Thursday, July 15, 2010

Speed Writing--Update

Just as I promised, I tried out the Speed Writing last night. I had my six projects up and ready to go, a timer, a glass of water, my kids sleeping, etc. I was ready.

Round I: My first novel, one I have not even glanced at since January, 2009. Prologue... hmmm... just as I suspected, it sucked. But, amazingly, not one minute into the speed writing session, I knew exactly how to change it! It would solve my late-arriving villain, would introduce the Old English facet, and would set the creepy tone for the whole thing. Perfect! I started writing, modifying, filling the page with dialogue... the alarm went off, but I was almost finished with the scene! I couldn't stop now!

So, there it is. It took another 18 minutes to rough out the prologue, and as I started glancing through the first chapter, I knew exactly where I was going wrong. I have my project.

Yes, I set aside the five other projects. It's probably best for me to do this novel, anyway, for it is the roughest of the three, and once I rewrite it, I can set it aside while I revise #2 and #3, and hopefully have them all ready for publication soon. I am tired of having them languish on my laptop, though, so at least I'm moving on them actively.

Did the speed dating work? Yes, and no. I do have a project, but I also didn't really do the whole speed dating thing. I picked up the number of the first guy I met and walked out the door with him. That's me, not playing by the rules. I can certainly appreciate Jeff's knowledge that speed dating doesn't work for him. If I get in a bind again, I might try it, but I wouldn't be surprised if the outcome is the same.

Now to tackle that novel, and make it brilliant ;)

4 comments:

  1. I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year and I found the creative part of me taking over. The writing straight through to the finish was great.

    However, I don't like the "go back now and polish" phase as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And why did we think this would work? Hmm?

    Speed writing sounds almost as pointless as speed dating. You don't know a guy until you've been with him for at least a year.

    And you don't really know what's happening with a novel until you've made love to it for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  3. lol, just read your two speed writing posts, but out of order and I couldn't work out why you thought it didn't work - when it clearly did!
    Your aim was to get your enthusiasm back and find a new direction and that's what happened. Good for you. The cabbage story sounds interesting. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I certainly hope you at least had dinner together before becoming intimate again!

    ReplyDelete