Things I learned this past week about writing.

[Neoma]

An authors real job is to turn shit into gold. But first, they have to write the shit. It's heart wrenching because while you're writing it you think, "this is the stupidest crap I've ever written." and that's why people usually abandon their works.

The second thing I learned is that your first or eighth book might never see the light of day. This is a good thing. Why? Because now you've gotten your practice in.

You're also better off if you ignore punctuation in your first draft while you're writing, just because you might write faster that way. Point is to get the structure of the plot down (if you don't know what you're writing about.) There's a reason why authors throw out the first book and rewrite it. Because you always write something better the second time around.

Start with 4 pages a day, and you'll have a book in what, 3 months?

[geardaddy]

1. I had a writing teacher that always called the first draft

the dreck draft.

It helped me get stuff on the page without worrying about the end result.

[Neoma]

2. I'm still suffering in the dreck draft stage.

I abandoned my awesome first book because I got upset, and now everything else I write looks like a bad episode of Two and a half men with sarcastic punks in it.

[geardaddy]

3. Don't give up.

Have you had friends/colleagues read it and give feedback? It helps to have another pair or several other pairs of eyes look at your work.

[Neoma]

4. I don't do that any more.

They tend to be more concerned with punctuation than the actual words. If I need help with punctuation, I'll go to them, but they seem to always take for granted that it's a finished piece of work.

[geardaddy]

7. Well, that sucks.

are you part of a writing group? I found them to be helpful.

[Neoma]

8. Eh, I was talking about the writers group.

[geardaddy]

9. You need to find a new writers group, then.

[Neoma]

10. Oh I don't know about that.

They probably have an overturn of new members by now. Been over a year since I've been.

[Chan790]

5. Yeah, the only other way is to be James Joyce...

and write an average of <100 words a day, all of them agonized and deeply-considered. He also refused to ever look upon or edit the previous days' writing.

People say "How could Joyce only write one draft?" I shudder to think if anything would have gone to press if he'd written two.

[Neoma]

6. Or Ray Bradbury's Farenhiet 451

He wrote it in 9 days.

[HopeHoops]

11. My typical problem is having a great start and a great finish, but nothing in between.

That "in between" is where the real character development takes place, is the most challenging for me, and the most rewarding aspect. I've got stories I started 20 years ago that aren't even close to finished. Some are little more than a title, but every time I look at them I know where the stories are going. It's best for me to focus on one work at a time and edit it until I can't even look at it anymore.

And I agree with ignoring punctuation at first. Just write, write, write and write. You'll rework it so many times that the punctuation you might fix at first probably won't even exist by the third revision. I use a steno pad and just write like the wind, put in bullet points, chart character relationships, and other draft measures. With older stories I tend to use a mini and just free-form blast a rough-in into OpenOffice. I use spreadsheets for managing chronological issues. Whatever works for you, use that approach.

As for "4 pages a day", sometimes I feel accomplished just by changing a single word or moving a clause. Other days are just the opposite. And as incredible as the text processing abilities are now, I still find a printout and a handful of pens and highlighters to be far more efficient for major edits, revisions, and reorganization.

[WCGreen]

12. I have writen several short stroies and have the equivilent of three and a half books...

Sometimes I will write like crazy for a few months and then let it all fall away.

Although, I am always thinking and jotting down ideas when I am not in steady writing mode.

[SheilaT]

13. In my opinion you also cannot

show your writing to others until it has been revised somewhat. The first draft (dreck draft, I like that) is for your eyes only. Unless you have a spouse or a partner who truly understands what you're trying to do at that early stage.

I'm one of those who can get very side-tracked by punctuation issues, or other relatively trivial things, another reason why you don't want to show early versions of anything.

For me, I've benefitted most when I have something in what I honestly think is final, publishable form, and then get feedback. Invariably it needs a lot more work than I thought it did.

[Fearless]

14. The hardest part for me has always been getting the 1st draft done...

Without getting stuck revising say the first several chapters over and over again and not doing any real contribution to finishing the story. And I definitely think it's shit when I start too, that one really rang true for me.

Personally I have about five started projects right now... several more that are ideas... and they typically dead end around chapter six unless I really force myself to both write and to not edit the stuff I've already written until I'm finished with the whole draft.

Also, the internet is distracting, and so are options... I get more work done on word processors like JDarkRoom where I am less liable to head off on a six hour facebook/DU tangent.

EDIT TO ADD: Yes I am currently on one of those tangents!