I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one who does this. Usually I write a "zero" draft to figure it what the story is really about and hardly use any of it when I start my proper rough draft. I call it my Lewis and Clark draft because I'm just exploring. Thanks for the great video!
What a lovely comment! I'm glad you can relate to this re-framing which, I feel, gives writers a lot more permission to be imperfect and loose on the page and to follow our curiosity :-)
Definitely!! Lots of space to have fun and see what works, as long as I don't put any pressure on myself, or the writing, to be anywhere near perfect. Love that part of it.
I’m writing and plotting for a novel idea of mine and I’m currently just writing down whatever I can in a notebook and hopefully I can finish the story and the notebook
Thanks for the Sleep Token recommendation. That shift is 🔥 Agree heavily on that last note. All content is inspiration. And that's sometimes where the uniqueness comes into play. Everyone's craft comes from a mix of what they've experienced. And your mix is different from your idols. That can sometimes be your voice. For my graphic novel, I take a lot of inspiration from great film works: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Kubrick and less from other comics. For my lit fic novel I take inspo from music, genre fiction (film and novel), paintings, docs, etc.
This is so helpful! I keep finding myself trying to figure things out too much, trying to know what's going to happen way ahead and it just keeps stalling me out. I feel like I logically knew I should try not to do that, but sometimes you have to hear someone say the thing for it to click.
I love how you approach your process, it reminds me a lot of how I do things. I think to say anyone is purely a “pantser” or a “plotter” is limiting. The process is somewhere in between
14:43 Musically you can lead into a dramatic change using foreshadowing. You can set up an expectation that change is coming and then go in a different direction. Using the same themes (& characters) they can then react to the new setting. Music is still story, so it's very appropriate to draw parallels. That was helpful, I'd not considered zero drafting before and I'm stuck halfway through a novel, mostly because I need to develop my antagonist, but much their backstory needn't exist beyond a zero-draft. Thank you.
I am so glad that I found your videos! This is truly helpful. I’ve been writing my zero draft like a “first draft” which literally has put my writing at a standstill in my novel. Thank you for this series! Treating it as a zero draft makes me feel like I can be loose on the reigns. I needed that.
Thank you so much for putting words to that phenomenon of how talking about the book can sometimes rob of us of our drive to write. I am new to writing long form stories, and I have just discovered that if I talk about it I find that it is difficult to keep working on the idea I shared. I feel validated!
I am so glad it was helpful! The thing about our creative process is that we don't know what does and does not work for us until we experiment with it. I'm okay to talk about projects *now* that are in an early stage, but I do keep it to a minimum out of superstition!
Before I close my laptop, I try to make sure I’ve outline the next scene/chapter. Bc if I don’t, it’s much easier for me to procrastinate and then suddenly it’s been three days and I haven’t written a thing… 😅 But like. It needs to be derailed. To the point it’s a zero draft of the next scene/chapter. So it’s an externa twenty, thirty minutes after the time I intended to stop writing. But at least I procrastinate less ☺️
Great advice, thank you. And also I have to say, the sound quality is dramatically better in this video. Perhaps this is a more suitable space for recording, or maybe you use different equipment.
Thank you so much for that feedback on the audio--that is SO good to know. I adjusted the audio slightly different this week when editing the video, but I suspect the quality is better because my office is *much* smaller.
@@authortaraeast I particularly loved Tip #6: Don't talk about your book. "Are you talking about your story because it can give you all the feelings of writing without having to actually write?" Guilty!
@@Elizabeth-fw9ui You're not alone! I heard this one the hard way. I lost interest in the first book I tried to write after hitting the 10k mark because I had talked about the book SO much. It was a lot of fun to talk about the book, but I gave all that energy away and then there was nothing left to figure out on the page.
Do you mean in reference to the total word count? Personally, that isn't very important to me during a zero draft, but you can make some estimations based on genre. For example, literary books are **commonly** 70-90k whereas adult fantasy novels are **commonly** over 100k. I think word count is more important when you approach later drafts and as you get closer to publication.
@@authortaraeast thank you so much for your response! I was referring to the word count discrepancy that might exist between the zero draft and the first or even final draft, assuming the zero draft is not as elaborate (in terms of descriptive words), as it might be a little bit more of a skeleton than the final draft. Sometimes I feel like that word count discrepancy can make me wonder whether I don't have enough conflict in each chapter (and make it difficult to know whether I should continue a chapter or begin a new one, if the wordcount is slightly under my final draft goal), or if it's just because it is not as elaborate as the later drafts will be.
