You Still Have To Write The Story

I tried to cheat the system. I failed. Don’t be like me.
Someone once told me that writing by hand locks things into memory, and I’ve handwritten first drafts ever since. I figured that writing so much of a story by hand would make the transition to the keyboard (you know, the real thing?) easier. I was wrong.

The way I was writing by hand wasn’t actually drafting: it was planning. There are ways to turn a story plan into a functional first draft, but I haven’t achieved that yet. As such, when I sat down to write Midnight, I was completely stymied. I wrote seven versions of the first scene, wondering why things kept going awry. Then I realized that I didn’t really know what the story was about. I had an idea, but I didn’t really know.

I learned that you can plot and plan until the cows come home, but at the end of the day, you’re still going to have to put in the work. You’re still going to have to face the craptastic mess of the actual first draft in order to find your story. So yes, by all means, plot, plan, draft, and do whatever you need to do to get the story out of your head and into the real world. Do all of this by hand: it will make things more coherent later.

But eventually, you’re still going to have to face the music and do the work.

If you’ve developed a method for turning your handwritten plots into first drafts, please drop them in the comments below? I spent way too much time flailing at this, and it might help someone else, too.

Thanks for reading. Good luck.

Avery K. Tingle is a scifi/fantasy author currently residing in the Las Vegas area. Owned by two cats, he is passionate about social justice, Star Wars, and mental health. Connect to his award-winning writing and social media here.

Originally published at http://averyktingle.art.blog on August 10, 2021.