TGIF, WG2E-Land!
Watching all of the superfab 2012 Olympic Athletes cross the finish lines in each of their respective sports got me to thinking about how we, as Indie Epublished Authors, make it to our own finish lines…aka “The End.”
This week, I finished what will become my 19th Indie Epublished Book (STUCK WITH A STIFF). And, I think I’ve finally settled on a process that works for me to get to each “The End.”
When I first started writing for publication – over 13 years ago, I was a writer who had to completely write the perfect page before I could move onto the next. In other words, every sentence had to have just the right words, perfect grammar, and be perfectly in line with each character and my plot line.
Okay…what plot line? Exactly the right question. I never had an overall plot line because I couldn’t get past the page I was currently working on! LOL!
Then, along came RWA (Romance Writers of America), where I was taught that the first three chapters had to be perfect for “partial” submissions and contests. Yep. You guessed it! That meant I now had a ton of perfect partials, but no complete manuscripts. Uhm yeahhh…that ain’t gettin’ ya to the finish line either.
So, then…Nora Roberts told a bunch of us at a conference that “you can fix crap, but you can’t fix an empty page.” For some reason, that’s what finally got me cruising along to a ton of The Ends.
It wasn’t until I learned to let go and JUST WRITE that I began to cross my finish lines on a regular basis (about every three months).
I no longer worry about getting that perfect word right at the get-go. I don’t care if my character has blue eyes in chapter one and dark brown espresso peepers by chapter ten. I don’t care if my plot is too “cheesy” crazy on the first run. Plot holes? Oh well…
I just keep on swimming through new pages. I get back up on those big ass balance beams, otherwise known as story structure, characterization, backstory and pacing. I ride hard (on my broom not a bicycle 
), racing from one chapter to the next. And if it’s pouring down rain in my life, when I need to be hammering that beach volleyball, I hammer the sucker anyway and dry off later.
I have a page goal each and every day. And I make that goal, no matter what happens along the way to my very own Gold Medal podium.
Bottom line: I know what I produce ain’t Gold every day, but I can go back later and turn it into Gold.
That’s what it takes to get to the finish lines in our careers…to each and every “The End.”
How ’bout you, WG2E-Land: How do you get to your “The End”?
The Best of WG2E Finish Line Wishes — D. D. Scott
Yep, I can agree with this. I used to have to finish one bit almost perfectly before moving onto the next, but now I don’t. When I do my first draft I’ll just write. If I can’t think of a way to describe someone or something, or miss out a small bit of the plot, so what. I’ll just type a few XXs so I know I need to add something else in there when I go back and edit. I definitely think it works better for me like that
Oooo, I luuuvvv your (XX’s) approach, Sibel!
Right now, I simply type in a few keys words and highlight them so I kind of know what I’m thinking but can’t get figure out at that point then I re-work those areas in my second draft.
Writing straight through to The End, though, is totally how I’ve been able to send my productivity through the roof!
I’ve always written mss from start to finish, not going over page over page making sure each one is perfect. I do what you do now, write draft after draft, until the last version is the one that I read aloud to myself, making sure that there is no repetition, and all sounds fine to my ears. Then I send it to my editor, who sends it back saying there are still repetitions. I now have a list of words to look out for that I use often.
Repetitive words are funny little creatures, aren’t they, Julie?! LOL!
I usually catch most of them in my second draft, but yep, The Edit Dude still catches a few I’ve let slip.
I also use the “reading aloud” approach. I begin doing that in my second draft and continue all the way to my final draft.
so good to hear you describe your process, which is “very” much like my own! and like sibel above, i use xx’s where i need to come back, ie, decide on a character’s name, or any other detail
once i “do” have a sorta-plot
i then create blank sub-chapter sections and, as i come up with a clearer outline of what’s being created, make a one or two line note on the approximate chapter segment coming up
once i have a full first draft, it’s all good, i have a playground to play in, whether it be sandlot, a mush of mud, rocks, or rolling terrain, and more often, some of all of those co-existing, sometimes on the same line!
best wishes, to all of us
thanks again d.d., glad you posted this today
Wavin’ atchya, Adan!
