Drafting is typically not my friend. I LOVE editing. But in order to be able to edit, I need to write the words to start with. Sigh. It’s not that I hate the process – it’s just not my favourite and is definitely more of a struggle than other parts of the process.
Common drafting advice you hear includes:
- Don’t edit while you draft
- Just get the words down
- Let it be messy
- Write out of order
- Don’t let anyone read it until you’ve edited it
Okay BUT what if you try that and it just doesn’t work for you? What then? How do you keep drafting when the story doesn’t feel right? I, for one, cannot!
You see, I start working on a new novel with an overall plan for the plot. My current WIP has had the clearest vision of any of my novels before I started writing, but I’m definitely not a meticulous planner.
Writing the beginning of the novel tends to go okay for me, but once I get further in (typically part 2/25%) that’s when things get iffy. What I’ve written so far hasn’t quite come out the way I’d imagined. Something doesn’t feel right. I cannot continue. So what do I do? I go back to the beginning. I read what I have. I make notes of any concerns. Maybe I’ll re-write some parts or flesh a few things out.
Usually doing this helps me write a little bit more when I get to the end of what I have, and if not, or I get stuck again, then I might get some feedback from someone else. Getting another opinion on what’s not working has often led me to re-write the beginning, then the foundation feels stronger which allows me to continue writing.
However… I typically then get stuck again after a bit more writing, sigh!
This year, with my current WIP, I kept telling myself that I just had to push through and keep writing, not worry about how messy it was – I just needed to get the words down. So I would push myself to do that. But it would honestly just feel like complete crap and I would feel stuck again. I couldn’t even jump ahead to write out of order, because I need to write chronologically. Eventually I went back to the beginning again, reading over and fleshing a few things out and then YAY I could progress again. But I would tell myself that this time I would push through and just keep writing. Except…. Yep, you guessed it, I just couldn’t.
I did this about three times before I finally stopped and said to myself that this just seems to be my process. THIS is what lets me continue writing the draft and ultimately finishing it (even if it is, er, quite a short draft – hello underwriters?).
I decide that I would stop listening to all the thoughts in my brain telling me to “be like other writers” and just get the draft written without going back over it. I decided to embrace the fact that this is just how MY brain works. And I’ve written three other novels this way. It works for me.
Sure, I think it’s great if I can push myself to try just a little bit more before I do go back to the beginning again, because sometimes that does lead to another thousand or two thousand words written (before I get stuck again), but I no longer want to put pressure on myself that I HAVE to keep pushing through and potentially lose days or weeks to this when I could just take a day or two to revisit what I have and then push forward.
So, writer friend, if you’ve been trying to change your writing process and the change just isn’t landing with you, stop. Let yourself draft the way that works for YOU. We are all individuals with different brains. We have different styles and preferences. I always knew this but I still kept trying to change it (why are we like this???). But not anymore! I will be the drafter who finishes the ‘first’ draft with a beginning that’s been editing several times, and a very sketchy, dodgy ending. It may make it feel strange to call it a first draft (hence why I keep saying ‘first’ – should I just say a full draft??) but hey, this is just the way it is!
What kind of drafter are you? Do you push through those words exceptionally fast, or does it take months (and then more months!)? Do you go in with or without a plan? Do you like feedback along the way or are your manuscripts for your eyes only until you’ve edited it three times? Do you end up with a short manuscript like me (39k on my thriller that I’m ultimately aiming for70k or so) or do you write 100k more than you need? Let me know in the comments – I really would love to know! (If there are no comments yet, please be the brave one that comments first, it will make me SO happy).
