Hi Kailey, I'm intending to sign up for First Draft November. Thought I would pop a post about it on Medium to help spread the word,. I wanted to mention what novels you'd written, so I googled you. I've found mentions of 2 books of essays, but (damn google) for some reason, can't see any info about your novel(s). Wondered if you were perhaps publishing them under a different name. Can you clarify and/ or point me somewhere with that info? :) Thanks!
Hi Melissa! So my novel is currently out on submission, so it's not published yet! I also don't have any essay collections out, so I'm wondering where that came from haha I could always send you my bio or link to my newsletter if that is helpful! Thanks for helping us spread thr word <3
This was so encouraging, particularly the idea of a "zero draft"! I've already hit 80,000 words (a slow slog over 3 years with lots of necessary breaks) and am nowhere near finished with this first draft. I STILL don't know how the story ends.
But no one else has to see this mess, and geez, I've already done way more than most people can do. So I keep going because I know I will get there :)
80k words is AMAZING! Congrats! And if it makes you feel any better, I didn't know the end of my book until draft like 4 or 5 lol it's a process for sure!
I wrote my first novel following an outline and the story structure suffered (and it was like pulling teeth to write it). With my second novel, I had a vague idea of the beats I wanted to hit (from the 3 act structure). It turns out that being looser yields a better result. With my next attempt, I'm going to start with just an idea! Yikes! A little nervous, but I figure it's worth a try.
Thank you for sharing, Amanda! I love it when we find out what works for us :) I also totally share your nervousness about starting with just an idea (that is what I'm doing with my second novel too), but I think it comes down to having faith in yourself and your creativity <3
Very interesting that you've tried two very different ways of writing a novel, Amanda - and are open to trying a third! Outlining seems to completely suffocate my story-telling urge. When we're enaged in that writing process, I believe our creative energies are churning ideas constantly "in the background", even when we're asleep - it's not just happening when we sit down to write. I can't count the number of times dreams have sparked ideas for my poetry and fiction, or I have better solutions for a troubling day of drafting after "sleeping on it". I find looser approaches allow more space for your subconscious / unconscious mind to give you surprise insights and ideas - these just might turn out to be the most creative moments or concepts in your draft.
Thanks for your comment, Melissa. I agree. And I actually have fun when I loosen the reins, don't you?
I love that dreams have sparked ideas for your poetry and fiction. Funny, I woke up this morning with a scene writing itself in my head for the novel idea I referred to in my post. I rarely have scenes arrive partially formed like that--I usually get snatches or a few sentences. I think my brain is very happy about me trying the free-for-all approach!
That said, after a few moments, my left-side brain began its chorus. "Oh, you'll need to find out what music was popular then, and, maybe someone in that time wouldn't talk like that, and, wait, when exactly should I set this?" Haha!! Just like all aspects of writing, this approach will take some work!
We need the left-brain too, don't we? My story is is set in France, the bulk of it in the early 1800's, some of it about 50 years earlier, so some research was necessary. And sometimes we need to establish a few researched elements for the story first to then let the right-brain have fun with them! :)
My experience has been that the first draft is exploration and discovery. Eventually at some point the characters take over, and my job is to take it down.
With my current project, I wrote a full, reasonably coherent draft of Act III in one week…and then it took five days to hop back up and crack chapter one. It was never a question of what chapter one looked like - the brain just wanted to write the high drama of act III, so I let it have its way.
Part of the difficulty of chapter one is that I’ve never been the best at writing beginnings; another part was the amount of dialogue, since it’s setting up the early relationship of the primaries, which one of them even calls “sparring” in the draft of one act III scene. I consider my dialogue reasonably competent in general, but when I’m in free-drafting mode, conversations tend to slip away from me after a few lines and then start to sound metaphorically high on helium as they meander in all sorts of bizarre and often useless directions as my ADHD kicks into overdrive and sends everyone into rapid-fire and often absurdist chattering, much as it often does when I am physically talking 😂. Then I notice I’ve done this *again* and promptly delete 90% of the conversation and go back to the top; second time around, I at least generally stay on topic and don’t break the overall tone of the story too badly. I’ve always been a “fix what obviously isn’t working now” type; the only way I can compose “true” rough drafts, where nothing gets improvements for the length of the complete tale, is by writing them out by hand, and this novel did *not* want to be handwritten, possibly due to the ‘need’ to write act III first and the endless confusion this would have caused in a bound notebook.
I love that you started in Act 3! It's a great reminder that you do not have to write linearly (I'm it's your own damn book haha) but since the ending informs the beginning and vice versa, that was such a great way to approach it, Savanna.
pumped. was sketching out character names and central question during my morning writing hour.
