Category: first drafts

What I’ve Learned: Creating a Character Sketch

For the longest time, I have been a discovery writer. I’ll have a vague idea of a plot and a vague idea of a character, sometimes a name and sometimes not, and then I will discovery write. At least that’s how I used to write.

For several years, my writing process was that way. It has been that way for several projects as well, where the characters show me who they are as I write their story.

Back when I was in school for my Bachelor’s, I was asked to create a character sketch before I even wrote the work the character was going to be in. I’ve tried it a few more times since then, for a few new projects.

Here’s a few things I’ve learned from that experience:

A Character Sketch can show you a character’s past.

Part of the character sketch I had to make for the class I was in involved making up a past for the character. While the story was loosely based off an idea I had, I didn’t have a main character for a while, so I had no idea what her past would be. It was interesting to figure out the MC’s motives of why she became who she was and what led her down the path to being the main character.

A Character Sketch can help map out the plot.

Originally, the plot was way different for the short story. The main character was meaner, bribing people to make herself feel better, a little sweet and sour action. In the character sketch, I realized the turning point in the story would be when the main character faced something she had never faced before. That helped me both build the character and build the plot.

A Character Sketch can make a character feel more real

Usually about half of the sketch doesn’t really end up in the written work explicitly.

While most of the sketch doesn’t appear, it does help to know what makes your character tick and by extension, how they would react to the world around them. An example is in the piece I wrote for my short story class. My main character is in the job she’s in because her grandmother passed away and it affected her.

The whole character sketch may not be helpful for the reader, but it does help the writer get a more concrete feel for the people they create.

I’m not sure if I’ll keep the process of creating a character sketch first. I like to write my first drafts by discovery, with loose enough outlines so my characters can surprise me. Maybe in second drafts, or on a deadline for shorter works, I might, but we shall see.

Every project is different, but I do enjoy trying new things.

 

Week Four Updates and Monthly Insights

Here we are in the last week (and last few days!) of November. This month has been quite the creative and productive month with writing and posting on the blog (and other places). I’ve made it through approximately 25% of my novel (I started the plot a little early- more on that later) and I technically won NaNoWriMo with 50,000 words on the 26th.

In these last few days of November, filled with attempting to continue writing my novel, finishing up some blog posts and coming up with plans for December and beyond, I’ve been fortunate to have time and drive to create.

Here’s how I did in the last week:

Day 22: 2055 in 55 minutes

Day 23: 1688 in 42 minutes

Day 24: 1676 in 45 minutes

Day 25:1720 in 40 minutes

Day 26: 1940 in 50 minutes

Day 27: 1774 in 45 minutes

Day 28:1747 in 45 minutes

Monthly Total: 55,281

Here’s what the last week (and the whole month) has taught me:

Focusing on one big project (and one smaller one) boosts word count

In previous months, I’ve attempted to focus on multiple projects at the same time and attempt to get them finished in a timely manner. When I started documenting my time this month, attempting to find the magic, I focused on one project and a few little smaller projects (such as this blog, substack and medium posts). I’ve realized focusing on one big project (like a novel) and one non-creative project, like blogging really is the key to getting things done. In the past Novembers, I’ve mainly focused on one project and done really well on that project. As November comes to a close, I hope I can continue through this novel until the first draft is complete (and of course keep posting updates and other noteworthy items on the blog!)

The first 1000 words of the day is always the hardest

I’ve come to this realization several times over my tenure as a NaNoWriMo participant. From the years that I struggled to make word counts, to the years I doubled my word count and overshot the 50K by double, one thing has stayed the same: The first 1000 words of the day are the most difficult. I’m not sure exactly why, maybe because it’s a big number to attempt to reach, or perhaps it’s all in my head, but to write for a while and only see three digits is frustrating. Everything after the 1K mark for the day comes easy.

Small sprints make big leaps

This month, I’ve tried something new and tracked my writing time religiously. I’ve only written when I have a timer going (usually 5, 10 or 15 minutes) and I don’t let anything distract me during that stretch of time (unless I’m at work and something comes up). I’ve been tracking how long it takes me to get the required word count for the day and I’ve noticed even the smallest amount of time (between 2 and 5 minutes) can make a big difference in word count. 5 minutes for me is around 250 words, which is a decent dent in the day’s count. Even when I feel like I don’t have a full 45 minutes to an hour to sit down and write, several 5 minute sprints can help reach the goal.

