Yesterday, I met with my writing teacher Edan. I have been working on a novel for about two years- on and off- and for the past couple of months I have been in my second writing class working on completing it.
"I think it's time for you to have a complete first draft. By July 1st so you can revise before the fall," she said.
I know she's right, but the enormity of making this big book into just one draft is pretty intimidating.
"So how do I do that?"
Edan is a great teacher in that she gives precise feedback, is very supportive and excited about the projects we are each working on and she doesn't pull any punches when you need to get punched.
"What is this sentence?" she asked in a recent critique, holding up my draft and then proceeding the read the offending sentence out loud to the group. I ended up under my coat. I think I had used the same word five times in the long and meandering mess. In my defense, I had been on vicodin for my throat while I was doing this particular revision.
But I digress. This is a project I have had on my plate since November of 2007. I have done research, rewritten and put it through National Novel Writing month twice.
Here's what she told me to do:
PS- Edan will be a guest on the Remabulous Road Not Taken teleseminar this month.... sign up now to get your own great feedback from a real live professional writer!
Most of us dream of writing a novel at some point. Sitting down and doing it is another thing entirely, as I have discovered. Still, it is a project that I have loved working on. But this complete a draft thing is terrifying. I have a plot that can sprout threads like a worn-out grad student's jacket and I prefer the choose-your-own adventure method to actually deciding what actually is going to happen.
In answer to my Ask Remabulous question this week: How the hell am I going to get this book finished? Here are the steps I need to follow:
- Outline the damn thing. I have not yet committed to where this book starts, middles, and ends. It's time. An outline of how a big project comes together is a great first step if you're feeling crazy overwhelmed.
- Outline it again. No this isn't an April Fool's joke. The first outline is just to get the broad strokes in. Basic events. The second is where we get down to it. Edan suggested taking a week or two on this step. Put in the events from above, but this time add what scenes need to happen. How many pages each one should be. Get a sense of how big this thing is. Then we can get to planning out how to do it by:
- Assessing how much time I have until July 1 and plotting out how many scenes/sections I need to write per week.
- Make my writing schedule and stick to it.
- Have the fancy draft all done by July 1 so I can get to revisions.
Wow. When I made this plan with Edan, I realized that it was step 2 that most of us miss in a big project. We make a big outline and then expect to know what is involved in finishing it.
The double outline concept is a revelation: actually outline each little bit of the big project so you can take it in steps. As David Allen pointed out in Getting Things Done, the mind that hs to think about how to do a step- what action is required- is going to shut down in the face of it. My outline before wasn't specific enough. Now, following this plan, all I have to do is write the scenes I've assisgned myself each week. Genius!
How can you chunk out your big project in an even more specific way? How could you make a second outline?
And... since we're focusing on play this week... one tip Edan shared is her fancy writing ring in the picture above. Whenever she wears it she gets excited to write. Isn't it pretty?
Think about a costume element you can add to your work plans that makes things a little more fun. What costume would your destined-to-succeed self wear?
I always wear an orchid hair ornament I got at a craft fair to networking events. I feel pretty and people always remember it, and me.
Send in pics of your fun costume element and share them! I'll post everyone's costumes next week.
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