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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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The fast first draft: reflections on my non-NaNo project

18/1/2015

36 Comments

 
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I write to satisfy a difficult-to-pin-down need deep within my psyche, but writing is tough, and publication tougher and, at this stage of my life, I want to prioritise activities that bring me some satisfaction. Before I came out as a writer, I would scribble intermittently and intensively, emotionally-laden narratives that left me demoralised and deflated. About twelve years ago, I enrolled on an online short story course which enabled me to begin the arduous process of learning how to share and edit my words. Although I’m now in the joyful position of having one novel accepted for publication and another doing the rounds, somewhat less joyfully I have several unfinished novel projects and I can’t say I really know how one goes about the process of getting from idea to finished product.

Winter being the best time for me to get some serious writing done, as the days grew shorter last year, I was excited when a new idea took shape in my mind. But I didn’t want to make the same mistake as the year before and end up losing interest at around 30,000 words. (I might write a post one day on deciding to abandon a project, although Emma Darwin has done this better than I ever could on her wonderful blog This Itch of Writing.) Hitherto suspicious of NaNoWriMo, I thought I’d make use of its slipstream to knuckle down to my project, albeit with a less ambitious target of an average of 1000 words a day.

Have I achieved my goal?

With little more than three character sketches and a strong suspicion of the ending, I met my target of 30,000 words in November with enough enthusiasm to keep going a little longer. Now, after 73 days (from 1 November to 16 January), I’ve taken my three main characters from their tentative beginnings to the catastrophic climax in 79351 words, while still writing book reviews and responding to my publisher’s initial edits of Sugar and Snails. But I’ve got a plot with more holes than a colander, characters that keep changing their biographies and settings as blank as a naked canvas.

What helped?

Linking myself to the nether edges of NaNo for the first month certainly enhanced my motivation, cheered on by virtual coffee from Charli Mills. But the game changer was a post by Naomi Frisby on word counts, in which she mentioned two strategies she’d found helpful: one was seeing how many words she could write in an hour, and the other was relabelling the fast writing as the draft that precedes the first draft. Having previously perceived myself as a slow writer, both techniques helped me to get the words down. Much to my surprise, I found that, on some days, if I limbered up properly and didn’t go overboard on dialogue, I could plough through my 1000 words – and more, as I grew accustomed to the method – in that single hour. Also, if you know you’re writing crap, it does silence – or at least quieten – those voices that slow the pace by telling you you’re writing rubbish.

Am I a convert to the fast first draft?

Of course, it’s too early to say. One of the things I enjoy about writing more slowly is how the story develops through idle moments in the spaces between writing sessions. So I definitely missed arriving at my desk brimming with excitement at the scene already established in my head, almost ready to write itself. But I discovered a different kind of excitement as my writing hour approached, curious as to what I’d discover, and a certain satisfaction as the word count mounted across that hour. As Philip Teir said in a debut novelist Q&A on this site:

you just have to sit down and write. Get the work done. This is often said but it’s true: don’t wait for inspiration, the inspiration comes – if it comes – as you are writing.

Yet, despite the mounting numbers, I also found myself from time to time despairing at their quality, with unpleasant reminders of my early attempts at fiction when I had no idea how far I had to go. Being a natural hoarder, the notion of throw-away pages and paragraphs, and writing as inherently wasteful, still sits slightly uncomfortably with me. But it definitely got easier over time and I don’t think a month of NaNo would have been long enough to see if it could work for me.

What now?

The real test of the method, however, has to be what happens next. Certainly, I haven’t lost interest in this story but I’ll be glad of a break before reading through what I’ve written to decide what to take forward into the next (or first real) draft. Whether to try and move as rapidly through that, I’m not sure. And the overall goal has to be quality, not speed.

I’ve felt quite bereft since ending the project that has kept me company for over ten weeks so, when it came to my response to Charli’s latest flash fiction challenge (from the beautifully revamped Carrot Ranch website) to write a lifespan, I’ve made a vain attempt to describe the process in those now familiar 99-words:

A tiny seed, at first unnoticed, blossoms in my mind. I watch, awestruck, as characters and settings crowd my head. Words spill onto the page as if from a bottomless pot.

My characters play hide and seek with me, switching identities and desires. My hero is too timid to embark on his quest. I write through their stubbornness like I’m breaking in a horse.

