Working Doc

If any of you are up to date with the YA world you know who Laini Taylor is by now. If not, SHAME ON YOU! I recently became a fan since reading The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. The girl knows how to write but not only that, she give some great writing based advice. Usually after reading a book, I check out the authors blog/twitter if I'm not already hooked on them. I like to get a feel for their process.

It is no surprise that I have been having some problems on the writing front. No matter the kicking I give myself to put my butt in the chair, I just stare at the stupid blinking line that mocks me with the fact I can't seem to write a freakin' word. Now, I'm a perfectionist and sometimes to a fault. This is where Laini comes in. I rummaged around her blog and found a post where she mentioned what she calls a "Working Doc." She then linked me over to a different blog of hers where she talks about it. I recommend that you read all the posts on Not For Robots. I can't express enough how informative it was.

In short, the Working Doc is a document separate from your MS. I think of it a journal for my MS. I can sit there and say whatever I want inside it without criticism from anyone including myself. I can yell at characters who are hiding something from me (which is what I'm currently doing with my lead), keep blabbing about life until I can see the scene fully, spit out the things I see in the scene, etc. Doing all of this helps me focus better and makes me feel that it is ok to suck in this doc because it isn't really what's going in my MS. I can sift through all the crap and pick out lines that I like or a certain idea and expand on it, then move it over to the real MS.

I'm not really sure how or why it works but out of all of the things I've tried, this seems to work the best. This is one of those things I say "Don't knock it till you've tried it." Happy writing! Let me know if it works or you and give a shout out to Laini as well. I'm sure she would be delighted to hear she has helped out more writers with her process.

PS! I'm starting up on my own blog again after quite the break. I have some cool stuff coming up so stick around y'all! Yes I can say y'all ppl! I was born in the sticks.