I do something similar to your “one or two line note” regarding the next chapter in that each day when I finish my new pages, I stop at a point where I know exactly what’s coming next and then I write a couple sentence note to myself about it so I can jump right in the following day.
It is terrific to take a wee bit of time away from the business end of Indie Epublishing and share our writing craft and process tips. I’ll be doing a few more of those posts, beginning tomorrow.
looking very much fwd to them
Being a panther and a perfectionist, I can totally relate, D.D. Turning off that internal editor is the only way to get to THE END. I’m still refining my process, but allowing my first draft to suck is the only way to ‘get er done’.
Well said, PJ:
“…allowing my first draft to suck is the only way to ‘get er done’.”
LOL!
I luuuvvv the “panther” bit too! I’ve always called it plotter or pantser, but I’m diggin’ the panther term!!!
Umm…that’s pantser…way to early for me. Although I’d like to think of myself as the sleek and cunning panther:-)
LMAO!!!
I’m stickin’ with “panther!” I luuuvvv that!!! U rock, my friend!!!
I’m with you!
I’m forcing myself to write through the rough parts, despite my mind telling me I must go back and TWEAK!! lol
This rough draft is going to make my slide into insanity a little quicker. *snort*
At least I have the first half of the book nearly done…or at least I know where it’s going. Last half? Only the last chapter. Gulp!
Atta Girl, Stacey!!! Go for the gusto and gulps of writing through the rough parts.
One technique I use to get through that tougher-than-tough middle section of each book is to let my characters and research lead my muses.
Here’s an example of what I mean by that:
While I was finishing up STUCK WITH A STIFF (which releases the first of September) this week, I Googled one question about cause of death, which lead me to another possibility and then another variation on that second possibility…all of which added some fabulous new layers to my plot, which I can now go back in and build up to in order to flesh out the middle of the book!
I just published my first novella “The End of Summer” an Erotic Romance. Although it’s my first publication, it’s not my first work. In the past i used to write and edit every page and sometimes every paragraph. Write and rewrite and make some tweaks here and some polishing there.
When the time came to write “The End of Summer”, after a 10 year sabbatical off writing, i just went through it all without looking back. Trust me, it wasn’t easy for my editor, but it worked fine for me.
In the future that will be the only way to go… Write it all till the end… and then..
U got it, Alex! That’s exactly what I’m getting at with this post…just keep on writing till the end and then fix what you gotta fix and fill in the rest.
I often will read the last two chapters I’ve written (my chapters are very short) to jump start my muses each day, but I don’t go back further than that till the first draft is finished.
This is such great advice and there’s a bonus to writing this way: it gives the story momentum.
Momentum is totally the key, Consuelo! You nailed it!!! That’s what I lost because I was too busy fiddling with each and every page. But no more of that craziness! LOL!!!
Years ago, I used to fret over every line, now I write like my brother drives: never looking back! Unfortunately, driving like that made him miss the fact that I almost got hit by the kiddy pool that flew out of the back of his truck as I followed him in my car. But, hey, it all worked out fine, too.
I write and seldom look back to what I’ve written until the end. I finished my 36,000 word romance novel in 17 days doing this. What amazes me when I do this is that I often don’t remember what I’ve written, so when I do read, it’s like reading the story for the first time. I’m so focussed on the end, I don’t even think about what I’m writing. Get it down. That’s the goal.
I find too many writers think too much of the first draft and never get the story finished. It’s only a draft!
I luuuvvv what you said right here, Diane:
“What amazes me when I do this is that I often don’t remember what I’ve written, so when I do read, it’s like reading the story for the first time.”
