I’d reached one of those points in my current manuscript where I really wasn’t excited about moving forward with the plot. I wasn’t even really sure how I was going to move the plot forward. In fact…I’d stalled out.
I skipped ahead to a different part of the book…which works out great. You still get work done on the manuscript, but you’re not working on the part that’s tripping you up.
But I needed to get back to the rocky part of my story.
I’m one of those writers who works completely alone on the first draft portion of my book. I don’t tell people what, specifically, I’m writing about. I don’t belong to critique groups, I don’t ask for help. I just sweat it out through the first draft.
Subsequent drafts are different. I need help for those. But I usually can’t imagine a scenario where I’d talk to someone about my plot while drafting a story. It’s just not finished enough for me to really recap.
Plus, it’s sort of like the baby name conundrum—you know. When you’re expecting a baby and someone asks you what you’re going to name the baby. You’re not really sure what name you’re going to stick with, so you tell them the ones you’re deciding between. Then you hear how one name reminds them of this kid that threw up in 4th grade on his desk, or how one name is really, really cute (and that’s not the one you’re leaning toward), etc.
So a friend of mine called and invited my daughter over for a playdate. I sweated over my manuscript for a while, then jumped in the car to pick my daughter back up. I was thinking about the manuscript the whole way in the car.
When my friend asked me how my book writing went that afternoon, I suddenly spilled everything out. It wasn’t going well. I was stuck. I was even thinking about doing a rewrite after the first draft was done to change the whole motive for the murder.
“What’s the book about?” she asked.
So I told her. And the funny thing was that she had a lot of experience with the topic I was writing on. I’d had no idea. And she told me all kinds of stories filled with people stabbing other people in the back—real people with real emotions and real stories.
And as she was vividly telling me these stories, waving her hands around while she did it, I was thinking about my story and getting all kinds of tangent ideas.
Which is a very good argument for sharing what we’re working on. Although, as you can tell, I’m not doing it here…still thinking about the baby name example. :) And not everyone we share with is helpful—sometimes they can be more critical.
So my question for you is—do you share what you’re working on as you write a first draft? Why or why not?
Elizabeth – I love your analogy to baby names! That’s exactly what talking about the manuscript is like! I’m very glad you got such helpful input, too, from your friend. What a great outcome : ).
I actually do talk to people about what I’m writing. Admittedly, I don’t tell a lot of people, but I have a few friends with whom I share the story. I get lots of good input, too, and sometimes, a chance to talk to someone with experience. And the people I share with know that I may or may not incorporate what they suggest, but I’m interested in what they think.
Isn’t it great when something like that happens?
I prefer to share when something is done, and if I am really stuck, I would probably end up binning it for the time being than sharing. Maybe I too should start sharing.
With my first manuscript I had so many rewrites after critique that I thought, I’ll bring the next one as I’m writing it. Big mistake. One of the members so ridiculed my first two chapters that I couldn’t write that story for a long time. He wasn’t every familiar with my genre as it turns out. Now, I am more cautious who I share my writing with but I still share even as I am writing with some. After many years of trial and error I am a better writer even with the first draft.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
Sometimes it helps – particularly when you are stuck. Sometimes just talking it out makes my mind jump to all sorts of new ideas and sometimes someone will say something about the story that maybe is obvious but I’d overlooked it because I was too caught up in some other little detail.
Glad you found some inspiration.
I think I have an issue with oversharing when it comes to my WIP. I tend to tell anyone who asks, and then regret it. Also, what happened to you doesn’t usually happen! I work best completely by myself, with no sounds or distractions around me. Unfortunately…:P
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
Yes, if I am stuck I run it by a couple of people. This really helps.
Gadzooks yes, I share. I have a small (2 others) on-line crit group and we post chapters–sometimes scenes for feedback. I brainstorm plot with my daughter. My husband. Yesterday I called my Orlando homicide detective friend even though I wasn’t writing a homicide. I don’t know diddly about the criminal element, and I’d written myself into a massive plot chasm because I was using recurring characters and I couldn’t change things I’d already written in the other books.
Brainstorming is the spark that keeps the writing moving.
And since my writing process is totally different from yours ( I fix as I go), this works for me.
I share with no one. It’s a lie. If I have a brick-wall plot problem, I ask my husband, giving him only bare bones of the situation. He nearly always has a simple answer, and I’m forever grateful. If I have a character problem, I brainstorm only that with one of my critique partners. Other than that, I’m a go-it-alone type on first draft.
That sure worked out well for you!
I don’t share first drafts – for all the reasons you mentioned. It’s not complete enough – the ideas haven’t solidified. Once it’s more or less in place, it’s easier.
Good fortune!
I did toss out one idea to my blogger friends a few months ago – just a certain aspect I wasn’t sure I was ready to tackle. But outside of bouncing ideas off one test reader, I go it alone.
Hmmm…I really need to think about this. Yep, I do share but not so much on the first draft or not like I used to. I think it is because much of my writing in the past was collaborative so I know that it helps me to think out loud. I don’t share the manuscript though. No….just the plot and where I’m at and only with a couple of people – my sweet patootie and my close friends. At the end of this revision I’ll want SP to read but not yet. I’m shy. but nobody knows this but you now.
Jan Morrison
I’m careful and selective who I share my ideas with. Love your baby name analogy. Makes perfect sense.
My mom, bless her heart, gets to hear it all.
~ Wendy
I share what I’m working on with my group of readers. Often, when I’m stuck, they’ll say to me, “I thought you were going to go this way” or “Wouldn’t it be great if the character did this…” and I would regain inspiration. I find my group helpful.
Wonderful post.
CD
I usually don’t for all the reasons you don’t. I feel like I’m jinxing my work if I talk about. Like I’ll suck the magic away in the retelling before it is actually told.
