On Writing: Willing to Kill
I write a lot of crap. I hope, though, that none of you have ever seen it. :) What I mean is that when I start on an idea, I'm often just writing whatever comes to mind, in a very, very rough draft. Then I go back over it and cut a lot of the crap out and reshape the parts that were fairly decent into something somewhat more decent. I suspect there are a good many writers out there who are able to produce a pretty clean, coherent first draft. That must be a wonderful feeling. Maybe I'll get there one day.
Interestingly enough, it's the cutting phase that I often enjoy the most. Deciding that a scene I quite liked at first just doesn't belong and has to go. It's not always easy to make the cut, but it usually results in a better piece of writing, I think. That's probably one reason I like writing drabbles so much. Being restricted to 100 words forces me to make every single one count, to make every single word be exactly the right word. I wrote drabbles for a long time before I started writing longer fics, and I think the discipline they demanded very much influences my writing now -- just not so much when I'm writing a first draft.
How crappy are your first drafts?
Someone sent me an interview segment by Ira Glass, the host of public radio's This American Life, which, if you're not familiar with the show and you like stories, you should definitely check out. He talks about how hard it is to find a good story, how you have to fail a lot in order to succeed, and how you have to be to willing to kill. Great segment, relevant no matter what your chosen form of creative expression. Here, take a look:
I just noticed that there are several additional segments to this interview. I haven't watched them yet, but I bet they're just as good.
Now I am off to hd_worldcup in an effort to recover from stupidly-hectic day number 3.
Interestingly enough, it's the cutting phase that I often enjoy the most. Deciding that a scene I quite liked at first just doesn't belong and has to go. It's not always easy to make the cut, but it usually results in a better piece of writing, I think. That's probably one reason I like writing drabbles so much. Being restricted to 100 words forces me to make every single one count, to make every single word be exactly the right word. I wrote drabbles for a long time before I started writing longer fics, and I think the discipline they demanded very much influences my writing now -- just not so much when I'm writing a first draft.
How crappy are your first drafts?
Someone sent me an interview segment by Ira Glass, the host of public radio's This American Life, which, if you're not familiar with the show and you like stories, you should definitely check out. He talks about how hard it is to find a good story, how you have to fail a lot in order to succeed, and how you have to be to willing to kill. Great segment, relevant no matter what your chosen form of creative expression. Here, take a look:
Click to viewI just noticed that there are several additional segments to this interview. I haven't watched them yet, but I bet they're just as good.
Now I am off to hd_worldcup in an effort to recover from stupidly-hectic day number 3.