Comments on: When You Can’t Go Forward, Go Back

By: ~Nancy

~Nancy — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:34:00 +0000

Thank you, Robin, and I’m glad you found something of merit in my post!

Good luck with your WIP (funny thing about your 1 year old, lol), too.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and Sherry!

~JerseyGirl

By: Robin L.

Robin L. — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:36:00 +0000

Thank you, Nancy! I believe I have the book you’re talking about, so I’m going to go revisit the index cards idea. I had a whole drawer of half index cards in different colors in neat little piles that I was going to do something with… then my 1 year old became tall enough to reach that drawer… They now have a nice crinkle pattern to them!

But maybe I just need to relocate them. I found myself thinking I needed some sort of system to reorient myself to my WIP when I get away from it. I finally did just reread the last 80 pages and make some edits so I could recapture the flow, but if I’d had some cards with notes or a spreadsheet or something I think it would have been a better process.

Thanks for the encouragement!! Good luck with your WIP, as well.

By: ~Nancy

~Nancy — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 19:40:00 +0000

I’ve heard that, too, Robin. I’ve been going forward on my current WIP (I’m still in the rough draft stage), and twice I slipped into making revisions. The reason I did was because I knew those sections/scenes would bug the heck out of me until I did something about it.

So I scrapped those scenes, and quickly rewrote them, then moved on.

Here’s something you might consider, although I’m unpubbed, so take it with a grain of salt.

For this WIP, I’m using index cards. It’s a low tech (or maybe no tech) way of doing things, but it’s helping me so far. This is helping me get through tough sections by guiding me through the story – first this happens, then this, and so on.

Now, it sounds restrictive, but it isn’t. Although I have these cards, the info on them isn’t etched in stone. I’ve put aside several cards; some will never be used again, but others might. There are two things at work here: One, you have the freedom to throw in something when you have a burst of imagination and two, you can get back to the nitty-gritty of your story once you’ve had that burst.

I’ve had a couple of bursts, and I’ll definitely being keeping one of them. The other…I’m not sure at this point.

Anyway, I think this whole thing of marching forward through the rough draft, getting down some stuff, and then going back to revisions has something to do with how our brains our wired (don’t ask me where I read that, because I don’t remember ). Think of it as telling your inner critic to shut up during the first draft; when it’s time to revise, tell your inner critic to have at it.

It’s not easy figuring out this stuff, is it? If only there was some sort of template where you could plug certain things and presto! You’d have a nice, fresh, readable book…but anything worth pursuing isn’t that easy.

Good luck to you, and to Sherry!

~JerseyGirl

P.S. BTW, I got the card idea from a book called Write Great Fiction: Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell.

By: Robin L.

Robin L. — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 21:59:00 +0000

Do you think you’ll do that before you finish the book? (go back and plump?)

I’m asking b/c I’m in a similar situation. I’m run aground and know that the middle really needs more layering, but I’m always heard to just keep moving forward. Sadly, though, I’m not moving forward at all and thinking maybe I need to go back and do some of that layering and plumping myself…