Feel the Burn
March 24, 2007
Before I felt the burn, I felt the dream.
I’m one of those writers who’s “known” since third grade that I was going to write Christian fiction. That’s what God wanted me to do so it was going to happen.
Then I started writing.
Eventually I overheard myself repeating something as I wrote. “This scene is good, not quite like a published novel, but I’m tired. I’ll fix it next time around.”
After three or four rewrites like this, I realized my book had hit a ceiling. It wasn’t enough to have the dream or the call. I had to do the work. But how?
I eavesdropped on myself during the rewrite, waiting for that nasty procrastinator to appear. Didn’t take long. But this time I hijacked it.
Nope, I told it. Your little editing brain is staying right here in this scene, and we are SO not leaving till this reads like a published novel!
I was in chapter one for three weeks.
By the end, I was exhausted. I had studied what I’d written and analyzed what didn’t work, why it didn’t work, and what I needed to do to make it work. I grit my teeth and kept writing when scrubbing the bathroom floor sounded like crazy fun.
When I finished, I moved on to chapter two. Spent one week there.
Then chapter three. Another three weeks.
At this point, I was frustrated. So I was emerging with something far better than anything I’d ever written, but writing this way would take forever. Was this what real writing was like?
I kept going, and somehow my rewrites began to take less time. Chapters four and five flew past in less than a week. Chapter six a few days, chapter seven a day. I began to worry. Had I subconsciously reverted to procastinating?
As I read my finished chapters, I realized what had happened. I’d pushed through the burn of excercising new writing muscles.
I’d become a stronger writer.
In the past I had always stopped when the writing got hard, and so I’d plateaued. By forcing myself to stay with a scene until it worked on every level, I’d excercised writing muscles I never knew I had and in the process learned a whole lot about the novel.
And because I continued to push myself, being business-like about my words, the writing became easier. Not easy, of course, but easier because those muscles that had ached with their first use were now in shape. I could identify quickly what was wrong with my writing and how I should fix it. I could move faster through a manuscript and find behind me polished writing that breathed.
Where are you at in your writing? Have you felt the burn? Have you pushed through a scene until you learned some technique, understood a writing element, and left with your story ready for the world?
Don’t be satisfied with this round of rewrites. Push on. Feel the burn. And watch your writing muscles grow.
Comments
7 Responses to “Feel the Burn”
An encouraging post; one I needed at this point. I’ve been on the same WIP for too long. some days I fear even opening the Pandora’s Box that is the first chapter. I wonder, should I leave “well enough” alone? What if it isn’t? And then, having critiques is like being pregnant. Everyone has a different idea of what to ix, who to fix, how to fix. I decided years ago that I would write Christian fiction, but I don’t think I’m trusting Christ in my fiction writing.
Christa, writing seems like a lifetime of immersing ourselves in insecurity. But for whatever reason, we love writing anyway! Must be that desire God put in our heart.
Glad to be of encouragment! Like your analogy on being pregnant. Gestation is just so much longer — going on 9 years here! LOL
[...] Sally Bradley talks about pushing ourselves to increase our writing muscle. [...]
I’m not a writer but I think these same principles could be applied to many of the situations in my life. Thanks for the encouragement!
Boy-oh-boy did I need to hear this today. Thanks for the encouragement. My editing day ended with my feeling like I’d been kicked in the stomach–and yet my work is so much the better for it. I’m glad to hear it gets easier over time if I just perservere.
Isn’t it funny how different writers can be? I had to push myself in the opposite direction. It used to take me FOREVER to finish a manuscript (assuming I ever did) because I couldn’t move beyond the first couple of chapters. I kept working on the same scenes over and over. I had to learn to allow myself to finish the manuscript, leave some parts a mess, and come back and fix it later. One thing is certain, though–we all have to learn and work. We all have to learn to work smart!
Thank you Sally, that was very encouraging, and it makes me feel very much at home with the idea of being obedient to writing. Your words are God sent.