A dangerous book

29 Jan A dangerous book

I don’t normally do this, but I feel I must. There is a very dangerous book out there, and I am positive that beginning writers should steer clear.

I realized not long ago that there were very few blog reviewers that covered writing books. I read a lot of writing books and I put many theories that I read into practice.

I am a plotter. The detail of my outlines is reflected in the complexity of my books. I am currently writing three series. So depending upon the book depends upon the outline.

The book I am talking about is “Writing into the dark. How to write a novel without an outline” by Dean Wesley Smith. I wound up giving it two stars instead of one because, despite the fact that he says you should only write one draft, he does point out that many novels are over revised and that they lose their voice and freshness through multiple revisions.

I was curious about pantsing. I have a friend who writes by the seat of her pants. I find her book to be over polished, but still deeply flawed in structure. I wanted to understand why she is not willing to really tackle the structural flaws.

Dean proposes that you complete your book in one draft. He suggests that when you discover something new about your book that you go back and fix the places. So in essence you are rewriting the book multiple times. You must get everything correct, story archs, story structure, grammar and punctuation on the first try.

Not even Stephen King, probably the most famous pantser, lets his books stand on the first draft. Revision done right, brings more depth and dimension to the plots. Deepens your twists, strengthens your plot, and adds dimensions to your characters.

My friend has been working on her book for ten years. After all that time she still is not published. The longer she takes to get it into publishable shape, the less likely a house will be willing to take her on. She needs to be able to put out a book every year. She could use some advice about polishing the life out of her books.

In short the information about too much editing will kill the life of your story was about the only redeeming piece of information in the books. However, the instructions that say only do one draft, that is just too dangerous. Most writers write crappy first drafts. That is life in the writing world. To be told that you should submit your first draft. Well that is just hubris. Read this book with care.