I'm a descriptive writer, or at least I want to be. I find myself struggling for words on my first drafts. It's almost like my first draft has to be perfect and use vivid imagery. I'd like to write a novel but am afraid it would take forever to finish because of this perfectionism. Do you typically just write what comes to mind on your first draft then revise later and add in the descriptive language?
I'm the same way. I feel like half the time I'm repeating myself with 'I felt like...' or 'My x did xyz...', 'I felt x', etc. I try to write the first draft knowing it's supposed to suck, but my perfectionism still crop up at any given moment.
I'm not a perfectionist in the first draft phase, I let the story come out pretty much the way it wants to. I do almost all my description during revision. In fact, my first drafts are quite naked in that way, they tell the story and not much else. That's why I spend more time on revision than writing it in the first place, but for me this is what works best and I actually like that part of the process. For me revision is almost more creative than first draft writing.
I envy those who can just write and not worry because they know it's only a first draft. I'm another perfectionist, I'm afraid, which is why it takes me about four hours to get 1,000 words down. To answer your question, yes, ideally you would just 'get it down', but nothing is set in concrete. Do what works for you - the end result will still be the same whatever method you use.
Whenever I feel things are a little thin in areas, I write down basically what I want and then when it's time to go back to clarify and polish I have something. But I do need an initial idea down - even a rotten simile or metaphor just to give me some scope on what I was going for and something to build on. Sometime to generate some creative descriptions I delve into some pictures, non fiction and articles to broaden my lingo on my subject or character. For instance if my character is a cook I'd start watching cooking videos, scanning cook books saving images of markets and vegetables and taking notes when I'm eating ( for smells and tastes and textures. ) That way I'm not really straining for anything. Loosen up for your first draft. A writer can always nitpick ( and sometimes never be satisfied ) and it's much better to do it with the second draft when you have something to work with.
That's easier said than done. It's a bit like saying to someone addicted to smoking, just stop smoking.
I know it sounds flip from me, and I'm not always crazy about -just write advice - but I've been there. My first years of writing were spent trying to polish first pages and paragraphs. I have boxes and boxes of it. I had a lot of story ideas ( that I remember clearly ) but no actual first drafts, no stories. The fact is - it's better to have something crappy than nothing at all. Doesn't seem like it now but me - looking back after twenty five years - I wished I hadn't been so tough on myself. Especially since it didn't work - I had/have nothing to show for it.
It takes some willpower, yes, but it's definately doable. After all, the only way to stop doing something is to actually train oneself not to do it.
@OurJud I think for me it was easy because when I first started writing as a hobby as a 14 year old, I had no ambitions what so ever. For me it was just a pastime, a way of daydreaming, so I just wrote from the heart without any worries about how it came out. To me that is probably the best way to start writing. Not with the ambition to Be A Writer, but to do it for ones own pleasure. That is a perfect way to get a relaxed approach to writing and also to learn to write without the awareness of anything like an inner critic.
I have to force myself, but it can be done. I do better just getting the story out, assessing what are the key things that belong, then editing the chapter. If I tried to make a chapter perfect the first go round, like the OP, I'd never finish. I think because I have to see the whole thing before I can properly trim and organize it.
Honestly I usually just write, correct for typos, add or remove an occasional word or two during edit, and that's it.
I haven't written very much, so I can't give you anything based on experience. But personally I'd assume the first draft is going to be very basic. It's extremely unlikely that you are going to write something the first time and be happy with it. Maybe a genius can, but I think even Mozart "composed" his music in his head before he wrote it down, which would be a kind of drafting. What I assume the first draft should do is include all the basic elements, set the scene, show the characters motives, actions, etc. If you treat that first draft as a skeleton and get everything essential in to it, you can add things on in later drafts until it becomes more fully formed. That doesn't mean you might look at the first draft of a scene or a chapter and experiment by writing a separate, entirely new version that does the same thing to see how it "works" to experiment. That would be a logical and methodical approach, accumulating improvements with each draft. Emotionally, I think that approach reduces the risks you take as there is always another draft to improve it and make the process of writing easier. It lowers expectations and the pressure you might put on yourself. However, I suspect I probably wouldn't do this even if it is my own advice (at least not all the time) as I'm not a machine and its probably wrong to expect anyone can behave that way entirely. As inspiration comes in waves and you suddenly get loads of ideas, imagery and play around with words when you are in the right mood. So maybe have a few sheets of paper spare in case an idea or a phrase hits you and you want to write it down.
