Since I’m drawing near the end of the outlining phase of my new WIP, I should probably explain my fairly simple three part process.

1. Concept summary.
   • This tends to be written in a notebook, and is a written exploration of the general flow of the novel. The concept summary for my current work is three pages of a Moleskine notebook. The focus is more on dramatic conflict and character evolution than on detailed plot points.
   • This stage also includes various notes on sources of conflict and tension, a sort of mission statement, and reference books that I’d like to keep handy.
2. Chapter Outline.
   • Each chapter is described in a few lines with emphasis on major plot points that need to occur in that chapter. In this project, I decided on a set number of chapters and worked within that constraint. In another work, the exploration of chapter creation might dictate the number of chapters.
3. Scene Outline.
   • The chapters are then broken down into a number of scenes. The level of detail is increased, but each scene is still described in only a sentence or two. The focus is still on the major elements that contribute to the overall dramatic structure.

When everything has been laid out, I can sit down each day and tackle a scene or two. I’ve found that this level of outlining gives me a basic structure to work from without dictating exactly where the story needs to go. There is breathing room between the gaps in the outline that gives me a freedom to explore characters and storyline as the work progresses. My novel writing software of choice is Scrivener, and it allows me to create virtual folders for each chapter. Contained within these chapters are the scene files. Each of these items is just an outline note that represents an actual text file. By simply clicking and dragging in the outline view, an entire chapter or scene can be moved forwards or backwards in the narrative.

I’ve found that this process helps me focus on the writing, and removes any real possibility of writer’s block. I don’t always outline an entire project, but I do find that it helps to always have the next few days worth of scenes ready to go so I can sit down and focus on the writing rather than wondering what happens next. As long as I don’t catch up to the end of my outline, I’ve never had a problem meeting my daily word count goals.

Something I’ve noticed around the aspiring author blog scene is the posting of writing from a work in progress, usually accompanied by a disclaimer along the lines of “this is totally first draft, but I’m posting it anyways.” While I can understand that blogging is a form of catharsis for many people, and that posting work will often bring positive feedback from your friends, family, and other people too polite to post negative comments, I have to wonder why anyone would post what is in all likelihood the worst example of their talent as a writer.

For illustration’s sake, here’s something from my own work in progress:

Luke knew that he was getting stuck in the image that Hollywood put out there, and that he was attempting to live in the grey area between super hero, and every day hero. He couldn’t fly, couldn’t see through walls, didn’t have superhuman strength, and didn’t have adamantium claws embedded into his hands. He also didn’t possess the Jason Bourne-like qualities of intuitive language and fighting skills that would take fifty years of training to master. He was just a man. Thinking about the fact that he was skipping school at the moment, he revised that in his head to just a boy. He was sixteen years old, and he couldn’t hold himself up to the standards of anything in his comics or movies, nor should he compare himself to the real world spies who work with millions of dollars worth of training and technology behind them. He needed to start somewhere, and no one was perfect when they first started. The real asset, as he saw it, was that he didn’t want to just be some one off hero who found themselves in an extraordinary situation and took the right course of action. No, Luke wanted to consistently seek those wrongs in society that he knew he could act on, and one day his training and experience would allow him to tackle larger and larger issues. One day, he really would be a force to be reckoned with.

This is not a fair representation of who I am as a writer. It suffers from gramatical errors, is somewhat incoherent, slightly confusing out of context, and the writing is just plain messy. After several revisions, this paragraph will hopefully take on the tight and engaging style that will make a reader want to stay on the couch until they finish the book, but right now it’s just part of the foundation on which I’ll build a readable novel. If you were to read the rest of that chapter, you might seriously doubt my ability to ever produce anything worth reading.

Consider the following before sharing your first draft writing:

1. Your first draft writing is not very good. I’m not trying to be mean here, but it’s true. First drafts are for your eyes only. Show them to a close friend if you really nead structural help, but try to resist. You should always clean up your work before sending it to anyone so that your Beta Readers are receiving the best product that you can produce on your own. They shouldn’t be doing your dirty work for you, but rather helping you take your work to a higher level of excellence.

