. So what if parts of the dialogue doesn't make sense yet? That's what editing is for. And as we all know, we are going to be editing our manuscripts not once, not twice, but many, many times. That's when we fine tune those lines and create layers in the story.
Trust yourself as a writer. Sit down and produce. Edit later. Have fun.
Stream of consciousness writing. Isn't that the only way?
ReplyDeleteI do SOC more with short stories, which is why I enjoy writing them so much. I have to admit, shorts are more my style. So glad I delved into that world. However, I do love taking on a big project too. It's just harder to keep everything lined up properly, even with an outline. Those characters keep dragging me this way and that. It's annoying : )~
ReplyDeleteI actually stopped yesterday and had to remind my characters that I AM THE ONE IN CONTROL—not them. Shew.
Is it something called 'Free Writing' where the words just tumble out. I tried that too Amy and was quite surprised what materialised. Keep them coming xxxx
ReplyDeleteWill do! Thanks Molly!
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to this. I've always had a difficult time just getting the words down and waiting to edit later. It's something that I'm still learning - to just sit and write, and to worry about editing later.
ReplyDelete10,000 words - that's amazing!
Great post Amy. How true. As a writer I tend to just write what comes to mind. The words create themselves and then are transferred to computer.I am never overly critical. Comment on my writing,I would love to read your input.
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