{"id":252,"date":"2019-11-06T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/janetcrum.wordpress.com\/?p=252"},"modified":"2019-11-06T06:00:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T13:00:16","slug":"nanoinspo-write-badly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetalcorn.com\/staging\/1364\/2019\/11\/06\/nanoinspo-write-badly\/","title":{"rendered":"#NaNoInspo: Write Badly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"InsecureMy November post for the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop<\/a>\u00a0is all about writing badly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. \u2014 Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A quick Google search on \u201cAnne Lamott shitty first draft,\u201d reveals that lots of bloggers have written about this quote and the importance of writing badly. Now I could do the responsible thing, and find another topic, or I could just carry on anyway, because I really want to write about writing badly.<\/p>\n

Guess what I\u2019m going to do?<\/p>\n

One of the most valuable writing lessons I\u2019ve learned in the 5+ years of my fiction writing \u201ccareer\u201d is the value of the shitty first draft. Or, more politely: the value of writing badly.<\/p>\n

Pointless digression #1: Can it really be called a career if I\u2019ve never been paid for it? I don\u2019t want to contemplate that too closely, so I\u2019m going to move on to\u2026<\/p>\n

Turning off your inner editor (or how to tell that a**hole to shut the f<\/strong>*** up)<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m writing this post on November 1, also known as the first day of #NaNoWriMo. For the first time since 2014, I\u2019m doing NaNo as it\u2019s \u201csupposed\u201d to be done, i.e. I\u2019m trying to write 50,000 words of a brand spanking new novel. I\u2019ve spent the last 4 years or so editing my first NaNo novel, i.e. being a perfectionist. Fix this plot hole, delete that redundancy, spend 20 minutes trying to find a stronger verb for a sentence I\u2019ll edit out 10 minutes later\u2026 you get the idea. My overly-aggressive inner editor has been having his nitpicky way with me for quite awhile. And now that I\u2019m trying to write something new, I\u2019m having trouble getting him to shut up.<\/p>\n

Pointless digression #2: I picture my inner editor as Stripe from Gremlins (if you\u2019re under 40, Google it or visit the Wikipedia entry<\/a>. I\u2019m not going to post a picture and risk being sued out of existence by the MPAA just to save you clacking a few keys, ya lazy bum.) Editor-Stripe looms over my desk, gnashing his many, pointy teeth at every digression, weak verb, or passage of rambling dialogue I create.<\/p>\n

When I first sat down this morning to start writing the novel I\u2019ve been outlining for 3 weeks, I struggled. It took me about a half hour to write maybe 200 words. Why? Because I kept trying to make them good. I\u2019d frown at my monitor, type a few words, frown some more, take a swig of Diet Coke in the vain hope that caffeine+aspartame=inspiration, and type a few more words. It took me the better part of an hour to figure out my problem and give myself permission to write crap. I went to a write-in this afternoon and cranked out > 3,000 words in a little over 2 hours.<\/p>\n

Why you should write badly<\/h2>\n

Admittedly, most of those 3,000 words are crap. But that\u2019s OK, and here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I can make them better later. I can take Stripe\u2019s shackles off and let him loose on my steaming pile o\u2019 prose (this is what normal writers call, \u201crevising\u201d), and it\u2019ll get better. Gradually. Iteratively. And with much gnashing of teeth (Stripe\u2019s and mine).<\/li>\n
  2. I have to write the crap to get to the good stuff. Writing crap is my way of feeling my way through my story, getting deep into my characters, and exploring various blind alleys and winding paths to see which ones lead to creative gold. I have an outline, yes, but until I actually write a first draft, my characters are abstract ideas. They take their first breaths as living, flesh-and-bone people when I spew out a bunch of verbal diarrhea in a blank Scrivener window. Poor things. Isn\u2019t that a helluva way to enter the world?<\/li>\n
  3. And the very best reason: Sometimes\u2014only sometimes\u2014there\u2019s gold in that thar crap. The words I think are terrible, just page filler to pump up my NaNo word count, turn out to be actually good. My writing teacher says that\u2019s because when we give ourselves permission to write without editing, we tap into our subconscious in ways we can\u2019t when we\u2019re trying not to suck.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So my words of inspiration for you this National Novel Writing Month, are these: Give yourself permission to write crap.<\/strong> To write badly. To write so badly that you inadvertently summon the Demon of Suckitude, who will spend the entire month perched on your shoulder, whispering adverbs in your ear.<\/p>\n

    Pointless digression #3: And now I\u2019m picturing the Demon of Suckitude in a cage match with Editor-Stripe. Send help.<\/p>\n

    How to write badly<\/h2>\n

    Anyway, if you doubt me, try it for yourself. Try making yourself just write. No editing. No making frowny-faces at your monitor while you try to cudgel some brilliance out of your under-caffeinated brain. Just write. Let the words flow, and put in placeholders for stuff you aren’t ready to write yet, such as:<\/p>\n