Category: discovery draft
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Don’t Be Hard on Yourself
“You’re going to suck when you start. Sucking when you start is okay. Every new project, no matter how brilliant the idea at the heart of it happens to be, is going to start by sucking. Just deal with it, and soldier through. Every sentence is a learning experience.” -Seanan McGuire My Linktree
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Friday’s Findings: Storyboarding Is for Those Who Think Visually
Storyboarding is a way to outline your novel. I love this idea! The storyboard concept is borrowed from the animation industry. It’s a way to plan out your novel or short story using panels of illustrations. Here are some tips: It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can draw stick figures if it helps. If…
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Waiting for the Right Idea When Writing
I just put placeholders into the text, and then at some point a better idea might occur to me—or it might not—and I go back. I have a big whiteboard above my desk, and if I have even half of a good idea I write it down on the whiteboard and see if I like…
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And We’re Off: First Day of NaNoWriMo 2023
I belong to the writing community of Writing Mastery Academy online and I wrote this in the National Novel Writing Month discussion group this morning: “I woke up about 10 minutes before midnight, and figured I should go ahead and do a couple of word sprints. I got about 800 words in one hour, which…
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Friday’s Findings: Two Column Method to Drafting
I’ve discovered a way to create a rough draft more quickly and conveniently. Sometimes, I’ll have a page of notes about a scene I want to write. But going back and forth from the page with my notes to the page where I’m composing my rough draft slows me down. I tried a split screen,…
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Use AI to Outline your NaNoWriMo?
Are you desperate for a NaNoWriMo idea? Maybe you should consider using AI technology to create a 30-day outline for November. Maybe I’ll get hate for this, but I’m curious how people will respond to this idea. I’m sure it’s already been done. I’m not endorsing AI to write a novel, but I see value in using…
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Should I Do NaNoWriMo?
Should I do NaNoWriMo this year? Whether or not I do is in question. Here’s why: I’m currently working on three novels. Yes, I’m crazy. Currently, the momentum I have working on all three is going well. I don’t want to break it. I also have three or four outlines of potential novels. I want…
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Put Butt in Chair to Find Your Voice
Last year I took an online course with Writing Mastery Academy called Crafting Dynamic Characters. The instructor was Mary Kole, an editor. One thing I’ve realized with Writing Mastery Academy courses is that they always end up being way more than I expected. The same can be said about Crafting Dynamic Characters. I thought it…
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Friday’s Findings: How to Write Fast
Some writers imagine the writing process as slow and meticulous. They take their time composing that first draft, lingering over it for months, maybe years. These writers are tortoises and they don’t mind. However, in How to Write Fast by Sean Platt and Neeve Silver, the writing process is the hare, not the tortoise. They…
Andrew M. Friday 