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Saturday 17 May 2014

Writing a book means writing rubbish!

Starting to write is and has always been a daunting process. For newbies like me to....  everyone around (I think I better not use the word pros here)

So when you start off with an idea, you should always be ready to do some preparation for it. It is part of the process, you have to do brainstorming, characterization, research, outlining and that's a whole bunch of rubbish in its own.
In my humble opinion newbies should start of as plotters instead of pantsers. Since all  pantsers say that "dive in the work. Let the story tell itself".

But the problem here is, the stories are much like gardens. If you decide to just throw around seeds all the place and see them grow by itself first, then turn to the editing and refining part. Just imagine how much extra burden will you pull on that little soul of yours. So do the planning and outlining part. It is worth it.

When I decided to get started with my novel. And started writing it down. Even being done with outlining part. After 2-3 days, I literally stopped myself from writing it anymore.

Do you know what was in my mind at that time? It was the question

"Who in the world will read that rubbish?"

And what I didn't realised then was; that's the point. No one is gonna read your rubbish. So simply don't fret about it.

That is just what we call first draft. The whole idea behind the first draft is to just put down whatever is lurking in your mind.

Even some pros are reported to write around 10k words in which on 2-3k is finally published. So do keep that in mind and go wild with your work. Write all unnecessary descriptions, dialogues, even whole bunch of unnecessary scenes. That is some work on its own, but has always turned out worth it. Remember our garden analogy. Just imagine you are only planning the layout of your personal heaven in your backyard.

After you are done wit the first draft, you will have all the time in the world to edit it, so you can cut unnecessary rubbish then. Even gardens tend to have finishing touch's. But until then, write without holding back.

And on a side note; there may come a point during the reviewing process in which you find something, like some dialogue, which you really love and are proud that you have written. But that particular thing is just not fitting in the story, everyone else just says that be cruel to yourself and delete that. No matter how much you love it.

I would say; don't do THAT to yourself. You would be much better off and it would be easier for you if you just cut it from your work file and paste it in another document. Which is dedicated to and should be named "Your own quotes." :D

After all, you ain't gonna get fans out there if you are not your own fan first. ;)

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