Comments on: Publisher’s Clearing House http://www.timvansant.com/otoh/2009/10/19/publishers-clearing-house/ ~Tim blathers, prints, repeats.... Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:52:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: the fool http://www.timvansant.com/otoh/2009/10/19/publishers-clearing-house/comment-page-1/#comment-6453 the fool Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:28:33 +0000 http://www.timvansant.com/otoh/?p=1734#comment-6453 Here's a little secret about novelists. When you read the first sentence of a novel, you have as much idea where the story's going as the author did when he wrote it. The first draft, per Anne Lamott, is sh*t (except she didn't use an asterisk). The first draft is about creating the story, and nothing more. The hardest part about a first draft is banishing your internal editor, that guy inside that makes you want to go back and make changes here and there to spice up the story. When the editor tries to add his thoughts, he distracts from the task at hand. That's why I've found Nanowrimo to be so effective. It doesn't give the editor time to try to interfere. It's a series of daily sprints to the finish line, and the only thing that happens is the story gets told. It's not that hard to slam out 2,000 - 3,000 words per day when you don't look back at where you've been. Second drafts are for adding the flowery language, creating dialogue, and making it spectacular. <em>I'm </em>almost<em> convinced, but I'm still not sure that's the challenge I want right now. Thanks for the insight though! ~Tim</em> Here’s a little secret about novelists. When you read the first sentence of a novel, you have as much idea where the story’s going as the author did when he wrote it.

The first draft, per Anne Lamott, is sh*t (except she didn’t use an asterisk). The first draft is about creating the story, and nothing more. The hardest part about a first draft is banishing your internal editor, that guy inside that makes you want to go back and make changes here and there to spice up the story. When the editor tries to add his thoughts, he distracts from the task at hand.

That’s why I’ve found Nanowrimo to be so effective. It doesn’t give the editor time to try to interfere. It’s a series of daily sprints to the finish line, and the only thing that happens is the story gets told. It’s not that hard to slam out 2,000 – 3,000 words per day when you don’t look back at where you’ve been.

Second drafts are for adding the flowery language, creating dialogue, and making it spectacular.

I’m almost convinced, but I’m still not sure that’s the challenge I want right now. Thanks for the insight though! ~Tim

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