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Sunday, March 16, 2014

A Novel in Your Closet?

For all those wonderful aspiring writers who ask me How Can I Get Started?
Check out this post by Mary Jakcsch, and others.
This is pretty much it, in a nutshell.

The first draft is the fastest, and invariably the most important. In the first draft, I write for myself, and always with the door closed. No one ever sees those words.
The first draft is me getting out of my own way. In this draft I write as fast as I can without stopping. If there’s divine inspiration in writing, this is where I find it.
The next draft is revision. I usually spend longer here than I do on the first. This is where I’m massaging my meaning and making things flow for the reader.
The final draft is a polish, where I make my words sing in their intended key.
In the first draft I get it said, in the second I say what I mean, in the third I say it well.


Except I'd have to add, the next DRAFTS ARE REVISION.
I've never known a writer who could revise in one draft. Or three, for that matter.
Come to think of it, I've never known one who could get that first draft down in one quick writing. 

Here's the link:
http://writetodone.com/how-to-start-novel/
There are some really great ideas from the likes of Elizabeth George et al. in that blogpost. Go ahead, click on over.

And I'm totally stealing the picture.




Good luck!

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