I kicked off the year with a plan to rewrite my work-in-progress. If you’ve seen earlier updates, you know that the feedback I received on my first attempt made me rethink major plot points, characters and story arcs. (I.e.: the entire novel.)

I tried to reuse as much of the initial work as possible. But it felt forced, and I lost sight of the story. It was like that time I cut my own bangs. The first attempt was a little crooked. I snipped a bit more to even it out. Then the other side was too long. Just needed a tiny fix…okay, one more. Suddenly I was Spock—on a bad hair day.

I don’t think of that first attempt as wasted (but it was a terrible haircut.) I learned how to write a romantic comedy novel by creating those characters, that dialog and those events. While I wrote, I attended writing conferences, took online classes, read craft books, read novels, talked with other authors and talked with other readers. Every time I learned something new I considered how to apply it to my story.

RomCom 2.0

Before I started writing my new romantic comedy, I figured out who the main characters were, how they would change over the course of the novel, and the main events that would propel their development forward. That all went into a rough outline. Finally, I was ready to write.

For the next twenty days, I wrote one chapter each day, arriving at the halfway point of my story. That brings us to today. New revelations and ideas have shifted us off the outline, so I’m taking a couple days to figure out the new trajectory. I love when that happens, because it feels like the characters have taken over and I’m transcribing their story. My plan is to complete this draft by the end of February. It’s an exciting milestone, but nowhere near the finish line.

You Call That a Novel?!

This first draft is less of a story and more of a catalog of events. Things happen, but no one really reacts. When they do, either their breath hitches or their heart pounds. There are no other options. My heroine can’t seem to stop biting her lower lip and one side of my hero’s mouth is constantly ticking up. There’s no sensory detail or really any setting at all. Sentences fade into ellipses where I lost consciousness due to boredom.

There are notes sprinkled throughout the text. Research to conduct (“can I guy really pull off his T-shirt from the back collar?”), details to add (“insert witty dialog here”), decisions to make (“does she want to smack him, or does she want to yank off his T-shirt from the back collar? Both?”). Anything that would take me away from the flow of the story goes in a note and I move on.

Onward and Onward!

Once that’s done, I read through the first draft, looking at the big picture stuff, noting what’s missing, confusing, or inconsistent. Then I start working through those notes, and draft two officially begins. With each draft, the scenes and characters come more into focus. Temperatures rise. Tension builds. Sparks fly. And if we’re lucky, T-shirts are yanked from the back collar.

I’m not one of those authors who can crank out a book in three months. Not yet anyway. Each of these drafts takes time. But the process is more intuitive now and I’m getting faster. And your being here is like having my own personal cheering section while I write. It’s so cool and so motivating! Thank you!!

From my viewpoint at the center of the novel, things are little good. I hope you’ll stick around for Draft Two. 😊

XOXO
Kim