Ask a Published Author: "How do I stop obsessively editing while writing my first draft?"

James R. Strickland has been telling stories since before he could read. After making his career in high tech, he took part in National Novel Writing Month, and in 2004, wrote the first draft of Looking Glass , which was published in 2007. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

What is the best tip for shutting out the inner editor? — Anonymous

Do NaNoWriMo.  :)  

Seriously, when you can’t edit at all, and you’re hell-bent for leather just to make your word quota for the day, ignoring the inner editor gets a lot easier. Give yourself permission to write crap, as the saying goes. Sometimes you will, permission or not, and sometimes you’ll look into the crap and realize there actually is a pony in there that really really needs a bath.

I’ve never, ever gotten a publication-ready novel out of NaNo. They’re inevitably too short (most novels are around 100,000 words) and there are great heaps of crap all over. The most recent one I finished gave me only the characters and flesh of the world of the novel. Worth it? Yes.

I also suggest having, if not an outline, a roadmap, or storyboards; something to keep you from getting rat-holed. I think it’s perfectly legitimate to prepare these ahead of time. I should note that I’ve never actually done this for NaNo, which probably says a lot to why my most recent novel took me two years and involved cutting a hundred thousand words. Don’t do as I have done. Do as I’m doing now.

Late nights help. When you’re tired, the inner editor tends to go to sleep before you do. I wrote a great deal of Looking Glass in the wee hours of the morning, to the point where I’d often get up the following day and have to re-read what I’d written, and wonder what dusty corner of my brain this strange, creepy, weird stuff was coming from. A warning: late nights help, but they’re not a sustainable tool. Eventually you want to be awake when the day-star is up.

Next week’s head counselor will be Susan Dennard, whose book,  A Darkness Strange and Lovely, hits shelves today! It’s the second in a trilogy blending historical fiction, horror, romance, and mystery .

Ask her your questions here!