Best – “Give yourself permission to write a
‘crappy’ first draft.”
This simple piece of advice from the
fabulous author, Julie Cohen, changed my entire prospective and output as a
novelist.
It’s a huge achievement for anyone to
finish a full-length novel but, for some writers, this can take years. If you
want to give up the day job, pursue your life’s calling or simply write for the
rest of your life, the fact is, you have to produce polished novel regularly
and consistently if you want to eat and pay your rent/mortgage.
When you’ve beaten the writer’s odds and
become a household name, there’s every chance your publisher will be more than
happy for you to turn in a 100,000 word novel every year, maybe even every two
years. Why? Because the chances are your name alone will give them the return
they are looking for.
However, between now and then, you have to
work well and hard.
For me, that possibility came with this
advice – once I understood and accepted that a crappy first draft is something
to work on rather than the finished product, I sat down and planned as much of
my novel as I felt I needed in order to write the entire first draft without
looking back. The result? My average daily output jumped from 1,000 words a day
to 2,500. Admittedly, I am lucky enough to work full-time now my kids are at
university, and able to write around my children, BUT if your WEEKLY output is 1,000
words and becomes 2,500, isn’t that a huge difference?
Of course, there is more work to come when
you have to beat your words into shape, but won’t it be easier to alter, delete
and improve a page full of words than battling with a first chapter over and
over again?
Worst advice – “Give up now…you’ll never be
published.” Anonymous contest judge circa 2005
Hmm, I could let this one go by without
comment, but I will say a few words.
Most importantly, this advice had the exact
opposite effect on me than the judge most probably intended.
For some people, this might mean they never
pick up a pen or put their fingers to a keyboard again. For me, it made me more
determined than ever to prove him/her wrong. It angered me, made me more
passionate about my dreams and gave me the boost to carry on.
In 2007 my first novel was published…today,
I have over twenty full-length novels published. The latest due for release in September
2019 and I’m working on the first draft of novel with a likely Spring 2020
release date.
I written romantic suspense and mainstream
romance for Harlequin Superromance and Victorian romances for Kensington, two
of the biggest romance publishers in the US. Not to mention numerous small
presses and signing my first four book deal with Aria Fiction last year.
Bad advice? Yes. A great motivator?
Absolutely!
Happy writing!
Rachel x
My best advice was "don't ever give up," because I STILL want to give up halfway through every book! The worst was probably "write what you know," because my fields of expertise are very small. While I need to write within my own emotional limitations, writing what I actually know would shorten my list of books quickly.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with both! I, too, would have ran out of story ideas YEARS ago if I only used my personal experience. I have been a stay at home mum since my mid-20s and there's only so much you can write about children...in theory!
DeleteAs for 'don't ever give up' that has to be the BEST advice ever :)