writers

A Writer Versus Her First Draft

Posted on by emilylizthompson

When I first pinned the title “writer” to my metaphorical name tag, I was a bit skeptical of its legitimacy. I’m sure that I fell under the writing bucket. But was I a writer? Does it even count if you’ve never finished something? Most of these questions sprouted every time I began a new project. Exciting at first, sure. But after a while, it looks like a bunch of drivel in black and white that I can do nothing about. This is when I want to rip my writing badge off me and stalk off to find a new creative outlet. After a few years of grumbling about it, I realized my issue. The same issue that I know other writers face. The dreaded first draft.

I have always heard that it’s okay if the first draft is not great. The point of a first draft, after all, is to get the story out of your brain and onto paper. An already difficult feat without throwing the pressure of making every line perfect. This is where my issues come in. I am what many would call a “Type A” person. Within that “Type A” personality lies good old perfectionism. It’s no surprise that this seeps into my creative side also, especially for writing. I am often side-tracked when writing a story. I want every detail to be perfect and fact-checked, even in the first draft. It throws me off my rhythm and makes the creation of this first draft take forever. In fact, as I am writing this, I have never completed the first draft of a novel. The pressure for it to match the caliber of some of my favorite novels is immense. Enough for me to put my tail between my legs and throw out another prospective story.

Believe it or not, I know that this is an idiotic thing to do. It’s scary to write yes, but why would I ever think that my favorite stories were perfect in their first form? To be honest, I’m not sure. It could be something I heard in English class. Or I never let go of my childlike wonder of books. Younger Emily always imagined that Rick Riordan created well-crafted stories without any editing. I have a tendency to romanticize how creative things get made, especially novels. It took awhile for me to move from the perspective of a reader to the author peering at the creation process. One of the reasons I started this blog was to give myself more motivation to do that. If I challenge myself to talk about writing every-other week, that will help me when I sit down with a story! Right?

So far, this strategy has not played out. Outside sources like COVID and life “adventures” have made it hard for me to sit down and write outside of this blog. I’m not sure if this blog or my studies of writing will help me inch up the first draft mountain. But this uncertainty will not prevent me from taking NaNoWriMo 2020 head on! I already decided at the end of last year’s challenge that I will push myself even more this year. Who knows, I may even hit a new personal record! If you’re in the same struggle boat as me, try taking on a challenge like NaNoWriMo. I’ve gotten much more confident in my skills in the two years that I’ve tried to complete it. Each year I get a drive to do better, and even hit that crazy word count goal. If I do, then I can finally say I’ve written a first draft. 

What are your thoughts on first drafts? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the frustrations that come with them? Let me know in the comments down below! I appreciate any time y’all respond and give me advice. It’s helped me so much with this blog, and with my writing! I can’t wait to see what y’all say.  Also, please share any stories you have about the draft-writing process! I’d love to hear how y’all climbed up the first-draft mountain. Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!

Researching as a Writer

Posted on by emilylizthompson

Writing a story involves a lot of steps. That’s stating the obvious to any writer who’s ever gotten a story idea. With things like world building, writers spend immense time on stories before the storytelling begins. Character design? With the character sheets out there, who knows how long that could take. Depending on the story and writer, one of these time-consuming steps is research. 

Research is the bane of some people’s existence. There are those who write and then decide to go back and research later to confirm. I am not one of those people. As you’ve most likely gathered from my previous posts, I am a fan of research. In fact, I find myself journeying down research rabbit holes instead of writing.  I can sit down for an hour of writing and spend thirty minutes of that time researching historical facts. 

During my trips down the research path, I’ve learned some very random and strange facts. Many of these things I have found through the glory of writing boards on Pinterest or the land of Google. If you’ve ever befriended a writer, they will tell you that the research is only for storytelling. And remind you often. This is not to concern you, only to make you less freaked when you check out their Pinterest. I’ve had friends ask me what I was up to because I kept pinning stuff about gunshot wounds and fighting tactics. Now they know not to ask questions because I’ve taken to pinning these oddities to my writing board.

Researching leaves you with information that’s useless outside of writing and trivia games. As someone who loves learning, I get excited when I have the opportunity to tell someone one of these facts. Is someone curious about ways to find out if someone’s lying via body language, I have a few suggestions. You never know, your research may pay off in the real world too.

What is something interesting you’ve learned while researching for a story? Do you like to research before or after you finish a rough draft? Let me know in the comments below! I’m excited to learn about other people’s process during this stage. Thanks for reading everyone, and happy writing!

