Comments on: Giving yourself the freedom to fail http://www.kriscramer.com/giving-yourself-the-freedom-to-fail author & screenwriter Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:16:44 +0000 hourly 1 By: Kris http://www.kriscramer.com/giving-yourself-the-freedom-to-fail#comment-303 Kris Tue, 18 May 2010 14:12:09 +0000 http://www.kriscramer.com/?p=254#comment-303 I find I can never completely turn off my internal editor, so instead I have to ingore it and resist the urge to edit as I write the first draft. Whenever I'm writing a non-fiction piece, I approach the first draft as a stream-of-consciousness exercise -- write everything that comes to mind, keep writing non-stop for a set period of time, and then sort it out when you're done. My process is similar to yours and I don't always know what I'm going to write until after it's written. I occasionally try mind-mapping first just to get the initial ideas and key points on paper. When I'm writing fiction, I have a different process and my first draft comes out much more organized. It still requires plenty of editing, but it's much easier since I already know where each scene and chapter is headed. I find I can never completely turn off my internal editor, so instead I have to ingore it and resist the urge to edit as I write the first draft. Whenever I'm writing a non-fiction piece, I approach the first draft as a stream-of-consciousness exercise -- write everything that comes to mind, keep writing non-stop for a set period of time, and then sort it out when you're done. My process is similar to yours and I don't always know what I'm going to write until after it's written. I occasionally try mind-mapping first just to get the initial ideas and key points on paper.

When I'm writing fiction, I have a different process and my first draft comes out much more organized. It still requires plenty of editing, but it's much easier since I already know where each scene and chapter is headed.

]]> By: Mike http://www.kriscramer.com/giving-yourself-the-freedom-to-fail#comment-302 Mike Sat, 15 May 2010 02:47:20 +0000 http://www.kriscramer.com/?p=254#comment-302 Very true. When I started blogging, I would try to write a good first draft, editing as I went. But most of the sections wouldn't fit into the final post, so I'd throw them out anyway. I don't know what I'm going to write until *after* the first draft. That's the prototype, when I see what ideas work for the final point I'm working on. So my process has become: write a draft, leave it for a while, then rewrite from scratch based the structure and ideas from the first draft. Once I got that process, writing became much smoother. Thanks for posting about it! Very true. When I started blogging, I would try to write a good first draft, editing as I went. But most of the sections wouldn't fit into the final post, so I'd throw them out anyway. I don't know what I'm going to write until *after* the first draft. That's the prototype, when I see what ideas work for the final point I'm working on. So my process has become: write a draft, leave it for a while, then rewrite from scratch based the structure and ideas from the first draft. Once I got that process, writing became much smoother. Thanks for posting about it!

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