Monday 9 April 2018

Writing the First Draft - You Don't Always Have to Type It.

By Cassanda Samuels

Writing a book is hard. It takes many months, sometimes years, to complete even a first draft, but my guest authors today have found that you don't always have to type your first draft.

Anna Campbell is an award winning author of Historical Romance. She writes her first drafts longhand, but it hadn't always been that way. Here is why she chooses longhand over typing:


"In 2014, a lot of things happened. I had the house on the market, I’d decided to make a real attempt
at having a career as an indie author, and I had a dreadful accident. I fell over in the kitchen in the
middle of the night and injured my left arm and as a result had trouble typing for about 18 months.

Necessity meant that I had to go back to doing first drafts longhand because I really had only one
hand working at full capacity and this ended up being one of those decisions about making the
best of adverse circumstances that turned out to be a wonderful opportunity.

When I’d dreamed of being a writer as a child and teenager, of course I wrote longhand. This was
back in the dark ages before every house had at least one computer. Returning to writing longhand
took me back to the time when writing was fun and full of dreams and hope, whereas writing on a
screen seemed (and still seems) like a job. First drafts stopped being a horrible experience (I still edit on the computer. That really IS a much better option) and went back to me telling myself a story. Even better, I could write longhand anywhere. In the backyard, in bed, on the sofa, at a café. Not only that but my really rough first drafts became less rough, I think because writing longhand is a slower process so you have time to think about what you’re putting down (one of the downsides of being a really fast typist is that any old rubbish goes down on the page). So the editing process ended up being easier as well.

I still have to type the manuscript into the computer,but that has the advantage of letting me do a
rough first edit. I’m investigating dictation programs so that I can just read my manuscript into the
computer. I’m definitely sticking to longhand first drafts. That’s given my writing a whole new lease on life."

Anna's latest book is available now.

Buy here

Lord Garson’s dilemma.
Hugh Rutherford, Lord Garson, loved and lost when his fiancée returned to the husband she’d believed drowned. In the three years since, Garson has come to loathe his notoriety as London’s most famous rejected suitor. It’s high time to find a bride, a level-headed, well-bred lady who will accept a loveless marriage and cause no trouble. Luckily he has just the candidate in mind.
A marriage of convenience…
When Lady Jane Norris receives an unexpected proposal from her childhood friend Lord Garson, marriage to the handsome baron rescues her from a grim future. At twenty-eight, Jane is on the shelf and under no illusions about her attractions. With her father’s death, she’s lost her home and faces life as an impecunious spinster. While she’s aware Garson will never love again, they have friendship and goodwill to build upon. What can possibly go wrong?
…becomes very inconvenient indeed
From the first, things don’t go to plan, not least because Garson soon finds himself in thrall to his surprisingly intriguing bride. A union grounded in duty veers toward obsession. And when the Dashing Widows take Jane in hand and transform her into the toast of London, Garson isn’t the only man to notice his wife’s beauty and charm. He’s known Jane all her life, but suddenly she’s a dazzling stranger. This isn’t the uncomplicated, pragmatic match he signed up for. When Jane defies the final taboo and asks for his love, her impossible demand threatens to blast this convenient marriage to oblivion.
Once the dust settles, will Lord Garson still be the man who can only love once?

Louise Forster  is a best selling author of contemporary and small town romance and uses Dragon Naturally speaking. This is what she says about it:



"For me, Dragon Naturally Speaking, is brilliant. I researched to find the best dictate program, and Dragon kept coming up with great reviews. About 15+ years ago my sister in-law used it after a shoulder operation. I watched her train the program to recognize her voice, and nuances, and even back then it wasn’t too bad.

To have some fun, I suggested she say f**k into the mic. She surprised me by giving it her best shot. The program wasn’t into cursing and came up with all sorts of weird and wonderful words: flock, duck, suck, fluck, pluck. I figured they would’ve improved their program, so I bought Dragon Naturally Speaking 13 Premium. (Premium, because it was on sale). I haven’t had it long, but I like it, and it works for me. Issues with my body forced me to take this path.

The wrong words are highlighted in yellow, the correct in blue/turquoise.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking takes a little training, but it does this as you work and went when you close off. I haven’t tried this program while putting together a first draft, but I can imagine that it would be pretty good. For me, the problem lies with thinking and speaking two different things; I can't speak a sentence while thinking they had our head ahead on the next one. A friend said I could train my brain to work that out in the creative sense.

