CYD 2012 : Author Advice with Sheila A. Nielson : The Rough Draft
We're past the halfway point of our Complete Your Draft Challenge. I hope that everyone is writing up a storm. Today, I'm excited to have Sheila A Nielson on my LJ to tell us how she works on her draft.
When I first get an idea for a story it comes over me like a wave washing over my mind, drenching it with so many ideas I scramble about hardly able to catch them all. Day or night, creative inspiration doesn’t keep to a reasonable schedule. I have a notebook by my bedside so when those fantastic three o’clock AM ideas come to me, I can write them down and not forget them by morning. When I’m at work at the library, I write my ideas on those little pieces of paper they provide for writing down the decimal number of a book. There are days I come home with my pockets filled to overflowing with little scraps of paper, each one with a bit of dialog or description scribbled on it. When I get time, I transfer these ideas into my laptop as I create an outline for the story. My outlines are pretty loose ones, where I write down descriptions of ideas and notes for scenes and fit them together like a puzzle until they distantly resemble a complete story. I will not begin serious writing on an idea until it has a beginning, middle, and end. Often I will work on several outlines at once, adding to them here and there until one of them is ready for the next step-the rough draft.
A plot outline is like a recipe that must have ingredients carefully added to it at the right moments. When trying to figure out what ingredients should go into my story’s plot, I will play the “What If “game with myself. As I began my novel, Forbidden Sea, I asked myself, “What if a very powerful mermaid tried to steal away a young girl and her older sister got in the mermaid’s way? What would the older sister do to try and stop the mermaid from taking the little girl? How would the mermaid react to this interference? This line of questioning led my plot outline along as I wrote down the answers. A good story doesn’t have just one ingredient, however. Often a main plot will have several other smaller side stories going on at the same time, helping enriching the story. A writer can use the “What If” game to add these side stories to their plot as well. What if the older sister in my story has a crush on her best friend, but he doesn’t know it yet? How does this affect their relationship? Is she going to feel comfortable telling him about her run-in with the mermaid if their relationship is strained? I usually try to pick side stories that will enhance the main plot and not distract from it. For example, if I were to allow a giant dragon to come out of nowhere and attack the whole island in my story, the mermaid and her plot would quickly lose all importance. Dragons have a way of taking over everything. That’s why there are no dragons in Forbidden Sea.
Once my outline is developed into a complete story with enough ingredients, I begin work on my rough draft. Every time I begin a new story I have to remind myself that a rough draft is merely a skeleton of what my story will become. The writing will be shoddy at first, the characters will be flat at times, my dialog will often be corny, and my sense of place nonexistent. For me, a rough draft is simply an even more detailed outline of what I want my book to be someday. I write and move on-forcing myself not to rework too much. When I was still an inexperienced writer, I would often write the first chapter of a book and then spend all my time working and reworking that chapter before moving on to chapter two. I’d be sick of the story in no time and never finish writing anything. I finally had to make a rule for myself. I was NOT allowed to go back and fiddle with any of the writing in my story until the whole first draft was complete. Only after I began following this rule did I find myself actually completing books. While writing a rough draft, allow yourself the luxury of not worrying about how to make your story perfect the first time around. Simply enjoy the creative process and let the ideas flow freely. You can always get rid of that horrible chapter three and switch out chapters four and five later in the process. For now, let them be and keep writing.
All rough drafts are garbage at first. There is no shame in it. Embrace your horrible writing and finish the story anyway. The answer to the problem in my first chapter might present itself to me as I write the fifteenth chapter. A rough draft is not set in stone-it is as malleable as clay-ready to be reworked. If one scene isn’t working, try it a completely different way, just to mix things up. That’s what makes the first draft so much fun-you don’t have to follow any rules. I love trying outrageous things to see how my characters will react. This helps me get to know them better and gets my creative juices flowing. I can always get rid of the stuff that is not working later.
Writing the rough draft is my favorite part of writing a manuscript. It helps me get my story back to the place it needs to be-out of my head and onto the written page.
Sheila A Nielson never did figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up. She graduated from college with a BFA in illustration, have worked as a children's librarian for over twelve years and would eventually like to be a full-time author. She lives with her pets, a parrot and a tiny toy poodle. She was born and raised in California but have come to also love Utah where she now live. She still misses California's beaches, though. Her hobbies include anything non life threatening and not too expensive. FORBIDDEN SEA is her first book. You can find out more about Sheila at her website
Don't forget annemariewrites has more helpful tips on Monday and on Tuesday, I'll be hosting Kim Baccellia author of CROSSED OUT and EARRINGS OF IXUMEA when she gives us an insight on how reviewing impacts her own writing.