Do you want to write fiction that inspires a reader’s emotional investment (the only fiction worth going to the trouble for, in my opinion)? This is how you start.
Your REAL first draft is your rough draft, and it should be just that–really rough. Its reason-for-being is only to run your material around the track a few times.
It’s your story’s initiation: welcome to the real world!
It should be written with no one “watching.” For your eyes only, done with abandon, not caution. Keep intentions limited. Otherwise your spirit will be sapped the first time you feel that secret need to be great–and great right now.
Go for raw chunks of narrative, voices, and fragments of scenes…
Transitions can be minimal, or indicated in brackets [SEVERAL MONTHS GO BY, SEASONS CHANGE, DAD IS BETTER]. Be prepared to freewrite on any subject you sense is crucial, but too vaguely articulated so far.
Turn out as many ungainly words as your inner schoolmarm will tolerate without going into a death swoon. Be a slob. Your goals at the start are bone simple:
• Move the story along (what happens…then what happens…then what happens?)
• Brainstorm with yourself for more character knowledge (she wears black shoes. why? she hates brown. oh? how come? it reminds her of working at UPS…no, NO it’s the color shoes her ex-boyfriend used to kick the cat with!).
• Churn out rich and specific scene detail for use when you need it. (she goes out. where? the ATM…a club…another club…she runs into an old girlfriend from high school, who’s with her cousin, new in town. she likes him, the way he smiles while he talks, the thin gap in his front teech which she finds sexy. etc. etc.)
Early in the process of making fiction, nothing is “bad.” You should know how to maintain your own version of the crucial scene/summary balance, BUT DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT NOW. It’s not a problem at this stage. You will break out great scene material later.
Don’t be concerned if a character doesn’t have a name yet, or if you’re writing a conversation with no setting. These are significant and necessary details, but stopping to deal with them now could kill your momentum. Recognize temptations like this for what they are–little procrastinations.
Certainly don’t bother with grammar and spelling (now). And certainly don’t reread and spot revise what you’ve written. Later for that.
Summing up: writing fiction is NOT AT ALL the pretty sight “civilians” assume it is. It’s a messy undertaking. But it is exactly through this messy alchemy of dung into gold that you will end up with your very best moments, your most memorable characters and scenes. This is how you win a reader’s heart. Ignore “the raw” at your peril.
It’s Day 15!
It’s the NaNoWriMo midpoint–15 days gone, 15 to go. I’ll have a video post later this evening with some thoughts on how to “win” NaNoWriMo–and on my own performance so far.
Note from later: Obviously that didn’t happen. It should be up by early afternoon, tomorrow (Saturday).
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Two things stand out for me here. One is the DON’T REREAD and REVISE this material. I procrastinate by revising awful first drafts and I know I’m doing it as I do it. And I’m cursing myself saying–”Dumb ass, STOP! This is probably going to get pitched.”
But another voice says: “At least you’re working on your writing. Maybe you’ll turn something up here.”
Bull, I say to that voice because what it means when I start revising raw material is that I’m SCARED to move ahead or stuck.
I must try to plow on with something, anything, and that leads me to my second point.
Your suggestion to just make huge broad transitions.
That will help me because the real reason I bog down in revision is because it’s time to transition.
I sound like a kid with a mouth full of marbles and I’m tired from this month–glad it’s half over but wish it went on and on forever too.
Back to writing.
I took on NaNoWriMo as something I thought would be a “fluff” challenge…it is not fluff. Writing the draft for the sake of getting there (whether the prose is good, bad, or shoot-myself-in-the-eyeballs uglY) is all that matters. I didn’t realize that before – I spent so many hours, days, and months trying to be a “great” writer that I was cheating myself out of good writing.
Bingo!