"Books are not written—they're rewritten."— Michael Crichton
"Good writing is essentially rewriting."— Roald Dahl
"I have never thought of myself as a good writer. . . . But I’m one of the world’s great rewriters."— James Michener
"I have rewritten — often several times — every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers."— Vladimir Nabokov
"I can’t understand how anyone can write without rewriting everything over and over again."— Leo Tolstoy
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
NaNoWriMo!
Ahh tis October which means that I'm getting excited for NaNoWriMo again. I have "participated" the last three years, but by participate I mean I have 1) Always done it in October instead of November since I usually get so excited that I start a month early and 2) Never completed the 50k word goal in the set period of time. I think the most I've done is 35k during the NaNoWriMo month. The first part of my novel, Drunk, was completed during NaNoWriMo last year. This year I'm hoping to complete either the story bouncing around in my head or the sequel (or prequel) to Drunk which I've loosely named Haunted House. Yes, my titles are horrid. I've told you this before.
Who else will be participating this year? Have you completed the 50k goal? Do you find the NaNoWriMo "quantity over quality" style to be helpful or distracting? For me, it's been extremely helpful. Get it all out there, get the rough draft of the story done, and you can go back later and make it better. Getting it out is the most important part, I've learned. It shouldn't be that difficult but completing a story seems to be one of the hardest parts of writing for not just myself, but other writers I've spoken to. For me there are three difficult stages of my writing. The first is after that initial bout of explosive writing is complete, when I've been going hellbent on a story and then I hit a hitch, my energy fades, or something distracts me. It's hard to go creatively from 0 to 60 then back to nothing. You push on but you start doubting the story and your writing- is it even worth it to continue on?
The second bump in the road to writing is when your story hits a hitch. It took me a very long time to figure out that when this happens, I need to delete the last few pages (or last few scenes) and start over. Hardest thing for me to do but it always works. I finally learned that with Drunk. The third hitch, and for me so far the hardest, is finishing the goddamn story! 3/4ths of the way through I stop writing. Why is this? Has my storyline hit a hitch? Can I not think up a valid ending? Am I scared to end it and have to start on the editing process. What is it? Sometimes it's one of these things, sometimes it's all, but it's still the hardest part. Finishing my first novel has helped tremendously with this. It may seem strange but now I know I truly CAN DO IT! I can write a goddamn novel and it may not be good but at least it's out of my head and down on (electronic) paper. That feeling of success was one of the best feelings in the world.
But then the editing starts...
Who else will be participating this year? Have you completed the 50k goal? Do you find the NaNoWriMo "quantity over quality" style to be helpful or distracting? For me, it's been extremely helpful. Get it all out there, get the rough draft of the story done, and you can go back later and make it better. Getting it out is the most important part, I've learned. It shouldn't be that difficult but completing a story seems to be one of the hardest parts of writing for not just myself, but other writers I've spoken to. For me there are three difficult stages of my writing. The first is after that initial bout of explosive writing is complete, when I've been going hellbent on a story and then I hit a hitch, my energy fades, or something distracts me. It's hard to go creatively from 0 to 60 then back to nothing. You push on but you start doubting the story and your writing- is it even worth it to continue on?
The second bump in the road to writing is when your story hits a hitch. It took me a very long time to figure out that when this happens, I need to delete the last few pages (or last few scenes) and start over. Hardest thing for me to do but it always works. I finally learned that with Drunk. The third hitch, and for me so far the hardest, is finishing the goddamn story! 3/4ths of the way through I stop writing. Why is this? Has my storyline hit a hitch? Can I not think up a valid ending? Am I scared to end it and have to start on the editing process. What is it? Sometimes it's one of these things, sometimes it's all, but it's still the hardest part. Finishing my first novel has helped tremendously with this. It may seem strange but now I know I truly CAN DO IT! I can write a goddamn novel and it may not be good but at least it's out of my head and down on (electronic) paper. That feeling of success was one of the best feelings in the world.
But then the editing starts...
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