I really do write QUITE an ugly first draft. I'm a fan of outlines, but really my outlines are generally pretty loose -- of the three to five page variety, not the thirty page variety. I've come to see that my rough draft is, in fact, my lengthy outline. But once I have that outline down -- which comes by dint of blood, sweat, and tea
rs -- THEN things begin to shake loose. Once the foundation has been laid, the framework raised, then I can finally, really get to work on the structure.
Previously I would have handed this off to one of my editors in a weird ritual whereby they would look it over, make whatever comments and observations were possible, pat me on the head and shoot it right back to me with an order to finish it so they might actually be able to work on it.
Example of this insanity:
“So what’s the
point of all this?” He gestured at the geisha mural, the bowls of smooth black
stones and spartan orchid arrangements. “You
have some kind of Asian fetish?”
Tashiro flung
himself down on one of the low couches. “What’s wrong with being aware of your
heritage?”
“What heritage are
you supposed to be?” Ryo tugged on a long red strand of hair.
exchange names
Finish talking go
to bed and have sex
Ryo explored rolled onto his knees, reaching for the bottle of
oil.
Makes sense to me!
Of course you can only take it so far before the missing pieces begin to crucially impact all that would follow.
Since I don't have an editor to hand it off to, I'm letting the manuscript sit for a week, which seems crazily indulgent. To allow myself that kind of time away from a project. In the meantime I'm working on other things -- The Boy With the Painful Tattoo mainly.
I don't know if this will work, but if it does it will be terrific because one of the things I really hated about my previous work schedule was not having time to let things sit. That time of letting the story lie fallow is crucial, I think.
Unless I'm kidding myself and I'm just being lazy.
Nah, that's not laziness, you're letting the ideas and words simmer. At least your rough draft sits with the intention that you're going back to it and not burying the pages in a drawer, hoping for outta sight, outta mind....
ReplyDeleteTrue!
ReplyDeleteSo far, anyway. ;-D
Since you plan to work on other projects clearly you're not being lazy! (Even if you weren't, it wouldn't be laziness but sensible self-preservation.) But given that this is the type of first draft you produce, it seems very clear that you need to leave time for it all to percolate, for your sub-conscious to mull it over, before you resume. I'm surprised a week is long enough!
ReplyDeleteIt's such a rough (sparse) draft that I can't wait too long or it wouldn't be percolating, it would be forgetting. ;-)
DeleteWhat will be interesting to see is how well jumping back and forth works for me. Will I be able to deeply immerse myself in the characters and their world, knowing I'm about to jump back to other characters? But then that's really what I did for six years -- although with less jumping in the middle stages.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got (from a published author, as I was working on my first book): after the first draft, put it aside for a month. Don't think about it, look at it, work on it, nothing. Then go back to it. You'll have fresh eyes.
ReplyDeleteIt's worked really, really well for me, that advice. In fact, I'm soaking -- er, taking that advice right now, with the draft for my 3rd book. I'll be going back to it at the end of the month.
I also have a circle of friends/editors who have a copy of it, with instructions not to pester me with comments or edits until then. That's worked marginally well (I have an email waiting for me to read it from someone who just couldn't wait!).
Good luck with yours, Josh!
That is excellent advice. I do think time is one of the most overlooked but most crucial factors in developing a story. Giving yourself time to think of other and better things is part of it, but so is the coming to the work with fresh eyes.
DeleteThis is a wonderful way to work, Josh, when you have the time. I try to do something similar on my job when I need to write long emails. If possible, I let them sit all day or overnight if they contain a lot of sensitive information, so I can edit before I send. It's amazing how differently you see things by letting even several hours pass. Good luck with this approach!
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Time is especially useful when it comes to email. :-D How I wish there was some kind of automatic delay in email in proportion to the heat with which the email is written!
DeleteYour snippet makes perfect sense to me, too. The good thing about doing things your way, is it's your way and not written in stone. It's fluid, and you can change what doesn't work and keep what does.
ReplyDeleteJust make sure that it's fun and safe and you'll be fine.
Thanks, Nora. It does help a lot once you get past the "set in stone" thinking. I think this is what makes it so hard in the first years of being a writer. You've written it and you just can't help thinking there must be some value in it. So to have an editor come along and tell you to lose half of it can be devestating.
DeleteBut eventually -- if you get good at your craft -- you learn to let go.
Ultimately I think there are two types of writers: writers who build on the barest of bones and writers who carve the story out of the a mass of extraneous words.
There is no single right way. But in both cases, I think the writer learns to take a cold and pragmatic view of their own work. I kind of thing that being in love with your own words precludes anyone else being in love with them.
I have a friend who is a writer. We have conversations like this:
ReplyDeleteHim: I submitted my manuscript.
Me: Did you find all the yada yada yada's?
Seriously, I read a rough draft and it is always peppered with yada, yada, yada. After awhile, I start making up my own scenes. It'll get there. :-)
Absolutely. When I hear newish writers talking about doing 10K in a day, I always think but how much of that is relevant or worth reading?
DeleteUsually not much. But I know this from having been there and having done exactly the same thing for many a year.
It's always interesting to see how other writers do it. I agree about needing to allow time for the work to percolate an the importance of tea.
ReplyDeleteYour approach is so different to how I'd write a poem though. My first drafts tend to have everything I could possibly write in them and then I chisel away reducing the mess/mass to something more readable.
I thought the pig was quite cute.
That might even be the more common approach. I know when I did evaluations, the issue was usually way too much STUFF while authors felt around for what they were trying to ultimately say.
DeleteI'm the 'carving it out of a mass of words' type. I had to lose 18,000 words from what I thought was the final version of 'Prove A Villain' - and it seemed like the end of the world... Made a much better book though. And I agree completely about letting things rest for a while and coming back to them. It always helps. At least you now have the freedom to find out what works best for you.
ReplyDeleteOuch. But that's part of your process, so those cut words are not wasted. They're part of how you got to the final, finished work.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe part of what happens with someone like me is the rough draft is largely in my head, so I'm cutting it to ribbons before it ever hits the paper. Thus there's only left this measly little file of scattered words, but the second draft, the filling in, is complete but for the polishing and copyedits.
That's about as lazy as putting the steak in the fridge to marinate before throwing it on the grill, and getting started on the potatoes in the meantime. :)
ReplyDeleteGood point! I am multi-tasking!
Delete