Writers’ Webinar: First Drafts, Practicing, and the Outline

This instalment of my Writers’ Series of Webinars talks about Shitty First Drafts (SFDs), Practicing Your Craft, and touches on the heated topic of whether or not one should outline before they write. Something I don’t say in the video is that I generally don’t outline when writing a short story (a short story being anything less than, say, ten thousand words). Generally, stories this short come to you basically finished. Or they grow organically from a spark of an idea. Either way, they’re small enough to contain completely in your head without needing to be encumbered with an outline of any sort. Anything bigger than, say, fifteen thousand words, and I will outline. The more complex the story, the more “story street posts,” I want to hit in my outline. Just think of the outline as another tool in your writer’s toolbox. It’s not there to cripple your creativity, it’s there to let you’re creativity soar, by taking away all the stress of worrying about whether or not your story is functioning the way you want it to while you throw down your first draft.

Another thing I don’t say in the video is that I’m a firm believer in getting your shitty first draft down as quickly as possible. This is yet another way to keep your left brain internal editor at bay–write so fast that he or she can’t keep up. Remember, nobody ever has to see your first draft but you, although, I’ve trained my agent to see past the crappiness of a SFD and occasionally I will actually send her a completed first draft with specific questions. But she knows from experience what my SFDs turn into on second and final drafts,so it’s not a huge deal.

Michael out.

The post Writers’ Webinar: First Drafts, Practicing, and the Outline appeared first on Michael Hiebert's Offical Website.

Related posts:
Writers’ Webinar: Authorial Voice vs. Character Voice
Writers’ Webinar: The Five Point Climax
New Webinar Series

YARPP powered by AdBistroPowered by