@@peachgumdrop8067 Ah, I understand now! And yes, I absolutely treat the zero draft as a skeleton, or you could even think of it as a very elaborate outline! I also understand the thinking that a low overall word count could indicate that there isn't enough content within the book itself. I do feel that we can get a little hung up on word count. It's better to have a short, highly impactful story (say, 50k) then to have a bloated book that is full of padding and filler for the sake of word count. If you feel a little concerned about your overall word count, then this is an invitation (perhaps!) to evaluate your book overall and at the chapter level to self-assess the plot and structure. This could reveal pacing issues or any overly thin plot, or you may realise that the story has everything THIS story requires. I hope that make sense! There does seem to be a trend towards bigger/longer books at the moment, but make sure that you do you!
Hi Ryan, it is not strictly as Australian thing. I have heard UK and US writers also use the term zero draft. I think it is a great way to really take the pressure off that first attempt at a manuscript--the blank page can be so daunting!
I have about 15 zero drafts, I have ideas, but that's it. I can't move away from those drafts. It's frustrating and depressing. The problem is that the book I want to write is a kind of memoirs and it's painful for me to write it.
Hmmmmm, so much to unpack there. You might really enjoy listening to the way Dani Shapiro speaks about the writing of memoirs, what to include and exclude. It can be hard to decide what structure or what 'version' of a story (fiction or not) that we want to tell and that discover process can be very messy. If writing about the self, I think we also need to be emotionally responsible so that we don't re-traumatise ourselves. Writing is often hard, but it should also be rich, rewarding, and fun.
Ask one of your characters to help you. (If it’s fiction). I ask my main character to tell me what’s next, to lead me out of various holes. It’s a pretend game, just like writing fiction is. 🌿
I call it a dog draft bc it’s the rough-rough draft.
😂
LOVE IT ! BRILLIANT 🎉🎉👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Love that :-)
excellent :)
Haha! 😂
I'm so glad to see I'm not the only one who does this. Usually I write a "zero" draft to figure it what the story is really about and hardly use any of it when I start my proper rough draft. I call it my Lewis and Clark draft because I'm just exploring. Thanks for the great video!
What a lovely comment! I'm glad you can relate to this re-framing which, I feel, gives writers a lot more permission to be imperfect and loose on the page and to follow our curiosity :-)
Definitely!! Lots of space to have fun and see what works, as long as I don't put any pressure on myself, or the writing, to be anywhere near perfect. Love that part of it.
This was a phenomenal video. You spoke to so many things that I have been feeling.
What a wonderful comment, thank you! I'm so glad the video was helpful :-)
I’m writing and plotting for a novel idea of mine and I’m currently just writing down whatever I can in a notebook and hopefully I can finish the story and the notebook
Thanks for the Sleep Token recommendation. That shift is 🔥
Agree heavily on that last note. All content is inspiration. And that's sometimes where the uniqueness comes into play.
Everyone's craft comes from a mix of what they've experienced. And your mix is different from your idols. That can sometimes be your voice.
For my graphic novel, I take a lot of inspiration from great film works: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Kubrick and less from other comics.
For my lit fic novel I take inspo from music, genre fiction (film and novel), paintings, docs, etc.
Love this! Also stoked that you like Sleep Token 😀
This is so helpful! I keep finding myself trying to figure things out too much, trying to know what's going to happen way ahead and it just keeps stalling me out. I feel like I logically knew I should try not to do that, but sometimes you have to hear someone say the thing for it to click.
What lovely feedback! Thank you so much and best of luck with your manuscript! Keep writing :-)
I love how you approach your process, it reminds me a lot of how I do things. I think to say anyone is purely a “pantser” or a “plotter” is limiting. The process is somewhere in between
I think this is the case for most writers!
14:43 Musically you can lead into a dramatic change using foreshadowing. You can set up an expectation that change is coming and then go in a different direction. Using the same themes (& characters) they can then react to the new setting. Music is still story, so it's very appropriate to draw parallels. That was helpful, I'd not considered zero drafting before and I'm stuck halfway through a novel, mostly because I need to develop my antagonist, but much their backstory needn't exist beyond a zero-draft. Thank you.
I am so glad that I found your videos! This is truly helpful. I’ve been writing my zero draft like a “first draft” which literally has put my writing at a standstill in my novel. Thank you for this series! Treating it as a zero draft makes me feel like I can be loose on the reigns. I needed that.
That's so great to hear! I'm glad the video provided you with some reassurance and permission. Best of luck with your draft!
Thank you so much for putting words to that phenomenon of how talking about the book can sometimes rob of us of our drive to write. I am new to writing long form stories, and I have just discovered that if I talk about it I find that it is difficult to keep working on the idea I shared. I feel validated!
