I usually shoot myself in the foot with a first draft of a book by constantly trying to go back to the previous paragraph or chapter and try to get it 'better.' That's a great way to get nowhere. I find that if I spend half my time revising as I go, that time is probably wasted because when/if I get to type THE END, that means its time to go back and revise--and sure as shootin', my prior revisions are probably now meaningless because the story has taken a different path than I expected.
A novel isn't like the termpaper outline you turned into your high school teacher with all the steps and substeps and themes perfectly ordered. Fiction (at least for me) starts to shape itself as it goes along. Sure, you need most of the pieces to start, and a fairly clear idea of how to get to the end. However, the ending may change as obstacles arise or you decide to drop/add a character. So don't take the first draft that seriously and don't bother messing with spellcheck. Just grind through and get that draft done.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment