Okay, t
here are two things I’m working on this year:
Blogging more often and with better quality posts, and
Learning to “Fast Draft” my writing.
So keep watch for new themes and ideas, like this one…
I’ve read about using brackets—you know, these things: [ ]—in writing to help authors fast draft. Fast drafting has always been something I’ve wanted to do, but never been successful at. I tend (and by tend I mean always) to edit while I write. And it’s a slow, slow, slow process. I’d love to be able to write three books a year. Believe me, compared to some authors that’s just a measly drop in a very large bucket. But three is my goal, first because that gives me plenty of room to write, edit, re-write and all that fun stuff. But it also gives me wiggle room to fit in editing other books as my agent, publisher, betas give me info. Because even though I’ll spend approximately four months on a book, it’ll still need editing. And that takes time.
Okay, back to brackets. I am using them while I write to add in stuff I either don’t know, can’t remember, or just don’t want to slow down to take the time to fill in detail. So far, I like using them. Here are examples of how they can be used:
His hair was [color] and [adjective].
Or
[Name] waggled her finger at me, a frown pulling at her [adjective] lips.
Okay, okay, so those examples suck (and no, they are not from my writing), but they give you an idea of where and how to use the brackets. Then, when I’m working on my second draft or I figure out the character’s name, I do a “Find and Replace” search for the corresponding bracket and my word processor will fill in the blanks for me.
In order for this to work smoothly, it’s a good idea to use specific bracket descriptors. That way, when you are ready to insert the replacement, you aren’t filling in brackets meant for a specific character with information meant for another. To avoid this, I use brackets that have a small identifier:
[female name]
Or
[f. friend], [m. friend]
Don’t get too detailed, though. You don’t want to have a list of bracket information you need to remember. That would slow your writing, defeating the purpose altogether.
Has anyone heard of this tip before? Have you tried it? Do you have a trick to share? Comment below… I love comments.
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