Comments on: NaNo Tip No. 2: The Zen of First (Zero) Drafts

By: Friday Ephemera, 10/21/11 Special NaNoWriMo Edition » Tell Great Stories

Friday Ephemera, 10/21/11 Special NaNoWriMo Edition » Tell Great Stories — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:05:33 +0000

[...] NaNo Tip #2: The Zen of First (Zero) Drafts [...]

By: Carole Wilkinson | News & Blog

Carole Wilkinson | News & Blog — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:15:46 +0000

[...] *I thought I got this term from Scott Westerfeld, but after a quick Google, I think maybe it was Justine Larbalestier** who came up with it. Anyway she describes it very well here. [...]

By: Writing Tips x 30 - Dissecting Words

Writing Tips x 30 - Dissecting Words — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:31:17 +0000

[...] #2 The Zen of First (Zero) Drafts [...]

By: Eight Things I’ve Learned from NaNoWriMo - tekchic

Eight Things I’ve Learned from NaNoWriMo - tekchic — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:15:53 +0000

[...] count was set at 1800. This year I set the daily bar at 2000. My goal is a 100K word count “zero draft” so I can cut 10% per edit, estimating two edits beyond the original zero draft. I [...]

By: Nightphoenix » Blog Archive » NaNoWriMo

Nightphoenix » Blog Archive » NaNoWriMo — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:30:44 +0000

[...] blog : Just keep clicking the top right link to read them all so far. He is tag-teaming with Justine Larbalestier. Their tips alternate days. They are very good. Scott Westerfeld is one of my favorite YA authors [...]

By: NaNoWriMo, Day 2 (with links) « Jumbled Words

NaNoWriMo, Day 2 (with links) « Jumbled Words — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:44:57 +0000

[...] Read her post here. [...]

By: Going ghost « Hyperbolic Obsessive

Going ghost « Hyperbolic Obsessive — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:24:41 +0000

[...] day till the end of November. And maybe, just maybe, by the beginning of December I will have a Zero Draft that I can sift for stuff I can use. I want to put some pressure on my characters and see what [...]

By: Writerly Linkee-poos « Genre Bender

Writerly Linkee-poos « Genre Bender — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:20:50 +0000

[...] NaNoWriMo, Tip 1 Dialog Spine, and Tip 3 Dialog Spin Analysis. Justine Larbalestier wrote and hosts Tip 2 The Zen of First (Zero) Drafts and Tip 4 Word Count Is Not Everything. Lots of good stuff there. I’ve done the Dialog Spine [...]

By: Info Round Up « Danie Ford

Info Round Up « Danie Ford — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:41:41 +0000

[...] Nano Tip #2: The Zen of First (Zero) Drafts from Justine Larbalestier [...]

By: Kit Berry

Kit Berry — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:07:27 +0000

Great advice and just how I write! Zero draft is a brilliant term and an excellent way of taking the pressure away from that blank screen. I loved seeing your amendments, especially the second one. Another point to make – I’ve heard many would-be writers getting stuck on endlessly redrafting the first chapter before they feel able to move onto the next. No! Your advice applies to the whole thing, or at least a big chunk of it. I’ve found that the first chapter is the thing that benefits most from brutal editing once the whole book is written, because everything has changed by the end. So whatever you write for the first chapter is going to be wrong, and redrafting it too early is a waste of time. IMHO. Thanks for a good article.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:36:19 +0000

This is my first NaNo and I am up for all the tips and tricks, as I fully intend to work this first novel into something I might actually feel comfortable submitting. Looking forward to the rest of your posts throughout the month. Thanks.

By: mpe

mpe — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:14:38 +0000

I used to suffer from writer’s block, and it was *always* because I was fighting the story. Now I don’t fight it, and I’m never blocked.

This does mean that my dark vicious thrillers turn into cute little fairy-tale skits, and vice versa. And on days when the story doesn’t want to get written, it doesn’t get written.

But I’m no longer blocked.

FWIW

(Also, bad first drafts aren’t a problem. But if you’re regularly binning the lot and starting fresh – not just once, either – then motivation may suffer. Says she who knows.)

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:28:46 +0000

Thank you so much! This is very helpful advice. I have already started just writing without really thinking about it. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the advice that comes out of these blogs!

By: Amber

Amber — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:43:15 +0000

Wow, that sounds like my first draft! Well, this gives me hope anyways. I am just writing for fun as of now, because I do have another career and want to have a great story before even trying to enter the publishing world. But thanks for the tips! This makes me think it’s possible… just tons more months with revisions.

By: Pushing Through the Emotion « Gentle Wit

Pushing Through the Emotion « Gentle Wit — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:14:48 +0000

[...] Justine Larbalestier has a blog post up offering some very good Nano advice about the (always awful)… Applicable for all writers, whether you’re doing Nano or [...]

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:27:15 +0000

That is very good advice. I have never though of doing a draft like that, never. Thanks for that.

By: gabfra

gabfra — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:15:17 +0000

good tip! I usually find myself writing things that don’t make sense, problem is I don’t even know where to start sometimes. But its fun. Just writing one sentence and see where your imagination takes you.
Thanks!

By: The OTHER Tally Youngblood

The OTHER Tally Youngblood — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:19:32 +0000

WOW That sounds so much like me! I got the writing tips from ur husband. (Hence my username being from one of his characters.) Anyway, I’m way too descriptive and I end up writing millions of sentences! Justlike now. I’m bieng to descriptive about me bieng descriptive! (pardon the typos. I suck about spelling today.) G2GI’ve been procrastionating WAY too much this afternoon. I spend my life on author’s blogs OK! Is that a crime?! JK. BYE ^_^ P.S: Love how the thing above me types what my post will look like! G2G And this time I hope I mean it! ^_^

By: Carole

Carole — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:28:22 +0000

I try Nano for the first time, and god, I need that advice, but mostly, know how not to be obsessed by the fact I think what I write is bad. It’s really hard!

By: Alexa

Alexa — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:19:30 +0000

I love the phrase zero draft and I am most definitely writing one!

By: sonia

sonia — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:13:00 +0000

that’s very good advice.
i work in interior design and when i was starting out would often get too attached to my space plans to make changes or be overwhelmed with trying to do it perfectly the first time. since those days i’ve learned that the first plan, even later when one is approved, it’s never final. knowing it’s not final makes it free and allows more evolution as you go along.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:09:20 +0000

I love NaNoWriMo, as well as all books written by you and Scott Westerfeld. The combination of the two makes me very happy.

By: wandering-dreamer

wandering-dreamer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:41:47 +0000

I’ve discovered from the short stories I’ve written before that I do TONS of editting/cutting/moving from the first draft to the second draft so my idea is to write it all out, every last semi-interesting detail, and then go after it with a hack saw. But I do want my stuff to be semi-good at least, but Nano is about quantity not quality….
Bah, I’ll just go write, write now think later.

By: Cyndy Otty

Cyndy Otty — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:27:38 +0000

I think very often the idea that what you write HAS to be good is what stops a lot of people from attempting. They feel that writing something that isn’t perfect is just a waste of time and so never bother.

I’ve seen a lot of potential Wrimos (and writers in general) bow out of the challenge because of exactly this.

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:16:07 +0000

Thanks for this, giving myself permission to write the worst first draft ever was the best thing I ever did