Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Tuesday's Inspiration - Back to Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott _Rough Draft #MFRWauthor #aminspired #PDF1
There are some writers who don't experience this part of writing. I am not one of them. In her book Anne Lamott writes about Shitty First Draft. I definitely have written an many of them as I have books published. I just can't help it. Writing a draft that has long trips into what doesn't need to be in the story and putting in things like Love Scene here or fight scene here is my way of creating. Once upon a time I tried not to do this and I failed. If I spent the time polishing the first chapter to perfection I rather forgot how the story was going. Therefore I decided I actually like those rotten first drafts, the one only the writer can see. Yes there are some of those words I've written that will remain when the book is finished. There are some that will be expanded to make sense, or rewritten to get to the meat of the matter.
How about you, do you finish the rough draft and say things like, deep six this whole thing. Back to the drawing board. Though most writers won't admit that their words don't flow smoothly across the pages with no need to do more than a single draft.
For me, getting all the nonsense on the page makes me when I return to draft 2 and probably 3 the story that I thought was shitty becomes a more manageable one and suddenly makes sense. So say to yourself "I must get this out of my system so I can write the book."
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5 comments:
I'm one of those writers that does what we're told not to do. I pretty much have to polish each chapter before I can move onto the next--although further drafts will most certainly follow. I think that stems back to my earlier days of attending critique groups and knowing I had to take in an at least halfway acceptable draft to read aloud to the group members. At any rate, I love Anne Lamott's writing and can identify with her a lot.
I'm like Sydell. I can't leave a paragraph until it's just right and I forge ahead like that until I have a complete draft. It might still be shitty, but maybe not so much. That doesn't mean I've finished. There's still plenty of editing, rewriting and chopping for at least two more drafts. I read Bird by Bird eons ago and have it around somewhere. I should dig it out.
Sydell and Kathy, Thanks for stopping by. I guess I'm the opposite. I need to get all my stuff down and then tear it apart, I have read my rough drafts to my critique group and they shake their heads. If I tried for perfection, I would never finish a book.
I agree. My rough drafts are that. Rough. I think they are supposed to be. I fixed it each time I go over it. After all that's what revision is for.
Janice~
Janice, Thanks for stopping by. Revision and re-writing are the fun parts of writing for me.
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