Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books in lots of weird genres like fantasy (Blood of Kings and Kinsman Chronicles), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). She’s currently writing a post-apocalyptic book with all of you called THIRST in conjunction with the #WeWriteBooks series. Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website, where you can read THIRST.
Welcome to week seventeen of
#WeWriteBooks Wednesdays, where we are writing books together. I have been posting a new chapter each week of
Thirst on my author blog.
Click here to read them.
Update
For a complete list of links to the posts in this series, click here.
Also, Jill has now published the Thirst Duology. To learn more about the books, click here.
Recap
Week one was genre (
THIRST is post-apocalyptic YA).
Week two was premise. Here’s my premise:
A waterborne disease has sprung up in every corner of the globe, decimating the human race. Young survivors Eli McShane and his friends journey toward Colorado and the rumored location of a safe water source.
Today’s Topic: Write Fast and Free
We’re at 17 weeks since we started our new books. I am a little over halfway done with this series, and I’m also a little over halfway done with my book THIRST. How are you all doing? This has been a lot of work! Give yourselves a pat on the back and feel good about what you’ve accomplished so far. Please don’t get stressed out. Writing an entire novel is not easy. Many people work for years and never even complete a first draft. So today is encouragement day. But it’s also a day with some tips to keep you going.
I’ve been a published author for about eight years now. And without fail, the number one thing I hear when I meet people who have been writing a book for years is that they just can’t get those first few chapters right. It was the same for me. When I went to my first writer’s conference, I had about 40% of the first draft of The New Recruit done.
A book at that level of “completion” is not complete at all. It is not ready to be pitched to an agent or editor. If you’re pitching for practice, great. But if you think you’re going to sell a book at that point, think again.
But I wasn’t thinking. I was dreaming. And when reality hit, it hit hard. And it hurt. But it was good for me. I finally understood that I hadn’t been respecting my dream. I had been playing. And I’d been rewriting the first three chapters over and over and over and over and over…
All that to say, when I meet people who’ve been stuck in those beginning chapters, I tell them to stop. Stop trying to find the perfect opening line. Stop trying to analyze whether or not you’ve started in the right place. Stop worrying if you’re writing well or not. If you’ve got what it takes. Just stop all of that.
And give yourself permission to stink.
New writers are way too hard on themselves. No one creates perfection on their first try. People practice first. They practice lots. They make mistakes. And they learn from them. So rather than making perfection your goal, make finishing the first draft your goal. Give yourself permission to stink and plow through. This is why I love
National Novel Writing Month. It teaches people to write fast. When I finally finished the first draft of
The New Recruit, I threw out the opening chapters. Now that I knew how the story ended, they were irrelevant. That might not happen to you, but my point is, how will you know if you never reach the end of the story? Once you have a first draft complete, you have something to go back and fix, edit, perfect. This is when you can start worrying about opening lines and plot structure and whether or not your story is any good.
My first drafts are horrible. On purpose.
So here are some tips that might help you stay focused on the goal of finishing your first draft.
7 Tips to Get You Through the First Draft
1. Set goals and stick to them. Write a little every day. Or at least on certain days each week. Stephanie
just launched another 100 for 100. These are great ways to train yourself into the habit of writing a little each day.
2. Resist the urge to edit! Don’t do it. You can fix things later. For now, just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing (say this in Dory’s voice from Finding Nemo).
3. Leave notes for yourself. I’m always leaving comments in Microsoft Word or highlighting bad sentences that I need to fix. Writing reminders for myself is so freeing because I carry Worry/To Do lists in my head at all times. Writing things down allows my brain to release that item, which frees up my brain to work. That’s good. If I have an idea for changing something in a chapter, I leave a comment. It might say: “Rewrite this with Steve being the one who breaks the news.” If I realize I’ve forgotten to plant clues, I might scroll back and post a reminder comment at the beginning of several different chapters that says: “Plant that Ralph is the bad guy.” If I’ve written a horrible sentence and catch myself agonizing over trying to fix it and getting frustrated that it’s taking so long, I’ll highlight it. If I get stuck trying to write a fabulous and unique character description, I’ll post a note that says: “Describe him better.”
All those notes and marks are to remind me of things when I come back to rewrite. I will see my note, and at that point I will either delete it, if it’s no longer relevant now that the story is complete, or I’ll do what the note says. Either way, I saved myself lots of time in the first draft stage.
4. If you get stuck, skip that scene and keep writing until you get your daily word count done. Then you can brainstorm your way through that troublesome scene or ask some friends for help and you won’t totally derail yourself from your writing goals. I get great brainstorming done while I’m cleaning or driving.
5. Stay offline! If you need to research something, refer to point 4. Get your word count in first, research later. Going online is a very dangerous move. There are just too many distractions. You’ll tell yourself, “Ooh. I’m just going to comment on that one discussion.” And the next thing you know, it’s time for dinner and you’ve done nothing all day!
6. Get a writing buddy or even someone who will hold you accountable. For THIRST, my readers hold me in check because if I don’t get my chapter written, I have nothing to post! It can also help to have a writing friend whom you do goals with and maybe even word wars. Nothing like a little friendly competition to increase motivation.
7. Give yourself a break. Don’t try and write seven days a week. And when you finish a book, take some time off. I sometimes reward myself (Ahem! Bribe myself…) with a special treat after each chapter. The point is, you’re not a slave here. Yes, writing is really hard work, but it’s also supposed to be fun.
Archived Posts on Writing Fast or Finishing First Drafts
The point to remember is, first drafts aren’t supposed to be perfect. Give yourself permission to stink. Have fun. But get that first draft done! We’ve talked about first drafts and writing fast before on Go Teen Writers. Here are a few archived posts that you might find inspirational.
Let Yourself Write Bad First Drafts
The Joy of Writing Fast
5 Tips for Finishing Your First Draft
How Long Should My First Draft Take?
Roll Up Your Sleeves, It’s Time for the First Draft
Assignment Time
My goal for THIRST was to post one chapter a week, and I have my blog to hold me accountable. I refuse to fail! I will post one new chapter a week, no matter what. But I can’t do that with King’s Blood, so I have a one-chapter-a-day goal for that book, which I sometimes fail when the chapter is particularly challenging. How have you been doing at keeping up with your goals? Are you on track to finish as planned? Do you need to readjust? If so, do it. When I’m feeling behind, it always helps me to re-evaluate my daily word count goals and get my writing calendar organized again. Then I’m ready to tackle the new plan.
And if you’ve been stuck rewriting too much, stop and just keep moving forward. Leave yourself comment notes or highlight things if it helps you stop worrying that you might forget important changes you’ll want to make in rewrites.
So, how is it going? Share in the comments. And let’s encourage each other too!