2. Readers will judge you. Little turns me off more than writing excerpts riddled with errors and clichéd or awkward phrases. Posting your lowest quality of writing on a blog or forum might lead people to pass unfair judgment on your ability to produce a quality finished product. Do you really want to put this facet of your writing out there for everyone to see?

3. Even if your draft writing is good, it might not be interesting out of context. It takes looking at the big picture to see if the little pieces all fit together. Extraneous plot elements need to be weeded out, character traits may be inconsistent, and your rough chapter excerpts are probably lacking the momentum they need to carry the reader through. It’s challenging enough to pull an excerpt from a polished work that will stand on its own, and even more difficult to do so from a rough draft.

4. If I’m reading entire chapters on your blog, what makes me want to read them again when they’re published? We all want to get published, right? If I visit your blog and am getting blasted with an excerpt once a week, might it not feel like I’ll be reading the book twice if it actually gets published?

So when is it okay to share my writing?

This depends on what you’re hoping to get out of it. If it’s something you want feedback on, do your critique group a favour and clean it up as much as possible. Before you ask someone to work hard to help you with your writing, remember that this is a relationship based on mutual respect and that you should try hard to fix it to the best of your abilities before sending it out.

You might also find yourself in the position of wanting to promote your forthcoming novel. That’s great, congratulations! Now you can post experpts from your published work. Hook people with that same fabulous writing that you used to land an agent and publisher, and by all means put a few chapters up on your blog.

What do you think? Is there anything to gain from posting first draft writing on your blog or favourite forum?

Everyone has their own favourite method for getting through that initial draft, and for many of us that means typing it out on a computer. There are a few different programs I use in the writing process, and I’ll write about them in more detail in a future post, but today I want us to stop and think about what happens when we make that intitial foray into a new story idea, and how technology can either help or hinder our progress.

In one minute I can scrawl around 25 words on the page with a pen, or type closer to 100 with a keyboard. In that same minute, my brain might be ripping through a thousand or more words that it wants my hands to record. When the writing is good–and oh how I do love it when the writing is good–I want to translate those thoughts to my screen as quickly as possible so I can keep ploughing forward. This is the idea stage. I’m not aiming for brilliant publishable prose on the first try, but rather working on achieving a creative flow that keeps me moving forwards. This means not reviewing and revising as I write, and almost always moving forward through the writing. The last thing I want to do in this frame of mind is to become distracted by that little dotted red line that indicates a spelling error. Even worse is having my software tell me that it has a grammatical suggestion for what I’ve just put down. When I’m drafting, I don’t care about these little mistakes that can be easily reviewed and repaired at some other time.

I use two pieces of software, depending on which computer I’m working with, but they are both essentially the same thing. On my MacBook, I do most of my drafting in WriteRoom ($24.99). When I’m using my Windows operated netbook, I rely on WriteMonkey (freeware). Both of these programs are barebones word processors that allow for fullscreen editing. The key feature for me is seeing my screen covered in nothing but text. No menus, no sidebars, no icons, and once I’ve disabled the spelling and grammar tools, no distracting error highlighting. The light text on a dark background seems to be easier on the eyes, and better on your computer’s battery life, although the first thing I did was change mine from the default green to a nice light blue.

A typical writing session begins with me turning off my wireless card, and firing up WriteRoom or WriteMonkey in fullscreen mode. Once I’ve finished writing, I’ll load the spell check and do a quick correction of any silly mistakes I’ve made while concentrating on the broader brush strokes of my story. This rarely takes more than three or four minutes unless I’ve had a lot to drink, or have written more than 2,000 words. Once I’m happy with the basic edits, I drop the day’s work into one of my more advanced writing programs where it typically sits as read-only until I’m ready to go back into revisions.

It’s always worth repeating that for every person writing, there’s a different favourite method for getting it done. Do you find you can work with technology to avoid getting bogged down in the technicalities, or does it often feel like your computer is just another barrier between you and the story? Let us know in the comments.