"I know that it’s easier to fix something that exists than nothing at all." I am also learning this, soooo slowly. (Me, most of the time: here is good advice! it applies to everyone else in the world but not me.)
A little thing I say to myself, occasionally, working on my own second book: 'take the time you need, use the time you're given.' Those vomitous six weeks spent on a first draft will pass one way or the other, so we might as well do something with them. (Again, better at saying this to myself in a wise voice than in actually listening, but maybe if we say it back and forth to each other it'll work.)
Yes! I love that! Like, I can poop out a draft, OR just go back and forth for six weeks about whether or not the protagonist is thirty-five or forty-one. I think that's a great motto!
I love this process meditation! So spot on. I feel like there's a 'maturity' in knowing that you have to do a lot of stuff that won't work to get to a better place. I say maturity, because I feel like when I was younger, I would have a big push of an idea and then despair when it didn't work out right away. Now I tend to buckle up and head into the uncertainty. Sometimes I will paint a watercolor knowing full well that it might not work and I'll just have to start over (can't paint over anything in watercolor!).
Anyway, I love this. Looking forward to your book about the writing process / narrative craft someday (alongside your novels)!!
Oh my gosh I never thought how terrifying that might be in painting!! To just...not be able to edit!!! So the editing comes in multiple versions of the painting, potentially? Wild. I feel like there should be a big writer/artist summit where we just talk about how mind-blowingly difficult it is to make any kind of art!
It's....so terrible, right??!!!! Why??? I am stunned at the cognitive dissonance between knowing I have to do this to get to the good stuff and knowing that none of it is going to live.
My bargain with myself is this: I'm allowed to write as fast as I can without worrying about quality AT ALL. 3-4K words a day is that for me. So basically, I'm writing a very long outline with an absurd amount of details? I think figuring out pilot story is actually harder than this, because it has to be so tight, but the book process itself is harder because it's just so dang long.
Hahaha, clearly I have lots of feelings about this. So happy (and sorry for you?) to hear you are in the trenches with me, since you also write both pilots and books!
"I know that it’s easier to fix something that exists than nothing at all." I am also learning this, soooo slowly. (Me, most of the time: here is good advice! it applies to everyone else in the world but not me.)
A little thing I say to myself, occasionally, working on my own second book: 'take the time you need, use the time you're given.' Those vomitous six weeks spent on a first draft will pass one way or the other, so we might as well do something with them. (Again, better at saying this to myself in a wise voice than in actually listening, but maybe if we say it back and forth to each other it'll work.)
Yes! I love that! Like, I can poop out a draft, OR just go back and forth for six weeks about whether or not the protagonist is thirty-five or forty-one. I think that's a great motto!
I love this process meditation! So spot on. I feel like there's a 'maturity' in knowing that you have to do a lot of stuff that won't work to get to a better place. I say maturity, because I feel like when I was younger, I would have a big push of an idea and then despair when it didn't work out right away. Now I tend to buckle up and head into the uncertainty. Sometimes I will paint a watercolor knowing full well that it might not work and I'll just have to start over (can't paint over anything in watercolor!).
Anyway, I love this. Looking forward to your book about the writing process / narrative craft someday (alongside your novels)!!
Oh my gosh I never thought how terrifying that might be in painting!! To just...not be able to edit!!! So the editing comes in multiple versions of the painting, potentially? Wild. I feel like there should be a big writer/artist summit where we just talk about how mind-blowingly difficult it is to make any kind of art!
Needed this today, vomit metaphors and all! I'm also working up the courage to get into a new vomit draft. Pain, pain, pain
It's....so terrible, right??!!!! Why??? I am stunned at the cognitive dissonance between knowing I have to do this to get to the good stuff and knowing that none of it is going to live.
My bargain with myself is this: I'm allowed to write as fast as I can without worrying about quality AT ALL. 3-4K words a day is that for me. So basically, I'm writing a very long outline with an absurd amount of details? I think figuring out pilot story is actually harder than this, because it has to be so tight, but the book process itself is harder because it's just so dang long.
Hahaha, clearly I have lots of feelings about this. So happy (and sorry for you?) to hear you are in the trenches with me, since you also write both pilots and books!
WOW, you are fast! Totally agree re: pilot story — also, book plot has so many possibilities! you can go crazy in there!