Here’s the Book Seven progress report I sent my agent:
Horrible first draft – done
Holes (many, gaping) – identified
Outline (to address said holes) – roughed out
Rewrite – commenced. Happy writer!
So, as noted before, I do things backward: I write a draft first, then I make an outline by summarizing each chapter on an index card and lying the cards out in order. Then I shuffle them – and add new ones – until I come up with a structure that makes sense. Something about the physicality of it helps. At least, I hope it does.
As my wonderfully wise agent promised, the draft wasn’t nearly so horrible as it felt while I was writing it. Some chapters, especially as I figured out what the book was about, actually were not half bad. Now, to fill in those holes. That’s the happy writer part – knowing what needs to be done, having tripped over it in the stumbling-around process of the first draft.
Efficient? Not remotely.
But fun, in an effed-up kinda way.
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