Friday, January 7, 2011

Writing Advice

No, not from me to you. At this point I'd be the last person to take writing advice from. I just wanted to share some advice I read in two different places last month that really stuck with me. Here it is.

Don't be afraid to write a crappy first draft. You can always go back and clean it up later, but you can't fix a blank screen.

Seems pretty obvious, right? I think I was finally ready to really hear it last month. I've been yelling at myself to finish a wip, any wip, for the past year, but for one reason or another it didn't get done. I'm not sure if this advice will help with that endeavor, but it's really resonating with me.

I was getting in my own way whenever I found the time to write last year. This year I'm going to make a concerted effort to turn off the nay-saying voice that drones in my head as I write, and just get the story out.

Easier said than done, in my case. But I'll give it a shot. Though at this point the nay-saying voice turns into Yoda.



So, is there any writing advice that you heard when you were actually ready to hear it? Or maybe some advice that really stuck with you. I'd love to know what it was.

3 comments:

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I started following the 'get the crappy first draft done before editing' a few years ago and it really helped my output for completed projects.
Go to it and finish one of those you have started.

M.J. Fifield said...

I've been trying to follow that advice since I first experimented with NaNoWriMo. It is much easier said than done but you're right...it's much easier to fix a crappy first draft than a blank screen.

Good luck...

Ava Quinn said...

Thanks, guys!

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