I have that problem where you think you're about to move on to the next pages of your draft, but you suddenly have lots of details you want to include and no idea how to integrate them into what you've already got down. How do you manage this? Anyone gone through this?
How do you cope with this?
- Thread starter Morwen Edhelwen
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Write the first draft, beginning to end. Include anything I think necessary, which means sometimes, overwriting. Then when I go back for edits, I cut anything that is unnecessary to the overall character development, plot, pacing, and a few dozen other things I have learned along the way. Most of the time, you don't know what is unnecessary until you FINISH THE DAMN BOOK, especially with the first book...
As you move on to new stories, new books, you sort of get the idea what is necessary for that book from what you have learned and you will find you are adding less dribble...
As you move on to new stories, new books, you sort of get the idea what is necessary for that book from what you have learned and you will find you are adding less dribble...
This happens to me constantly, whether or not I plan out my stories in advance. What I do is note them down in a file for a the first/second/third etc re-draft, unless they bug me so much that I feel I must take action NOW. The majority stay noted until the first draft is complete, but a minority do get altered along the way.
Do whatever works for you. If you feel the story absolutely cannot progress or will suffer without making these alterations immediately, make them, if only for your own peace of mind. All in all, however, if they don't bother you too much then I'd just note them down and return to them later.
Do whatever works for you. If you feel the story absolutely cannot progress or will suffer without making these alterations immediately, make them, if only for your own peace of mind. All in all, however, if they don't bother you too much then I'd just note them down and return to them later.
I keep a printed copy at hand and add to it with each new chapter. I write all my ideas, updates, and notes in it, and when rewrite time comes around, I integrate these into the next draft.
Overwrite. Badly. Stick all these details in, even if you can't figure out the order. This is stuff you can fix later, but if you don't put them in, it's a hell of a lot harder to remember the ones you really want and dredge them up later.
Rules of rough-draft writing:
1. Overwrite.
2. Overwrite.
3. Overwrite.
4. Overwrite.
5. Write some more.
caw
Rules of rough-draft writing:
1. Overwrite.
2. Overwrite.
3. Overwrite.
4. Overwrite.
5. Write some more.
caw
Make notes, move on.
Kind of self explanatory, if you think about it.
Has anyone introduced you to "self-banning" yet? I did it for a moth last year. Got through the first draft of a novel in 4 weeks. Just a thought.
Kind of self explanatory, if you think about it.
Has anyone introduced you to "self-banning" yet? I did it for a moth last year. Got through the first draft of a novel in 4 weeks. Just a thought.
I think I write a lot differently than most people here. I spend most of the time planning everything out, that way as more ideas show up I can insert them easily (since it's all point form).
I usually give it a shot and see right then whether I can make it flow with it in it, unless I'm on such a roll without adding that layer that I shouldn't stop what I was already writing. Often, I just make some quick notes about those thoughts.
Outside of the real in-the-flow writing, I consider how to stick things in and where. I think about that sort of stuff all of the time while doing other things (dishes, mowing, etc).
Outside of the real in-the-flow writing, I consider how to stick things in and where. I think about that sort of stuff all of the time while doing other things (dishes, mowing, etc).
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I tend to deliberately overwrite to begin with, because taking things out is harder than adding things in, especially if I've forgotten those things, or hadn't thought of them in the first place. However, if I'm cruising along and something comes up that I just really want to put in a spot that was a few pages ago, the last thing I want to do is stop my forward momentum, go back, and worry about adding it in.
What I do is I make notes about the particular item. Sometimes they're brief notes, sometimes they're very detailed. But after I've noted whatever it is I want to add in, I keep moving with the rough draft. Once I'm done, THEN I'll go back and add it in.
The curious thing is, after I finished my latest WIP's rough draft, when I went back to add some of those things, I realized they were no longer relevant. By finishing it out, I had either found better places to add those things in, or discovered that their inclusion would not have been a benefit to the WIP overall.
So my advice would be, note it down, but keep moving forward. Come back to it later. If you still think it's relevant and necessary, work it in then.
What I do is I make notes about the particular item. Sometimes they're brief notes, sometimes they're very detailed. But after I've noted whatever it is I want to add in, I keep moving with the rough draft. Once I'm done, THEN I'll go back and add it in.
The curious thing is, after I finished my latest WIP's rough draft, when I went back to add some of those things, I realized they were no longer relevant. By finishing it out, I had either found better places to add those things in, or discovered that their inclusion would not have been a benefit to the WIP overall.
So my advice would be, note it down, but keep moving forward. Come back to it later. If you still think it's relevant and necessary, work it in then.
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I go back and rewrite what I wrote before with the details in it.
If you take this approach, and find you haven't made any progress in while yet you've rewritten said scene more than a couple times, stop it, and never do it again.
If you take this approach, and find you haven't made any progress in while yet you've rewritten said scene more than a couple times, stop it, and never do it again.
Even though I plan out all my major plot points, etc., I'm constantly adding or deleting information, so I just leave myself a note in the manuscript and come back later.
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I don't plan, but I do leave constant notes. All over. Usually in a red font so they stand out. (Or I'll jot them down on a notepad.)
The important thing is to keep going - keep writing - until the end.
I'm in the notes-in-red camp. My manuscripts are full of little red notes saying things like "EXPAND," "TRANSITION?," and "ADD EXAMPLE OF ___ BEING A JERK." That way I remember exactly where I wanted the info to go, and I remember what I thought sounded wonky on a previous read-through. I suppose I could also use MS Word's review feature to add notes, but those annoy me.
Nope.
I can't understand how this problem arises. If you have details to include you must know where they belong simply because they are details, and details belong in specific places.
You, my friend, are never going to finish anything at this rate.
I can't understand how this problem arises. If you have details to include you must know where they belong simply because they are details, and details belong in specific places.
You, my friend, are never going to finish anything at this rate.
If you are using paper, make notes in the margin. If you are using a computer use something like *** or ### and type whatever you might want to add later.
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I find that after I have finished a draft and am doing edits that I do add details that appear or make themselves known, sometimes I will get to a point in a story and go-- oh wow, yeah this works on some plot point or in the details of the setting, I make notes and when I am done add these things to the beginning.
And as others have said, finish the book, if you keep going back and fine tuning things you will never get ot the the end.
And as others have said, finish the book, if you keep going back and fine tuning things you will never get ot the the end.
QFT.Put AW down. Go write the book. We keep telling you this.
OP, you have a talent for procrastinating. But I suspect you know this. Write. Just. Write.
I don't worry about it much. If I have a clever idea that I can easily fit in, I just do it, but if it's a more complicated rewrite, I put it on my mental shelf for the big rewrite.
I figure if I forget xyz bit on rewrite it probably isn't all that clever and I don't need it.
I figure if I forget xyz bit on rewrite it probably isn't all that clever and I don't need it.
I just write and write and write and get it all out, and THEN I go back and add this level of detail. But I do write all of the details down so I don't forget them later. Sometimes not all of it ends up working with what I've written.
I add them on the spot. I don't write the next page until the one I'm on is as perfect as I can make it. I don;t want to fix it later. This is good in theory, but very damned hard in real practice.
Hash tags are my way of dealing with this problem. I try to get a first draft finished without too much messing around, but it is always quite torturous for me – I always want to change things, or add them, or generally find any excuse not to write the damn book. So, if I come up with something that I want to change, I write #add more to foreshadow MC's hatred of throw pillows, or whatever. Then I move on. It gets it out of my system and then all I need to do when I’ve finished the draft is go through and add bits wherever there is a #.
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