Does anyone prefer driving on the interstate versus a country highway? If I’m driving hundreds of miles, I prefer going fast as smoothly and uninterrupted as possible. With minimal stops. My husband, on the other hand, likes state highways, driving through towns, seeing the countryside, and even stopping at scenic sights.
To those who prefer county and state highways, sorry to disappoint, but when you’re writing in that fast-draft mode, you want the interstate with fewer interruptions and stops. (Last week’s guest post from Mary A. Felkins focuses on writing in the fast-draft mode as well).
This is especially important when writing the first draft. This is the step where you’re just getting words on paper as efficiently as possible, needing to tap your creativity and let it fly. Otherwise, if you stop and start, editing along the way, you’ll stifle your creative energy and ultimately, your story will suffer.
When we’re writing, we’re listening to the story in our heart, and often from our characters narrating to us. If we stop and start, we might lose our focus and not hear something vital. Or we might break the emotions we’ve felt. Maybe our character is experiencing loss and feeling deep pain, but we stop and start, losing the full impact of what they’re feeling in that moment. We can go back, but sometimes it’s not always at the full impetus we originally experienced.
We lose the momentum of energy created as we get into the rhythm fast-draft mode creates. It’s like driving at the speed limit, but suddenly having to break or quickly slow down because of road construction or an accident ahead. Then you’re driving is at a crawl, your energy is drained, and your progress is stifled. Apply that to your creativity to realize the cost of editing in this mode!
But as Mary, overcoming a wordsmithing addiction, and myself, working through chronic editing (eyeing anything that doesn’t conform to grammatical rules), we struggle in fast-draft mode. Thus, we might need aids to train our minds to just write.
One solution is to blindly write. Write where you can’t see what you’re writing, but just focus on getting words on the page, regardless of misspelled words or grammatical errors. Or poorly worded sentences.
I’ve sat in a writing workshop where the instructor shared that some authors write in a dark closet, unable to see what they’re typing on their computers. Others cover their screens as they write. Whatever they need to do so they can write freely without editing or analyzing.
I’ve tried this and found it works well because you can’t see if you make a typo, if your words are awkward, or if your sentences are run-ons or fragmented. You focus on getting the words on the page. No filtering of your imagination, but letting it run wild and free through the untamed wilderness. You never know what adventures you’ll discover, what deep emotions you’ll tap, or what intriguing plot you’ll uncover.
Skeptical or intrigued? Why not try this out for yourself.
Exercise:
1.) Write a new story. Write at least five hundred words or for fifteen minutes (easier to follow time if you’re writing in a notebook). Just start writing. No outline, plotting, or analyzing a story. Let something come to you as you write.
2.) While you write, cover the screen. If writing in a notebook, sit in a dark room.
3.) Read it out loud without editing. You might be amazed by what you wrote. And how much you wrote. Note: Don’t be put off by the misspelled words, incomplete or run-on sentences, focus on the story itself and the feel the story has.
4.) Write any observations you discovered from this exercise.
My observations from my session:
- Thoughts flow immediately, like water rushing from a broken dam, even though I didn’t have an idea of what I’d write about. As I typed with the screen covered, the story unfolded, rather, the characters did. I discovered that by letting the thoughts flow without restraint, the characters introduced themselves, instead of the other way around. They told me who they are and what they want. And this seemed to breathe life into them that I hadn’t seen in my prior characters.
- I wrote over 600 words in a short time. Normally I’d be spending hours thinking, conceptualizing, and analyzing a story. (I’m not saying this isn’t necessary as you’re preparing to write a novel. Instead, I’m showing that after you’ve prepared what to write and diving into the fast draft mode, just write without editing or analyzing.)
Caveat: Writing without seeing words on the page might not work for everyone, but at least try the exercise. Who knows. It might be your solution to train your brain to focus solely on getting words down and letting the story come fast and furious without interruptions.
How about you? What did you observe from conducting this exercise? Please share in the Comments below. Thank you!
Featured Photo by Maick Maciel on Unsplash