Wednesday afternoon, my daughter finished her math homework, started her spelling, then completely lost her focus. I decided she could take a one hour play break (she’s only eight) before picking it back up again.
Halfway through her allotted hour of play, she came downstairs. “I decided to reorganize my bookcase, instead.” I’m thinking that she must be Type A like me.
Since I’d just that afternoon done housework for an hour to clear my head, I totally understood. When her hour was up, she completed her spelling happily and then worked on memorizing her multiplication tables.
Her room? It was a disaster. Half of her bookcase was stacked neatly by size and half of it was on the floor of her room.
The same thing happens for me when I try cleaning out a closet. It always looks worse before it looks better.
First drafts? They’re like that for me, too. They’re disasters. I have Post-It notes all over the house and car with bits of ideas on them.
I have 15 or 20 different Word files in my WIPs folder. They’ll have random ideas, character names, plot sketches, and what-if scenarios on them.
I also have out of order chapters that I wrote when I couldn’t move in a linear fashion through my first draft.
It’s a mess.
Then it gets even worse.
Then, with the second draft, it’s finally better—both aesthetically and content-wise.
I put in chapter breaks. I don’t do that when I write a first draft.
I do “find” search for any asterisks. *** marks spots where I couldn’t think of the appropriate word, needed to research a particular point, or felt like I’d written something that needed a rewrite later.
I put a header on each page with my name, the project name, and the word count. It looks official then and a bit more professional. It freaks me out when I do it for a first draft, though.
I review all my random ideas from the Post-It notes and Word files. Which ones didn’t I incorporate? Why didn’t I? Are they any good? If they are, I’ll work them in. If they work better than the current text, I’ll delete the old and paste in the new.
I look at the big picture. Did I tie up loose ends? Can I sum the plot up in a couple of sentences? Does the story itself make sense?
I work on some no-brainer edits. I look at “to be” verbs (is, are, was, etc.) and slash most of them. I look for modifiers like “very” and “really” and “almost.” I look for my favorite words “just” and “sighed.” I look for “thats.” I remove many of them.
Then I’m ready for the serious revising: looking at individual scenes. Reading each page through a dozen or more times.
I can handle the serious revising because it looks better already. It’s the point when you’re still cleaning out the closet…but you’ve gone ahead and taken a load of old clothes to the Good Will. You’ve gotten some of the clutter out of the way and can move on with the project.
It’s Thursday! Pop over to the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen if you’d like a piece of cranberry cake. I’m Riley there.
Elizabeth – I right with you in the “Worse Before It’s Better” club. That’s what’s been happening with my WIP. I started it, and then went back and revised it, making some major, fundamental changes. You should see the mess it was in! Now I’m slowly stitching it together, and it’s going to be much better, I think.
I really respect and admire the work and dedication you put into what you write. It shows, too, in your finished product. Your work is polished, engaging and “hangs together,” and that’s because of all the effort you go through to revise.
Elizabeth, Whether it’s cleaning or writing we have to start somewhere. Starting is always my most difficult task…where I take my ideas and begin…begin where? It’s a thought process and I just need to get my thoughts in order.
Everything DOES get better, if we have patience and persevere.
PS I am a post-it queen, but sometimes my post-it system breaks down.
PSS I agree your work is always polished.
Good timing – I’m going to be looking at my nano draft over the holidays.
I do the *** thing too – helps keep the draft flowing :)
I think I start off neat, get messy, then (hopefully) finish with an organized, clean bang! We’ll see, though, since I haven’t actually finished an MS yet.
But your outline here for how you do it is great guidance. Thank you.
Question for you over in my comments.
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
I think the clutter is my problem. I think I’m cleaning up a spot (work or writing) and there seems to be two in its place. Kind of like the old saying, “One step forward, two steps back.” But, I’ll keep taking that one step to see what happens.
I never thought about writing the first draft through without chapter breaks! That’s one to consider.
I think I’ll go with, “The messier the first draft, the neater the final product.”
(What? You’re supposed to clean out closets?)
Good points. I have a great couple of CPs, so my first ‘decluttering’ is usually based on their feedback for each chapter.
I write faster than we critique, so I’m normally ahead, but it’s good to have any glaring oversights pointed out before things get out of hand.
I’ll clean up things they point out, and if I’m not ready to deal with some of their suggestions, I’ll flag it for the rewrite sessions.
Sometimes you have to get to ‘the end’ before you can deal with how everything fits together.
Great post. Lots of revision tips. I’m a worse before it’s better person, too.
What a great reminder that it will get better…like the fact that it’s darkest before the dawn. Things have been so hectic, I really needed that today. Thanks, Elizabeth.
Once again, I like your analogy. I would have never thought of that correlation. I always dread cleaning out my closet, but it is never as bad as I think it’s going to be and feels wonderful when it’s done – the same can be said for my manuscripts.
I’m cutting and pasting this one for my growing elizabeth manual on how to write fiction. THANKYOU
Karen
I so admire how you can jump around and then paste it all together. You’re absolutely right, write the thing and then worry about it being pretty.
Elspeth
my process is very similar – check out my post on cleaning step-dots room! All stuff on the floor and chaotic then the slow untangling of ideas and putting things where they belong after deciding where that might be! I also clean to clear my mind. Might do some today in fact.
Wow, guess I’m pretty organized when it comes to a new WIP! Although I don’t do chapter breaks until the first revision, either.