Writing takes a community

This realization has come to me once again post-pandemic after it was “safe” to go out in public again. I feel like growing up writing I was always doing it by myself, in the dark of my room after I was supposed to go to bed, or between classes, or on breaks at work. While there is some controversy with NaNoWriMo currently, they do have one aspect right: Writing takes a community. I’m very fortunate to have found my community in my area. I’ve been able to attend write-ins every week and find inspiration with my fellow writers, even if it’s not always in person.

See you in December for more writing updates!

 

What I’ve Learned and Week Three Updates

This November has been a whirlwind of emotions and words. This is not the best November I’ve ever done (I have done crazy word counts in previous years somewhere between 90K and 100K), but it is the most consistent.

I made myself a promise this year to hit the minimum of 1,667 words every day and update every day to make sure I get all the badges on the website. With all of the allegations and drama over on the website now, it seems a little less important now, but I still want that success for myself.

In the meantime, for the rest of November, I’m going to keep writing and forming my own habits. That’s what this month is about first and foremost, finding the magic of a new novel and documenting how long it takes me to get words down and write a book with minimal distractions.

Here’s how I did in week 3:

Day 15: 2311 in 1 hour and 10 minutes

Day 16: 1885 in 45 minutes

Day 17: 1767 in 45 minutes

Day 18: 1704 in 37 minutes

Day 19: 1730 in 45 minutes

Day 20: 1869 in 45 minutes

Day 21 1724 in 40 minutes

Monthly Total: 42,681

Here’s a few takeaways I’ve picked up over the last week.

An outline is crucial

Before the month started, I wrote an outline for the novel. My writing journey has grown and evolved from when I first started at 13 and each project is different, but for the last few years (especially since I’ve been working on an ever evolving series or two), I haven’t been using outlines, I’ve been letting the work surprise me.

For this year, working on a brand new project (for the first time in almost two years), I decided I needed an outline, so from start to finish I wrote down an outline of what I wanted to happen and loosely when.

So far this month, I’ve gone off outline a few times with the first time being super uncomfortable and the next few times feeling more comfortable. My outline is not in the best order, but it helps to know that I can play around with where things are.

For example, my main character wasn’t supposed to interact with her best friend until the 10th plot point in my outline, but there was the perfect place to introduce her earlier so I did. Another example, as I’ve been writing, I’ve realized my main character was too passive, so I added in a scene where she wasn’t so passive.

That’s probably why it took me 18 days to get through the first page (landscape) of my outline.

Also, post-its have been the perfect tool to get through the day and list a few plot points I want to hit, but not be too overwhelmed by the whole outline.

It is entirely possible to write when you think you don’t have time.

There was almost a day this week that I didn’t write at all. I had a busy day with social things and a hectic morning, so I figured I simply wouldn’t write. The timing was weird, I couldn’t sneak away and put a few words down, I was drained and exhausted. I could and did make every excuse, but ultimately, before I went to bed that night, reason kicked in and kicked my butt.

I almost lost a near 300 day streak of writing because I “didn’t feel like it”. I would have lost par of 1,667 daily and my motivation if I had a zero day. It would have been harder to get back into the story that the interest was already flagging on because I’m getting into the muddy middle.

I wrote that night, I snuck in 45 minutes right before midnight and while it was hard to get started, I made it happen. I couldn’t be happier with the results.

There have been several days where starting to write has been difficult, but by the time I reach my daily goal I don’t want to stop.

Getting started has been the hardest part.

Self made deadlines are the best ones to break

One of my other goals this month, outside of writing a novel, has been to blog regularly and post over on Medium and Substack. I have a weekly schedule of when and where I want to post, but similar to the story above, the day was not conducive to any kind of creative work and it just so happened to be when a post was due.

Thankfully, the post was mostly complete, it just needed a few last minute edits. I beat myself up over having a “late post”, but overall the more I thought about it, the more I accepted that sometimes posts will be late or off by a day. The important thing is that I did post and I did keep up my streak. The important thing is I’m getting content out there.

