Being a writer exposes the tender belly you’ve been trying to protect from the world for as long as you can remember. Forgoing comfort, you embark on a journey of long form punishment and trial and error where you are out of your league, out of depth, out of your mind and out of money a lot of time. There is deep psychological digging, healing and growth that happens under those circumstances.
Well, I guess it actually depends on what you write. But if you write anything not JUST to make money, but because you believe someone can gain something of value from it somehow, I think it’s a lot harder. The personal lessons more painful.
I’m new at this. Last year, I started editing my first novel (first draft finished in 2022). Editing is a lot harder than writing. Writing is kids play, I actually do it in my sleep. Sometimes I wake up with a plot hole that has been filled so absolutely perfectly by a dream - that I spend the first 10 minutes of my day thanking my lucky stars for every single annoying question that wouldn’t let me fall asleep to begin with. Those moments are gold. Writing it is where I can find escape from the burdens of a world no longer meant for the human mind to keep up with. Yes, I mean technology. Yes, it was intentional, they want us to be confused and angry. We ask less questions that way.
Right now, in one class, I’m writing pitches, I’m practicing them in groups, I’m pitching to agents, I’m writing my synopsis, I’m editing my damned cover letter (I finally got it to 1 page after 5 months, after spending two years writing a 169k word novel that needs to be edited to 100k words.) How do you distill 2 years of work, of your life, into one perfect page? It’s valuable time spent but still, it’s tedious.
On January 20th I started my second novel, while I’m still editing my first (4th draft). Believe me, I am as amazed as anyone else that another idea found me.
In July, halfway through my second draft of novel one, I thought I was one and done. Not so! Apparently I love suffering almost as much as I hate consistency. I took a trip to France with a writing group and inspiration found me again. It hunted me down. It pulled me to another continent, gave me clues before I arrived that it was on it’s way. I was so curious when I got there to see what it would be. I had no idea what was waiting. (This is a much longer back story and I would love to share on Oprah someday after she picks me for her book club.)
Be that as it may, let me just say, I am a magnet for weird history and ghost stuff and both seem to find me now. Somehow they usually have something to do with food too. It might be the case that I have a karmic reputation that proceeds me now, but I’m still a practical girl at heart. If I’m writing for real, I want to approach this process the second time around with a thoughtful theory and some process efficiency in mind. I find editing roughly 10% as fun as writing, so let’s just get it right. Or maybe I need to find a publication that loves first drafts that are “almost there champ!” I’m sure it exists.
Each of has their strengths. Mine is speed and judgement. I can decide quickly and confidently where I want to go with a story, but I often overwrite (a lot) because I can type and think fast. So because I’m a serial overwriter - needed to get some of that out of my system - (Ahem) - I wrote myself a few collective rules for this second book that I have to read and stick by (mostly) as I write this next novel.
I would LOVE your input, comments and ideas for what I have missed. Like I said, I’m still editing, I’m not published yet. Help a girl out.
Here are my rules:
Plant your feet firmly in the center of the river of your story - mire yourself in the truth that got you to this place. Be curious to learn and eager to fail. There are no problems, only opportunities. Cast your weary line for as long as you need. Find the fish or find the inspiration around you to keep going. There is no right answer. Just write. Write what is authentic to you.
Show don’t Tell
How does the body feel under different emotions? How does the environment seem to change under different conditions? How is the weather?
Be concise
Make It simple stupid
Rule of 3 - give three options always “What Happens Next?”
Surprise yourself and find delight waiting - laugh at yourself.
Weave as you go - leave breadcrumbs - leave short clues not massive backstory (no one wants to eat an entire loaf of sourdough bread.)
Ask always: What would your character do?
WRITE:
Dialogue
In Scene
with
Less Interiority
THEN Add Sensory Details & flashbacks as needed
Use short exposition and flashbacks for necessary backstory details - write the rest into dialogue in time, as needed, make it realistic. Create real human emotion, conflict, confusion and misunderstandings and let them resolve themselves naturally.
Leave everything else on the cutting floor for another story.
Send me your thoughts! Let’s have a conversation - what are your top rules for writing? What are you writing? What do you love most about the process, what books are you reading and WHO has influenced or inspired you the most in your writing?
Go.
This all sounds familiar. But "rules"? We talk as if these are rules, but they're not. They're today's expectations. Everything goes in and out of fashion. Growing up in ancient times, as I now view them, omniscient POV was the norm. I read Dickens and Thackeray and Sir Walter Scott and loved them. I'd never write that way now. I use this as an illustration that rules are flexible, even though we think they aren't.
My other concern is the length of this list. You can't do this all at once. You write your draft as best you can, whether pre-planned or not, and then you shape your raw material, i.e., revision. Your revision goes through stages because you can't do it all at once. You start with the big stuff--the shape of your story, what scenes you need to tell that story, the order of those scenes, the balance. You worry about the other stuff later. So if you're creating a list, is that list in the right order.
If I were to pick one, just one, of your ideas (not rules), I'd pick the first one: Plant your feet firmly in the center of the river of your story. I don't think the rest of that paragraph is needed.
Then I'd add the next point: One idea at a time.