That said, I can totally relate to your daughter’s room!
My first drafts are absolute messes, too. Basically all the stuff’s in there, but man – does it need organizing! LOL. Good check list, Elizabeth.
Marvin D Wilson
After reading what your book first drafts look like I am glad that I write short stories and magazine articles! It would take my scatter brain forever to go through all of the notes and post-its.
Yes my MS definitely looks MUCH worse than after I finished the first draft.
Time to get to that first REAL edit. I’m super pumped!!!
I recently let my crit group see an unedited 1st draft of a short story, ’cause I wanted to see if they bought the concept. They were surprised to see my little notes to myself throughout the text. It’s more like me yelling at myself, really. In one scene, I wrote about a character turning up the volume on her iPod to drown out the noise from her roommate and boyfriend next door, then wrote ((SHE DOESN’T HAVE AN IPOD)) in the next sentence.
I had forgotten about the notes-to-self when I posted the draft. It was a source of some amusement, let’s just say. :)
It definitely has to get worse before it can get better. I print out all of the random writings from the first draft and literally pull it apart, cutting pieces out, slashing whole sections, reorganising and adding at will and finally I get down to the writing of the second draft. The second draft usually makes sense. It isn’t good but it is getting closer to looking like a novel draft.
Thanks for sharing this.
This is SO TRUE. I love this way of putting it! It wasn’t really my process for CONFLUENCE, as that was too long to do wholistically, but it seems probably a more effective editing system.
(And probably the reason my husband gets so annoyed–I start clearning and then stop at the ‘messier than when it started’ phase…)
Had to stop back in to let you know I got a special surprise for ya tomorrow on my blog. (wink)
Hey, Elizabeth!
This is a great analogy! I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes we have to be willing to make a mess in order to make it great.
Love the glimpse into your process! It’s the greatest feeling when I get my first draft organized and can throw out that huge pile of notes stacked beside my computer. I’m in the messy middle of a draft now, so I make sure the rest of the room (besides that pile) is organized so I have some feeling of control!
Margot–You’re sweet to say so! Especially since it’s SUCH a mess at first.
Crystal–It’s good to remind ourselves of that, isn’t it? Sometimes I have a hard time working through the clutter.
Jane–It’s true. And then we’re SO proud of ourselves every time we go in the closet!
Teresa–That IS the hardest part. I’ll admit that I will think about the story for a couple of days before I start the first chapter. That way I can easily write several pages on the first day.
Jemi–And writing quickly usually makes for a messy draft, too! I wrote the next Myrtle Clover really quickly and it was a *disaster* area at first.
Jan–Housecleaning is such a rote activity–but you can see progress quickly. I think the first revision is like that. We can make it aesthetically better pretty fast…then get to the icky stuff.
Michele–I think sometimes I start off TOO neatly because it’s a fresh manuscript. It gets wilder as all the ideas start coming in.
Diane–You’re organized with *every*thing, Diane! I need you to come by my house and help me out, fellow North Carolinian!
Mason–I know what you mean. Then it’s like we’re putting a bunch of little fires out! I just try to make a list of all the things I need to attack with the clutter or the writing so I’m not overwhelmed. Because I’m easily overwhelmed!
Tamika–I think it breaks up my creative flow too much to put in the breaks. If I put them in, then I’m thinking about how the reader will read the chapter…is it a suspenseful ending to the chapter? It’s a different process than the creative one.
Marvin–I wouldn’t have thought that of you! I think of you more as a Diane type with your organization.
Marybeth–I can’t wait to find out how it goes for you!
Alan–That sounds good! Is it true? :)
Simon–Oh, that would be too funny. I do the same kind of thing. I’ll get irritated with myself and put in asterisks to fix something later and a smart note to myself about the mistake.
Terry–I think you and I have the same method of writing–finish the thing first. Except you have that gorgeous storyboard you use…
Carol–Sounds like there’s lots of us!
Karen–Hope it helps! :) And good luck on your WIP, Karen.
Elspeth–I think I learned the jumping around thing in self-defense! Didn’t have the time to have writer’s block.
Janel–You should see me collecting them! I do it methodically–through my car first, then collecting Post-it’s from the downstairs, then from the upstairs…. :)
Hart—I’m starting to think my daughter’s project has stalled out, too! She’s GOT to clean up that mess before she has a friend over from school this afternoon..
Marvin–I’ll be there!
Cassandra–I know you have some great first readers…do you just give them second drafts? I gave my mom my first draft one day and it made NO sense. :)
Kristen–Thanks!
Lorel–I know what you mean! My paper clutter looks AWFUL. Sometimes I’ll cram the notes into a composition notebook just so they’re out of sight. It looks like I’m a little nutty when I have Post-Its everywhere.
I won;t try to add to this as I’m not experienced enough to have an opinion. More than validate me it gave me some pointers, as I’m still too scared of writing (or showing writing) to have completed even a first draft.
Your method sounds exactly like me, however, and it helps me to think about how to first draft. The *** and lack of line breaks, the missing title until the second draft.
I’ll try that. I’ve been writing the first draft as though it was the final.
Thanks!!
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Wonderful post. I am 81% done with my first book (yes, I have estimated how much more there is to write – that’s how geeky I am), and I will hopefully be getting into your mode soon.
Now, I already have chapter breaks, and neat headers and footers – wonder what else I can do to make myself feel that I have accomplished something.
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