Monday, August 1, 2011

The Ebbs and Flows of the First Draft


I’m moody. It’s the first step: admitting you have a problem. I’m not in denial by a long shot. And I’ll take it a step further and admit that this moodiness transfers to my writing as well. That darn first draft will do it to anyone, but with a moody person like me, well, it’s like I’m on a crazy roller coaster and the only way to stop the many ups and downs is to finish the stinkin’ ride. Comparing a first draft to a roller coaster ride is only partially telling, since a roller coaster ride consists of a set amount of time that has a start and an end. But when writing a first draft, it feels like the ups and downs are constant and never-ending. This is why I like to compare the first draft’s ups and downs to the ocean tide with its constant ebbs and flows.

The Flows: There are times when the writing world is beautiful and things are humming along. The ideas come without even asking them to, and I feel like the keyboard is the most welcoming conduit between my brain and the natural telling of the story. I’m happy as a clam when I’m in this kind of groove, and I’m loving all things writing.

The Ebbs: Then there are times when everything sucks and the words are forced. Nothing rings true, my voice is inconsistent and flat, and my characters won’t speak to me. I’m the most irritable person in the world when this happens and I feel like I can’t write at all. That hairy monster, Mr. Doubt, has replaced me at the keyboard and is laughing at me. 


So you’d think someone who recognizes these ups and downs would be more comfortable when they surface and have a plan of attack for dealing with them. Right? Um...kinda. What I mean is, I have tried so very hard to tell myself “this too shall pass” when I’m up against an ebb, and it helps to a certain extent, but what I’ve found helps a bit more is to stop writing—period—and go back to something else I’ve written that is 100% polished. It builds my confidence back to where it needs to be, and then I find that if I go back to that point in my first draft where the ebb occurred, the ebb subsides and I get back into the flow. Don’t get me wrong, the ebbs still stink like fish left out in the blazing sun for a week. But it’s good to have a method to help get back in the flow.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I’m in the middle of a first draft at the moment, so I’d be happy to add your strategy to my arsenal because I’m sure I’ll face a few more ebbs before I’m finished. So, tell me, what do you do to help avoid, or get out of, the many ebbs of the first draft?

8 comments:

  1. Michael, thanks for your concise post. Mr. Doubt takes up residence in all of our heads at some point. I just walk away from my m/s when this happens. In fact, recently I put the whole thing in a shoebox and shelved it.Notes, storyboard and all! A few workouts, walks and movies with the family later, the Ebb diminished and I was able to finish. The strategy seems force the cream to the top. I needed to relax and when I did, solid ideas just seemed to appear to carry the story forward.

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  2. Doing chores, workouts, working on something completely different, free-writing ... though I'm not published, so who knows how effective this is lol.

    I LOVE the comparison to the tide. A roller coaster can be predictable--you can look ahead and see what is coming. As with the tide and mother-nature, well, she can be unpredictable and surprising.

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  3. Tony and Jenny: Yes, time away doing other things helps, to an extent. But I'm one of those "sit-down-and-get-it-done-without-stopping-for-more-than-a-few-minutes-to-take-care-of-the-daily-essentials-keep-going-keep-going-kind-of-like-this-long-hyphenated-phrase-symbolizes" kind of person. I know, it's a flaw I need to work on (like my moodiness).

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  4. I take some time to read a few chapters of a favorite book. It's amazing how that can inspire me to go back to even something as awful as my first drafts.

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  5. Dee: Yeah, I do that too and you're right, it does help. Thanks.

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  6. I think saying "this too shall pass" sometimes is the hardest thing to hear, especially coming from yourself... but it's completely true. It will pass. We just need to keep remembering that. :)

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  7. Gosh, Michael, I thought I was the only one who was well acquainted with Mr. Doubt! ;) I'm waiting for my agent to get back to me on a new MS and Mr. Doubt has stopped by along with his jerk of a cousin, Ms. Impatient!

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  8. I've only ever "finished" a draft of one novel, so it's hard for me to have much to compare to, but I think this sounds a lot like what I went through.

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!