Some days, words stumble. Some days they flow. I try to rein them in as they quickstep towards the end. Triumph, relief, sadness that it’s done. Now I’ll rest; the cycle starts again next week.
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On the day I finished, my publisher sent through the edits of Sugar and Snails, so I won’t be resting for a long! I’m expecting the first mock-up of the cover soon, also, but, in the meantime, I’m delighted with this version generously created by
Lori Schafer. A bit literal, of course, but it certainly made me smile. And, while I’m not even an expert on the snails in my garden, I do know that, while they might move slowly, they do cover quite a lot of ground.

Have you tried fast writing and, if so, does it work for you?


Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
36 Comments
Irene Waters link
17/1/2015 01:30:22 pm

This was very interesting Anne. I don't think I have really understood what is the idea of the NaNoWriMo until reading this. Your flash reinforces your reflection on this process. The sadness is the emotion that always hits me by surprise as I always thought I would be elated at the finish but not so.
When it comes to fast writing I probably do this although I call it a first draft. It will be full of grammatical errors and need some word rearranging (the amount of which is improving the more I do). Then I do around three edits. I think I work like you described where you think about it during the preceding period and know what you are going to write. Of course mine is easier than fiction as I don't have to give characters personality, physicality etc and my time line and plot has already been decided. I will tell you in a year or so how my writing technique is affected by writing a longer piece on something other than memoir.

Reply
Annecdotist
19/1/2015 08:34:05 am

Glad you connected with this, Irene. Sounds as if you have your process fairly well sussed, at least for memoir writing. I'm not sure fiction is necessarily harder than memoir because of course we have the option of making things up to fill in the gaps in our knowledge.
The sadness is strange, isn't it? I'd understand it more if it was the final draft, but I seem to get it every time. And yet I really love bringing things together (or not) at the conclusion. Even when I decide to change my endings, I still like them. I wonder what the sadness will be like when our books are actually published.

Reply
Irene Waters link
21/1/2015 03:50:19 am

Anne, I think that will be pure, unadulterated joy.

Annecdotist
22/1/2015 09:22:23 am

I hope so, Irene!

Charli Mills link
17/1/2015 01:55:32 pm

Steady and you got it done! Not sure I agree with something like a pre-draft. Just because it is not planned or is free-writing doesn't mean the finished work isn't a draft. My writing gets stilted when it's planned and I struggle to keep my voice in revisions, so I believe my writing is strongest in that first draft. I'm trying to learn how to revise to improve upon it. I do use my story board, but that has more to do with organizing than writing. You have to have material before you can use the board effectively. Love you process flash! Brilliant. You are doing splendidly, Anne.

I just made my first submission of my manuscript yesterday and I'm blown away by how depressed I feel. Wasn't expecting this. I guess this is my day to stumble. :-)

Reply
geoff link
17/1/2015 03:00:15 pm

no worries Charli; it's like your child's first day at school, always depressing to think of someone else going to input into and comment on your project

Reply
Charli Mills
18/1/2015 11:49:07 am

Thanks Geoff. Makes me feel better for having sat in a corner and cried. Got my Big Girl Writing panties on today.

Annecdotist
19/1/2015 08:36:11 am

I agree, even never having sent a child to school, it's exactly like that. But doesn't explain my sadness when I'm not even handing it over to someone else.
Glad you're feeling better today, Charli.

Annecdotist
19/1/2015 08:45:29 am

Interesting, Charli, that you should find your best writing in your first drafts, although perhaps not surprising given the beautiful prose of the blog posts and the passages you shared from your WIP. I can see how it then makes it hard to edit. I do also find my prose gets too stilted if I over plan, or plan much at all, but I do hope I'll be in a position to write an outline from this draft to go onto the next. I do take your point about acknowledging it as a real draft, but thinking it wasn't was my only way of not over worrying the writing and feeling committed to discarding this one and starting again afresh with the next.

Reply
geoff link
17/1/2015 03:05:00 pm

V interesting musings Anne. The flash, btw captures this perfectly. For me, like Charli, a draft is a draft is a draft but if fooling (sorry, wrong word but better than the next choice, deluding !) yourself gets it done, good on you. I think my approach has changed. Early on I wrote to a finish, pretty fast (first drafts 3-5 months). Now I have 3 works between a half and two thirds done, all produced quickly but finishing is becoming a challenge as I revise existing works to get them in a state to publish. Part of this is having too much potential time and not enough actual. I need to decide on a strategy for writing and I'm not there yet. I'm not good at planning and for once I think I need to be.

