Anna DeStefano's Blog

I’m a geeky, analysis-loving writer. I live to plan and revise. Drafting–NOT so much my happy place. While I’m drafting, I must continually slap my hand and let go of the overly organized stuff my brain prefers. So nix on clinging to the forms and charts that I’ve filled out and used to rough out my characters and plot. It’s the only way I ever get a draft done–I have to trust my instincts and my planning and let myself go–to PLAY.  Writing is improvisation. It’s playing. I’ve being asked a lot about my process as I do the blog tour for my latest release–here’s some of the high points about my drafting process.

Drafting is hell for me…until that ugly first draft is done. Then it becomes heaven, because now I have some place to start to REALLY craft a story I’ll love. Believe me, this is a dynamic that won’t change for my process. I just sent the first draft of my Christmas on Mimosa Lane to my Montlake editor after working on it FOREVER and much longer than I was supposed to have to write it (BLESS my editor and agent for being so patient while I tackled such a complex story), and only now do I really see the potential and beauty of what I’ll ge to work with through the editorial revision process.

And I’ve revised the entire thing myself something like 15 or 20 times already. The ending chapters–I must have rewritten them at least 10 times in the last few weeks. Character arcs–each one has been obsessed over. Subplots–do they reflect the main? Secondary characters–do they have their own story to tell, as well as playing into the central plot’s overall themes? Setting–how well have I show the reader what I need to, so hopefully she’ll feel what my characters are feeling within their world? And on and on… All because of the momentum I allow to build as I draft freely, and the notes I keep so I can come back and rip everything apart once I have a big picture of the entire story.

I draft (from a proposal synopsis and around three chapters) forward without stopping. No going back. No letting myself fix things or revise. Not until I reach the end. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be an end. Forward momentum and building on the creativity of the exercise of creating and discovering what will REALLY happen next for my characters is everything–and terrifying–in my drafting stage. Then I sit back and take stock and dive into the ugly draft I’ve created and have a blast deconstructing and reworking every last bit of it. A lot. Anywhere from

Keeping track of changes I see coming and new things the story reveals as I draft becomes key–so those revisions I crave can happen. So I find a way to keep that wouldn’t break the delicate flow of my drafting…

So, what do I do, while I write without letting myself tinker?

Here are some of the basics I didn’t have time to share in a recent workshop I taught, but folks seemed rabid to know for their own process.

Using Word’s “Notes” toolbar/feature, which enables you to leave searchable notes you can easily track and keep up with:

•  Whenever I recognize a change that needs to be made in something I’ve already written, I leave a note where the change first needs to be implemented. I DON’T make the change, just the note.

• When I introduce something completely new into the story (a new character, unexpected scene, different detail or symbol or mannerism, etc.),I note where it first begins and from where it needs to be worked into the story, then move on.



• When I’m writing something I know is key but can’t get my head around exactly how to use it most effectively, I note that, too. Almost like leaving myself a marker–”Don’t forget to come back and explore this more. Work on this as you write forward, then come back and clean the cr**p up here!”

• I even use these notes to indicate where I’ve dramatically changed turning points and so forth that I’d planned to hit but as I draft have realized don’t work the way I’d thought they wold. These are road signs showing where I chose to take a new path and why, while I write forward in the new direction I’ve discovered. That way, when it’s time to rewrite and I go back to my planning documents to see how best to focus my rewriting efforts, I have a history of what I was thinking while I drafted and why I chose to write in the new directions I have.

I don’t mean to make this kind of analysis, “while I’m not allowed to be analytical,” seem overly simplistic. The complexity of what I do, I think, comes from compartmentalizing the notes/makers I  leave in my wake while I plug into the unrestrained creative part of me from which stories bloom. And you’ll have to find your own method, if you try drafting forward without looking back the way I do..

You might need the analytical stuff to feel comfortable enough to draft free.We’re all different. But maybe some of this will help you, regardless, as you figure out your own process and how best to improve how YOU write.

Draft better and more productively, even if it’s hell for you. Rewrite something brilliant from those rough first words, so you can get to that heaven we all want when we create. THE END is only the beginning, my friends.

Find your own way…

Tags: Anna DeStefano, creativity & inspiration, writer, writer resource, writing, writing articles, writing coach, writing craft, writing resources

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 8:44 am and is filed under How You Write. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.