wittering noun
wit·ter·ing ˈwitərə̇n, -riŋ
plural-s
chiefly Scottish
: a piece of information (as a sign, token, or hint)
Etymology
Middle English (Scots) wittering, witering, from gerund of witteren, witeren to clarify, inform, teach, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse vitra to manifest, reveal, vitr wise, vita to know“Wittering.”
— “Wittering.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wittering.
lessons in free writing
When I decided to revive my Wylder Tales series, I pictured what they call a minimal relaunch. I thought I could simply recover and clean up the old drafts. Yet once I started reading over my original drafts, I uncovered countless story and dialogue issues. So I decided to begin with a soft rewrite.
And then I rewrote the beginning entirely…
And before I knew it, only the bare bones of my original novel remained.
Rewriting Craving Beauty became an unexpected adventure I loved. I expected the rest of the series redux to follow a similar pattern. I could take certain events but update the scenery, freshen the dialogue, and add much needed scenes for depth. But several chapters in (new chapters, I should add), I realized that the majority of the original no longer fit these revived characters. What started as a soft rewrite turned hard before I knew it…pun intended 😉
When I realized I was about to rewrite an entire novel, I decided to throw myself in, head first. Rather than worry too much about my outline, I shifted my goal to writing that “shitty first draft” we talked about in Part 1. I still outlined a fair bit as I went along, and I kept a record summary of each chapter (including POV + page count) for the first half. But eventually, I “gave myself up to it,” to quote Jo March.
It’s been years since I attempted to free write like this. So often I would set out thinking a scene would flow the way I outlined. And then my characters (namely Balos and Grendel) took a life of their own and threw my outline out the window. Rather than force the story back into the confines of my loose outline, I rolled with it and pushed onward.
I ended up writing more than I had expected, but I also wrote more quickly than I have in years. There has been more for me to clean up in the aftermath, but also not as much as I had expected. It proved that while I’m nowhere near perfect, I’m capable of much more than I have allowed myself before. I can write more, more quickly, and more cleanly than I believed. And this is the beauty of free writing, I think.
A note of warning if you are just starting out: trust your editors, test different writing methods, and don’t be afraid of constructive criticism. Not to say you can’t push out a surprisingly clean SFD, but you will improve with every story and novel you pen. I have reached this point only after a decade of publishing and struggling. My first novels always came back to me so lined with red by my editors, it was a shock when I began to receive far less several books down the road. So take heart, and know that you are constantly growing, constantly shaping your voice and that evolution never stops. Be bold, have courage, and create! Happy free writing, friends 🙂
bookish updates
- The Borderlands Saga Book Trailer is going on tour with Book of Matches Media this coming week, so stay tuned!
- Want to be part of the Scarred Beauty book tour? Our first big event is once again hosted by Lola’s Blog Tours, and sign-ups are live at this link! Hope to see all of you there 😀
recent reads I’m crazy about…
I’ll be honest, I have been so wrapped up in Scarred Beauty prep, that I haven’t had time to devote to recent reads. But I have more reviews and fun coming to y’all this coming week, so please stay tuned for more bookish love!
Jennifer Silverwood 
Leave a comment