In telling myself that in this first draft of the book, I need only get the story down, get the pages out, DO IT, I believe I've let myself slack a bit where quality of writing is concerned. The past few weeks in particular, I've noticed that as long as I write a page each day, I think I've done my job. Nevermind if it's not a page I'd be willing to let my six year old sister read, let alone the world at large.
Some small part of this is necessary. If I were to write the way I always have up until I began this novel, it would literally take me years and years to get it all down, and most likely it would simply never happen at all. I'm usually incredibly picky about every word I write, the result of equal parts perfectionism and the deeply rooted desire to not have to do a second draft. Ever. With this book, I knew from the get go that I would be writing a second draft, which was terrifying at first, then quite freeing, and now downright dangerous.
I had dreams this weekend, both while sleeping and while awake, of writing lovely, meaningful passages for this story. The goal this week is to focus on making that a reality again.
3 comments:
Keep going...I promise to be first in the bookstore queue when you get it published over here!
Thanks Claire!
Yeh, keep at it. Inch by inch, word by word. I just read a malapropism on another blog and I just love it. The writer meant to say "fraught with arrogance" but wrote "froth with arrogance". The writer then corrected himself (or herself, I don't which) and said, "Frothy arrogance should be avoided at all costs." I really like the image that 'frothing with arrogance' conveys, don't you? I mean, it's not a nice, sweet picture, but it's crisp and immediate.
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