I am so glad it was helpful! The thing about our creative process is that we don't know what does and does not work for us until we experiment with it. I'm okay to talk about projects *now* that are in an early stage, but I do keep it to a minimum out of superstition!
My Zero is a notebook and when I finish a chapter I type it out as my First.
Before I close my laptop, I try to make sure I’ve outline the next scene/chapter. Bc if I don’t, it’s much easier for me to procrastinate and then suddenly it’s been three days and I haven’t written a thing… 😅
But like. It needs to be derailed. To the point it’s a zero draft of the next scene/chapter. So it’s an externa twenty, thirty minutes after the time I intended to stop writing. But at least I procrastinate less ☺️
Yes!! This! This is what I've been waiting to hear! Thank you!
Great advice, thank you. And also I have to say, the sound quality is dramatically better in this video. Perhaps this is a more suitable space for recording, or maybe you use different equipment.
Thank you so much for that feedback on the audio--that is SO good to know. I adjusted the audio slightly different this week when editing the video, but I suspect the quality is better because my office is *much* smaller.
You gave me lots of ideas and this has been the best writing advice I've come across from. RUclipsr 👏
Brilliant tips - thank you so much!
I am so glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
@@authortaraeast I particularly loved Tip #6: Don't talk about your book. "Are you talking about your story because it can give you all the feelings of writing without having to actually write?" Guilty!
@@Elizabeth-fw9ui You're not alone! I heard this one the hard way. I lost interest in the first book I tried to write after hitting the 10k mark because I had talked about the book SO much. It was a lot of fun to talk about the book, but I gave all that energy away and then there was nothing left to figure out on the page.
Thank you for your extremely practical info.
Good info and an interesting talk. Thanks!
Thank you!
So my first draft is a zero draft 😅
This is so good!! Thank you!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Love your first step!😂😊
how do you figure out the word count with the zero-draft, knowing that it's going to be much more bare than the final draft?
Do you mean in reference to the total word count? Personally, that isn't very important to me during a zero draft, but you can make some estimations based on genre. For example, literary books are **commonly** 70-90k whereas adult fantasy novels are **commonly** over 100k. I think word count is more important when you approach later drafts and as you get closer to publication.
@@authortaraeast thank you so much for your response! I was referring to the word count discrepancy that might exist between the zero draft and the first or even final draft, assuming the zero draft is not as elaborate (in terms of descriptive words), as it might be a little bit more of a skeleton than the final draft. Sometimes I feel like that word count discrepancy can make me wonder whether I don't have enough conflict in each chapter (and make it difficult to know whether I should continue a chapter or begin a new one, if the wordcount is slightly under my final draft goal), or if it's just because it is not as elaborate as the later drafts will be.
@@peachgumdrop8067 Ah, I understand now! And yes, I absolutely treat the zero draft as a skeleton, or you could even think of it as a very elaborate outline! I also understand the thinking that a low overall word count could indicate that there isn't enough content within the book itself. I do feel that we can get a little hung up on word count. It's better to have a short, highly impactful story (say, 50k) then to have a bloated book that is full of padding and filler for the sake of word count. If you feel a little concerned about your overall word count, then this is an invitation (perhaps!) to evaluate your book overall and at the chapter level to self-assess the plot and structure. This could reveal pacing issues or any overly thin plot, or you may realise that the story has everything THIS story requires. I hope that make sense! There does seem to be a trend towards bigger/longer books at the moment, but make sure that you do you!
Just a quick question, how do you know when your zero copy is done?
Do Aussies call it zero draft? I've only heard rough draft in the US.
Hi Ryan, it is not strictly as Australian thing. I have heard UK and US writers also use the term zero draft. I think it is a great way to really take the pressure off that first attempt at a manuscript--the blank page can be so daunting!
The zero draft is really your first draft.
Do people really write fifty thousand word zero drafts? Is that actually a thing? Dang, now I feel like a slacker.
Don't feel like a slacker! Everyone has their own unique process!
❤
I have about 15 zero drafts, I have ideas, but that's it. I can't move away from those drafts. It's frustrating and depressing. The problem is that the book I want to write is a kind of memoirs and it's painful for me to write it.
Hmmmmm, so much to unpack there. You might really enjoy listening to the way Dani Shapiro speaks about the writing of memoirs, what to include and exclude. It can be hard to decide what structure or what 'version' of a story (fiction or not) that we want to tell and that discover process can be very messy. If writing about the self, I think we also need to be emotionally responsible so that we don't re-traumatise ourselves. Writing is often hard, but it should also be rich, rewarding, and fun.
Ask one of your characters to help you. (If it’s fiction). I ask my main character to tell me what’s next, to lead me out of various holes. It’s a pretend game, just like writing fiction is. 🌿