Charging through to the end does indeed give you a much more fresh and outsider’s type look at your work when you go back through it for your second draft. You don’t miss as much either because you’re basically reading for the first time versus the overkill look from thousands of reads.
And ohhh yeahhh, watch out for those kiddy pools in flight!!! LOL!!!
Oh, yeah! I was caught in that same trap of revising every word, page and chapter and then going back and revising again and again. Stuck with many 3 chapter beginnings. I kept thinking about the beginning and deciding it needed to be done another way…ugh! The hardest thing I’ve had to do is muzzle the inner editor. I have started setting a monthly goal, breaking it down into how many realistic days I can write, and from that establishing a daily goal. Then I refuse to get into any housework olympics until I finish that wordcount. No looking back! It’s working for me and your wise advise helps me realize I’m not the only striped fish in a sea of polka dotted fishies!
Stripes are very in again this season, Carol! LOL! But who cares if they’re not, right?! It’s whatever works for you!!!
You nailed it right here, my friend:
“muzzle the inner editor”
U Go, Girl!!!
You’re amazing, DD! Did you write this just for me? Sing it, Sister! I’m about to click on my “Write or Die” icon. It makes my inner editor scream in pain!
Thanks so much for this post!
I’m a singin’, my friend! LOL!
Write on!!!
Yes, I followed the same process for years! Going back and re-writing and re-editing the first 50 pages, reworking it to perfection. And that’s why it took me years to finish one mss. When I finally realized I needed to keep going forward and finish, then fix the crap, it made my writing process speed up quite a lot. What really changed this for me was participating in Nanowrimo, and getting Chris Baty’s book, “No Plot, No Problem.” It was counter intuitive to what i had been taught at ‘the traditional pub writer’s clubs’, but Chris and Nano helped me push past that stagnant stage in a big way. And the best part was this, I didn’t have to pay any dues to Chris to get that advice. I just bought his book and did nano one year. BTW, his book is so lol funny to read. He’s able to entertain you while teaching you stuff, just like our Dear D.D.!
You do indeed have “to keep going forward” to reach the finish line, not back! Well said, Lily!!!
I’ve never done NANO, but I know a ton of peeps just thrive on it!!!
I’m definitely going to check out Chris Baty’s book. Thanks sooo much! I’ve never heard of that one!!!
I’m a ‘seat of the pants’ writer, too. Sometimes it leads me down a side-road and I have to circle back when I edit and lop out a section or two, but usually the stuff comes out for a stronger finish because I let my characters tell me what they wanted to do instead of some stuffy outline. I tend to re-read the chapter I wrote the night before (more to get my bearings than a true edit), tweak it, and then move onto the next one. I try not to start at the beginning until -after- I reach the finish line.
That’s exactly it, Anna…I luuuvvv those side-roads and detours…in fact, that’s how I usually get through the “sagging middles”…because I stumble upon some superfab secondary plot lines along the way.
It is all about having the guts to let your characters tell you their story then share it with your readers!
I had a wonderful process that kept me completing 3 finished mss a year. Well this year I released 4 books O_o insane. And where did I suffer? In my writing. So this year, I finished just 1 short story ebook (of which I published) and am still working on the sequel that’s supposed to come out next Fall. I’ll make this deadline but its going to require some ‘write-in’ weekends to catch up to my original 2012 writing goals. Instead of doing 3 full length novels I think I can squeek out 1 full-length and 2 short ebooks. And I didn’t make myself write every night. So I’m revamping my process. Hoping on the nanowrimo bandwagon in hopes of possibly squeezing out at least another full-length novel before the end of the year. Wish me luck. I’m also going back to my write a page a day routine.
The fact that you’re revamping your process, LM, is wonderful! That’s exactly what I meant by saying that I keep my process fluid! You’ve gotta make it work for YOU. Just YOU. It totally doesn’t matter what works for another writer…just what works for YOU. And at different times in your life, different techniques work.
