Writing about writing: Juggling hats
March 10, 2024
This article was originally published in the eQuill, the newsletter of the Atlanta Writers Club.
If you’re a writer like I am, you know we wear different hats. Besides the writing one, there’s “publicist & promoter,” “social media boss,” “critique partner,” and more. It’s usually easy to shift between roles. But what if one hat is a Prada and the other is a faded, beer-stained ball cap?
For me, the conflict stems from being both writer and editor. I recently spent two days proofreading a manuscript for a client, scouring every line for typos, missing formatting, and bad grammar. So it’s no wonder that when I turn to my novel in progress, and my writer’s voice cries, “I want to create and let words pour out and fly free!” the editor replies, “Not so fast there, Sparky.”
I know that first drafts, at least, aren’t meant to be perfect. Anne Lamott, who devotes a chapter of her book Bird by Bird to this subject, says, “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”
Where and how? I try to put a distance of at least a few hours between editing and creating, and to write new pages when my energy is highest. I close my browser so I won’t be tempted to look up something to get it exactly right.
I start with what comes easiest: when writing dialogue I’ll do, “She said ‘X,’” “They replied ‘Y,’” waiting until later to flesh out the conversation with raised eyebrows, a pounding pulse, etc. I let my characters babble too, because that loosens up my own brain and they often say things I don’t expect.
Finally, if my inner editor won’t stay quiet, I remind him, “Take a break. We’ll get there. This part is kind of fun.” I hope you’ve gotten some enjoyment out of this article. Remember to wear your most important hat, whether it’s like the one below or something different.
Originally published at http://daveswanauthor.wordpress.com on March 4, 2024.
