How rushing protects the ego while sabotaging your potential
If you never share anything beyond "early draft," you never risk exposing your best effort and potential—and you never open yourself to criticism or rejection.
The end of the first draft is a creative precipice: the point at which the true work of writing a novel begins. Now that your initial thoughts are on the page, you can unpack, explore, and refine the book’s potential: themes and character arc, pacing and structure, twists and complications.
But it’s at this point that many writers perversely hurl themselves over the precipice, rushing to submit an early draft to readers (or editors! or agents!) in a twisted form of self-sabotage. And if readers don’t like it—well, it was only a first draft. It wasn’t our best effort. There wasn’t time. It couldn’t gel.
By pursuing this cruel ruse of shielding our work from criticism and rejection, we silence our own potential.
Step fearlessly into your creative potential, O Writers, as we practice the Writes of Fiction.
Procrastination is hoarding
We procrastinate, in large part, to avoid the hurt of criticism or rejection. If you don’t hand your work in, after all, it—and, by extension, you—can’t be criticized or rejected. And even if you do manage to hand it in, procrastination provides a built-in justification for any disappointing outcomes you receive: “I was rushed.”
The problem is that, at the same time procrastination is keeping you safe from potential critics, it’s also isolating you from, and thus rendering you invisible to, your essential audiences, including not just whoever is waiting for the work, but helpers, mentors, collaborators, and appreciators of all sorts. At its core, procrastination is a form of self-silencing and, sometimes, self-censorship (if you’re specifically silencing ideas you think will offend, or be rejected by, others). It can also be a form of hiding—and, sadly, because your rushed work doesn’t reflect your best efforts, it’s often the best part of you, and the best of your ideas, that you’re hiding.—Read the rest from Hillary Rettig.
More on perfectionism and procrastination: Have you ever described yourself as an aspiring author? If so, knock it off; you’re doing yourself a massive disservice. A writer writes. An author makes books. A novelist creates novels. Stop aspiring and start doing.
… Keep in mind that it’s not the end of the world to spend months or years writing a book and be dissatisfied with the result. You’ll learn some valuable lessons along the way. Even after you begin publishing, many publishing experts advise authors to think of their first published books as the warmup of their careers. You’re not automatically “a success” by dint of being published; you’re working on it, though.—Keep reading The writer’s solution to beating perfectionism and procrastination.
How to spot poor writing like an agent
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The number one mistake I saw aspiring authors make was submitting their book before it was truly ready.
The problem is, so, so many authors have no idea that their writing isn’t good yet. They believe that just because they have a great idea or intriguing story they want to tell that the simple act of spilling it all out on paper and pressing send will get them a book deal.
Here’s what I’m seeing […]:
No character: There’s almost no real details that show us who this character is and, more importantly why she wants or “needs” what she wants.
Lacking interiority/too much narrative distance: We are too removed from this character and have no idea why she feels the way she does, what she’s thinking.
No stakes: It’s unclear what is on the line for this character in getting her father’s beach house. Why does she need it? What happens if she doesn't get it?—Read the rest from Karyn Fischer at Story & Prose.
More on learning the craft: There’s an assumption among many writers that writing rules and outlines are pinched, mean things that constrain creativity and the flow of literary ideas. Writing blogs advise authors to flout conventional grammar and aim for a free, contemporary style. Authors fling pantsed manuscripts at their editors only to discover there’s a dropped plot line and all the action is stuffed into the second half of Act II—and what is Act II, anyway?
Words and grammar are like traffic signs; they work because we agree what they mean. When you string them together without caring whether they say something different to readers than whatever you meant when you wrote them, you’re setting yourself up for a crash. And if you don’t know what other people accept them to mean in the first place—well, don’t be surprised if readers step off your ride long before it’s reached its destination.—Read more at Why story structure and narrative technique won’t squelch your creativity.
Your novel is an argument
Remember that dreaded thesis statement? It’s not so daunting. Basically, what it boils down to is this: What am I trying to prove? If you’re a novelist, you should be able to answer that question before writing a single word.
