posted
My WIP is about a kid who has to adapt to a new environment. See, just for fun, I took this young, sweet, kind of noble, kind of awkward thirteen-year-old boy, and for kicks, I flung him 8000 years into the past, give or take a couple centuries.
You'd think that's a milieu story, right? Nuh-uh. It's about the kid. Uh, I already said that. Okay.
My dilemma is this: even though this world o' mine is pretty interesting (IMO), and unique (IMO), and strange, I'm having a hard time just buckling down and decribing the nuts and bolts of it. Granted, it's a first draft, so I can probably get into nitpicking later, but King says 2nd Draft=1st Draft-10%, and I'm loathe to disobey the King. I have enough problems adhering to that formula as it is, even in short fiction. My dragon story had 8300 words, approximately, and after all the revisions, and updates, and nitpicking, it stands at 8900+. Obviously, King would give me a solid smack upside the head.
So. How detailed should I go? How detailed would you go? I'd like to give the impression that I have a pretty solid foot in this world, but I also don't want to exceed the 90K limit that, in surpassing, would set my novel to flames and kill my future career as the best damn writer the world has ever seen.
Also, it would mean a boatload of research, which I ain't too good with. (And the era makes it kind of hard, as it's prehistoric. Not Clan of the Cave Bear prehistoric, but still. Besides, Auel researched for 3 years to write that novel, and she had grants galore. I probably couldn't do that. *shrug*
Not that I'd shy away from the research, mind. I just want to get the story down first.
posted
I'd say damn whatever King has to say on the subject and write whatever length you want on the fist draft. There are plenty of writers who write long & then cut down. Posts: 626 | Registered: Jun 2003
|
posted
Well, I don't know how to help you outright with yout question, but I agree wholeheartedly with Jules. King is not the only writer who suggests writing only one draft. Card agrees, and so does one other I was reading about in his author's note but I can't remember who that was...but plenty of people recommend only 1 draft.
And then there's the other camp....revise, edit, revise! There are some who know going in that their first draft is exploratory and that it will be at least draft 5 begfore they're done.
Both tactics have worked for a great many authors.
Me, personally, I try for a mid-line approach. My first draft tends to be exploratory, although I give it as much planning and coherence as possible so it makes sense and I can get some readers give me their overall impressions. I figure my second draft is it, though, aside for toothpick editing. After that, the excitement level goes down too much and I believe it shows through in the writing.
So take whatever line you want, or go to the middle like me. Either way, don't think that this draft has to be your last draft...talk about giving yourself ulcers!
posted
The problem with many books of writing advice is that the author tends to think everybody writes the same way. King makes that mistake in his book.
If your first draft is excessively wordy and bogged down with unnecessary detail, then your revised version should be shorter. On the other hand, if your first draft assumes too much and doesn't give enough detail, then your revised version should be longer.
I'm in the second camp -- revising almost always makes my work longer but richer in detail.
posted
I'm glad you said that, Eric, because I'm the same way but almsot everyone asumes that revisions are shorter. I almost always find more depth to the story in the second draft that lengthens and enriches the story.
[This message has been edited by Christine (edited June 01, 2004).]
posted
I can't tell you how detailed I would go, since it is your story! The answer to how detailed YOU should go is - as much as necessary for the story. If you have a section done, and feel comfortable sharing it, give it to your Ideal Reader (since you read On Writing you should know what/who that is). Then you have two choices - don't tell them what you want, let them read, then have them say if it dragged anywhere, or describe any spot at which they might have been confused and find out if it was due to lack of information. OR - give it to them, telling them you want to know if it drags due to too much info, or is confusing for the lack of it.
Since you are doing a novel (you said 90K, right?), and aren't totally making up a world, some research is a good idea. Remember, only a small percentage of what you research actually goes into the novel. Most of what you look at will help you set up your setting (environment, critters, etc), but your reader doesn't need it all. Your reader will learn about the setting as your char interacts with it, discovering it in all its beauty and danger, so you won't have to info dump.
Do enough until you feel comfortable with your setting. Then just write. Later you can add or subtract as necessary. King's advice is great if you are one who writes a lot, and does need to later strip away everything that doesn't forward your story. However, if you are more of a bare-bones-flesh-it-out-later kind of guy, then you will be adding words.
Rules can be guidelines, but look BEHIND them for the real meaning - write, then revise appropriately so you have a good story!
posted
I think a lot of things happen during revision, and saying that it gets longer/shorter really oversimplifies it.
It happens that my current WIP, which is the first I've taken as far as second draft, has become substantially longer (up from ~80k to ~200k, and now split into two books). But at the same time, there is excessive detail that has been removed from the original. Entire scenes that I didn't think important are gone. I had page after page of exposition, which I've had to work into the story to prevent it from being boring. And the characters wanted to do different things this time And I've added subplots that foreshadow the eventual ending, and a couple of new characters to replace some rather boring old ones.
But vary the emphasis on adding/removing only slightly and you vary the resulting wordcount dramatically. You can't predict these things until you start revising it.
posted
You're going to have to give enough detail to convincingly protray your setting, because while yes, you say your story is about the boy, it is the boy experiencing the setting, so it's going to have to play to important a role to skimp. I would think this would be possible without a 3 year grant and honory degree in prehistoric history.
On the final draft being longer than the first, I have to echo what has been said before. If you write a spare first draft, and have to go back and flesh it out, then of course it's going to be longer. Cutting 10% is not a automatic solution.
posted
I read that James Patrick Kelly's working method is to work on the story until it's finished before cutting 10%.
The 10% rule is very valuable, so long as you know when to use it. If you write a sparse first draft, you're second draft will be longer. But I do believe there comes a point when you have to look at trimming the thing. Maybe for you that's after the second draft.
For me, I write very, very wordy first drafts. I just pour myself into it--give myself a mound of material to work with. That means I'm cutting pages and pages of stuff the story doesn't need, but stuff that I needed to get the story down.
You just have to learn how you work. And that can be one of the most frustrating parts of becoming a writer.
quote:Remember, only a small percentage of what you research actually goes into the novel.
Amen, and amen. My rule of thumb is that learning more makes you cut material that you realize doen't fit your milieu.
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
And I've added subplots that foreshadow the eventual ending, and a couple of new characters to replace some rather boring old ones.
