I am eight chapters into this draft of my novel and I thought I would take a moment to write about what my current process is like and why I like it.
I wrote the first draft of this (a very ugly draft) for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) a couple of years ago. I then proceeded to do a very long draft 0 of it. If I could go back and do it again, I would definitely write that particular draft a lot faster. I labored over it for months, thinking I needed to have this one particular version approach some semblance of perfection. Honestly, I could have just written the scenes I knew I wanted, try linking them together, and see what I liked. That process would have saved me a lot of time.
You write and learn, hopefully.
This draft has been going much more smoothly. I work on 3-5 chapters for a few weeks and then send what I have to my beta readers. This allows me to make sure there’s an overall flow and consistency with the characters and plot.
Questions My Beta Readers Answer
-What’s working?
-What’s not working?
-What should I keep?
-What should I probably think about scrapping?
I wish I had been doing that for the previous draft. Would have saved me from writing a terrible insta-perfect love story involving a melancholic human and a gorgeous, leather jacket wearing, guitar playing faerie (RIP Gabe). Although, they do say to write what you know. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that Gabe bears a lot of resemblances to a guitar playing Irishman that I was obsessed with in my 20s. (Can you blame me?)
The best part about this way of writing this draft is that I get a chance to tell myself the story in sections, and then get almost immediate feedback on that section.
This led to a really fun breakthrough the other day with one of my beta readers ( who also happens to be working on a novel). I did my first point of view switch in this last group of chapters and it took forever. I felt like it completely bogged me down whenever I tried to write. I also worried a lot about whether or not the viewpoints felt different enough.
Some writers don’t change their style that much when they’re writing for another character. It’s more what the character notices or what information they convey about other characters or the plot that ends up distinguishing them from others points of view. The prose can often feel almost exactly the same. By contrast, in Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik does this really fun change between several characters’ points of view every chapter and doesn’t even distinguish who is who for the reader. You have to figure it out yourself based on context clues. That’s a lot beyond my reach right now, but I knew I wanted it to feel different enough between the two characters that the reader would notice a shift in tone, focus, and feeling.
During my feedback session, Jared pointed out that there was a lot of inconsistency in one chapter, and then zero problems with tone after that. By going through specific sentences that felt kind of out place, we were able to figure out that I had written one chapter from one POV (Shaelyn, the main character), but I had been using the language of another POV (Jessamyn). Shaelyn’s language is over the top, full of “perfect”s and “awful”s and “sparkly, shimmering slump”s. She is focused on describing her own personal experience and noticing beauty around her. By contrast, Jessamyn is a relationally focused character with far more practical prose.
As soon as we noticed this shift in language, it was possible to pin down exactly where the voice of Shaelyn’s chapter had gone missing. I had been switching back and forth during my writing sessions while working on those chapters, leading to several lines that felt more like Jessamyn in Shaelyn’s chapter. There was also one line in Jessamyn’s chapter that felt very much like Shaelyn (“like butterflies drunk on nectar” doesn’t sound too practical) Lesson learned: always write in one character’s POV for a writing session, potentially for several.
Books and Podcasts for This Part of the Process:
Harry Potter– Re-reading this series as a writer is amazing. Each book really does read like a mystery, and if you know what the ending is, you can work backwards to see how Rowling is doing complex setups and payoffs. It’s a masterclass in how to maintain curiosity and care within the reader across multiple books.
Second Nature-I have just started this and it seems really good. Plus, he has a whole bit about reconsidering the Great American Lawn. I think I love him.
Story Nerd Podcast– Valerie Francis and Melanie Hill are two of my favorite writing coaches today! They do a different movie each week and focus on different aspects to discuss.
Off to map out a fantasy garden and write more chapters! Wish me luck!
All Things: 