If you want a quote symbol you simply say open single quote and close single quote. For double quote marks it’s open quote and close quote. If it won’t accept a word simply say spell and a window appears where you can choose or type in the correction.

Editing is a little tricky, for example after highlighting what you want to take out and saying delete, you have to remember to only say the word, or words you want to put in, and not the rest of the sentence, thereby doubling up. I learnt that one pretty quickly."

Louise has a brand new book out on the 4th of May that is available now for pre-order.


Buy here


 In the small town of Tumble Creek, secrets aren’t kept for long...

From the outside, Adele Valentin knows she looks strong, capable, unflappable. But when she loses everything, she can only think of one thing to do: run. A friend’s house in the small rural town of Tumble Creek is a ready-made sanctuary, and Adele flees the big city without ever looking back.

The timing has never been right for Takumi Edwards to express his feelings for Adele, the beautiful, mysterious woman who visits occasionally but haunts his dreams nightly. But now she’s here to stay – at least for a while – and he will never have a better chance.

But Adele is struggling with both past decisions and how vulnerable Takumi makes her feel. When her past follows her to Tumble Creek, Takumi is the only one who can help resolve both what came before and what could be ahead. If Adele is only strong enough to ask.


Have you or anyone you know used a different way to get down that first draft?

Love to love: Finishing edits on my next book.

Love to laugh: At the weird things my cat Angus does. He always keeps me entertained.

Love to learn: about the way my fellow authors create.







32 comments:

  1. Isn’t it great so many alternatives exist apart from the computer? I adore the idea of first draft with pen and paper, like Anna Campbell. Cue a delicious visit to get one of those gorgeous notebooks and a packet of the best pens. I do like a good pen, and really enjoy quality paper. I find even when I’m not writing in the notebook, the act of smoothing your hand across the paper is rather lovely. Hoorah for audible recording versions too. I’m glad the ones available don’t recognise cursing, but that’s just my personal taste in reading as well; I prefer to read a book without cursing. Everyone is different.

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    1. I love to write notes and jot down ideas but to do a whole first draft by hand would be challenging I would think. And I admire anyone who can dictate whole swathes of prose verbally. I've tried Google Docs that does have a dictation feature but is not set up for fiction and I found it really interesting to have to think of saying full stop and new paragraph.

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    2. Hi Malvina,
      I think I'd get writers cramp using pen and paper. My latest book, Promises In Tumble Creek is over 100K words. Gosh I don't know how Anna Campbell does it. But then when needs must we take on the challenge because we love what we do :)

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    3. Malvina, I'm with you on stationery. I'm currently madly in love with Clairefontaine notebooks from France. I picked up a couple when I was in Fontainebleau and I've just put in an Amazon order for a stack more. Oh, yes, and I'm definitely fussy about my pens!

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    4. Louise, I was really interested to read your thoughts on Dragon. I'm not sure I could compose using it, but it would definitely save me a lot of typing.

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    5. Anna, at first it feels strange talking and seeing the words appear on the screen ... magical :)

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    6. Louise I think it would be an easier way for me to do that step between longhand and getting the story on the computer. Sadly, my hands and arms aren't quite what they were!

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  2. Fabulous post Ladies I too love the idea of writing out a first draft (not that I would ever write a book) and in this day and age there are a lot of things people can choose I also like the idea of speaking to your PC although that would be hard for me always so much noise at my place :)

    Have Fun

    Helen

    Oh BTW I jus finished Lord Garson's Bride by Anna Campbell loved it and I need to get Louise Forster's because it sounds fab

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    1. I know what you mean about noise Helen. It's like Pitt Street at my place most days too. Another challenge I hadn't thought of. Makes it even more impressive doesn't it. I love anything these two ladies write.

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    2. Having lived in Melbourne most of my life, listening to rumbling trams and traffic noise can be an issue with dictate programs. Have lived in country NSW for the past 25 years and right now DH is using the drop-saw, I can't begin to imagine what garbled words would end up on the computer. Nevertheless, I'm super grateful there are program wizards out there making things happen :)

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    3. Helen, tickled pink about you enjoying Lord Garson so much. I smiled all day after reading your review. Louise, I agree with Helen - your new release sounds fab too!

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    4. Hi Helen and Anna, thanks so much for your lovely thoughts. :)

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  3. Ahh, the good old days of writing by hand! When I first started writing I used to do it longhand and transcribe onto the computer (which took forever!) but over time I learned to feel comfortable with typing that first draft. Now it just comes naturally. I do kind of miss the 'fun' of scratched out words, sentences and even whole paragraphs, though.
    I have DragonSpeak on my computer but have yet to find the time to learn how to use it! Must do that!
    Thanks Anna and Louise for letting us in on how you write that first draft.

