Develop a Writing Process: WL 366 (#13)

Lesson 13: Develop a writing process.

The best way to develop a writing process is to write, and write a lot. It takes time for the rough, blurry edges of your process to sharpen into full focus.

To complicate things further, the process for a short piece will be different than it is for a long piece. Fiction and nonfiction will vary. Writing a screenplay will follow a completely different process than writing a how-to article.

I wrote dozens of articles, short stories, and poems and three novels (Okay, we're being honest here, right? Make that three partial novels.) without a strong, sharp process. It wasn't until I wrote my first screenplay with a writing partner that I discovered the beauty of a focused process.

Screenplay writing is heavily structured and formal. It reminds me of sentence diagramming but on a much larger scale--everything has its place. What you write is wholly and creatively yours, but where you write it and how you express it is wholly defined by the industry-standard screenplay format.

When you write a screenplay with a writing partner, you have to have a process that focuses you both. When we finished our screenplay and I started writing my fourth novel, I was fascinated to discover that the majority of the screenplay process translated nicely to novel writing. And it must work because we finished our screenplay in just a little over four months, and I finished the first draft of my novel in two and a half months. I'm currently on draft three, and on schedule to complete it by the end of the year so I can start agent shopping in January--I started writing my first draft in July.

There's a reason I didn't finish the first three novels--I didn't have a process. Having a process focuses me...and my writing projects. 

Do you have a writing process?  

Visit me tomorrow for another Writer's Leap 366 lesson, which will include my writing process.

Join a Writers' Group: WL 366 (#12)

Living Writers Collective - Fall Feast 2011

Lesson 12: Join a writers' group and attend regularly.

A good writers' group will support your writing addiction. They won't try to hold interventions like all those outsiders (non-writers) who think you've somehow fried your brain with all this writing nonsense. 

A good writers' group will encourage your writing strengths while providing helpful critiques of your writing weaknesses.

A good writers' group will grumble when you grumble, fret when you fret, and curse when you curse over that undeserved rejection letter, and the one before it, and the one before that one, . . .

A good writers' group will rejoice, do the chest bump, and dance a little jig with you when you sell a piece, finish your novel, land a writing gig, or get accepted into your dream MFA program. Of course, they'll be green and seething on the inside, and they'll probably go home and kill off the character they named after you, but then they'll happily raise a glass, or ten, to your success.

A good writers' group sees your manic depression and raises you a pseudo-schizophrenia and a bimonthly acute anxiety attack, which usually coincides with the enhanced conflict scenes in each writer's WIP.

A good writers' group will inspire you, motivate you, educate you . . . fuel your writing engine, churn your writing desires, feed your writing passion.

A good writers' group is filled with people who will become some of your coolest and closest friends.

A good writers' group will give you a place to escape the real world and feel normal for a while.

This is my good--no, amazing--writers' group. Do you have one?

Living Writers Collective - Fall Feast 2011 (being our crazy writer selves) 

LWC - Fall Feast 2010 (being our crazy writer selves)

Visit www.livingwriterscollective.blogspot.com for more information about Living Writers Collective.

Visit me tomorrow for another Writer's Leap 366 lesson.

The Fast and Furious First Draft: WL 366 (#11)

Lesson 11: Use a fast and furious approach when writing your first draft.

When you think of writing your first draft, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Is it something akin to the angelic choirs of heaven drawing you into paradise, or is it more like the demonic headbangers of hell dragging you over shards of glass as you struggle to breathe life into every word?

Most writers have an extreme like or an extreme dislike for this part of the writing process. There's rarely an in-between.

The first draft has more power over you than any other draft. Its completion clears the road for your success. It's lack of completion--that first draft that you've been on-again, off-again working on for the last ten years--well, please don't hate me, but that's a big fat fail. If you've been working on the thing for ten years, then chances are you aren't in love with your story. Finish it, or break up with it and move on.

Creating something from nothing is hard work, and that's what draft one is all about; creating a story and characters where none existed before. For me, that's the hard part. It's the place where I'm most likely to fail if I don't shift it into high gear and force the pedal to the floor.

Once I reach the first-draft finish line, I program my GPS, shift it into low gear, and set the cruise at a steady but comfortable speed. My destination now certain.

I love love love--no, lust lust lust--the revision process. Draft two, draft three, draft four--the mere mention of them is like a hot, sexy kiss that makes my toes curl. I'll share more about revision drafts in a later post--and maybe even hot, sexy kisses if I'm in the mood.

So, here's the key to the first draft: write it fast and write it furious. Don't analyze it. It's your brain dump, just get it out of your head and onto your paper. You can clean it all up and shift all the puzzle pieces around once the framework is done.

Write untamed. Write with abandon. Write uninhibited. Write rebelliously. Write uncensored. Write as if every crazy idea you have is completely plausible. No one is going to see your first draft but you, so remove every filter and race to the finish line.

Because once you reach the first-draft finish line, a victorious future awaits.

Every writer should have their own first-draft finish-line goal. If I write three hours per day, I should be able to complete the first draft of a three hundred-page manuscript in three months or less (my first-draft theory of threes). What's your finish-line goal? 

Visit me tomorrow for another Writer's Leap 366 lesson.

Create a Friendly Writing Space: WL 366 (#10)

Lesson 10: Create a friendly writing space.