Hi Kailey, I'm intending to sign up for First Draft November. Thought I would pop a post about it on Medium to help spread the word,. I wanted to mention what novels you'd written, so I googled you. I've found mentions of 2 books of essays, but (damn google) for some reason, can't see any info about your novel(s). Wondered if you were perhaps publishing them under a different name. Can you clarify and/ or point me somewhere with that info? :) Thanks!
Hi Melissa! So my novel is currently out on submission, so it's not published yet! I also don't have any essay collections out, so I'm wondering where that came from haha I could always send you my bio or link to my newsletter if that is helpful! Thanks for helping us spread thr word <3
This was so encouraging, particularly the idea of a "zero draft"! I've already hit 80,000 words (a slow slog over 3 years with lots of necessary breaks) and am nowhere near finished with this first draft. I STILL don't know how the story ends.
But no one else has to see this mess, and geez, I've already done way more than most people can do. So I keep going because I know I will get there :)
80k words is AMAZING! Congrats! And if it makes you feel any better, I didn't know the end of my book until draft like 4 or 5 lol it's a process for sure!
It DOES make me feel better!
I wrote my first novel following an outline and the story structure suffered (and it was like pulling teeth to write it). With my second novel, I had a vague idea of the beats I wanted to hit (from the 3 act structure). It turns out that being looser yields a better result. With my next attempt, I'm going to start with just an idea! Yikes! A little nervous, but I figure it's worth a try.
Thank you for sharing, Amanda! I love it when we find out what works for us :) I also totally share your nervousness about starting with just an idea (that is what I'm doing with my second novel too), but I think it comes down to having faith in yourself and your creativity <3
Very interesting that you've tried two very different ways of writing a novel, Amanda - and are open to trying a third! Outlining seems to completely suffocate my story-telling urge. When we're enaged in that writing process, I believe our creative energies are churning ideas constantly "in the background", even when we're asleep - it's not just happening when we sit down to write. I can't count the number of times dreams have sparked ideas for my poetry and fiction, or I have better solutions for a troubling day of drafting after "sleeping on it". I find looser approaches allow more space for your subconscious / unconscious mind to give you surprise insights and ideas - these just might turn out to be the most creative moments or concepts in your draft.
Thanks for your comment, Melissa. I agree. And I actually have fun when I loosen the reins, don't you?
I love that dreams have sparked ideas for your poetry and fiction. Funny, I woke up this morning with a scene writing itself in my head for the novel idea I referred to in my post. I rarely have scenes arrive partially formed like that--I usually get snatches or a few sentences. I think my brain is very happy about me trying the free-for-all approach!
That said, after a few moments, my left-side brain began its chorus. "Oh, you'll need to find out what music was popular then, and, maybe someone in that time wouldn't talk like that, and, wait, when exactly should I set this?" Haha!! Just like all aspects of writing, this approach will take some work!
We need the left-brain too, don't we? My story is is set in France, the bulk of it in the early 1800's, some of it about 50 years earlier, so some research was necessary. And sometimes we need to establish a few researched elements for the story first to then let the right-brain have fun with them! :)
My experience has been that the first draft is exploration and discovery. Eventually at some point the characters take over, and my job is to take it down.
Yes, exactly! It is such a magical part of the process.
With my current project, I wrote a full, reasonably coherent draft of Act III in one week…and then it took five days to hop back up and crack chapter one. It was never a question of what chapter one looked like - the brain just wanted to write the high drama of act III, so I let it have its way.
Part of the difficulty of chapter one is that I’ve never been the best at writing beginnings; another part was the amount of dialogue, since it’s setting up the early relationship of the primaries, which one of them even calls “sparring” in the draft of one act III scene. I consider my dialogue reasonably competent in general, but when I’m in free-drafting mode, conversations tend to slip away from me after a few lines and then start to sound metaphorically high on helium as they meander in all sorts of bizarre and often useless directions as my ADHD kicks into overdrive and sends everyone into rapid-fire and often absurdist chattering, much as it often does when I am physically talking 😂. Then I notice I’ve done this *again* and promptly delete 90% of the conversation and go back to the top; second time around, I at least generally stay on topic and don’t break the overall tone of the story too badly. I’ve always been a “fix what obviously isn’t working now” type; the only way I can compose “true” rough drafts, where nothing gets improvements for the length of the complete tale, is by writing them out by hand, and this novel did *not* want to be handwritten, possibly due to the ‘need’ to write act III first and the endless confusion this would have caused in a bound notebook.
I love that you started in Act 3! It's a great reminder that you do not have to write linearly (I'm it's your own damn book haha) but since the ending informs the beginning and vice versa, that was such a great way to approach it, Savanna.