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| Francis Bacon's Studio is a mess. Read about artists making a mess here. |
We’re now five weeks away from the June 11 deadline to
enroll and submit your short story to the ArmadilloCon Writing Workshop. You’ve, gathered ideas from the world around you (and from what you’ve
been reading and watching). Maybe you’ve pulled out an old story or novel
chapter that isn’t working yet. You’ve spent a little time developing one or two of these ideas by noodling out some scenarios or creating some
characters or both.
Now it’s time to commit and write a Zero draft.
Technically this is your “first” draft, but even the thought
of creating a first draft can be daunting, especially if you have a strong
vision of what you want the story to become. Personally, my zero drafts are abominations;
a mess of ugly writing where the only thing I’ve succeeded at was mangling the
idea. (TBH, sometimes I will get a story that just rolls off my fingers in
pretty good shape, but those are gifts, and it seems more useful to talk about
what it takes to create a story the hard way.)
This zero draft is the one that nobody but you gets
to see. I don’t outline my short stories, but I usually have a little
collection of notes, a few random lines of dialogue, and an idea of the
beginning, middle, and end. With that in hand, I sit down and try to write the
story through to the end. Try to lock your critical mind away in a box and just
write. Try to write, if not fast, then with deliberate speed. Try not to look
back. I try to write at least 1,000 words in a day. If you’re pushing ahead,
not stopping to edit or polish anything, you’ll be surprised how quickly you
can lay down 1,000 words. I often write more. Since I’m not editing at this
stage, if a scene really isn’t working, I’ll just write a different version of
the scene or write a different scene altogether. For the zero draft, don’t be
afraid to write scenes that may not make it into your final draft. The next day
when you return to the work, you can weigh both scenes and move forward from
the one that works.
Creating something new is messy, so give yourself permission
to make a mess. Keep moving forward writing as fast as you comfortably can. Often
the first few paragraphs are a kind of throat clearing, don’t worry you can cut
it later. In the meantime, clear away. Keep looking for a way into the story.
If you can’t find a door, look for a window and climb in. My first paragraphs
often have more to do with these flailing attempts at entry, and I almost
always cut them in revision. Resist the temptation to polish your opening lines
and paragraphs before you move on. Just try to keep the basic story in focus
and keep pushing the narrative forward.
The trick here, especially with short fiction, is to scale
your story to the word count limit. Mostly this is something that comes with
practice. Writers from Bradbury to Jay Lake made a practice of writing a short
story a week. Check out Charlie Jane Anders' great post about writing prolifically.
For now, just keep your cast of characters limited to two to
four “speaking parts,” and focus on one life-changing event or
revelatory moment for the protagonist. You can also try Vylar Kaftan’s super cool short story formula.
All of the above will work for both short stories and novel
chapters – first chapters, especially, should be a tight, dramatic unit of
storytelling.
If you can sit down for an hour a day, you should be able to
generate a zero draft of a short story or novel chapter in a week or less.
Think more about the general size of the story as opposed to the specific word
count limit at this stage. Shoot to tell the story in 3,000 and 6,000 words, as
the final word count will change in revision.
Don’t forget to keep reading short stories and novels. Pay
attention to how the stories or chapters are structured.
OK. Pick up your pens and get out your keyboards and write
your zero draft!
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