I think you are right on this one. Perhaps @gina could use bullet points to map out your chapter. Each bullet point should roughly refer to a particular paragraph with Character says X, Character does Y relating to the plot so you know how the story roughly develops. This was a technique I used for writing essays when I was a student, but there is no reason you can't employ the same principle for writing fiction. If you write bullet points for each paragraph should contain, then you can focus on the actual wording of that paragraph.
Writing is a nature process, where ideas come naturally and words come naturally too. Ideas and words flow to the writer's mind just like rain when it flows from the sky to the earth. They just come to the writer's mind naturally. For me, I rarely use the same words twice, neither I introduce the same ideas more than once. Writing is all about creativity. Creativity means coming up with new ideas being described by new words. Instead of repating the same ideas using the same words. That's what writing is all about.
Not really - you need to have a wide enough vocabulary to know when to use the right words. You can certainly use the same words over again as long as you know the effect it's having. You aren't going to get very far without repeating some words.
Yeah, you're thinking too much about it. Less is more. If you're not having fun and are all pent up and worried about it being good then whats the point ? Have fun. Write .. Don't worry
If I'm stuck for words I write the one that I know and then use a thesaurus to give me alternate options. My vocabulary isn't very sophisticated but armed with this tool I manage to do ok, writing wise.
Not exactly. I know many linguists who already have a wide range of vocabulary and know what the right words to use and when to use them, yet they are not good writers. Writing is about inspiration. Reapting the same words is not an issue. However, reapting the same words is uncreativity.
Gotta love a zombie thread XD All in all though, I still think it's a valid thread for those who might have the same issues... if anything, I used to be the same way thinking that I had to have the perfect words on the first go-around, although nowadays I almost operate in the reverse where I can draft out just fine, meanwhile it's revisions where I really take a lot of time turning that 1000-word draft and making it into a 10,000 word one by adding the meat to those basic bones!
It is about where to start the editing process . I know some writers will edit as they write . Some will go back a specific number of words , say 250, and edit the block of text before moving on . Some will press on regardless , to the end, and start over from the beginning. It is in part experience, that will allow you to write with less editing ,and developing a method of writing that you know will work for you . It is hard for beginners, like me , to have the confidence that your writing is OK and stop continually editing . I now realize it probably isn't Ok and no amount of my fiddling is going to improve it . So , now I press on to the end , store it away , to be read and rewrite at a later date.
Then my advice is to read descriptive writers, see how they write. When you see a turn of phrase you particularly like, or a word that's interesting or that just sings to you, remember it, copy it, use it in your own writing in your own way. I did that as a teenager when I was learning. I mean, of course I'm still learning but my writing has of course come very far since then. A friend of mine thinks perhaps my lyrical style is influenced by the fact that one of my earliest influences was the Children's Book of Verse, and I read and reread these poems for many years. I'd read them out loud, hear them in my head. When I'm going about my day, if something is particularly beautiful, I'd stop and think of how I might describe it. When I do describe something, it is often I have a feeling or a mood in mind, and I picture the things that help create that mood. Description isn't about describing every last thing in every last detail - it's about knowing which details to pick out that would make your readers see certain things. If I talk about stained carpets, I don't need to also tell you about the dust in the corners, though I might. If however I put a broken chair with a stained carpet together, your mind might turn to the possibility of domestic abuse or other sort of violence. If I talk about a stained carpet in a sunlit room as a woman revisits her childhood home, you will probably interpret that stained carpet very differently. If I talk about dinner, vs dinner for one, the effect, again, is very different. The detail isn't in your words. It's in your reader's head. Your job is to facilitate their imagination. If readers had wanted to know every last detail of a room, they'd go look at a painting. Description is about mood, not truly the physical appearance of things.
