The idea of rewarding myself with a sweet treat (choc-coated nuts, to be specific) for every 2000 words is working quite well so far. Now up to 14,000 words. Very fast and bad writing, just chasing that candy, letting things fall as they may. I have a general idea of what’s going to happen, but details of how it happens are working themselves out in the typing.
I had actually written a bad first draft of this novel before, but that time there was no plot. This time there is some plot, so it’s a better bad first draft.
I don’t like writing sloppily — I look at it and wonder nervously how I’m going to rewrite it — but on the other hand, when I try to write well in the first draft, I get caught up in details and things stall. (There’ll be plenty of opportunity to get caught up in details later, I’m sure.)
Having a candy reward is helping me, I think, to ignore the demon of doubt and just put words down. It gives me an immediate, tangible reason to write. I assume I’m dealing with a rather primitive part of my own brain here — but, hey, whatever it takes.
I’m wondering if maybe the rewards of having been a slow and careful writer until now may show themselves. I suspect that your sloppy isn’t nearly as sloppy as you think, in other words. It’s like a singer with good vocal training – you’ve trained your wordbrain very well and now it can do a bunch of things without so much angony. I’m looking forward to seeing the results!
Nah, my fast writing is wreeeetcheeeed! Really. Also, I’ve never written mainstream before, so I’m an absolute beginner in the art of making writing interesting without gunfights and apocalypses and things. After I’ve done this draft I’m going to read over some of my favourite novels and dissect them for how they keep me hooked!
If I can help, hoy me. Preferably not this week, though! (I am having a week from an interesting place in terms of workload.)
I’m very happy and 500 kinds of impressed that this is working for you! I think I would already have eaten all of the nuts if it were me.
Do you find you have to take any additional measures to prevent yourself from slowing down to tweak and fidget? (To get to sloppy, semi-automatic writing, I find I have to be sleep-deprived to the point of feeling drunk, or zoom out the page so much that I can’t actually see what I’m typing, or both.)
Gillian – you are a kind soul to offer help! It’s very much in the ‘word vomit’ stage, so kind of unable to be helped yet — except perhaps by magic, so if you have some of that up your sleeve, please witch away!
Emera – the nuts are somehow perfect for the job. They’re nice enough to be satisfying, but not so nice that I can’t stop eating them. Usually I get all antsy and anxious when I write sloppily (and I’ve never been able to make myself resist the urge to tweak and fidget), but somehow that isn’t happening with this story. That might be because I have no idea of the style or ambience I want for it yet. I’m doing mechanical things, just working out how to stitch happenings and conversations and thoughts together. It’s mainstream, so there’s none of the sense I get when I’m writing fantasy that I have to quite carefully create a stage-set as I go along, or else everything will disappear in a puff of smoke. I don’t have to slow down to describe things for my own benefit — I know I can slot in descriptions later.