Seeing The Cow
Ignore the first page of the first draft. It won’t be the story and it won’t describe what you see in the story.
Consider your first draft getting to know the characters.
As you write chapter after chapter after chapter, things will change. Characters become people you live with on the page.
The character's voice will come through stronger, their actions will become more authentic.
You do have to listen to them though, and you do have to watch what they do.
Let that character live. If they do something unexpected, do not berate them, or beat them down; work with them, record their lives.
The quality of your watching and listening determines the quality of the transmission between the story and the page; you are the medium, perfect yourself.
9 comments:
It is odd how said ignore the first page of your first draft. I am working on editing a story because it was rejected and when I got to work on it the first thing I did was delete the first 2 pages because they did nothing for the story except drag it down
Heya, Jenn, Thanks for the comment = ) The first couple of pages can be a nightmare- I take rule a bit further with myself, and ignore the first draft. By the time I’m done with that I know the story I want to write. Each book is full of different stories, some you’ll enjoy telling more than others. They don’t have to be happy, or sad, or mad, or touching stories, you just enjoy them, and find yourself writing them.
It’s easier to throw away a first draft than you’d think. I do it just to feel out the story I want to tell. It’s not often I get to the end of a piece and say, “Hey, I knew it was coming out this way,”
Every bit of writing we do is practice. Ignore those first pages because you’re just stretching your writing muscles- let go of the rough draft, it’s just more learning, you’re figuring out the parts of the story you want to write. At the end of the day you can put anything you want down on the page, editing is some other stage, after this draft is done.
Thanks for the visit, Jenn, I hope you enjoyed what you read, come back soon = )
The problem sometimes is what to do when a character is boring. I've often described the lead character in my first novel as the last character you would ever expect to be the main protagonist in anyone's book; he's been nowhere interesting, done nothing of any note and spent his entire life watching rather than doing. What I did was introduce an element to make him behave out of character. In my case the solution was extreme – I had the personification of truth knock on his door – but you don't need to go that far.
I'm having the same problem with my current novel. The lead is wandering around on her own not doing very much. That's okay up to a point. You need to let the readers know what 'normal' is for this person. But how do you then make them behave out of character? Without introducing fantastic characters you need to generate atypical problems for them to react to, situations where they don't have a cosy benchmark to measure up to. That's when things get interesting. In my case I have a woman who comes north to clear out her dad's house after his death. Suddenly she has another place to be where she's not 'the wife' or 'the mother' and suddenly she had money that's hers and hers alone. Suddenly she has options.
Hello, you recommend to let your creativity flow. I thik that will work.
@ Jim. Characters are sometimes boring, or stupid, of one of a thousand things, but then every person is all of those things at times. When I’m writing the first draft I let the characters be all these things. Hell, in a first draft they can be boring for five hundred pages, it’s just telling me what not to include in the story.
I’m different, in that in terms of word count, I know the finished product is going to be a third of the size of the first draft. I don’t mind that because it lets me play the characters out and feel out who they are. In redrafting I’m aiming to write something that is entertaining, and readable and that’s when I delete the mass of dead words = )
If I grab a character who has an odd set of circumstance and throw an everyday situation at them- getting a job- I find a story. I don’t want dramatic twists, everyday life for this person is enough to unsettle most of us, and I want their feeling of legitimacy to come through- their life matters, and I want the reader to feel why the character thinks that’s the case.
This is how I view story, but it’s only one take. Others believe in plot device and scripted beginnings, middles and ends; I think story is to be found in everyday life- this belief makes it easier for me to write = ) As you say though, the best way to generate a story is to take a character and put them in new surroundings and see how they react- story is, after all, only changing circumstances.
Jim Murdoch writes a blog called “The Truth about Lies” you can find a link to it to your left on screen. If you write, or read, or have any interest in life in general, Check it out. Jim is a great writer, and has long been a support to me in writing “The Anatomy,” offering constant feedback and encouragement. = )
@ Ray, letting the creativity flow is the answer, but it’s the how that’s the hard part, and it’s the reason we need to spend time writing, so we can develop that strange muscle memory that comes with writing; the art of being oneself and trusting oneself. It’s sad that it is so hard to do.
Ray writes a blog called, “The Esoterical journey,” and covers philosophy and ethics in life. It’s a great read, and one days reading will leave you with many months thinking.
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Tom is still sick- Normal consciousness will be resumed shortly.
great blog. I agree. My first chapter really begin about four chapters before. I always start too soon.
Hello bt, thank you for your friendly words. I really can learn from your explanations.
@ Dee, Thanks, it’s a start on an angle of an idea that I Really enjoy, so I’m glad you enjoyed reading the posts= ) With writing, all that matters is the written product. It doesn’t matter how long it took you to sit down at the desk, how fast or slow you write the pages, all that matters is a top quality transmission of story I started my first novel about ten years too early, but still, at the end of the day, it go to where I wanted to take it.
Dee has several blogs, the one I’ll bring forward for you is “Dee Dee Stewart, Author” Dee talks a little about the life of a full time author, and is well worth reading for her clean writing style.
@ Ray, Thanks, I find I learn a lot writing this, but blogs like your own always expand my world. Ray runs a blog called, “The Esoterical journey”- you can find a link to it in the side bar. Ray delves into the living side of philosophy, and has a great way of explaining and describing philosophy and ethics as they function in real life = )
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Heh, and I thought I was sick yesterday- it must have been the last eight drinks last night that left me feeling so well….
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