Two Ways of Writing Fiction

For some people, writing fiction is the easiest thing in the world. Armed with nothing but a pen and some paper, they write beautiful prose without even breaking a sweat.

And then there is the rest of us.

For most people, writing fiction is more of a struggle. I am not talking about the planning or revising of a novel here but that tricky bit in the middle - turning sheet after sheet of virgin paper into a first draft.

The problem is actually a double-edged one...

First, there is the difficulty of producing any words in the first place. You sit down to write a chapter from the novel, full of hope, and one hour later find yourself staring out the window having written nothing.

Second, having finally managed to get into the zone and write a few pages of a chapter, there is the problem of reading it back the next day - and positively hating it!

The issue of first drafts rarely turning out to be half as good as you imagined they were when you wrote them can be very dispiriting.

Writing fiction is a challenge (if it weren't, everyone would be a writer). If you accept it as a challenge - one you will overcome, of course - then the experience of feeling disappointed that your first drafts don't read like Hemingway becomes something you simply accept.

Writing the first draft of a novel is really about getting black on white. The dialogue might be stilted and the prose might be so clunky that it rattles, but no matter - you now have something to work on, some words to revise and make better.

Nevertheless, if you can barely bring yourself to even read your first drafts, much less show them to anyone else, that nagging feeling of "maybe I suck at this novel writing stuff" will persist.

What I want to offer you here is a practical method of dealing with "first-draft disappointment." In a nutshell, it is this: Instead of drafting the whole of your novel all at once, draft it chapter by chapter instead. Spend a work session drafting the first chapter and don't move on to the next one until you have edited Chapter One to a reasonable standard.

I will talk about this method of writing fiction in more detail in just a moment. In particular, I will explain why it makes the whole business of drafting and revising a long work of fiction much simpler. First, though, here is more information on the mechanics of drafting and revising...

How to Draft and Revise Fiction

Let's assume you have planned your novel - maybe in considerable detail, maybe much more sketchily. Either way, the next job is to write the first draft. This means taking your plan and turning it into hundreds of pages of prose and dialogue.

This is no small task. (But where would be the fun in writing fiction if it wasn't a little daunting?)

How do you actually write a first draft? Sorry, but there's no magic solution here - you've just got to knuckle down and write the thing! But for a little more information on how to survive the drafting stage of writing fiction with your sanity intact, check out this article: Surviving First Draft Blues.

(All these links open in a new window, so you can read the supplementary articles without losing your place in this one.)

Next up comes revision, or how to take the clunky draft you've just written and turn it into something publishers will want to publish. There are two stages to editing fiction...

1. Revising the Novel for WHAT You Have Said. In other words, checking characters, plots, and so on. Yes, I know you did all that during the planning stage, but these things have a habit of going off course somewhat when you are actually writing fiction.
2. Editing the Novel for HOW You Have Said It. This means revising the words themselves and making them the best they can be. This, in my opinion, is the best part of the entire fiction writing process.

Okay, now that I've dealt with what drafting and revising a long work of fiction involves, let's return to my method of making the whole process both simpler and more enjoyable...

Writing Fiction In Stages vs. Drafting All At Once

Having written a great plan for your novel, there are two ways to go about writing it...

• The first is to draft it in its entirety and then to revise the entire draft afterwards.
• The second is to draft the first chapter and revise it straight away, not moving on to Chapter Two until you are more or less happy with it.

I prefer the second method of writing fiction myself (when I get the time to write), and I would recommend it to anyone. Here's why...

1. It Gives You Confidence In Your Abilities As a Writer

Writing a poor first draft has the opposite effect, of course - lack of confidence. But if you immediately take that draft and turn it into something you are proud to put your name to, it leaves you feeling good about yourself and good about the prospects for your novel.

(And by the way, you will find that taking a clunky first draft and turning it into a solid piece of fiction is much, much easier than writing the draft in the first place.)

2. It Helps You Feel You Are Making Progress

Writing a first draft of an entire novel takes time - certainly several weeks and probably a few months.

If you do it all at once, before revising a word of it, the only thing you have to show for all that work is a stack of papers you can't even bear to look at for fear of cringing. But if you revise each chapter as you go, the mounting pile of papers will be something you can look at with a sense of great pride and accomplishment.

Please note that I am not talking about revising each chapter to a final polished state here, merely taking the time to hammer each one into a state you are "more or less" happy with.

Revising fiction too much at this stage would actually be counterproductive, or not even possible...

• There are some aspects of revision that you simply cannot perform until the entire first draft is complete - checking for overall character development, for example.
• And there is a lot to be said for putting a chapter away for a few weeks, so that you can forget it and come back to it with fresh eyes.
• Also, there is no point in crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's in a chapter if you later re-think your plot, for example, and decide to scrap the chapter.

Nevertheless, taking the time to turn a rough first draft into a workmanlike piece of prose, before moving on to the next chapter, is well worth the effort in my opinion.

For me - and maybe for you, too - it makes the whole business of writing fiction a lot more enjoyable.