Happy Friday my friends! I hope that you’ve had a good week thus far and that the inspiration was flowing. I’m happy to report that this week was a productive one. I’m currently at 5,227 words out of 15,000 and that’s not counting my upcoming writing session this evening.

Full disclosure, I’m here today to ramble about thoughts I have with the words of V.E. Schwab flowing through my mind. About five months ago, the legendary fantasy author participated in YALLFest. She held a class called “The Story Corpse.”

“This class will look at drafting as the construction of a body, from the bones of plot, to character muscle, to the flesh of prose. Attendees will hopefully leave feeling more ready to conquer the always strange and sometimes overwhelming necromancy of bringing a book to life.” -YALLFest

I have watched the recording of this class QUITE a few times since its original air date and I am very grateful I have. Why, you ask? Well, the biggest challenge for me this week with Project M has been drowning out the “is this good enough” thoughts. It’s been a long time since I’ve drafted a FIRST DRAFT of something. My first draft of my YA Fantasy novel was finished back in 2017. I’m currently on the seventh draft of that project. No matter how I approach that draft, it’s never a clean slate. Writing Project M this month has been an incredibly refreshing feeling.

Turning my focus to getting down the bones/skeleton of the story has taken a bit of self-encouragement. It’s hard to not edit, but I’m grateful to have V.E. Schwab’s perspective in the back of my mind. Her process of focusing on the different parts of your “story corpse” one at a time makes so much sense. Maybe that’s why she has so many amazing books??

If you haven’t watched that video yet, I encourage you to do so. There’s no way you’ll be able to walk away from watching it without feeling at least a little inspired. As for me, I’ll be over here powering through my first draft. All in all, it’s been a really fun process so far. Writing realistic YA fiction is something I never thought I’d dabble in, but I’m very glad that I am.

How do you power through your first draft? Do you focus on the bare bones of the story or do you strive for perfection with each page?

Let me know on Twitter or Instagram @AWritersWay.

Thanks for reading. Meet me here next week for more rambles and such.

-Christine