November is for words, December (and beyond) is for editing

This year, my typing skills aren’t quite up to snuff. Currently, I have acrylic nails that are beautiful, but quite dangerous when typing. Autocorrect and acrylic nails are a great combination when it comes to writing a novel, so there are several instances where at the beginning of the month I was erasing and cursing and annoyed, but now I just roll with it.

Now, for ease of time and storytelling, I simply put the offending word (or the word I wanted) in parentheses and keep moving forward. I can edit later, now I’m telling myself the story and getting through my outline.

See you next week!

 

What I’ve Learned: Typing up Old Works

I am fortunate enough as a writer that I started writing my stories with paper and pen. This is also unfortuate, because a lot of my works from my formative years in the early 2000’s (excuse me as I age myself) are all in a storage bin somewhere. Because of this, I still can’t find the original first novel I wrote and finished at 14. I’m hoping it’s somewhere in storage, somewhere safe, but we shall see.

I should say all the works were in storage or in a bin somewhere. Over the last few months I have scanned them in for safekeeping. A lot of those ideas are still good, or didn’t get the time they deserved back then because I got bored and started something else. Well, now they’re getting the time they deserve.

As of this month, I’ve begun to type up the works in an attempt to return to them later and either finish or repurpose them.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far in the first few weeks.

I’ve advanced a lot in the last decade of writing

I am so thankful for this! This year marks 20 years of writing (and more than half my life). The first few attempts were quite rough, with a lot of over explaining, a lot of characters staring at each other and long paragraphs of purple prose. I’m not perfect in my writing now, but I am glad I’ve made strides to correct some of my previous mistakes and improve upon my craft.

Some of the names are so cringe

While I don’t have the original of the first novel I ever wrote, I remember the names were so cringe. I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to name my main character, so her name kept changing the more people she interacted with. Historical fiction with names like AnnaLiegh and a multitude of other terrible spellings of “old fashioned sounding” names.

In a piece I wrote around 2007/2008, the names aren’t terrible, but spelled so bad. Caylob (who while typing up I kept typing as Cayblob) and Fevar and Braxley. This novel, in my prime teenage years was a great example of why I should not have been naming real life people back then or even thinking about having any kind of responsibility for naming anything, even a puppet or two.

The ideas are spectacular, the execution not so much

When I was a teenager, I had a lot of great ideas, but not a lot of idea how to finish them. A lot of my projects had really strong beginnings, even if the word structure of the sentences were a little cringe. I typed up a chapter of a work recently and my goodness there was so much staring, no page breaks, and each movement was described in too much detail. “Her eyes watched his eyes as she blinked and smiled” kind of thing. So much cringe, but at least now that I’m putting it into a digital form, that means I can edit it all later and avoid the awkward of both characters staring at each other for long periods of time.

There has been so much creativity living in these forgotten pages and I am so excited to explore a few of those old ideas, finish them, and see what happens next now that I have grown as a writer.

It’s really nice looking back and seeing how much I’ve improved

A lot of these works, as I mentioned, are from the early 2000’s circa 2005-2010ish. There’s a lot of growth within the works between the years. Lately, I’ve been down on my current writing because I’m in the middle of everything, throwing a pity party that my writing is stale, blah blah blah. Thankfully, looking back at where I started has helped me see that I have come a long way in the last 15+ years.

I can’t wait to see where I’ll be in the next 15 years as I keep moving forward and making improvements in my craft and my writing.

 

Wednesday Writing Tip: Finish Your First Draft

If you’re a writer first starting out, writing tips can be overwhelming. So many writers overthink the writing tips all over the internet.

I was fortunate to write my first few novels without the overwhelming “help” of the internet. I was fortunate to be able to find my own way of writing and creating.

I’m not saying writing advice on the internet doesn’t have its place, I’m sure it does, but not in the first draft. The first draft is for the writer to tell themselves the story. That story, that voice becomes muddled in between the “you should do blah” and “you shouldn’t do blah.” It can be overwhelming while working on a first draft

The first writing tip I have for anyone, brand new or experienced is Finish Your First Draft without writing advice.

Finish your first draft however you want to finish it. Finish your first draft and let the story tell you how it goes. Finish your first draft and find the way without anyone telling you how or why you should do it. Finish your first draft and then let the internet in when it’s time for subsequent drafts.

Happy Writing!