Brackets of Holding

“First drafts are about getting the story on paper, however you need to.

Revisions are about putting the story into the most dramatic format possible,

so the reader sticks with you for the whole story.”

– Darcy Pattison

This quote has been my mantra for the first draft of My Haunted Life. It literally pains my soul to look back at what I’ve written so far because it is so messy and scattered with holes. I think every writer wants the story in their head flow out, fully formed and glorious like a phoenix as it rises to the top of the best seller list.

This is not the case.

For most I think it is more like a flightless phoenix poking it’s head out of the ashes of your messy drafts to crawl to the nearest bookshelf. Probably your mother’s.

I’ve had to learn that revision is my friend because I write very messy first drafts. I’m almost done (7 scenes left to write!) and getting very anxious to get back and revise. I’m excited to make a plan, to cut up my precious lump of marble and carve out something wonderful. Or at least something that resembles a novel. :)

However, my real reason for posting today is to talk about a tool I have learned to use while writing a first draft that has made my writing life so much easier.

I call them: Brackets of Holding.

Some people use regular old parenthesis. Some people use a # or some other symbol. I prefer my Brackets of Holding.

Brackets of Holding are useful when you need to [insert parade description here] or [fight scene with a bucket and two spatulas]. You can even use it when you need a character or object name: “Do you have any [mythical creature venom] for sale Mr. [name]?”

I think of Brackets of Holding like Hermione’s beaded bag in the seventh Harry Potter book. (And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, shame on you! Even the movies included this amazing bag.) The bag itself is tiny but it has an Undetectable Extension Charm on it so that it can hold so much more than what it really is. Hence, Brackets of Holding are a small word or phrase that contain a scene or larger concept that you don’t know yet or haven’t written.

So what’s the point? The point is when you are in the flow of writing, you want to avoid anything that will break that flow, such as the need to invent a recipe for a magical sandwich, a character name or to write a fight scene/love scene when you are terrified to do so or don’t know how. Just use some Brackets of Holding and keep going! Your draft might be rather messy, like mine. But I am a firm believer that a first draft should be written as quickly as possible. It is the best way to get your ideas out of your head so you can judge them properly.

If only I would follow my own advice …

It’s just like Darcy says. Do whatever you need to do to get the story on paper. You can fix it up later. More on editing when I get to that stage in my own writing.

What tricks do you use to get through the first draft?