Oh man. I was hoping to hit 5k words today, and even though I must have spent five or six hours writing, I only managed half of that. It’s progress, I know, but it’s not as much progress as I’d like; the words just aren’t coming, no matter what I do. Blarg.
The worst part is that I know that most of these words are just crap. I’ll get to the end of a chapter and think “oh yeah, shouldn’t these characters be doing/thinking this?” And I’ll make a couple of notes in the revision guide, or touch up what I’ve written just a little bit, but one thing compounds on another until everything’s got problems.
But you know what? I’m almost three quarters of the way through, so it’s probably better just to write on through these problems and finish the @#$! thing. At this point, I’ve got a good enough story that I can carry things through to the end, as horrible as it may be, and just fix everything in the next draft.
It’s frustrating, though, because I know that most of the changes I’m going to make will seem obvious. Why can’t I just get it right the first time?
Is it because I failed to outline things enough? I know from experience, however, that outlining too much can be fatal for me. Is it because I didn’t take the time to immerse myself in my story? But then again, I’ve been spending so much time on my writing, everything else seems to be suffering, including my social life…
BLARG.
I’m probably just missing the forest for the trees. Once I get out of these woods, though, I’m sure things will fall into place. One way or another, in two weeks this abomination will be FINISHED! …at least until the next draft.
You know what you should do? Don’t bog yourself down with another draft–not unless you’ve got readers to tell you what’s wrong. You won’t be able to see through your own voice. Finish it, send it to a publisher and a circle of readers, then start a new story.
Sounds crazy, right? Mayhaps I am. Mayhaps… I personally despise revising, editing, and redrafting, and find that I learn a lot more–and have a lot more fun–by taking what I learn from a failed project and applying it to a new one. And with certitude do I enjoy laying my personal preferences and advice upon other writers!
Good luck, however it goes!
Cheers,
-bn
Yeah, once I finish this draft, I will probably set it aside for a few months while I work on something else. I’m not going to send it out to publishers, though, until it’s actually fairly decent, and as for first readers, I would like to fix all the known problems before I solicit their feedback.
I actually prefer revising to drafting, but I can’t revise until I’ve got something to work with, so that’s what I’m doing right now: finishing the story so that I can revise it later.
If I were you, I’d try to just ignore how bad the first draft is. I’m a reviser myself, and i’ve just started thinking of my first drafts as a very extended outline. I have horrible characterization, but it’s too hard in the first draft to keep that, the world, and the plot straight. So, in the first draft, I just focus on one thing – the plot. In subsequent drafts, I’ll add in the rest. Since I’m an under-writer to begin with, I have plenty of room to add to the framework of the first draft.
Maybe you have that depression a lot of writers get when they’re in the midst of their novel. It will pass!