Giving Your Story the Time it Needs

The first draft for The Duchess of Idaho is done. It took me ten weeks to finish. For me, that is crazy fast. I mean, lightning speed. I wrote in this post about how it used to take me months to write my outline, months to write my first draft, and months to make it all pretty-like. These days I’ve hit a faster stride with my writing.  

Now, with the dreaded first draft complete, DOI is tucked away in a warm, safe, dark place, covered by a kitchen towel (okay, not really—it’s tucked away in a computer file) completing its “baking time.”

I find that my stories need time to come together. I need time to roll them, knead them, press them this way and that. Then I have to decide which shape I like better. Then they need to rise again. I need this time away from the manuscript because even though I have a clearer idea of what the story is about, I still have a lot of work to do. “Baking time” allows me space to do that work.

Most of what I write in the first draft will be changed, rearranged, or deleted. My first drafts are merely the story in its most basic form with hardly any description, no historical details, and a bit of dialogue. The first draft is my brain’s way of working through the first layer of the story. Then, after some time away, I can see my story more clearly and begin to peel away the outer layers so I can dig deeper.

This time away is what I refer to as “baking time.” This time between drafts, the “baking time,” is important for my writing process.

I read a lot during the “baking time.” I’m currently looking for books written during or about the Oregon Trail. There are a number of primary sources—journals written by women as they traveled the trail. I’ve started reading some of the journals and they are providing great insight into what the women were thinking and feeling during the dangerous journey. I just watched the documentaries Lewis and Clark and The West by Ken Burns. Both documentaries provided insight into the pioneering spirit. Burns also has a documentary about the Donner Party, the doomed pioneers on the Oregon Trail, so I’ll be watching that too. I’ve reread a few of the Little House books, and I’ve been watching the TV show. Again, they’re not specific to the Oregon Trail, but they still have inspirational value. I started a private board on Pinterest about the Oregon Trail, and I’ve found some great book recommendations about the westward expansion, examples of food and clothing, detailed maps of the trail, and other goodies. In Las Vegas, there’s a historical site called the Mormon Fort that dates from 1850. Although the fort isn’t part of the Oregon Trail, I’m sure I’ll find some useful information when I visit. I’m also listening to music that would have been played along the trail, largely fiddle music similar to what we would call Bluegrass.

I enjoy the “baking time” because it’s fun—I’m immersing myself in the time period. Reading other authors, learning new information, seeing the clothing and the covered wagons, listening to the music, and watching the movies and documentaries, all of it gives me an abundance of ideas for when I revise my story. Not everything will end up in the novel, but it doesn’t matter. Everything works together to provide a framework I can use to revise my story so it’s the best it can be.

I have to play tricks on myself to get the first draft written, but I push through because I know that the second draft is so much more of a joy. This break between the first and second draft costs me some time, and it means I write more slowly than others, but it’s time well spent.

I used to worry that I wasn’t writing quickly enough because I took a deliberate break from my story. Over the years, though, I’ve come to terms with my “baking time.” Bringing stories to life is what I love most, and the baking time allows me to do that.

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Published on April 12, 2021 11:40
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