Anyone else get this sometimes? I'm by no means a perfectionist, but I have the tendency to abandon lots of first drafts because they aren't measuring up to what I expected or they're floundering, etc. What happens is I get really excited, write a bunch of good set-up material, but then when the time comes for the characters to start "doing things" they tend to scatter like headless chickens. It's happened to me countless times. Out of all of the longer works I have, I probably only have about 5 full-length first drafts out of probably a hundred aborted novels/novellas. Out of those 5 full-length first drafts, I probably only have one that I've drafted at least two times. That's pretty bad, if you ask me.
My new solution? Finish it even if it sucks (by sucks I mean it's not good, but you can still salvage it). Hell, why not? At this point I rather have 100 completed first drafts that suck, than 100 incomplete first drafts that are no where near being finished. At least if my first drafts suck, I can fix them. NaNoWriMo has encouraged me to use this method because it's the only time of year when I push myself to finish even if my manuscript is struggling. My new method for keeping my manuscripts flowing even if they aren't so hot, is to do the following (which I've mentioned before in another thread):
1. Romantic Interlude (sex or something more innocent)
2. The Michael Bay Rule (blow something up)
3. The George R.R. Martin Rule (kill, maim, or disfigure an important character)
4. Add a Friend (add a new character to spice things up/shift direction/make me happy)
5. Go on a Vacation (move the main character to a new setting, if he's been a monastery for four chapters, maybe he needs to go somewhere else?)
6. No More Backstory, Please (quit spinning my wheels world-building, explaining the mating rituals of goblins, why my magic is cool, info dump-trucks)
7. Rampaging Zombie Ape (nothing spices up a story like a rampaging zombie ape)
These work for me anyway. I've seen my writing output increase greatly by using these rules.
And yes, I've heard that "why waste time on something that sucks" argument. I learned something though. All first drafts suck. All of them. No matter how meticulously I craft each sentence, it will never be perfect. So I stopped doing that.
Anyone else in the "better to have one mediocre first draft completed" camp?
My new solution? Finish it even if it sucks (by sucks I mean it's not good, but you can still salvage it). Hell, why not? At this point I rather have 100 completed first drafts that suck, than 100 incomplete first drafts that are no where near being finished. At least if my first drafts suck, I can fix them. NaNoWriMo has encouraged me to use this method because it's the only time of year when I push myself to finish even if my manuscript is struggling. My new method for keeping my manuscripts flowing even if they aren't so hot, is to do the following (which I've mentioned before in another thread):
1. Romantic Interlude (sex or something more innocent)
2. The Michael Bay Rule (blow something up)
3. The George R.R. Martin Rule (kill, maim, or disfigure an important character)
4. Add a Friend (add a new character to spice things up/shift direction/make me happy)
5. Go on a Vacation (move the main character to a new setting, if he's been a monastery for four chapters, maybe he needs to go somewhere else?)
6. No More Backstory, Please (quit spinning my wheels world-building, explaining the mating rituals of goblins, why my magic is cool, info dump-trucks)
7. Rampaging Zombie Ape (nothing spices up a story like a rampaging zombie ape)
These work for me anyway. I've seen my writing output increase greatly by using these rules.
And yes, I've heard that "why waste time on something that sucks" argument. I learned something though. All first drafts suck. All of them. No matter how meticulously I craft each sentence, it will never be perfect. So I stopped doing that.
Anyone else in the "better to have one mediocre first draft completed" camp?