In the book, No Plot, No Problem, author Chris Baty talks about the “pathway to genius.” This pathway to genius helps get you from idea to completed first draft. And it’s all pretty simple.
The pathway to genius is choosing a quick deadline or a daily word count that’s high enough. Soon the quick turn around or daily word count will help you finish your first draft. It does this because it forces you to:
- Lower Your Expectations–If you go into writing your novel with the mindset that it has to be perfect, chances are, you’re not going to ever get it finished. This is because you’re setting your expectations way too high.
It’s good to have high expectations, but have them for the final product, not the first draft.
“No one ever writes a brilliant first draft,” Baty says in his book. “This is the case no matter how talented you are, or how long you take to coax the thing into existence. Novels are simply too long and complex to nail on the first go-round.”
Remember, before you can have a brilliant final product, you need to have a first draft.
- Write for Quantity Over Quality–This means worry about getting your story down on paper regardless of how “bad” it might be at first.
This would force you to lower your quality bar from “‘best-seller’ to ‘would not make someone vomit,’” Baty says.
Unfortunately, many writers don’t do this.
“At the first awkward line of prose or botched brushstroke, we hurriedly pack away the art supplies and scamper back to our comfortable domains of proficiency,” Baty says. “Better a quitter than a failure, our subconscious reasoning goes.”
- Stop Being So Hard on Yourself–Stop being so hard on yourself. It’s as simple as that. This means no negativity and no being self-critical about your writing. Baty says you need to give yourself time “to experiment, to break your time-honored rules of writing just to see what happens.”
“In a first draft, nothing is permanent, and everything is fixable,” he says. “So stay loose and flexible, and keep your expectations very, very low.”
Remember, it’s better to try and fail then to quit.
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I’m getting nervous already… I signed up for NaNo today, and after reading your blog I realize I’m gonna have to constantly check myself to lower my expectations and just write while ignoring my best friend, procrastination.
congrats! you’re on your way to having your novel completed! just signing up means you’re willing to take the steps necessary to reach the goalline.
i know it’s very hard to lower your expectations and just write whatever comes out without judgement, but keep in mind, once you get it all down on paper, then you can worry about making it sound better.
the first step to the finished novel is completing the first draft.
and if you need help throughout the difficult month of november, koopakoffy, please comment on here and i’ll try to help keep you motivated (and maybe in turn you can help keep me motivated)
I definitely struggle to just get all the words out on paper. I set such high expectations that I constantly fix sentences as I go instead of moving on. I have been trying to write the draft without pausing lately, and it’s been helping me to turn in better work.
@reportertanya Yes, one of the most difficult things for writers is turning off the inner editor. Something that might help you practice this is steam-of-consciousness writing, such as journaliing or Morning Pages (http://procrastinatingwritersblog.com/2009/04/20/3-reasons-you-should-write-morning-pages/).
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