YOU GUYS! Today is the very last day of our 2018 Summer Panels! What a whirlwind we’ve had with so many fantastic authors who gave selflessly of their time to share with us. I hope you’ll find them on the web and give them a big thank you.
Which brings me to our last panelist, Kim Culbertson. Hasn’t she been wonderful this week? Here are a few places you can find her online. Please search her out and show some gratitude her for all she’s given us.
Next week, the Go Teen Writers blog will be closed as Jill, Steph and I finish our preparations for fall and the final lap of our Grow An Author series. We’ll be diving into mushy middles and working our way to a book’s ending. I hope you’ll join us.
But today, we’re going to finish these panels with panache. Here’s our final panel question:
Kim: I struggle with first drafts. There is nothing quite as daunting as the blank page. During that first draft, I never really know yet what the book is about and I don’t know my characters yet – not deeply. So I love editing (which is a form of drafting – second drafts, third drafts). For me, revising is the best part of the process. I most love that middle place – where I have a couple of drafts but I’m still discovering things, I’m still unraveling the mystery of this particular book. The early draft and then the picky later phases of editing are my least favorite parts.
Steph: Ha. Whichever one I’m not doing, usually. In general, I think I find editing more fulfilling, but when I’m agonizing over word choices and sentence structure, I fondly remember those times when I’m writing my first draft and thinking, “That’s good enough. I’ll fix it in edits!”
Jill: If I had to pick between drafting or editing, I choose editing. I love making a book better, but it can be a real struggle to get that messy first draft done. In all honesty, though, my very favorite part of the writing process is the brainstorming/worldbuilding stage. I love creating characters, drawing my map, coming up with different cultures and histories for each. It’s all dreaming, and the story can do no wrong at that point. Sure, it will reach the first draft stage at some point, in which I want to throw it in the trash, but during the brainstorming stage, it’s nothing but fun.
Shan: EDITING! I like having the story in place and working to improve on what’s there. Although, there’s a lot of truth in what Steph says. We often look fondly at the phase that isn’t currently sucking the life out of us. I do want to point out something important here. Kim refers to editing as a form of drafting which isn’t something I’ve actually considered before, but it makes perfect sense and serves to teach us this: we all use similar words when we’re discussing the craft of writing, but those words can have different meanings to each of us. When you’re trying to understand someone’s process, you might have to set aside some of your own preconceived notions and hear the heart of what they’re saying.