Comments on: Ten writing lessons learned – a reminder to my future self

By: The Places You Go To Breathe | Confident Writing

The Places You Go To Breathe | Confident Writing — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:58:42 +0000

[...] Newman at Post-Apocalyptic Publishing writes a letter to her future self with 10 Writing Lessons Learned I gradually got enough distance from the book to be able to make dramatic edits, and tough [...]

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:35:37 +0000

Hi Don, thanks for such a considered and detailed response! 13 times – wow… I think I put TYL through about 5 major revisions and I don’t know how many tweaks and fiddles in a line by line basis. Was your friend sick of it by the end?

I couldn’t agree more with you about the first draft being the story first, everything else second. I found that if I worried about anything else, I would just grind to a halt. If I allow the first draft to be story oriented, it sweeps me past the internal censor before she can get her claws in.

And that’s a great tip for the wider reading, thank you.

By: Don Lafferty

Don Lafferty — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:01:34 +0000

1. One of my good friends, author Jonathan Maberry, told me recently that he revised his first published novel 13 times. He polished his last one, his 4th, in three trys.

2. 4-6 weeks is a good rule of thumb.

3. Every writer needs an honest First Reader, and a select group of honest, fearless reader editors with the time and chops to help the process.

4. Unless you’ve got the money to pay a freelance editor you can trust, this happens less and less. Actually the less the better as far as the publisher is concerned. They want the finished product to be perfect. 

5. and 6. Agreed.

7. How about this? While writing, continue reading, but stay away from your genre. Once the first draft is complete and you’re in that period where you’re staying away from your manuscript, read EVERYHING in your genre from the most popular titles on down. This will keep your head clear of outside influences in the genre while writing the story, but serve to better inform your work in a good way once you start the revision process.

8. Agreed. It’s important to have a story outline, even if it isn’t exactly a chapter outline, but you can revise it every ten minutes if you want. They key is to keep plowing forward with the STORY and damn the writing. That’s what revisions are for. First draft is all about story. Revisions are all about craft.

9. and 10. Agreed and agreed.

Happy Friday. Have a great weekend and keep on plugging away.

Don Lafferty’s last blog post..Jonathan Maberry and Harvey Finkel

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:50:10 +0000

@Diana – you know, I went back through the list and most of them are. Weird. Yes, I agree on the not being afraid to fail, that’s a great one to add.

@Joanna – oh yes, too true! It’s so easy to beat ourselves up. Not meeting word count goals, not doing this not doing that and the big stick comes out. Added.

@Graham – Yes, yes yes! I lived with my characters for years before I found a way to write them down, so I know them inside and out, but they still suprised me. They are absolutely central – if the characters are not thought through, they’re not convincing. Characters that I can’t believe in are a huge barrier to my enjoyment of a novel.

By: Graham Storrs

Graham Storrs — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:23:41 +0000

Hmmm. Lovely cuppa, Em. Liked the lessons too. I’d definitely second all the ones about the first draft and the need for edits, feedback and perspective.

There’s one I’d add that I (embarrassingly) only discovered recently and that is that doing up-front work on your characters – who they are, what their back-story is, what their motives are, what they look like, how they speak, and so on – really pays off. It’s also a great way to get the story moving again if it stalls. Just step away from the manuscript and work on some more details of the characters. It immediately sparks all kinds of new ideas and clears away all kinds of confusions.

It works with the historical background to the situation too. I write sci-fi so filling in more details of the political, technical, social, or whatever, future history can also help enrich the context of the story and suggest other ways in which the characters have developed in their lifetimes. It’s actually lots of fun but not as effective as filling out the characters.

Take-home lesson? In the end, it’s all about the characters.

Graham Storrs’s last blog post..Please follow the link below

By: Joanna Young

Joanna Young — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:54:34 +0000

This is such a brilliant list Emma – I’m sure it will resonate with lots of people. What might I add? Be kind to yourself (I say that to everyone, most everyone needs it ) Keep writing!

Joanna Young’s last blog post..Blogging, Writing and Community: A Round Up

By: Diana

Diana — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:51:38 +0000

These lessons also apply to life don’t they? I especially like “Don’t be afraid if it doesn’t go where you planned.” Isn’t that the truth! Also the shape of it may not turn out like you thought. Asking for help earlier on (”A good beginning makes a good ending”). All life lessons.

My favorite is “Keep connected with other creative people.” And not just in your field. Other creatives – musicians, writers, poets, dancers – allow me to view my art (and myself) from a different angle.

If I were going to add anything it would be “Don’t be afraid to FAIL utterly and completely (and don’t take it personally)” You can fall smack on your ass and there’s something about the human spirit that takes that as a challenge to try again, even harder this time.

Diana’s last blog post..This Old Man came rolling home

By: Emma

Emma — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:23:01 +0000

Hey Christy – you were one of the people I imagined standing next to me at the end of that post. You’re doing so much to keep me going, thank you. I am thrilled I finished the novel – after so many years of being so stuck, to finally do it is hugely satisfying.

By: Emma

Emma — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:20:05 +0000

Hi Ruth, welcome! Thanks for reassuring me that others might find this useful, it felt kind of odd doing this, but I’m glad I did. You’re right about writing lessons and life lessons going hand in hand, it’s just remembering them, isn’t it?

By: christy

christy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:18:56 +0000

These are brilliant! Excellent lessons to learn. And sometimes “the hard way” is the only means of learning a lesson and having the learning stick.

Glad that you know you’re not alone, ’cause you’re not.

And even if no agent and/or publisher ever wants TYL, you have still succeeded. Why? You will have done something that perhaps 50% of the population yearns to do, but never actually does.

You have written a novel.

This is not an insignificant achievement. Celebrate!

christy’s last blog post..Communication as Manipulation