I'd had a story swirling in the recesses of my mind for several weeks, one that I thought would work for a new Chicken Soup for the Soul book. In the evening, I opened a blank page in Word and began to write the first draft.
I wrote for well over an hour. The story seemed to be coming together nicely. I was aiming for 1200 words, and by the time I was ready to call it quits for the day, I had over 700 words but still a lot to be told. I didn't take time to read over what I'd written, knew there would be time to do that in the morning.
I got ready for bed, feeling satisfied that more than half the first draft was complete. I settled down in bed to watch the news but while the news anchor and weatherman jabbered on about the day's events, something began to gnaw at me. My story!
I knew that the story wasn't right but what, I wondered, was wrong with it. I mentally replayed what I'd written and the answer came. The first two paragraphs were fine, but the rest of it went into background that threatened to take over the original story. It would overshadow the original premise. Maybe I'd find a solution the next day.
Then the Bad Writing Fairy whispered that it would be a shame to lose all those words that I'd so painstakingly written. Leave it the way it is and keep going. The Good Writing Fairy rapped her over the head with her Writers Wand but smiled sweetly at me. She said to dump all except the first two paragraphs and keep going. I knew which one I should heed. I pushed both fairies off my pillow and decided to sleep on their advice.
A new day dawned, and there was no doubt in my mind that I had to begin the story again. The first thing I needed to do is delete more than 500 words, no matter how much it hurt. There is no reason to sabotage my own story with words that don't belong. I would still have those first two opening paragraphs as a springboard.
A good many stories that are published look nothing like the first draft. It's a practice round to help a writer know what direction to go. We begin and often begin again.
Writing isn't easy. Well, maybe the Bad Writing Fairy might tell you it's a piece of cake, but the Good Writing Fairy is going to remind you that it's hard work but well worth the effort. Which one will you listen to?
That's happened to me many times. I saved a file to put some of those deleted paragraphs into just incase I can use them or the spirit of them somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteWhen I start arguing with myself about whether to "KILL ONE OF MY BABIES" (remove part or all of something I have written) or "DAMN THE TORPEDOS ANF FORGE AHEAD" IE... keep on writing, I know it is time to take a nap. When I wake up refreshed, I always know what to do. If I realize that I went off on a tangent or did an and got off the spine of the story or did an information dump, I remove the distracting material to get back on subject. If the whole premise is wrong, I get rid of everything. Sticking to the heart of the story and editing the piece down to tight writing is the key for me. Don Marler (Author and publisher of "Laddie: My Four-Legged-Protector."
ReplyDeleteNancy, thanks for reminding us how the Bad Writing Fairy tries to convince us she's looking out for our best interests. Jim
ReplyDeleteGood go see that lots of writers do keep their early drafts for possible use later. Had others comment on other pages re same.
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