ANDRE BEGIN

Of all of the tips and tricks I have shared along the way in my journey as a blogger and screenwriter, the following technique has become the cornerstone of my creative process:

I don’t create and edit at the same time. I tell the story in its entirety first.

The struggle

When I was just starting, I often found myself struggling at the keyboard. I’d write a sentence, then I’d backspace over some words. I’d write a second sentence, backspace over a few more words, make some adjustments, and so on.

Creating and editing at the same time made for a long, drawn-out process that seemed to take longer to see steady progress and to see an article to completion. For me, it was hard to develop confidence as a writer when the finish line always seemed so far off.

Also, when I let the critical part of the brain make corrections along the way, the creative storyteller part felt stifled by the interruptions which broke my stride and my creative flow.

Building and repairing at the same time just doesn’t work well for me.

Telling the story in its entirety

I discovered that if I consider the first draft as a 100% free thought activity, things flow much better. While I can have bullet points or an outline to guide me, the most important part is to just tell the story to keep the ideas flowing. For me, the logical progression in the storytelling and the continuous motion forward helped me to feel like I was accomplishing something and seeing tangible results.

I accept that the first draft will be messy and that it will require clean up after. Even if I corrected myself along the way, I would still have to go through this step. That being the case, why not just tell the story from top to bottom?

At first, suppressing the urge to correct myself along the way was hard, but when I saw the progress I was making, it became easier.

Going into “verbal diarrhea” mode and downloading everything from my brain without backspacing along the way lets me tell the story without detours or tangents that can break my flow.

Even if I am repeating myself along the way, that’s fine. I have no problem with writing the same sentence a few times in different combinations or permutations as it offers me options for finding the best formulation and location. At the same time, one never knows when that iterative process might lend itself to another nugget of inspiration that might not have transpired had I been fixing it as I went along. During the first draft, why not colour outside the lines? That’s what creativity is about, isn’t it?

With a completed first draft, I can fully devote myself to the editing process for spelling, grammar and punctuation, as well as the ability to rearrange ideas to optimize the flow of the storytelling. With all of the story’s elements in front of me, it seems easier to move sentences and paragraphs around to make the most logical sense.

A tool that helps

A few years ago, I discovered that a great tool for me for the first draft phase was the dictation function on my mobile device. The beauty of using the dictation function with my Notes app is that it allows me to tell the story the same way as I would be telling it to a friend. Dictation allows me to complete a first draft, no matter how rough it may be, and is less conducive to me stopping to go back and fix things, hindering the flow of ideas.
When the first draft is completed, I transfer it to my desktop and throw myself into the editing portion of the process.

My resolution going forward

I’m no expert in the way the brain works, but keeping creating and editing separate seems to work better for me. In following this process, I hit my storytelling stride more quickly while focusing on the ideas first and then having a fully constructed story in front of me ready for fine-tuning and polishing in a separate step.

In doing so, I am better equipped to write with momentum, confidence and less struggle along the way, to reach the finish line with a smile on my face to be able to share my stories with you, the readers.

Note: When it comes to blog articles, what I described above is the process I follow consistently. For screenwriting, it’s a little different but follows a similar process: With the help of an outline, I can usually work on the first draft until page 50. Then, I’ll perform a quick edit on the completed pages, write another 20 to 25 pages and then undertake the fine-tuning process as I finish the story.

Did you enjoy this post? If you did, your likes and shares are most appreciated.
If you haven’t already, please check out the rest of my blog at andrebegin.blog. From there, you can click on the “Follow” button to receive future posts directly in your inbox.
Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André