You might think, I’m not trying to prove a darn thing. I’m writing a romance or a mystery to entertain. But romances and mysteries have built-in themes. All romances are saying, “Love matters. It enhances our lives.” Mysteries are telling the reader, “Justice prevails. Bad people will be eventually punished.”
Layered mysteries and romances say far more than that, but no matter what you write, a thesis statement will guide you and infuse your novel with meaning.—Keep reading from Karin Gillespie at Pitch Your Novel.
More on the logic of novels: People tend to dwell on their immediate needs and concerns. This is true whether they’re sweating through a potentially career-making presentation or racing to make it home first at the end of a lousy day to snag the last ice cream bar from the freezer. Momentous or not, people always have some top-of-mind agenda.
“We know that the viewpoint character is strongly motivated toward a specific, short-term goal essential to his long-term quest when he enters the scene,” Bickham explains. “Therefore, he will tend to be preoccupied with this goal throughout the scene. In fiction, as in real life, people tend to interpret everything in the frame of reference of their preoccupation of the moment.”
You can keep that agenda in view using the viewpoint character’s inner life. Their continual orientation and re-orientation to their short-term goal (the scene goal) helps readers grasp why they’re doing what they’re doing. As long as readers grasp the why, even implausible actions in an implausible setting can take on an aura of verisimilitude.—Read more at Will readers swallow your plot?
Transparency and the author-centric publisher
One of my hybrid publisher friends joked with me the other day that he spends more time trying to convince authors not to go with his company than he does selling them on what they do. This is the sign of a good publisher because it signifies that he wants authors to go into the publishing relationship with their eyes wide open. Expectation setting makes for happier authors. Poor expectation setting runs the gamut from predatory companies that make false promises to well-inentioned companies that are more guilty of avoiding reality checks with new authors.
When authors come to me and say they’re going to be New York Times bestsellers, that they’re going to sell 10,000 books, or that their book is going to become our bestselling book ever (all things authors have said to me), I always talk to them about the realities of book publishing. This is not to kill any author’s dreams, but to bring them down to earth. I don’t want any author coming back to me two years down the road and saying I colluded with them, didn’t warn them, should have, could have. Expectation setting breeds better partnerships.—Read more from Brooke Warner.
More on choosing the right publisher: Today’s publishing options have changed since you first dreamed about getting your book into print. Most authors arrive on my editorial doorstep declaring their intentions of finding literary representation, with the caveat that “I’m open to self-publishing, I guess, if nothing else comes along.”
Please don’t handicap yourself with such an indecisive start. Waffling over publishing options is a disservice to your book. The way you approach editing should be driven by where your book is headed next.
Even if you don’t follow all the links I’m about to share, I’ll sleep better tonight knowing I’ve made my case for why you should decide how you want to publish before you get to editing.—Keep reading Publishing options: Which one is right for you?
Fiction Fuel
A good writer doesn’t just think, and then write down what he thought, as a sort of transcript. A good writer will almost always discover new things in the process of writing.—Paul Graham
Onward,
Lisa
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P.P.S. Still plugging away on a first draft? You could be ready to work with me right now!
We could review your book’s concept and outline to make sure its various elements are working together effectively. Want feedback that’s short, sweet, and to the point? Ask me about a Clarity Audit.
If you’re interested in drilling down to the darkest corners of your book, we could embark on coaching to fully develop your novel’s potential: story concept, plotting, character arcs, point of view, narrative drivetrain, themes, genre, commercial potential, scene effectiveness, and even your writing and publishing goals for this book. Ready to get under the hood and tinker? Ask me about Story Accelerator coaching.
This is The Writes of Fiction, a curated trove of old and new thinking about writing designed to help you get better at the craft of writing fiction. And this is your editorial assistant of the week, Rémy, nursing me back to health from a cold by burying his snoot in my robe so I couldn’t put it back on. 👇
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