“First drafts are for learning what your novel is about. The first draft of a book is the most uncertain--where you need guts and the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better.” --Bernard Malamud
I'm not one to outline or plot out everything in advance, though I do like having some sense of where I'm going. It's those unexpected twists and turns I take with my characters that make the first draft so thrilling. And if I hit a dead end? I just reprogram my writer's GPS during revisions.
~~Karen
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I definitely outline, but it's just a map, not a tunnel.
ReplyDeleteNice! :)
DeleteKaren
For Open Wounds I outlined after the fact to help me see how I could make sense of a novel that was originally all over the place. Outlining helped me to structure it. Usually, though, all I know ona first draft is what comes next (what scene) or the end of the book. For me, that is both the thrill and the terror (what if I can't figure out what comes next?) of a first draft. I love the Malamud quote. - Joe
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