However, I’m glad you got some help by accidentally spilling!
Once again, very enlightening! I can see the advantages and disadvantages; but would probably opt to keep things to myself in the beginning…
That’s really great! I’m glad you got passed the barrier.
I’m like you; I don’t like to share anything when I’m working on my first draft. But when I get stuck, I usually talk to my husband or mom about it. Even if they don’t offer ideas for me, sometimes just talking to someone about it out loud helps the barrier crumble.
It depends. On the project, and on the person in question. Typically, I tell my husband everything, about my WIPs, how this one character is messing everything up, or how I don’t know how I could possibly pull all the threads together at the end. But sometimes I’ll have inspiration for a shorter piece and want to get it all down before letting him take a look. I don’t want him to bias me until I’m ready for input. With my critique group, I tend to only bring polished stories to them. I’m still not ready for them to see my tentative, scattered, first drafts.
But one week I knew I wasn’t going to be able to have a new piece for the group to critique so I sent in four shortish stories that were in various stages of completion, but all in rough shape. I liked something about each of them, but needed insight as to what to do with them. And the group’s thoughts were extremely helpful in confirming my own suspicions about what worked and what didn’t. I’m still going to work hard to ensure I only put polished work in front of them, but knowing I can still get feedback from them on less finished projects is a huge relief.
Happy writing!
I used to be in critique groups and shared. I don’t anymore. I prefer to write the story the way I want, not the way someone else pushes me to write.
Incidentally, the baby’s name should be Matilda.
I trickle my stuff to my writer’s group as I go, but NEVER for a discussion on the plot–though I HAVE gone to them and said ‘does anyone know anything about XYZ topic? Because I want my character to do this.” And Leanne always knows. So that’s helpful. It is a question asked after the device is decided, or to help decide between two things though.
I think it’s great that your friend ended up an expert in an area you needed!
Rayna–I normally wouldn’t advocate sharing during a first draft, but it sure did work out well for me this time.
Margot–I bet you get some interesting feedback, too, since you work with academia.
N. R. Williams–That’s the worst. Then you’re looking at an unfinished story from someone else’s point of view–which can really be immobilizing.
Cassandra–I think sometimes we’re too close to the story to get fresh ideas. I like a fresh set of eyes for a revision, but hadn’t wanted it before for a first draft…but obviously it can help sometimes.
Alex–That’s what I was thinking…really, it was just luck that I happened to share with this one particular person. How often does *that* happen?!
Jan–I’ll keep your shyness a secret! :)
Michele–I think that some people look at our sharing as an opportunity to help us fix our manuscript. And, for a first draft, it really doesn’t need *fixing*, it needs ideas. That may be part of the problem.
Wendy–That’s what moms are for!
Journaling Woman–You must have some really helpful friends.
Clarissa–I think you’ve got a great group!
Cat Woods–It’s an accident that might not happen again!
Crystal–That’s definitely my inclination, too.
Laura–I wonder (says Elizabeth, the introvert) if it would work just as well if we talked to *ourselves* about the blocked part of the manuscript. But then, of course, I wouldn’t have gotten the great ideas from my friend.
Terry–Your method definitely makes sense. I’m thinking it works best if you’ve got a really trusted group of people for feedback.
Bluestocking–Another great-sounding critique group! I’m starting to regret that I’m such a loner.
Carol–I like the idea of bringing up the problem instead of getting into the whole plot. That’s something I might be able to actually do.
Helen–Do you know, I actually MET a Matilda the other day! A baby girl. Wonder if that name is coming back into vogue?
Jemi–It’s hard to even *try* to explain, isn’t it? Because it’s not finished yet.
Hart–I think Leanne sounds like a treasure!
On my first two manuscripts, I did the entire first draft before sharing it with anyone. On my current WIP, I tried sharing it with a critique group as I wrote, but decided I just couldn’t do it – not sure why, other than feeling too much pressure. So now I’ve temporarily dropped out of the group until I make it through the first draft.
You do better than me, I need the feedback and the random suggestions I get set me off in a whirl–not necessarily in the one suggested, but I think better in a group, than in isolation.
Sylvia Dickey Smith
I can’t NOT talk about my stories while I’m working on them, because it is one way I have to free my imagination from the restrictions I tend to box my thoughts with when sitting down to put words on a page. Verbal brainstorming of a sort. And I worry too much about the nitty gritty sometimes if left on my own.
However, I don’t tell everyone the details of my projects. I trust my crit group to bolster my spirits when I’m down and tell me when something doesn’t make sense, which is mostly all I need at this point.
Sometimes something falls under one of their personal areas of expertise and I get a wealth of information. Like when I was working more heavily on my SF story. I was trying to incorporate some military-esque stuff, an area I’m less familiar with. A couple folks in the group know quite a bit and kept me from making major blunders, even giving me some ideas to play with to make everything work out better than I’d originally imagined, advice that helped even with later sections.
Jane–And I can’t blame you a bit for doing it. I think when it works, it works REALLY well. And when it doesn’t…it can mess us up.
Sylvia–I think, if you’ve got a great group of folks to share ideas with, that it can be a really successful way to generate ideas.
Jaleh–It sounds like you share mainly with other writers…that does make sense because they know best how to help us!
I do like the idea of verbal brainstorming…maybe, after this recent success, I can come out of my shell enough to try it again!
I have done both. Too much feedback on my first MS left me floundering, unsure of my own “voice” Still rewriting this one. I’m much more conservative with my second one, only giving out to a few readers when completed. It’s all a learning process, but I’m leaning toward keeping my cards closer to the vest nowadays.
I share parts of my stories with people and it has started great conversations that have added to my writing. Sounds like a moment of syncronicity for you.