My dear friend Angie had this idea of doing Tuesday Tips over at her blog, and she thought it would be fun to form a tip team, so I joined. Seeing as how my blog is primarily writing-related, I thought I would post tips that fit the theme. I may now and then post one that has little or nothing to do with writing, but only if it's an absolute must.
So here goes!
Tuesday Tip #1 -- Silence Your Internal Editor (for now)
Doing NaNoWriMo has taught me something important. I don't have to edit as I go! Hurray! And you, as a writer, don't have to either (except maybe when you're blogging, but that's different).
Cut loose, be free, put the pedal to the metal and write an entire first draft (or at least and entire chapter) without stopping to edit yourself. Don't worry about spelling. Don't worry about word choice. Sometimes the most important thing is to get from the beginning to the end. Then when you go back and read your work as a whole draft, you'll be able to edit, revise and slash away objectively.
That, and it's just no fun to try and make everything perfect on the first go.
So, go ahead and ignore the spelling errors, imperfect grammar and "telling" sentences for now. It's okay. Really.
Yay! I am glad that you are doing Tuesday Tips. I am looking forward to learning how to be a better writer.
ReplyDeleteI have heard this before, to write with abandon. I have never actually tried it. I am going to have to give it a go; especially if you recommend it. Thanks for the tip!
Be forewarned, you'll need will power! :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, it's very hard. I have to admit that my mss are better when I just get the darn thing written FIRST and revise SECOND.
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