Reply
Charli Mills
18/1/2015 11:43:40 am

Dear Diary: today Geoff noted he might need a plan. :-D

Reply
Geoff link
21/1/2015 07:57:57 am

You've worked your insidious magic on me Charli...

Annecdotist
19/1/2015 08:49:56 am

Thanks, Geoff, and fooling is fine! I suppose the more novel projects you have, the more complex it gets, deciding where your priorities lie at any particular point in time. While it's satisfying (or, as I said, saddening) to finish it might not always be the best thing for that particular project. I wonder if you've tried something like Charli's project management plan?

Reply
Geoff link
21/1/2015 07:59:47 am

I have tried to plan but it never works. Simply stated I plan say four chapters ahead and after two at most I'm off in a different direction. No discipline

Annecdotist
22/1/2015 09:25:08 am

Geoff, you might find kindred spirit in Peyton Marshall
http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/peyton-marshall.html
She makes plans and then does the opposite.

Julie Stock link
18/1/2015 12:31:43 am

Hi Anne, I read your post with interest because I wrote my second book during NaNo 2013. I wrote 50,000 words then during the month and I felt like my fingers were on fire. Early last year, I came back to it and realised that it wasn't quite the story I'd vaguely outlined before November but I decided to go with it and brought it up to 80,000.

Now that I'm about to self-publish my 1st book, I really need to get on with the second but I feel so daunted by the fact that it's not the right story. So for me, I can do the fast writing it seems but I really get stuck in the rewriting. It took me 2 years to sort out the first one and I don't want to do that again, although, look, here we are in 2015, 2 years after I started writing book 2! I didn't do NaNo last year because I knew I'd do the same thing. I think I will have to be very systematic about the way I go about rewriting from here if I want to salvage the story I've written and make it into something good.

In summary then, for me, fast writing can only work with a detailed outline of what I want to write by my side to guide me and I'm hoping that I can do that at NaNo 2015 with book 3 :)

Reply
Annecdotist
19/1/2015 08:56:15 am

Glad it chimed with you, Julie. I'm actually really impressed that you got your debut novel ready for publication in two years! It's a fabulous achievement because, of course, you're not just writing that particular novel but at the very beginning of a process of learning how to write a novel at all. I started Sugar and Snails in October 2008 and it's out next July! I did write another novel in between drafts, but it's still a long time. Wishing you all the best with yours.

Reply
Pat Cummings link
18/1/2015 10:43:20 am

Anne, when your characters are hiding and refusing to do as they're told, you can always do what I do: threaten to kill them off!

In three (incomplete) novels, I have drowned, immolated and frozen 8 minor and 3 major characters and simply vanished dozens more. I believe that's why I love writing supernatural/horror stuff so much.

I also know what you mean about the pain of releasing that novel for publication. I think that's why I'm still "editing" my first two novels. Just as you set a goal for writing, you set a goal for editing and a deadline for publishing, then do your utmost to meet it!

At least that's my story this year...

Reply
Annecdotist
19/1/2015 09:01:22 am

That does sound fun, Pat, although I enjoy the times when my characters won't do what I want to but do something much more interesting instead.
I do set myself some goals but I try to keep them fairly flexible not overly ambitious as things always end up needing more time than I expect. But yes, sometimes we just have to let go.

Reply
Jeanne Lombardo
18/1/2015 11:59:51 am

Resonated with all that you said here Anne. Tried NaNoWritMo for the first time this last year but fell off in the second week when a couple of crises hit. Still, my problem is not getting the first 30,000 words down. That seems to come, if not painlessly, at least in a great burst. It's figuring out where to take the story, or with memoir projects, how to angle it. There is probably fear underneath it all: fear that it is boring; fear that I am not being honest; fear that people close to me will hate me when I am honest; uncertainty about how to work with the material at hand and fill in the blanks. So, I will remember your comments here--the permission to just write rubbish if that is what comes out in a day--and plug ahead. Since the New Year I gave myself the modest goal of 500 words a day before I do anything else. Usually I pen 1000 or more, but just knowing I can get through 500 is carrying me on.