Writing every day sooo works too! And yes, cheers to your NANOWRIMO journey!
I find short stories a fun diversion too, and they often lead to new full novels and series for me. I’ve got one coming out this holiday season that will be the introduction to a new series I’m doing in 2013!
Being a pantster allowed me to write half a dozen books in first draft with reasonable flow to the end with good success However, I took the advice given and changed my style to a planned structure. I had the beginning, middle and end, but the bones were pretty bare… it took a lot of work to fatten up the poor anorexic creature, and I found it to mechanical for me. Now, I use a rough outline and let the keyboard sing, using the motto “You can’t edit a blank page” which I didn’t know came from a personal fav, Nora Roberts.
My problem comes with editing – if I’m interrupted I go to the beginning so the first three chapters are very polished. Now I start on Chapter 4 the next time, Chapter 5 the next, etc. with every time I edit so it’s more balanced.
Bravo, Nancy! It looks like you’re experimenting till you find what works best for you! U Go, Girl!
I had the same results you’re mentioning too in that it wasn’t until I quit going back to the beginning each day, but rather started from where I left off the previous day, that I really began to crank out pages!
DeeDee, Once again. Thanks for sharing. I agree 100%.
I’ve participated in writers’ workshops with some of the big names. Their advice stands out in my memorie of lessons learned. Stephen King told us to imagine you rush up to a friend, grab him by the collar, and say… You gotta hear this! That’s how you get the story on paper.Then go back and perfect it.
James Michener told us that he would write the entire storyfrom beginning to end with limited details. He made notes in the margin and did his research or backup, later. Of course… that was in days of manual typewrites and White-Out.
Wavin’ atchya, my friend!!!
Thanks bunches for sharing some of your fave Great Writing Teacher Moments! I also adore King’s On Writing Book! Have you read that one?!
And wow does the Michener way sooo work!!!
Great post, D.D.! I definitely have over-edit tendencies that creep in while I’m trying to get a story down. I do the highlighted keyword notes, too. And let’s hear it for letting ourselves get lost in our own stories and putting the critical teacher on hold.
You nailed it right here, Alicia:
“…let’s hear it for letting ourselves get lost in our own stories and putting the critical teacher on hold.”
I’ve finally learned to just sit back and let my characters and my muses tell me what to type…
The Nora Roberts way to go IS the way to go.
In my humble opinion, any story can be rewritten at any time, and your readers really don’t mind it because you’re making improvements that they might find annoying as well.
IMHO, mistakes can be corrected at any time with impunity. I mean, my favorite romances, the best sellers by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, The Flame and the Flower, and Judith McNaught’s Whitney, My Love, were both rewritten a few times (I believe McNaught’s “Whitney, My Love” was tweaked at least three times) and they’re from commercial publishers so I won’t feel all too bad when I need to make changes to improve my indie-published books.
For example, I’ve just updated the book cover to my “Through Time Indefinite” time travel erotic romance novella when I learned how to use more features in my Paint Shop Pro x2 photo editing program, and I had seen that the paperback version of my YA PNR, The Girl in the Leather Jacket, didn’t have a break between two sentences. So, I simply went in to correct it. I have never gotten a single complaint from the people who bought the book and e-books, though. Then again, it’s not as if I have a large readership, but those who have bought the books, either in e-book or paperback format, never complained (knocks on wood).
I luuuvvv how you said this, Catharina:
“…any story can be rewritten at any time…”
It’s precisely this kind of terrific attitude that will continue to get each of us to The End over and over again.
The pressure is off, Peeps…JUST WRITE!!!
I’ve had to make the journey from being a prolific short story writer (something like 60 or 70 published – I lose count) to being a not so prolific novel writer. I’m working on my fourth full novel now (two are with my agent and I will be e-publishing the other myself – just worked out the contract details with my agent), so I think I’m finally finding my novel process. It goes something like this:
1) Opening scene. I work it, work it, work it, and as I’m working it, I’m writing down notes in another notebook for future reference. I always write my novels by hand, then type them later, so I keep two notebooks: one with the actual chapters I’m writing, the other with character descriptions, setting notes, and a plot projected out maybe a chapter or two.
