[MUSIC PLAYING]
So my process, it's really fairly simple--
I think.
It's in my head and then, it transfers down
into my notebook.
And my notebook gives me the security
that I need for that first day that I decide
to start writing the story.
And I will never stop making notes in my notebook.
Not until it's too late.
Not until the book is in and I know it's set.
In a first draft, I'm just trying to get down everything
that I can get down so that, again, I'll have something.
I won't have to face a blank screen or a blank page
because I'll have something.
I have my security.
I really need those security blankets that I have.
I definitely couldn't write without them.
Could not go forward without them.
So get it all down.
Get down anything.
Don't worry about it-- that's the whole point.
You don't have to think maybe this isn't working.
You don't have to think that now.
You're in a first draft.
You're just getting everything down that you can get down.
And then, you'll have plenty of time--
more time than you want to give to it--
you'll have plenty of time to come back and reassess,
and see what there is, and see what you can make happen.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm a person who has to print out all the time.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I'm using a lot of paper.
I try to use both sides.
I print out every day.
And everything that I write all around it
and over it and under it, that's very, very important
for the next day.
My most creative moments come with a pencil in my hand.
There's something that connects the brain and the hand,
and I don't know where those ideas come from,
but they seem to come with a pencil.
There's a little detail that I love
and I don't know where it came from, but in the book,
Here's To You, Rachel Robinson, Rachel's father
is a schoolteacher, and I know I didn't
know this in the beginning, but somewhere with the pencil,
it came that she's so nervous before school starts every year
that he's always swigging Pepto Bismol.
And I like that.
That's one of those details that you
don't know where it came from.
It wasn't in my head when I was thinking about Rachel's father
and who is he, but it came--
it came during a draft.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I have that terrible time in the middle.
I don't know anybody who doesn't have that terrible time
of the middle.
What's going to happen?
How am I going to fill up all these pages?
Suppose nothing happens.
Suppose I don't get an idea for what's going to happen to them.
And again, that having something there, the security
of the notebook, the security of notes all over your printouts,
that helps me.
And the middle of a book is hard.
It's probably the hardest part, actually.
The beginning can be fun.
You're just getting into it.
And the ending is exciting because you're wrapping up.
You're coming to the end and that's reason for celebration.
But the middle-- the murky middle--
and you don't want the murky middle
because you can lose your readers.
So if it has to be murky the first time
to get through it, fine, but eventually,
it's going to be made up of scenes.
That murky middle is going to be made up of scenes
that carry the action forward.
It's moving your story forward.
It's illuminating your characters.
And you're getting to know your characters.
Your readers will get to know your characters.
Surprising things may happen in the middle,
and I think this is why a lot of people
feel more secure with outlines.
And I'm not saying that I never outline, even though I
love the surprise of not knowing what's going to happen
and letting my characters surprise me
and writing to find out and all of that,
doesn't mean that I don't stop and make
little outlines along the way.
If I get an idea, especially, and I don't want to forget it,
write it down right then.
And I think you'll find that you will get through the middle,
but you don't want to bore your readers
in the middle of the book.
A lot of people will say, I started that book
and I really liked it and then, I couldn't keep going.
It just lost me or I was lost and I didn't like it.
So you want to make sure that you're
going to get rid of the murky middle,
even though we can call it that, because that
has to come to life, too.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
When it comes time for the second draft, then I'm excited.
And maybe I've taken a week off after the first draft,
I don't know, or maybe it's the next day,
but I'm excited now because now I'm starting again.
And I've got these big pieces of the puzzle
and I'm going to put this puzzle together.
There may still be pieces that don't fit
and pieces that have to be re-cut,
but I'm starting again from day one.
And I'm trying to write it now, more as a story with detail.
I'm trying to really get to know the characters.
I probably don't know them well yet.
I would guarantee, I know I don't know them yet.
But I'm trying to find out more about them,
and more about this story, and how it's going along.
And that will be a longer process
maybe than a first draft and I will stay longer at work.
I'll come back after lunch.
I'll read what I have and I'll work another hour or two on it
after lunch.
And then, I do like to leave it at a place knowing
that when I come back the next day, there's something good.
I won't try to finish that, whatever it
was that seemed to be working.
I'll come back so I can do it the next day.
I don't mean don't get down everything.
You don't want to forget it, at least scribble it,
but I like to leave myself in that good place.
I know of writers who come back and type over the last 10 pages
that they wrote the day before.
Again, these are exercises.
These are finding your way.
And I can't stress this enough, finding your way is
what this is all about.
And you can listen to everyone who
has a personal way of doing it and get good ideas
from each one of them and try them out
until you find your way.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
When I talk about revision-- for me--
revision is not the little edits--
this word instead of this word, this is spelled wrong--
it's nothing like that.
It's big.
It's the whole picture.
It's the whole story that's evolving.
Some people are able to do all of this in their heads
before they start.
I had a friend who it was all in her head and every day,
she sat down and she wrote 10 pages.
And at the end of 30 days, she had a 300-page book
that she would send to her editor.
It was a book.
It was there.
She had that kind of mind.
I have a messy mind.
And my writing is a process of cleaning up the mess,
but letting the mess come out.
Letting the mess be there all over the floor,
if it has to be.
And then, slowly cleaning it up.
Making it work.
Making a story.
Making the characters.
I could never figure out a whole book in my head, really.
So the second draft is finding out--
finding out more.
Being surprised along the way.
And getting to the end of the second draft,
I always say, if I died during a second draft,
would anyone be able to make sense of this?
And my answer is, again, probably not, but it's growing.
It's getting better.
I'm more excited about it every day.
I hope.
I hope because if I'm not, then it's not working,
I'm going to have to do it again.
I'm going to have to continue to think through it.
It just means I haven't solved the problems.
And it just is going to take a lot more solving.