Being a writer sometimes feels like a cross between an archaeologist, a nurse, and a sanitation engineer.<\/p>\n
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I wrote the first draft of Looking for Redfeather<\/em><\/strong> in 2007 during the month of November — National Novel Writing Month.\u00a0 After thirty days I had a fresh hot dump of words that frankly stank — but i was aware of a beating heart somewhere in the muck.\u00a0 Over the next few years I put my waders on and began to dig into the rich fetid dung heap, looking for the life in the story.<\/p>\n My past experience as a nurse helped prepare me for this crappy job.\u00a0 See, I’m not afraid of organic waste; producing it is part of the business of living as well as the business of writing.\u00a0 I approached the re-writing of my first draft with a will and although sometimes I had to hold my breath, I did find the heart of my story somewhere within the steaming hot mess of words.\u00a0 Or rather, I found the three beating hearts of Ramie, Chas and LaRoux, the teenaged protagonists who go looking for Redfeather in Chas’s dead step-grandfather’s vintage Cadillac. \u00a0Looking for Redfeather<\/em><\/strong> is my 21st century homage to Jack Kerouac and his quest for life On the Road.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It helps to write fast and furiously in that first draft.\u00a0 You can’t construct a beating heart in an outline, you have to discover it in your subconsciousness.\u00a0 The heart is what drives your story and without it your words, no matter how well thought out or meticulously outlined, are dead on the page. <\/a><\/p>\n A good time to outline is AFTER the initial dump.\u00a0 AFTER you’ve found the heart and washed it off a bit.\u00a0 There it sits, pink and pulsating, in your gloved hands.\u00a0 NOW you can plan the bones — the structure — of the story and do some other needed surgical interventions.\u00a0 At least, this has become my process.\u00a0 Hearing the heartbeat, then feeling it quiver in my hands gives me incentive to finish the story.<\/p>\n So how do you recognize the heart of your story?<\/p>\n After you have purged, let the pile of words cool off for a few days, weeks, or even months.\u00a0 During this time your subconscious mind will likely still be working on it, if its any good.\u00a0 After a vacation read it again with fresh eyes, highlighting the parts that make your own heart jump.\u00a0 These are the living sentences, paragraphs, or scenes, that bring your words to life.\u00a0 They probably still need some work, but they have potential.<\/p>\n Be careful not to flush the heart of your story when you revise.\u00a0 Don’t workshop or talk too much about your characters while in this vulnerable stage or you may lose the urge to write it at all.\u00a0 Who but a nurse understands the similarities between elimination and story gestation?\u00a0 Both are very intimate processes necessary for life.<\/p>\n Here’s your discharge instructions in a nutshell:<\/p>\n 1. Prepare yourself.\u00a0 Set aside a block of time (30 days is ideal) to dump your heart out onto the page or screen.\u00a0 Make the intention, then shut the door and do your business.<\/p>\n 2. Don’t go back, don’t edit, don’t flush anything yet.\u00a0 Never mind the disgusting noises and smells — they’re part of the process.\u00a0 But don’t share them at this point — keep the door closed.<\/p>\n 3. When you’ve finished, leave the mess.\u00a0 Then go back with fresh eyes and wade through the pages, looking and listening for those parts that jump off the page.\u00a0 Highlight them and build on them.<\/p>\n 4. Don’t erase your first draft. instead, keep it in a separate file and let it drive your re-write.\u00a0 Nobody ever has to see it but you!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"457\"](\"http:\/\/www.lindacollison.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/457-150x150.jpg\")
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