4 Fun Writing Activities to Pass the Time

Posted on by emilylizthompson

The past few months have been a crazy time for the world. With the quick spread of COVID-19, many are taking to self-isolation to slow it down. I have been under self-isolation for a little over a week. Working from home has been nice in some ways. I don’t have to put on makeup, my alarm goes off later, and I am steps away from all the snacks. But like most, I am feeling the side effects of being in one place by myself. I’ve found myself refreshing social media every ten minutes, hoping for something new. Despite the endless fountain of content, I’ve been stuck on mindless YouTube.

Today I decided that I needed to use this extra time to my benefit. I will take the time to work on crafts I haven’t touched in months, to watch new things I’ve been meaning to check out. Podcast marathons? Yes, please! One of the most important crafts that I want to focus on is my writing. Writing is something that both stimulates the mind and helps pass the time. In an attempt to help myself focus on writing and preventing my mind from turning to mush, I have made a list. A list that I thought might help my fellow writers keep their craft going. If you need some inspiration, these four ideas might help you get the creative juices flowing!

1. Writing Prompts

As most writers know, writing prompts are a great way to get yourself into the writing groove. They allow you to exercise your creativity and explore new story ideas. If you feel stumped by a story you’re working on, writing prompts are a great way to refocus your mind. They’re also full of intriguing situations that are fun to write about!

There are many ways to find writing prompts. You can find books full of prompts on Amazon. Writing Prompts on Tumblr and Instagram is another great source for prompts. They also post responses sometimes, which is a great way to get inspiration from others. Also, some sites offer writing prompt generators. It keeps you on your toes and might even give you a great story idea!

2. NaNoWriMo but in March!

Looking for a challenge to keep your writing mind sharp? Try doing a mini version of NaNoWriMo! NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo challenges writers to write a novel in November. There are many of us who don’t know how long they will be social distancing, so a month challenge won’t work. Try doing a two-week version, focusing on a story idea you want to flesh out. Challenge yourself to write around 1,500 words a day if possible. 

There are countless ways to enter the NaNoWriMo challenge that you can adapt to the mini version. If you did the November challenge last year, you can take this time to edit and expand your current story. Or, you can go in with nothing at all. Use this mini-challenge to build characters, worlds, or form new ideas. It’s surprising how much writing you can get done in two weeks! If you want to learn more about NaNoWriMo, you can check it out here.

3. Write about what’s around you

People always say to write what you know. You can take that advice and use it to describe the world around you. This is a great exercise to help improve your descriptions in writing. Try focusing on one side of the room or section of your backyard. Include more description than you think necessary. Or, if you need to work on character descriptions, focus on people or pets in your house.

This exercise is also a sneaky way to get you out into nature. As long as you are social distancing, visiting nature great for both your writing skills and mind. Nature often has a multitude of colors, textures, and sounds. It’s a gold mine for writers!   Smell the flowers! Listen to the birds chirping. Take a notebook with you and jot down words and phrases to describe them. You can also take pictures on a walk and describe the objects you captured. Taking a few minutes to observe nature will also be a nice break for your brain.

4. Collaborate with other writers online!

Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary practice. If you have fellow writing friends, try hosting a Zoom writing party. You can talk about story ideas, read sections for editing, and have a great time! Try creating a theme for each online hangout. One might be all about worldbuilding. During another, you could talk about building characters in fun ways. You can also do the other things on this list with other writers online. 

If you don’t have friends who are fellow writers, try searching around the internet. Many writing forums are already created on Reddit, Tumblr, NaNoWriMo, and more. Make sure you do your research before joining an online forum. What are they talking about? Do the people meld well with your personality? Are you comfortable sharing personal information or writing with the group? Like in-person groups, these are important questions to ask yourself before joining. If you are positive that this group is for you, a fun future awaits you!

What are you doing to keep your writing brain active during this time of self-isolation? What other ways have you coped with the long days? Let me know in the comments below! I hope that this post has given you some groundwork for good ways to spend your self-isolation. This is a crazy time for the world right now. For many of us, the best thing we can do is self-isolate to prevent the spread. During this time, you’ll get bored and miss some aspects of daily life missing due to closures. But this is the right thing to do. Call a friend. Play a board game. Have a writing party with your friends online. We’ll beat this, and soon will be enjoying the lovely sunshine with our friends and family close to us. Happy writing and stay healthy!