Sunday, September 16, 2012

Finding the Writing Magic

Something struck me this morning. Sipping on coffee and thinking about gearing up to write, I suddenly asked myself why it was so easy to write backstory and have everything fall into place. I mean, the first draft can be an agonizing process, slow, torturous, feeling like you're walking through quicksand that's halfway up your thighs. And that's on a halfway decent day. Why doesn't it work that way with backstory?

Why is freeing yourself from self-imposed shackles so hard? And how do you cut them off?

Nora Roberts said once (in some interview I read somewhere) that you just have to vomit out the first draft, and then fix it up later. When I think about that, I find it much easier to work. When I lose sight of that direction, everything becomes murky and confused. Nora's advice gets me through Nano every year. But I sure have problems remembering it from day to day.

What do you use to motivate yourself on days when the vision eludes you?

BTW, I still plan on blogging during our down time between sessions, so feel free to pop on by.

Happy creating!

Lara

2 comments:

alberta ross said...

like the norah quote - my first draft is always a messy buissness - the backstory so easy because its a whole world lived for months the difficulty I find is just picking the relative bits for the story and leaving behind the other part of the world - keep smiling:)

Julie Glover said...

I feel like backstory can be easier because it doesn't have to be as relevant to the story. Everything in the novel must relate to the MC's goal and growth, and backstory doesn't have to be as focused. That's just my thought.

Best wishes for a great week!