National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is just around the corner. only 32 more days to prepare. This will stab number seven at NaNoWriMo for me and I've met the 50 thousand word goal on four of my previous six attempts. But, I've been very unhappy with the end product for various reasons, some applicable to one attempt but not another, some for all attempts. The one over-riding problem with my NaNoWriMo attempts is that I meet the word number goal but the story isn't finished. Last year I came very close, as I did the year before, and in both cases jotted quick notes for scenes and chapters to be finished in December. Another issue that exists for each attempt in greater or lesser degrees is a lack of coherence of plot goals. This is directly related to how much time and effort I put into preparing before November 1st.
This year, I started preparation for NaNoWriMo on September 1st. I began by examining my top five story ideas and deciding upon what I thought was the strongest and most interesting to me, for I believe that will inevitably make it more interesting to my readers. Then I began a 3 week or so research period, based on the vague impressions of what I wanted this story to be about. Research guided character development, and character development guided research and just the last couple of days I've found myself looking at some very specific topics, like diachronic linguistics and effects of zero or low gravity on plant growth. My characters have names and goals and a bit of background. I'm ready to start outlining my story. Since I have past experience to help me judge whether I'm the kind of writer who works better from an outline or just keeping it all in his head and "exploring" as he goes, I know that a mix of the two, about 80%/20% is ideal.
I learned how to write an outline in High School. Then, I learned a better way to do it in college. I also learned to take good notes in college and in my junior year a study method that when combined with my outlining and note-taking skills, allows me to write fairly decent outlines. Honestly, the best outlining and note-taking skills I learned were do Forensics and Debate, so thanks Robert, Mike, Erik, Amanda, Wes and Rob; especially the first two.
Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo wrote a book that I mean to read every year, called "No Plot, No Problem", that is both about the NaNoWriMo experience and how to fix up stories that are, shall we say, lacking in some areas. This was going to be the year that I read it, I was so on top of the game, but it was not to be. I was thwarted by some jerk that stole the library's copy. They have plans to buy another copy to replace it, but they have higher priorities at the moment, like staying open. This latest recession has not done wonders for the Coos County Libraries' budget.
Undaunted, I went to book number two, which had not been stolen, but I'm still reading it, so you'll hear about it later. Book number three on my list is the actual topic of this review, "First Draft in 30 Days" by Karen S. Wiesner. Knowing nothing about the book except the summary on Amazon - conveniently linked to directly in the library's card catalog - I expected a book much in the same vein as Chris Baty's book. What a surprise upon reading Ms. Wiesner's book to find it was nothing at all like I was expecting, and a pleasant surprise at that.
I've been reading and writing long enough to realize that there is no "formula" for how to make a bad story into a good story. Heaven forbid that there is ever anything like this. What I thought I was going to be reading would be an upbeat attempt to guide a budding writer into creating a plot from an idea and following a complete story arc - in a month. It's not really what I need, and it's not what Wiesner had to offer.
The "first draft" referred to in the title of the book is not what I think of as a draft at all, but is instead a very thorough formatted outline, that while being created ends up generating a lot of documents to support the story. Wiesner's book turned out to be about workflow and creating a set of habits that will allow a writer to get from an idea in her head to a book in a very short amount of time. The length of time came as a bit of surprise to me, until I realize that this book is not really intended for the faint of heart, or hobbyist writer, but for a full-time would-be author that is willing to spend four or five hours minimum every day on the writing process, with no weekends off.
Ms. Wiesner is a published author, though I've never read any of her books. But, the fact that she is an author is important in how she wrote this book. This was not an intellectual proposal for how someone should write a book, based upon potentially outlandish notions of the importance, and thus how long should be spent, various parts of the story. It's written matter-of-factly, with a "this is what I do" attitude, that upon completion of the book makes it seem completely reasonable and more importantly something I am capable of doing. Well, I'll tell you on Halloween how that panned out.
Each of the chapters of the book is straight-forward and a bit formulaic, but I think that is a boon in this type of book. We're given an introductory thought, an outline of the goal for specific days in the process, and then explanations of each part with examples from famous modern fiction, almost none of it her books, though apparently she has written quite a few. I take this for modesty as much as for the fact that this process is not terribly hard to reverse engineer for already written books, that were not only good enough to be published, but good enough to be famous - I may not have read half of them, but I had heard of all them.
Wiesner start you off knowing that there are six parts to her program, which break down into: sketch out characters, setting and plot; research; evolve your story (she provides worksheets); write a formatted outline; evaluate your formatted outline; and revise your formatted outline. She breaks down what the writer should be doing on each day and why they are doing it then, and in most cases why there is the particular amount of time devoted to a step. It all sounds very rational and dare I say, "doable".
I'm particularly interested in a step she calls "Tagging and Tracing" (late in the 30 days), that has you following every plot and subplot thread through your entire outline to help you evaluate if it is strong enough and if the pacing is correct.
The second half of the book is largely devoted to her worksheets and an example of an actual formatted outline. She does include chapters for how to use this process on an already existing draft, which I skipped but will read if this works for me. After all, I do have four first drafts that are in need of some help, well three first drafts and one "first and nine-tenths" draft. There is also a chapter about using her principles to guide your career, which I skipped. I really don't need to worry about selling my manuscript at this point. That will come later, and when I'm ready, I will read her advice.
I quite liked how straight-forward and unmystical her writing was. I felt "First Draft in 30 Days" was one writer talking to another, albeit an experienced, successful writer talking to someone yet to attain those goals.
It's funny how sometimes in life you end up getting exactly what you need by accident. Just as I am getting ready to write a comprehensive outline for a writing project, I read a book that tells me how to do this. But, if the outline is my first draft, I guess when December rolls around, or maybe January, I can say that I definitely have at least one book that has a completed second draft.
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