There are two things you are going to want (notice I didn't say need) when you decide to get serious about writing. One is a dedicated workspace. The other is a clean, clutter-free workspace.

Why can't I just park it anywhere--like at the folding table in the laundry room with twenty years of dusty newspapers stacked next to it and the kitty litter box underneath?

You certainly can write above the kitty litter box if you don't mind getting soiled sand between your toes, but if you have the ability to do so, find a place to write where you can't be distracted.

Don't get me wrong. When I'm in the writing zone, nothing distracts me. Sometimes, though, it's hard to get in that zone, and if my office is unappealing or cluttered or dirty, there's only one thing on my mind: no wonder I can't focus on my story, look how ugly, disorganized, and gross my work space is. Why risk hindering your creative thought processes over an unfriendly work space?

Additionally, you need to make sure your work space fits your needs.

When I first decided to get serious about writing, writing on my laptop in bed wasn't going to work anymore (I actually charged my laptop on an ironing board next to my bed). So I cleared a corner of the guest room, bought a tiny desk and bookshelf, and called it my office. It worked fine for a few years. It was crowded, but it was clean.

Then last December when I got a screenwriting partner and we planned our first big project, my tiny corner wasn't big enough. Screenwriting takes a lot of space with scene boards and picture boards--you need to be able to spread out. I had to take over an entire room that would fit both of us and all of our stuff.

I still have my tiny desk because I've grown attached to it, and it fits nicely in the corner. Besides, if I had a bigger desk, it would just be more work surface to clutter and gather dust.

It's important to understand that you should never let anything defeat your writing dream. If the laundry room table with the kitty litter box beneath it is all you have, don't let that deter you. Great writers have written masterpieces in much worse conditions.


Tell us about your writing space. Does it look more like the good? . . .

The not too bad? . . . 

Or the dreadfully horrid?

Visit me tomorrow for another Writer's Leap 366 lesson.

Writing and the Lazy Muse: WL 366 (#9)

Lesson 9: Muses are lazy--work without them when necessary.

Here's something you need to know about muses: they are the laziest presences on planet Earth, and they love to take extended vacations. Maybe you're blessed with an energetic, productive muse, but in the real world of writing, hard-working muses are rare.

Of course, before you think I've totally lost it, remember from my last post that your muse is that internal fire that inspires you to write. But here's the problem: inspiration doesn't come easy for a lot of us. I'm lucky if my muse shows up for work on time and fully dedicated to the day's task a couple of times a month.

The serious writer who has made the decision to write every day doesn't have time to sit around and wait on her muse to show up. If he isn't making it to work on time or fully focused, that's his problem. You still have a story to write, whether your inspiration is present or not.

Never become dependent on your muse. 

"A pro is someone who writes whether inspired or not, and keeps on writing." - James Scott Bell (The Art of War for Writers)

Visit me tomorrow for another Writer's Leap 366 lesson.

Connect With Your Muse: WL 366 (#8)

Lesson 8: Connect with your muse.

Your muse is the power that inspires you to write. It's an inner fire that burns, flickers, or fades depending on the day. Some writers use a tangible object that represents that fire--that daily feeding of inspiration.

My friend Cece has a troll. Jen has a stuffed devil horse. Alan has a picture of his granddaughter. For Frankie, it's her library card. And Eric has a wooden, featureless man. I don't know the story behind their muses, but I know they mean something to their writers.

For me, it's Grumpy. No, not the bail bond chick. Grumpy the Snow White dwarf. Grumpy tells it to me like it is. If I'm ready to give up and go take a nap after just six hundred words, all I have to do is look at Grumpy, and his face tells me exactly how he feels about that. He doesn't like nonsense, so he keeps me level headed and focused on my writing task. Sure, he can be hard to get along with at times, but a little kiss on his nose softens his demeanor, and then we can work together just fine.

Before you think we're all a bunch of wackos, consider the fact that most writers become deeply attached to their characters, and it's considered completely normal (well, normal within the admittedly eccentric world of writing). If we can become attached to our paper people, why not to a muse-representing object that inspires us to create those characters and the world in which they live? 

Writing is a lonely endeavor. Certainly you can understand why a writer must connect with her muse . . . and occasionally give him a little peck on the nose.

Do you have a muse, tangible or nontangible? Tell us about it.

Visit me tomorrow for another Writer's Leap 366 lesson.

Don't Stress When You Can't Write Every Day: Writer's Leap 366 (#7)

Lesson 7: Don't stress when you can't write every day.

There will be times when, despite what I told you in "Write Every Day," you're going to miss a day . . . or two . . . or a week. Don't stress about it. Things happen. Life gets in the way.

The kids are going to want to go to Disney World eventually. Give into some of that guilt you've been feeling over neglecting them since you started all this writing craziness, and go to Disney World. And I speak from experience here, just leave the laptop at home because Disney isn't the kick-back-and-do-some-writing kind of vacation. You'll be lucky to get your shoes off before you collapse into your overpriced hotel room bed each night, much less have the energy to unzip your laptop bag. 

Here's what you don't do when things happen: you never ever give up under the pressure of assumed defeat. You have not been defeated, you've just had a little lapse in your schedule. 

Here's what you do do when things happen--come in real close, you need to hear this: write the next day. And voilà, victory is yours.

Visit me tomorrow for another Writer's Leap 366 lesson.