Reply
Annecdotist
19/1/2015 09:08:44 am

Thanks, Jeanne, I also know that fear and I imagine it's even more acute with memoir. On the other hand, if you're writing something to be anxious about maybe that's because you're saying something that hasn't been yet been said, not in a particular kind of way.
Have you read Emma Darwin's blog This Itch of Writing? (there's a link in my post but you can easily Google) – she's extremely supportive of those writerly anxieties.
A great idea to give yourself a 500 words a day goal – I'm all for setting the barrier low enough to achieve or surpass it rather than beating ourselves up when we fail to meet overambitious goals. That's why I still don't think of doing the formal NaNo any time soon.

Reply
Jeanne Lombardo link
21/1/2015 10:05:30 am

Thanks very much Anne for the introduction to Emma Darwin and the link to her post on deciding which project to go for when confronted with several ideas clamoring for attention. It definitely spoke to me, and was very timely indeed. Because I am spending time on a project one purpose of which is to help me process a very difficult experience, I veer towards the idea of "potency" right now (which idea is most potent, most potentially dramatic), and I can see how knowing WHY I am choosing this project will help muffle those other voices telling me to think of my possible readers or audience, or to choose something that will stretch me as a writer, etc. Just great. Glad I came back to click on that link.

Annecdotist
22/1/2015 09:27:05 am

Glad it was useful to you, Jeanne.

Norah Colvin link
19/1/2015 03:33:25 am

Hi Anne, I really enjoyed this post and all the above comments. It was great to get that glimpse inside the writerly you and find so much I could identify with. I think it is tough to expose one's fears and processes but you bravely did it and helped the rest of us feel less isolated and insecure.
Your flash well captures the illusions and elusiveness of writing; and while I have not written a lengthy work of fiction I can understand the frustrations that may occur in trying to keep all the threads in high definition.
Like you, I do a lot of composing when my fingers are away from the keyboard. Other times I think that there is no point in thinking about it because the thoughts flow freely through the fingertips. My flash I often compose in my head and transfer the draft quickly onto screen. They can take quite a bit of editing to get them to something I am, partially at least, satisfied with. Other work I tend to sit at the computer and write, editing as I go, and then a number of redrafts and edits after that. Many posts lie languishing, three-quarters finished, waiting for the motivation or opportunity to be resurrected. It will be interesting to see how I go with a longer piece of fiction some day in the unforeseen future. I haven't sent anything unsolicited off to a publisher for a long while. It is a very daunting prospect. Good on you, and best wishes for success. :)

Reply
Annecdotist
19/1/2015 09:16:26 am

Thanks, Norah, I think it's great that you have a range of different of methods to draw on to get your words out there. I wonder if you use them consciously for different projects or if it depends on your state of mind at that particular time? Charli's flash fiction challenge is great for juggling sentences in one's head and then it's always interesting, I find, to get them down on the page and find out how near I am to that 99 word target.

Reply
Tracey Scott-Townsend
19/1/2015 03:49:00 am

This is really interesting, Anne. I love to hear how others approach word counts and personal expectations. I've now come to understand it takes me 2 - 3 years to properly complete a novel, including rewrites and I'd say about five full edits, (see my blog below) http://traceyscotttownsend.com/2015/01/19/interview-with-inspired-quill-on-the-authors-writing-practice/

In between I'll put that novel aside for a while whilst I roughly sketch out another.

I participated in NanoWrimo 2013, during which I wrote the first draft of The Eliza Doll. But I found it left me feeling a bit sick, like eating too much food too quickly. So I put it away and worked on edits of two other novels. Now one of those, Another Rebecca, is about to be released and the other is out with readers.

I returned to The Eliza Doll and I've just finished the fourth full edit, and have gone back to the beginning for the fifth. It's a long, slow process, and feels a bit like balancing plates (I had a brief go at that, years ago!) So you might yet get out your old, unfinished novels and reacquaint yourself with the characters, as I did.

Reply
Annecdotist
19/1/2015 09:23:33 am

Thanks Tracey, this reminds me that, just as many novels aren't linear, nor is the writing process as we move back and forward between different projects at different times. I think 2-3 years and is a pretty good turnover time for a novel.
Interesting that you said NaNo made you feel sick because I think that's how I felt about the project I discarded last year. I'd never say never, but I'm not sure I'd come back to it – I was interested in the topic but I don't think it connected sufficiently with anything I've experienced personally (oh dear, I just thought, maybe it did but it's an area I don't want to think about) for me to be able to write well enough about it. Maybe it's more a novel I'd like to read!
Enjoyed your post and so excited about the countdown to the launch of Another Rebecca – two months is no time at all.

