When I first started the Writing Rules Project, I worked on a lot of rules for preparation. Now that I’m getting close to the end of The Book’s first draft, I wanted to return to these rules and see if they made for an easier writing process.
If you haven’t read some of the posts I mention here, I encourage you to check them out!
BRAINSTORMING RULES
When I started the WRP, I was staring at a blank page and not feeling very inspired. Now, seven and a half months later, I’m nearly done with the first draft of a middle grade fantasy story that has become very near to my heart.
My brainstorming involved coming up with a premise for my novel by giving myself a deadline. And it worked. I remember it was a messy process, but I made my muse work for me and I had an idea when I needed it.
However.
It normally doesn’t take me seven and a half months to write a first draft. I’ve done NaNoWriMo, I’ve done 45-80k words in the span of a couple of weeks. I’ve written eight-page essays the night before they’re due. For me, this seven and a half months is a loooooong time. But I wanted to give myself time to try all the writing rules I could in different phases of writing, so I made myself slow down.
Also, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I don’t think The Book is the best novel I’ve ever written. I can think of several stories I’d rank above it. And most of my best ideas come to me out of the blue. So although I know now that I can be creative on a timeline, I also have realized that the best ideas aren’t dragged kicking and screaming from my imagination. They come when they’re ready. And I think that’s a really good takeaway from the Writing Rules Project as a whole!
NOVEL PLANNING RULES
I also got a little crazy and planned out my entire novel, scene by scene, from start to finish, before I even began writing. It’s crazy because I’m usually not that organized.
For this project especially, I loved having an outline. I’ve talked about it in a few other posts, but this was one of the best things I got out of the Writing Rules Project. Since it took me seven and a half months to get this far, I had a few bouts where I wouldn’t work on The Book for days or weeks. So, when I came back to it, I knew exactly where I’d left off and could see at a glance where I was going next. It’s definitely helped with writer’s block, too.
One of my concerns whilst planning was that the details of my magic system were too vague. The magic system has grown on its own as I’ve written it, and I’ll have to fix some continuity things when I edit, but overall, it wasn’t an issue at all. I definitely recommend trying an outline, even if you’re a pantser like me!
CHARACTER CREATION RULES
Another of my concerns at the beginning of the Writing Rules Project was that my characters would feel to stiff because I wasn’t letting them build naturally. I created outlines for my main characters and here’s the verdict: I still refer back to them, especially when I haven’t been working on The Book for a while.
I wish I would have been a little more thorough on crafting satisfying arcs for each of them, but I don’t think my pre-planning ruined their chances for natural growth within the story itself. And I will stick to the statement I made in that original post: Putting too much time into an outline is taking away from the time you could spend actually writing. Characters don’t become real unless you stick them into a timeline and write them alive.
That’s definitely true. I appreciated the character profiles for consistency’s sake, but it wouldn’t have been worth my time to dig much deeper before I even started writing the story.
And that’s all she wrote for now! Let me know in the comments below if there are any other writing rules you’d like me to revisit! We’re approaching the end of the draft, but don’t worry, there are plenty of editing rules I can try, too.
Need some creative writing activities for kids, students, or yourself this summer? Check out the Writing Rules Mini Project I put together a few weeks back!
I’ve got stickers, notebooks, and more on Redbubble! Here’s my latest Writing Rules Project logo sticker.