The way I tackle writing is novel is just to write things down as they come to mind. Anything and everything.
I am told that, in writing circles, anyone reading my my first draft would call it a vomit draft! Its been 7 years in the making but at least I now have a ‘vomit draft’.
So, what do you do with the vomit?
Clean it up? Wash it away? Cloak it with a sheet or towel so no one can see it, remembering to put a hazard sign up so people don’t fall into it? Ignore it? Walk away from it?
The second draft needs to be planned and today I am plotting and planning each chapter. Thinking about the reader and what I want them to experience and then going back to the plot lines to think about how each item chimes with my original hope for the chapter. It’s hard work but I love it. I love the characters, I love the arc and the journey my main character is on. I love the ideas and I love conversations they are having – mostly in my head for now.
The question I keep wanting to ask myself is why?
Why have I taken so long to get back into the groove of writing? Why, when I had time in the Falklands did I not finish a first full draft? Why is there so much to learn? Why is it so hard to make the time? Why am I not naturally gifted to do something as seemingly simple as write a bloody story?
