Warning: DO NOT EDIT THIS MONTH!
I've been wracking my brain for days now
trying to figure out what to write about. It has to be something amazing and
wonderful at this point. Some guru advice that you'll take to heart. At this
point I'll be happy if one of you remember this post. Instead of big sage
advice I'm going to tell you here what I tell everyone: Just keep writing!
When you do an event like ChaBooCha it's
easy to become overwhelmed. There is so much to write and so little time to
write! It's not just that you want a certain number of words on the page, but
you want to have a complete first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect but you
probably want to have a beginning, a middle, and (here's the shocker) an end to
your story! And somehow through it all it has to make sense. I'll say yes, you
do want a beginning, middle and end. As for the sense, we'll leave that for
later.
Your only goal this month is to put your story down on paper. You need to open your story, have a climax and then get the heck out of dodge as fast as your legs can carry you. This is not the time to edit your story!
Here's some non-editing questions no one
asked me, but I'm going to answer anyway:
“But what about spelling errors?” No! Let them be. If you called Frieda, Fred by mistake write it down
on the notepad beside you (chances are you will make the mistake again) and
keep writing. Also, shame on you for forgetting her name!
“What about plot holes?” If you can fix them later in the story or if you can write more to
fix them then do so. Otherwise leave them for the cleanup crew (ie: you, when
you edit the work).
“But ____ isn't perfect.” It's called a first draft for a reason, people! You have a month
to finish this draft, so you don't have time to make it perfect.
“None of this makes sense!” The mind has an amazing way of sorting things out. If you think that
things aren't making sense, first go to the doctor and see if something's wrong
there. Otherwise, just let your story be a bit nonsensical. Your unconscious
mind probably knows what it's doing, so worry about that in editing (or not. I
love nonsense!)
“I've written enough words to finish the
story. I'm all done for the month!” Get your tush
back in front of the screen, fluffy, and keep writing. When you edit your story
it will be far too short. Keep writing until your fingers crack and bleed or
the end of the month comes (you know whatever comes first). If it's the
bleeding thing, then bandage your fingers and get back to writing!
And that's all I can say about that.
*****
*****
Give-away
I have made another charm bookmark (cat-themed) and one person who's is signed up for the challenge and comments on this post will be chosen by a random number generator to win it! The winner will be announced on September 30th, 2014.
Great advice Dani :) It's hard to stop the automatic editor, but in challenges we must remember your tip.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard not to edit, but the idea will slip away if you get caught up in the grammer and punctuation.
ReplyDeletewoo hoo Dani, no more edits until it's done promise cross my heart! It does take practice to shut down the inner editor though. :)
ReplyDeletegreat advice. i cant win prize becky... but just wanted to comment on a great post. and married longer than born.... born in leap year?
ReplyDeleteThanks Dani. but I agree with Mary that it is hard not to edit, However,
ReplyDeleteI have one chapter left to go and four days...I can do it!
"Get your tush back in front of the screen, fluffy, and keep writing." Love this! Great advice Dani...so true and right to the point. it's hard to keep going knowing you made that "mistake" early on....but Just keep writing is the way to go!! Thanks for sharing your time with us!
ReplyDelete