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    1. My first ms at the age of 15 was half handwritten and half typed on an old ribbon typewriter that was my mothers. I still have it somewhere. lol. I would love to have a go at it but I think it would take a bit of time to train the brain.

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    2. Hi Marilyn, Dragon speak is super easy. I thought listening to my own voice drone on all day would give me nightmares, but no, it's all good. :)

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    3. Marilyn, I love how writing by hand takes me back to that young girl with dreams of being a writer. There's something magical about that. Cassandra, my first full manuscript was typed on an Imperial portable that my parents gave me for my 16th birthday. Still think it was one of the best presents ever. I always felt like I was a writer when I sat at that typewriter.

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  4. Interesting to hear about Dragon Naturally Speaking! I have heard of it but enjoyed Louise's insight.
    Also interesting to hear about Anna's process. I've been a fan since her first book!
    Both these titles capture my interest and will be on my TBR pile. Thanks Cassandra!

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    1. Hi Alyssa,
      Considering I have allergies that play havoc with my diction, (snuffly nose etc) the program does well. :)

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    2. Hi Alyssa! Glad you like the sound of both books. I'm endlessly fascinated to hear how other writers create.

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  5. I think it's good to know that if for some reason you cannot get your hands on a PC or are unable to type there are other things you can do. My TBR pile is massive too.

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    1. Cassandra, one of the things I love about doing first drafts longhand is that you can take a notebook absolutely anywhere.

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    2. That is an excellent point. A lot of us keep notebooks in our bags and we should probably utilise them more.

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  6. I found these post entries very interesting. As I'm a huge fan of Anna Campbell's writing it is fascinating to see behind the scenes of her writing process. This kind of thing interests me about any author, frankly, but especially from one you love.

    When I attempt to put some idea down (on the computer) that's swimming around in my head, I often think of a completely different approach to the same scene. Having it done on paper would allow a writer to turn to a different page to write it down, go back to the first idea and look at the two side by side during editing. I think that might be better for me than having 'Story of the moment A.,' and Story of the moment B.(C.D.etc.,)' on different files.

    Dragon Speak sounds dangerous to me. When speaking I go off on tangents, can't finish a tale...ever. Most of my family and dearest friends tolerate this, but I know it's annoying. :/

    Thank you very much for featuring two great author interviews.

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    1. Hi Michelle thanks for dropping by. I can see what you mean. I have tried to put two doc up side by side to check for errors or inconsistencies etc but unless you have a huge screen you just give your eyes too much strain. Plus you can make notes on the side of paper and allow yourself to think about it for a while before committing to the change. LOL going off on tangents are something I do too.

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    2. Hi Michelle,
      You had me smiling. Initially, my problem with Dragon was saying something but thinking ahead, which is what I do when I type. But I managed to get past the scary stuff, and like having a conversation, you often think ahead anyway. The program spells far better that I do as well. :)

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    3. Michelle, how lovely to see you here. Yes, it's always interesting to hear how people put stories together, isn't it? When I'm teaching, I never say there's a right or wrong way. The only thing that matter is you get a workable story at the end. I think you're idea of comparing is so interesting - I might try it!

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  7. A fascinating insight into the ways of writing a first draft. Like Anna, I am a lover of longhand writing. So easy to immerse myself in the story and the words flow as if by magic. I wrote my first manuscript this way but then computers came and I followed technology. Not as easy to fall into the story, I found, and I do miss that immersion. Am starting a new story and for this one I'm switching back to longhand for the first draft. Dragon Speak intrigues me but I, too, can go off on tangents when speaking, so that would be too distracting.

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    1. Enisa, there really is something magical about that hand moving across the page, isn't there? It feels much less like a 'job' than working at a computer. Hope going back to longhand gets the creative juices flowing. I'm interested in Dragon Speak because I could read my longhand version into the computer - it would save a lot of typing. I'm not sure I could create by speaking.

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    2. Yes, I could see how that would work brilliantly Anna.

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    3. I think that could really work for you Enisa.

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  8. A fascinating insight into returning to longhand and tye world of dictation programs. Thanks so much Anna, Louise and Cassandra.

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    1. Sharon, so glad you found it interesting! Going back to longhand for first drafts really has made a difference to my writing.

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