Yesterday, after meeting a friend for breakfast, a creative lightning bolt struck me on Sixth Avenue. I was thinking about our conversation, and it triggered an exciting possibility for my novel. This one element could help me tie up several loose ends, propel the story forward and shrink the bloated piece down to a manageable size.
My blood was practically thrumming as I walked to the parking garage. In fact, as soon as I paid the attendant, I whipped out my Field Notes notebook and started jotting down some ideas.
You’d think this was a good thing, right?
With this being the Northeast, I had plenty of time, sitting in traffic, to ponder the creative ramifications. Starting with the fact that the current manuscript doesn’t really support this plot shift. Sure, I can massage elements here and there, but I’d be throwing away most of the work thus far.
That led me to the question of whether I should continue writing this draft to the end. This was my original goal: write a complete draft and then worry about reorganizing and rewriting.
Part of me then worried that I’d be wasting my time, scrawling out more garbage that would never see the light of day. Better to stop following this path to an inevitable dead end. Instead, I should plot the third – and hopefully, final – draft, and start writing while my creative energies are still singing with excitement. (Fortunately, these energies are much, much quieter than my actual singing voice.)
Yet, here I am, more than 24 hours later, and I’m torn between the two options.
In some ways, it’s easier to just sit down and write without a plan, even knowing that much of the output will never see the light of day.
On the other hand, one of my biggest weaknesses as a fiction writer is my failure to finish. (That’s a pretty big one, right up there with pilots who can’t land.)
And then, there’s the issue of how, exactly, I’m going to plot out the next draft. Should I use a handy-dandy guide like Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s Book in a Month? Should I attempt to use Dramatica Pro, which might then prompt me to lose more time by reading up on the software? Or do I grab note cards and pen and start scribbling down notes, rearranging scenes, adding and subtracting characters until I’m reasonably happy with the story line?
Have you ever gotten stuck by the writing process, even when you knew how the writing itself should go? What did/do you do? What do you suggest I do?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I think everyone writes differently, so it’s hard to say which way you should go. Some write by the seat of their paths, letting the characters tell them what to write. Others, like my old creative writing teacher, write out outlines of the story line, as well as a description of each of the characters. And there are plenty other ways of writing that work for different individuals.
I will say that there have been times when I’ve come up with a really good line, but after reading the completed work over and over, I’ve determined that as good as it is, it detracts from the overall point I’m trying to get across, and so I’ve deleted it. It’s not easy, especially if it felt inspired.
Ummmm…I don’t think my answer is gonna help you…lol
I think your first objective should be to finish the book to the end.
It doesn’t have to be perfect the first time. It won’t be anyways.
After you are done to the end you are satisfied it’s complete and you move on to fix it in subsequent drafts.
But you always have the book done in some form or other.
To me it’s kind of like the marathon that you are going to run.
The first one isn’t about coming in first or last. It’s just about finishing.
The next ones are about improving and tweaking what you do.
Skye is right though. Everyone writes differently.
Life is so complicated..
I hate when Glen is all smart and stuff and shows me up. I do like how he compared writing your novel to finishing your first marathon. I’d follow his advice.
Yes, everyone writes differently. And I seem to be more of a “seat-of-your-pants” kind of gal.
Your advice does seem to make sense, Glen. I can talk myself out of it, saying that forging ahead is the “easy” route, that I’m delaying the hard work of plotting the “real” draft, etc. But I need to finish the darn thing. And then I’ll know what I have to work with when I buckle down for that next draft.
Skye, I wouldn’t say that Glen is showing you up (although he’s definitely showing *me* up). But he certainly shares some lovely gems of wisdom, doesn’t he?