Finish writing your novel- three times!
So as I'm writing the sequel to Infinity Squad (still due out July 4th, 2013!) I'm listening to a lot of writing and movie podcasts to improve my craft. One thing I'm recognizing as a common theme is how many drafts great work takes to complete.
Not good work. That can have a first draft, then a second to catch errors and tighten things up, and then fly out the door. And be an okay story.
But great books and movies seem to have this in common: many more revision drafts than you would expect. "Wreck-It Ralph", an animated movie with defined characters, good pacing and in which EVERYTHING introduced pays off, went through 7 drafts at Disney.
Not 7 re-writings of the paper script, but 7 complete writings, filmings, editings, and audience screening cycles. And it's animated, so the famous voice actors had to come back many, many times. And the co-writers were saying how some of the most important story elements (the main villain, for ex.) didn't find their voice until the 5-6th revision.
Compare that to "Skyfall", a horrible blotch on the James Bond reboot franchise, with pointless and flip-flopping characters, a stupid plot, and in which NOTHING pays off. I don't even think the director watched the movie a second time, because he would have said "Oh crap- that doesn't work!"
One of the best first fantasy novels in decades, "The Name of the Wind" took Patrick Rothfuss 10 years to write. Not be cause he's slow. But because he wanted to make sure every thread carried weight, arced, and paid off. And it did. And even though people are beating down his door for the last book in that trilogy, he's taking his time, like a master BBQ chef slow-cooking ribs.
Finally, I read an advice book with a chapter titled "Why does the printer always break the night before the big presentation?" Spoiler Alert: because you're trying to print out your handout for the first time at 10 PM the night before your presentation. The advice book says, instead of that, why not budget time to finish your handout three times, printing it out each time. Then you can get feedback, think of ways to improve it, and F$%$#ing NOTICE THAT XAVIER BARDEM COULD HAVE KILLED M AT ANY TIME, HE DIDN'T NEED THE MOST POINTLESS PLOT IN ANY BOND MOVIE TO DO IT.
Ahem. And anyway, if the printer DOES break down the night before the presentation, you've still got revision 2 of your handout, which is better than showing up with revision 0 because you were out of ink.
This parallels what we teach our engineering design customers (when I take off the writing cape and become 9-5 Clark Kent) designing new products: First revision, then one entire design cycle to improve manufacturability, then another whole cycle to reduce costs, etc. That way, when you're suddenly reassigned to a new project or slammed against a new deadline (as you always are), every part in the model has been looked at not just once, but many times, by many different eyes.
Anyway, time to go write. But think about this as you're completing your OWN novels: budget time to go through it at least 3 times, and look to improve a different story angle each time. You'll make better work. And maybe not have SKYFALL BE JUST THE NAME OF HIS STUPID HOUSE THAT HE DOESN'T LIVE AT, DOESN'T LIKE, AND THAT HE BURNS DOWN WITHOUT BATTING AN EYELASH ANYWAY.
Oh, did I just spoil that movie? No. The writers spoiled it. The writers spoiled it.
Not good work. That can have a first draft, then a second to catch errors and tighten things up, and then fly out the door. And be an okay story.
But great books and movies seem to have this in common: many more revision drafts than you would expect. "Wreck-It Ralph", an animated movie with defined characters, good pacing and in which EVERYTHING introduced pays off, went through 7 drafts at Disney.
Not 7 re-writings of the paper script, but 7 complete writings, filmings, editings, and audience screening cycles. And it's animated, so the famous voice actors had to come back many, many times. And the co-writers were saying how some of the most important story elements (the main villain, for ex.) didn't find their voice until the 5-6th revision.
Compare that to "Skyfall", a horrible blotch on the James Bond reboot franchise, with pointless and flip-flopping characters, a stupid plot, and in which NOTHING pays off. I don't even think the director watched the movie a second time, because he would have said "Oh crap- that doesn't work!"
One of the best first fantasy novels in decades, "The Name of the Wind" took Patrick Rothfuss 10 years to write. Not be cause he's slow. But because he wanted to make sure every thread carried weight, arced, and paid off. And it did. And even though people are beating down his door for the last book in that trilogy, he's taking his time, like a master BBQ chef slow-cooking ribs.
Finally, I read an advice book with a chapter titled "Why does the printer always break the night before the big presentation?" Spoiler Alert: because you're trying to print out your handout for the first time at 10 PM the night before your presentation. The advice book says, instead of that, why not budget time to finish your handout three times, printing it out each time. Then you can get feedback, think of ways to improve it, and F$%$#ing NOTICE THAT XAVIER BARDEM COULD HAVE KILLED M AT ANY TIME, HE DIDN'T NEED THE MOST POINTLESS PLOT IN ANY BOND MOVIE TO DO IT.
Ahem. And anyway, if the printer DOES break down the night before the presentation, you've still got revision 2 of your handout, which is better than showing up with revision 0 because you were out of ink.
This parallels what we teach our engineering design customers (when I take off the writing cape and become 9-5 Clark Kent) designing new products: First revision, then one entire design cycle to improve manufacturability, then another whole cycle to reduce costs, etc. That way, when you're suddenly reassigned to a new project or slammed against a new deadline (as you always are), every part in the model has been looked at not just once, but many times, by many different eyes.
Anyway, time to go write. But think about this as you're completing your OWN novels: budget time to go through it at least 3 times, and look to improve a different story angle each time. You'll make better work. And maybe not have SKYFALL BE JUST THE NAME OF HIS STUPID HOUSE THAT HE DOESN'T LIVE AT, DOESN'T LIKE, AND THAT HE BURNS DOWN WITHOUT BATTING AN EYELASH ANYWAY.
Oh, did I just spoil that movie? No. The writers spoiled it. The writers spoiled it.
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