I’m pretty sure everyone knows this. But I woke up this morning and it hit me. Getting the story idea, developing the characters and writing the book, is the fun part of the process. For me? I have to get things down at breakneck speed or else I won’t get those initial words down at all.
And you’d think, that your first draft is a big portion of the work. But no – it’s really not. Although, my last first draft was much better than the previous ones – they all need work.
Taking out your bad words. For me? They’re that, just, seem, feel, and I even have a phrase. My phrase is: was/is fully aware. For know. Yeah, I know, right?
Then there’s axing all those superfluous and repetitive sentences. The ones you wrote to solidify the story in your mind as you hammered out a page. I do these a lot.
Data dumps. I’m not sure about anyone else, but when I’m in first draft mode, even if I’ve got detailed everything outlines (which I usually do), I data dump. For myself, for my characters, for Scrivener, just incase it doesn’t get it either.
And then I have to go back and clean it up. In my second draft, I have a horrible habit of nixing the data dump to such an extreme, that I no longer give enough. (Yes, I’m working on this.) In my third draft, I then spatter the information back through the story so that, at the end, my poor reader actually knows everything that’s been going on (I hope).
In case it’s not obvious, books with pages of data dumps are my pet peeve.
Now, while I write, I do world build and provide sensory details. But that’s rarely enough for a book. All I do in that draft is give myself the foundations and spend the next drafts honing them and hoping to show everyone the world I have in my head.
Right now? In this final phase. I’m tightening. Finding those lines I go back and forth on whether or not they’re necessary. I’m lucky I have a fantastic editor who I can ping at any time and she’ll firmly tell me that no – that paragraph/line IS actually necessary for the purpose of the story – or no, cut it.
Sometimes I get so bogged down in what I’m doing that I can’t see what is and isn’t a good decision anymore. And then of course – there’s panic mode.
After this final draft, I nitpick. Yep – it’s not a full read through, just several areas that catch my attention in a bad way – and get nitpicked and not to death, but to shiny, pretty lines!
I’m currently entirely happy with my first 2 chapters, and chugging along on the rest of them. I think I’ll make my deadline of the 14th… but we’ll see.
For me – writing is a TINY part of the huge process. The rest is refining it, trying to perfect it. How about you?
So, how does revision work for you? Do you have pet peeve words? Do you have pet peeves you try to avoid in your writing? How do you tackle and tighten the prose?
Thank you to everyone in #writemotivation for pushing me along. You all rock.
I love this post. You hit it spot on. Writing is writing/revising/editing. I can’t say I know anyone that can just sit down and write a perfect draft. If I knew that person, well…let’s just say I’d have to find some mystical way to make that mysterious ability mine *laughs maniacally*
But on the for reals, the first draft is just that, the first step. There’s so much more to it. Whether I like it or not – okay, so I’m not the biggest fan of editing – but I know the end result is well worth the effort.
Continued success as you trek along in your writing.
Thanks hon. I’ve been dreadful at keeping up with blogs this week. So stressed.
But writing that first draft? For me? It’s the best thing ever. hehe
darned skippy! I’ve not written a complete novel (yet), nor can I claim to have edited one either. But, my shorts, I like them when I write them. Then put them behind me for a while. And when I break them out a few months later, I feel the need to polish and tweak to make them better. I can do that. I enjoy that. Can’t say I will for the novel length, though. We’ll see.
PS: I ALWAYS love your posts!
Aww – thank you hon 😀 And I love your short stories and I know you edit as you go along. Once you get to the novel stage, you’ll be fine.
“For some reason”. I tack it on at the beginning of every other paragraph, I swear. This is good for NaNoWriMo (THREE EXTRA WORDS!), but I am currently pruning every instance of it I find in draft three.
There are also the regular repeated words: “look,” “seem,” “that,” “walk,” etc. But then I have a bad habit of finding a (relatively) unique phrase/word that I just love. The problem is, it’s so unique that if I overuse it (which I inevitably do), the reader is going to notice. These are words like “undoubtedly” or “nigh impossible.”
I fully agree that the hardest part of writing isn’t the idea, the development, or even the first draft. It’s the rewriting. Not just going back and editing but completely revising and reworking entire swaths of the book. I’m on the third draft of my novel and I just know I’ve got at least one or two more drafts to go before it’s in a condition I’ll be happy with.
Keep up the good work! It’s a long, hard, draining road, but at the end of it, hearing my friend say (after reading the new and revised first two chapters) “You know, I’d buy this book” makes it worth it.
Yeah – There are some things that we fall into habits with I think. And you just don’t see them when you write, but they’re oh so obvious when you go back through it.
I’m so glad people understand me lol. First draft is far easier than the rest of it!
I agree. Writing is still a big part of the process for me, but so are plotting and outlining. My new book is pretty complex, and it’s taking A LOT more work than I anticipated. And editing is crucial. Great post!
Thank you. In the end though, all the effort is worth it 😀 We just have to remind ourselves why we’re writing the story while we get there.
Yes, yes, yes!
I’ve discovered a first draft is relatively easy to produce because it is fun. Even the second draft is enjoyable because it’s when I add in all those extra little ideas that have germinated since the story solidified. It’s the third, fourth, fifth, etc. drafts during the drudgery of editing that are the killjoy. BUT – it must be done, it has to be done, it gets done…eventually.
Am getting to the end of one really horrible slog and cannot wait to reach the last page. So sorry to hear that it’s like this for others, but I admit it makes me feel better than I’m not alone!
Yeah the third and fourth and final are just… horrible. It’s like a slog. Although I don’t feel too bad after finishing. But the process getting there? Seems neverending haha.
Good luck with your slog!