2) Characters. My opening scene inevitably has a character of some sort, so I set out to “discover” that character. What makes him or her tick? Why is he or she in that place, at that time, doing what they’re doing? I might also have some ideas for another character or two that I’ve “discovered” while thinking about where this crazy bus is going.
3) Ending. Yes, I write the closing scene right after I write the opening scene.
4) Everything else. I have point A. I have point B. I have a vague idea that one or more of the characters I am exploring will get from point A to point B. So I explore how they do it.
5) “Section” outlining. I can’t outline a whole book at the beginning. But I can outline a few chapters at a time. Sometimes I get a vague “thread” about how the plot is progressing from the direction of point A to point B, but nothing very detailed.
6) Chapter outlining. When I know where my “section” is going, then I can give some deep thought on how the first chapter of the section will play out. I usually write about three or four sentences telling me what needs to happen in that chapter. Nothing very detailed, though I do, sometimes, get flooded with necessary dialogue and plot points so quickly that I am furiously taking notes.
7) Write, rinse, repeat. As I said, I always write by hand first. I’m a kinesthetic learner and work my plots by feel as much as by sight and sound. As I’m writing a chapter out, I inevitably have details on character or plot developments pop into my head. That’s what the non-chapter notebook is for, to capture those developments. Then, after the chapter is done, I’ll go assess them, see approximately which segment it should fall into, make a note of it, and move on to the next chapter. After each chapter, I’m checking my notes to see what needs to be addressed and try to approximate when it should be done. As I feel the end approaching, I might have to set up a chronology of the remainder of the novel to ensure I get everything in that needs to get in when it needs to get in.
And that’s about it. Oh, and I always reward myself with a little dark chocolate as I’m writing. Now *there’s* motivation to finish!
Dark chocolate sooo works, Forrest…as do cocktails!!!
I do a ton of writing by hand too! In fact, every book starts that way for me! And like you, I keep notebooks for each book. And whenever I’m stuck, I find the hand-writing gets my muses back on track. By the time I then type in what they’ve dictated to me, I’m off and running again across my screen.
Thanks bunches for sharing your process with us!
These days, I have to turn off the Internet, first and foremost. Only then do I have the concentration to work through those ugly first drafts. Then for subsequent drafts, I have to rewrite every single word that I wrote in the first draft. It works for me, but only if I focus totally on what I’m doing.
I hear ya on the distractions of the Internet, Sheila.
I allow my muses various breaks throughout the day, and sometimes I sneak in a Facebook post and Tweet during those breaks. But otherwise, like you, when I’m writing my new pages, and especially the last week when I wrap up a book, I don’t do much online and get waaay behind on emails (which is this week for me…LOL!) because I have to focus on finishing the book.
My days as a NY City sportswriter taught me you start what you’re writing and you finish it. No revisions until you have a first draft. Working on dealine teaches this simple fact.
In those days, sometimes I had as little as 30 minutes to produce something that was going straight to the copy editors, then right into the newspaper.(The Gerry Cooney-Ken Norton fight at Madison Square Garden started at 10:55 pm, and ended 41 seconds later. I had until 11:30 pm to get my copy in, including the post fight interview. I skipped the interview and grabbed Cooney as he was leaving the ring. I wrote what he said on the run, then hustled up to the press room to write. I once interviewed a fighter during his post-fight shower, getting my white patten leather shoes wet in the process. And I kept my eyes on his face in the process.)
Sometimes the copy editors didn’t have the time to read what I wrote, so I had to be pretty accurate too.
They say, “Writing is re-writing,” but not on the first draft. Go full speed ahead and worry about petty mistakes later.
