Wrangling a Big Manuscript
Before I started writing books, I wrote for TV news and TV production, with constant deadlines. Then I wrote books for clients, which also required me to produce work on a schedule. Now that I write my own passion projects, nobody sits around waiting for my pages. It’s up to me to create the routine, the pace, and the motivation to finish.
(5 Ways to Help Beat Writer’s Block.)
Here are five ways I maintain focus and momentum while working on manuscripts that can take months or years to finish.
1) Pants a Little, Plot a Little
Sometimes writers discuss whether they prefer to plot in advance or fly by the seat of their pants. I tend to resist either-or answers. In terms of being a plotter or pantser, my progress through a book goes sort of like this:
Pants a little, plot a little, pants a little, plot a little, pants, pants, pants, pants, pants, plot a little more…
I don’t plot a story before I start writing. I do decide a few basics: who the principal characters are likely to be, what point of view I prefer (typically first person or third person limited), and the likely structure.
When I wrote my first book, a memoir, I chose a braided structure. I wove three timelines together but kept each braid chronological as it moved through the others. I also chose a braided structure for my novel, Candlelight Bridge. That book only has two strands—not switching between timelines, but instead switching between the perspectives of the two main characters. Bouncing between the protagonist and antagonist helped me maintain tension in the story.
I try not to allow plans to get in the way of a good idea. I initially chose a different protagonist for Candlelight Bridge, until another character proved more compelling. That meant tossing a lot of pages, but I didn’t consider it a waste of time. It was simply the work I needed to do to reveal what I needed to know. I rewrote my opening chapters and kept going.
2) Trail of Trials
Author Erika Krouse taught me to write a “trail of trials” before diving into a novel. Her idea sprang from mythologist Joseph Campbell’s “road of trials” in his book, The Hero’s Journey. In Campbell’s road of trials, a hero undergoes a series of tests that lead to transformation. My interpretation of Krouse’s trail of trials is to write a list of things my primary characters might do in the course of the book. The hope is that some of those ideas may form the basis for the road of trials that will transform my protagonist.
I’ve begun writing the sequel to Candlelight Bridge, and this time I’m hopping around through my trail of trials, writing about whichever items most excite me at the moment. Later, I’ll plug them into the story in chronological order, find the connections, then write the glue that binds them together.
One of my favorite authors, Michael Ondaatje, has said he doesn’t worry about the order of events until after he drafts a story. He then spreads his pages around the floor, looks for connections, and orders them accordingly. His stories are often more intuitive than linear. I’m not sure I’ll ever float through a story with his abandon, but I do find lyrical beauty and emotional resonance in his approach. Which brings me to my next tip…
3) Dream Awake
On a first draft, I don’t try to control the story but trust my subconscious to know better than I do the story that wants to be told. Have you ever looked up from reading a story and felt as if you’ve woken from a dream? I believe that happens because stories share much in common with dreams. I find I achieve more magical moments on the page when I approach story as dreamspace.
I love what novelist Richard Bausch says about this, “If you think you’re thinking when you’re writing, then think again; you’re working with the dreaming side of your mind, so dream, dream, dream it through.”
One thing dreams and stories have in common is that both are symbolic representations of reality. In both stories and dreams, we dive into simulated experiences through sensory images that trigger emotions. Maybe the smell of cherries symbolizes joy or the sound of a train whistle calls up longing. In both stories and dreams, we also accept that anything can happen, not because we believe they’re real but because they feel real.
So, on a first draft, I let my imagination run wild. I can always tame it later. For me, the art of the novel is the art of dreaming awake.
Check out Cara Lopez Lee’s Candlelight Bridge here:
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4) Don’t Wait for Inspiration
Inspiration is an exciting gift, but I find this gift doesn’t produce work. It’s the other way around: Work is what yields inspiration. My goal is to schedule at least an hour of writing a day, five days a week, choosing and arranging words, which are my raw material for inspiration. Even if I feel like I’m writing garbage, I keep writing. I can always edit garbage, or hack a path through it until I find the unexpected treasures it hides.
One of my favorite quotes on this subject comes from Igor Stravinski, the classical composer who wrote the groundbreaking Rite of Spring: “Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.”
5) Outline Afterward
Novelist and writing coach Doug Kurtz taught me a valuable habit that helped me maintain momentum while writing my novel. In the past, I didn’t outline. I still refrain from outlining before I write a first draft. However, after I draft each chapter, I outline it, scene by scene.
In my outline, I don’t synopsize. Instead, I answer five questions for each scene: What does the main character want? What obstacle do they face? What’s the resulting conflict? What changes by the end of the scene? What do they want now?
My answers reveal what needs work. Maybe a motivation isn’t clear, the stakes need to be higher, or nothing has changed. After I make notes for revision, my next step is not to revise the scene. My notes serve as placeholders for the work I’ll do on my next pass. My job now is to move on to the next chapter.
I used to agonize over every problem, spinning my wheels in the mud for days. Answers come faster if I keep moving. Sometimes, I go on to discover I didn’t need that frustrating chapter after all. Prioritizing momentum this way has not only sped up my progress but also improved the pacing of my stories.
It’s understandable to feel overwhelmed by a task as big as writing a book. It feels like creating something from nothing, which is impossible. But remember, energy and matter can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. Most of the raw material we need is already within us. We simply must summon the courage to begin. After that, the only way to finish a book is one page at a time. Trust that, turn the page, keep writing.
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