A quick tips video for you today — two reasons why you might get stuck in the middle of your first draft, even if you’re writing with a detailed plot outline.
P.S. I’ve been working on a secret project for a couple of weeks now, and it’s almost time to pull back the curtain! More news coming soon…
Last week, we talked about how systems make it more likely that you’ll achieve your goal. Today I’d like to talk about creating systems for overcoming the obstacles that we all hit at one point or another.
In other words, systems for getting unstuck.
Because we all work a little bit differently, one size doesn’t fit all here. What helps me might not help you. The first step in creating your “unblocking” system is to take a few minutes to think about how you’ve written in the past.Read more
The idea that next year could be different–that we could be different–it’s almost irresistible, isn’t it? Next year could be the year we lose that weight, get organized, and write the novel that’ll make us famous.
So many of us set ambitious goals for ourselves in December, only to drop them before the end of January. The goals we dub “New Year’s resolutions” aren’t enough.
Sure, you start with the goal. Write a novel. Or a non-fiction book. Or a collection of short stories. Or a memoir.
That’s the “what.”
But you also need to create a system to help you achieve that goal.Read more
Welcome to the third video in the Editing for Story series!
Today we’re talking about questions to help you evaluate the content of your scenes and look for overall patterns as you create your revision list.
The Editing for Story videos are a companion to the Editing for Story ebook–don’t forget to download your free PDF after you watch the video.
This is a wonderful talk by Neil Gaiman on The Nerdist, especially apropos for National Novel Writing Month.
Here are a few quotes that struck home with me:
“For me, it’s always been a process of trying to convince myself that what I’m doing in a first draft isn’t important.”
“Nobody’s ever going to see your first draft. Nobody cares about your first draft. …Whatever you’re doing can be fixed. You can fix it tomorrow. You can fix it next week. For now, just get the words out, get the story down however you can get it down…”
“The weird thing is that six months later, a year later, you’ll look back at them and you can’t remember which scenes you wrote because you were inspired and which scenes you wrote because they had to be written next.”
Bookmark this one to watch when you hit those mid-month doldrums where it’s tempting to give up!
