Hello All,
I hope life is treating you well. Things are good here in my neck of the woods. I've been plugging away at the second draft of my novel and am now on chapter four. The writing moves a lot quicker when I have the first copy to draw material from. Only thirty-five more chapters left… sigh.
As I reviewed my new draft, I realized my writing had come a long way. In the beginning, I had no idea how important point-of-view was to approaching a story. In fact, I didn’t fully understand the concept and how it worked. Active and passive verbs were not considered during the writing process. My text was sprinkled with so many adverbs and adjectives it would have made a florist barf. Flowery prose is an understatement. As each of these weaknesses was identified, I endeavored to learn how to correct them. Twenty "how to" books later, followed by lots and lots of practice, I actually have a draft that has the potential to someday become a novel.
Although I've come to the conclusion my prose will never have the polish of Rowling, King or Steinbeck, I can still aim for middle-of-the-road author. I enjoy writing. It provides an outlet by which to get rid of all the stories in my head. Right now, that's enough.
Have any of you read some of your first works and thought, wow! I've come a long way? If so, I'd be interested to know what your weaknesses were. Until next time my friends, happy writing.
I hope life is treating you well. Things are good here in my neck of the woods. I've been plugging away at the second draft of my novel and am now on chapter four. The writing moves a lot quicker when I have the first copy to draw material from. Only thirty-five more chapters left… sigh.
As I reviewed my new draft, I realized my writing had come a long way. In the beginning, I had no idea how important point-of-view was to approaching a story. In fact, I didn’t fully understand the concept and how it worked. Active and passive verbs were not considered during the writing process. My text was sprinkled with so many adverbs and adjectives it would have made a florist barf. Flowery prose is an understatement. As each of these weaknesses was identified, I endeavored to learn how to correct them. Twenty "how to" books later, followed by lots and lots of practice, I actually have a draft that has the potential to someday become a novel.
Although I've come to the conclusion my prose will never have the polish of Rowling, King or Steinbeck, I can still aim for middle-of-the-road author. I enjoy writing. It provides an outlet by which to get rid of all the stories in my head. Right now, that's enough.
Have any of you read some of your first works and thought, wow! I've come a long way? If so, I'd be interested to know what your weaknesses were. Until next time my friends, happy writing.
Great post, Andrea. Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I like looking back at my old work and seeing how far I've come, but I also like seeing that spark that's always been there, waiting for me to polish my craft enough that it can really shine out.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! My writing continues to improve every step of the way (because I keep working on it). Part of it is learning the craft, and part of it understanding how a novel develops. It's ok for the first draft to be awful - that's what first drafts are for. But subsequent drafts should approach the limits of your ability as an author, and even stretch beyond it!
ReplyDeleteGood for you, for keeping striving, keeping learning! :)
Your story mimics my adventure in writing to a tee.
ReplyDeleteOf course… every time I look back I see improvement. Seeing my weaknesses bring self-doubt to the forefront every time.
Weaknesses: grammar, over-writing, inject info in a show-not-tell style, and probably worst of all I lacked confidence.
Rebecca, keep polishing away. Eventually, we'll get where we want to go.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I agree completely. I did not know how a novel developed when I first started writing. The great ones make it seem so easy. I was soooo delusional.
Jeff, been there done that. It takes a long time to become secure in the craft. Even when people compliment my chapters, I wonder if they're blowing smoke. Don't beat yourself up. Humility is a good thing. Best wishes on your novel.
Totally! Just in this past year, I'm amazed at the growth. I've learned so much about pacing, point of view, plot structure. I still have so much to learn.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your revisions!
I get what you're saying Julie. Writing is a life-long learning process, that's for sure. Take care.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful when you read something back some time after you wrote it and think 'wow, did i write that?' - in a good way! Hopefully we'll all be experiencing that feeling lots in the future.
ReplyDeleteRight on Katie. Lets keep our fingers crossed.
ReplyDelete