Reply
Lori Schafer link
19/1/2015 09:43:00 pm

I think each writer has to develop his or her own path. I mean, I'm like you - I don't like spitting out junk just to get it down, because inevitably it means I end up having to spend an eternity rewriting long passages, which seems like a waste of time. I tend to prefer to do my big "draft" writing when I'm really feeling it - I can do up to 6,000 pretty decent words on those days. Days when I'm not feeling that ease of creation, I like to go back and edit, which is what I find really helps me figure out where the story is going - and then I don't get burnt out on it by forcing myself to do it all at once. I actually have a hard time understanding how people can complete a rough draft in the first place - I don't think I've ever gotten more than a third of the way through a manuscript before I started re-working it, adding scenes, etc. And also, I've never written a book in order from beginning to end, which I like because I don't get stuck writing filler scenes early on that I may end up having to change when I get to the end and realize they don't work with the story. Anyway, it sounds as though this latest effort helped you to perfect your own method, so I hope we'll see another novel from you soon! :)

Reply
Annecdotist
22/1/2015 09:33:49 am

Wow, Lori, 6000 is a hell of a lot of words!
I'm not sure I'm anywhere near perfecting my method but it was good to learn to do something I never thought I'd be able to do. And I did get through the whole draft without looking back at what I'd written before, with the result that I've contradicted myself several times. I used to find editing the previous day's work was a good way of getting back into the mindset of that particular fictional world it didn't seem necessary this time. All I can say for sure, is there is no right way of doing this business.

Reply
Safia Moore link
21/1/2015 10:17:09 am

As always, a very interesting post, Anne. Yes, I've come to the conclusion that a quickly written first draft is sound practice. I'm a non-stop editor with writing opportunities which seem to have dwindled dramatically in the last few months, so the snatched hour here and there is too precious to waste. I have to slap myself on the wrist to prevent reading over (and therefore editing) the previous session's writing, which of course eats into the time. Did Camp NaNoWriMo in 2013 and found it pretty useful for newbie writers as a means to 'training' oneself, but like you, and I think Tracey above, no nay never no more!

Reply
Annecdotist
22/1/2015 09:36:35 am

Hi, Safia, and sorry your writing opportunities have dwindled recently but hope you're making good use of those snatched hours.
As I said in my reply to Lori, I think editing from the previous session can be useful sometimes, but not if your aim is to get the draft finished.

Reply
Gargi link
21/1/2015 11:53:40 pm

I always like reading other writers’ processes, and looks like you have found one that worked for you, which is always a good thing. I too think of myself as a slow writer, at least for novels. I can churn out a short story in a couple of hours, but for a novel I easily get stuck if I don’t plan.
On a related note, my latest blog post is about the speed of writing:
https://gargimehra.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/writing-the-speed-of-thought/

Reply
Annecdotist
22/1/2015 09:38:23 am

Thanks for sharing, Gargi, and interesting we're blogging on similar subjects at the moment. In fact, I'm heading off to your place right now to read that post.

Reply
Helen link
27/1/2015 01:19:17 am

A bit late to the party, but I *love* fast drafting. The empty page is a massive, overwhelming burden to me, and I can not-start for hours or days on end, but as soon as I'm going, I keep going. And once I've given myself permission to do this, my writing actually comes out better quality than I'd expect it to - I'm so freed up that all the anxiety shifts and I just get on with it.
Also I love editing, whether it's my work or someone else's. If I can get a rough version of something printed out, and a pencil, I'm in clover - there's nothing more satisfying to me than crossings out and interspersions and whole new paragraphs scribbled in tiny writing up the side.

Reply
Annecdotist
27/1/2015 03:03:28 am

Never too late, Helen. It seems like you've got a good system going, with the fast first draft leading to deep editing. I also enjoy editing though it's taken a while to come round to accepting that a cut is a good thing, and coincidentally have just put up a post today that very thing.

Reply
Jeanne Lombardo
27/1/2015 09:08:17 am

Very much resonated with this one! Thanks Helen. Having a bit of a stall these last two days at the 10,000 word mark of my current project. This gave me a boost. And oh yeah, editing, that is skating on smooth ice compared to slogging through the deep drift of a white page.

Reply



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