You are sooo right that writing on deadline for a newspaper is one of the best EVER “writing teachers.”
Like you, Joe, I was a newspaper writer. I was the crime reporter for a local paper for two years. And damn, did I learn to how to turn one tiny paragraph into a front page story! LOL! I’d be at the police station by 4 AM each morning, and I had to have around 5 short stories and one full article by 9:30 AM every day. And yeah, most of what I needed didn’t get to me till about a half hour before my deadline!
Hey DD,
I’m another writer who learned through NaNoWriMo to just keep writing. I have a very severe inner editor and (s)he wouldn’t let me write anything without nagging me about how bad it was. When I let myself write 1667 words of crap every day just to get to 50,000 in a month, it really freed me. Perfect can wait for later.
Got a question for you. You say you have a page goal every day. Is that just new writing? How do revisions fit into that?
Letting myself write total crap does have consequences. It takes a lot of work to spin that into gold later. With limited time, I’m not doing many (meaning no) new words lately. Hopefully revisions will be done this weekend and I can start on something new next week, but I seem to have to make a choice rather than doing both.
Exactly this, Elise:
“Perfect can wait for later.”
I shoot for 20 pages per day. And some days that’s 20 pages of new material. Other days, especially the final few weeks of a book, that sum is divided between around 5 new pages and the rest all edited pages.
No matter what else I have going, I get 5 new pages written per day (7 days per week). But sometimes, again, especially when I’m wrapping up a book (like this week), that’s all editing because last week, I wrote an extra 35 pages of new stuff so this week was freed up for editing.
Oh, D.D., your posts are always so inspiring! You know, I finally started making progress myself when my dear sweet hubby said, “FINISHED is better than PERFECT!” He was tired of seeing me strive for that elusive perfection (stuck in rewrite hell, of course). It was when I really *got* that perfection doesn’t exist (yep, people told me for years but it never sunk in!) that I finally began cranking out those pages. It is SO freeing!
Thanks for another great post that speaks directly to the writing experience.
It’s no fun and certainly not productive to be “stuck in rewrite hell,” Riley. I’ve been there. Done that. Ain’t returnin’.
And you’re right in that learning to keep on truckin’ and crankin’ out pages is sooo freeing!
U Go, Girl!!!
Great post, great comments. I’m bookmarking this!
I’ve just passed the ‘every word/paragraph needs to be perfect’ phase to the ‘let’s plow through this, ignoring the internal editor as you go’. And yes, I back slide. A lot. But I’m also moving forward so I think there’s hope for me, yet. I refuse to start another ms until I finish my first because I don’t want to be the writer who has never completed a novel.
I’m getting there.
So thank you, thank you to everyone (and D.D., of course!) for sharing your process.
I’m with you, Karysa, in that I always learn sooo much from all the comments here in WG2E-Land! It’s sooo empowering to learn from each other!
Moving forward is the key, my friend, and it sounds like you’re well on your way!
I’m another one that’s had to tell the inner critic to shut up and just write. When there’s something I don’t know, I also make a note and flag it somehow. In my pen name’s next book, I needed info on computer viruses and attacks, so I flagged it *computer stuff here* and went on with the story. I’ll fill it in when I revise. I keep going, even if I have to make up names and other information because I don’t remember it. I’ll call one person by three or four names by the time I’m done.
I rush through my rough draft in a month. The goal is at least 30K. I let it sit and work on another project, alternating my name and my pen name, then I go back and do a first revision. I do this using a paper copy of the manuscript, a lot of post it notes, and a notebook. I type in those revisions and send it to beta readers while I go back to the other project. Then I do a second revision, send it to an editor, and do a third revision using deep editing techniques along with the editor’s suggestions. Then I consider it done.
By alternating pen names and projects, I’m alternating new work and revisions. This uses different parts of my brain and keeps me from getting bored with a project. By doing this, if life doesn’t interfere, I should release 3-4 books a year under two names.