This last month of writing has been about stepping back and taking a look at what I have written from a different point of view. I have been reading over what I have written, a practice I try not to do until five or six chapters in, that way I am too invested to throw the whole thing away.
At this point, my work in progress is like a tiny baby bird fumbling around, doesn’t quite have its feathers yet, but I love its little naked ugliness and want to nurture and protect it. I want to see what it will become when it grows up.
That means that while re-reading, I am not so much editing, but looking at how palpable my characters are. I’m deciding on if I can feel, taste, see and smell where the words are guiding me. Is my writing lazy in the fact that they are words on paper rather than an experience for the reader? Because, heck, that’s what its all about right? The experience. I want to be completely captivated when I read. So, is my writing captivating to others?
Its important to stop every once in a while, and decide if what you have written is worth reading. Weather it be the last sentence, the last paragraph or even the last word. I’m not talking about the concept, but the actual words themselves. I don’t want to know her hair is brown, I want to feel the softness of it, see it change colors in the sunlight after a swim in a lake.
To me what this looks like is a note scribbled in a corner: Beef this up! Or You can do better than this! And Description please! With an arrow to said circle/underlined area. I don’t re-write the whole thing right this second, but I let it sit in my mind and at the back of my mouth until it is time for the second draft. The, Get Down To Business draft. Remember, this first draft is all about getting it out on paper. Let the words fly, and I don’t want to hinder that process, I just want to be fully aware and in tune with my writing. Only then will I be able to nurture it correctly.
Tell me friend, what does your process look like?
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