Category: first draft
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When You Hate Your Writing
I talked about this a little here, but I want to go further into it today. Back sometime in December – I’m not really sure when, but it was a few days after Christmas – I pulled out a first draft I had set aside for a few months. My fantasy novel Oh, Wonder Why…
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The Unicorn Method to Editing (which I just made up)
I don’t know about you other writers out there, but editing stories is not my favorite part of the process. Which is not that great since a large chunk of the writing process is editing. I just really love drafting. I love writing without worrying about the content. I have freedom to write whatever comes out.…
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How Long Should You Step Away from a Writing Project?
How long should you step away from a writing project? It’s common advice to take breaks from projects. You finish a first draft and put it in a drawer for a while before looking at it again. If you are frustrated with something you step away from it for a while. But what’s a while?? …
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Boo! Pick a Plot Line (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and my own dumpster fire WIP)
In which we talk about two things that could not decide on a plot line: a recent first draft of mine and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Let’s start off with Fallen Kingdom, given you probably have more knowledge of it than my first draft (considering like…no one has read it). This is the progression of the…
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Nanowrimo 2018 – A Dumpster Fire
OK…what even happened???? (In other words, I did not win.) I originally was not going to do Nanowrimo this year, because the last three months of 2018 were going to be crazier than usual, and I wouldn’t have time for it. But then October rolled around – that scent of Autumn and running around in…
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How to Celebrate When You Finish Your First Draft
Summertime is the time to PARTY. (And by party I mean going to the mountains and finding somewhere quiet where you can finish your book.) And speaking of parties…(I apologize to all the introverts. I realize talking about parties is illegal.) Finishing your first draft can be very exciting. Whether it’s after 30 hysterically frantic…
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Rewriting Old Stories
Lately I’ve been revisiting some old stories ideas…. For Nanowrimo (2017) I picked up a very, very, very, very old piece that was around before the asteroid hit and killed all the dinos (meaning when I was 14). That was a fantasy novel called Oh, Wonder Why the Sun Fell. I then picked up Raptor…
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Stages of Writing a 2nd Draft (as told by gifs)
So. You have finished your first draft. HIP HIP HORRAY!! Good for you! *pat on back* So you have your beautiful, gleaming – confusing, junk filled, messy, first draft. Time to fix it and write the 2nd draft. And now I present to you an illustrated guide to the stages of writing your 2nd draft,…
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Should You Set a Daily Word Count Goal?
We like to get stuff done. Nothing better than checking something off a list, shutting a computer with everything finished, or collapsing on the couch after getting all that stuff you needed to get done, done. Writers like to know that they are finished for the day. The edits that needed to be made were…
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When you read the first draft
You write the infamous word THE END. Your first draft is done. Maybe it took a year. Maybe you knocked it out in a week. Either way, it’s a great feeling to see your work finished TIME TO PARTY!!!!! Well – there’s one, tiny, tiny thing. You still have to edit. *sighs heavily and crawls…
Bernadette Benda 