On Business Writing & Fiction Writing

Some people are amazed that I can write marketing communications by day and fiction by night. I tell them it's just like being a werewolf. Fiction requires a different relationship with the night and with full moons, too. Sometimes it requires night vision, spiritually seeing and penetrating the darker side.

Or think of it this way: Business writers exude a sense of confidence, competence and control in their writing. Fiction writers do the same, of course, but they simultaneously create an environment of carefully controlled chaos. It's called a story. They manipulate or seduce their readers into feeling fear, terror, horror, loss, grief, irony or humor.

The requirements of business writing are vastly different from those of fiction writing, but both require manipulative skills. Yes, I admit it openly: Writers manipulate or attempt to manipulate their readers' emotions. The good ones are heartless.

Whether it's day or night, the first business of being a writer is drafting. And that's why in this EWA, I'll be giving you a few tips for drafting success.

What is drafting? Why don't we just call it writing? Drafting means getting those first words down on the page. It is a special circumstance with rules of its own.

I'm now drafting my second novel, so I know whereof I speak. Writers often talk about getting a draft ''out'' as though the writing gestates inside. At a certain point we must externalize it. The birth metaphor reigns.

Montaigne, the innovator of the essay in the 1500s, talked about the need to test out our ideas by writing them in the form of essays, using the French word that means ''attempt'' or ''try.'' Norman Mailer went further, saying he writes in order to find out what he is thinking.

With no further delay, here are a few tips for drafting success:

Do yoga or exercise first. Writing is action. Getting your body in action is good preparation. Yoga or exercise can help you stretch the mind and shake something loose. That something can be your writing. I always exercise first thing in the morning, then meditate, and do my best writing in the morning. Some other preliminary activities: Take a shower. Consider this: The shower is the only place you can't write (or can't write very well). Ideas can be shy about showing up. They may purposely decide to appear where you can't easily write them down. Make sure you capture them in the shower. For example, you can place them inside a soap container until you towel off. Sleeping can sometimes work, too, if you can capture your visions upon awaking. Keep a pen and paper by your night table.

Write quickly. Outline what you want to say. Then take each part of the outline and write that part in an intense, fast-writing session. Write as quickly as possibly. Don't waste time trying to find the perfect word out there. There are no perfect words out there. The only perfect words are the ones in here, in your heart. And all those words are perfect. Just express it as best you can. Now. You may find better ways of expressing it when you know it better, but then again, you may not. In the case of the novel I'm drafting: I made a mind-map of the entire story. Think of a mind-map as a visual outline with words and diagrams and pictures. I broke the mind-map into chapters. And now I'm about to begin taking each chapter, reading over what happens in that chapter and then drafting that chapter very rapidly. When you're writing at this speed, don't look back. Don't look to the side. Just look ahead and don't stop until you've finished the chapter. Using this method, I expect I'll be able to finish the first draft in about three weeks.

Don't be afraid of making errors. It's likely one big error anyway. Admit to yourself: It's wrong. Awful. Horrible. Bad. But, at the same time, know that it's your creation. Take ownership of it and all its faults. And remember, it could just as easily be bold, beautiful, right, true and brilliant. Just like you. The point is, it's your creation. It's what you were thinking. And when you're writing that first draft, don't forget to make plenty of punctuation, spelling, syntax and verb-agreement errors. You're free. You're free to be wrong. You're drafting.

Start out by writing down what you want to accomplish. If you don't know how to write it yet, that's fine. Start out by describing how you want the finished piece to read or the impression you want the finished piece to make on the reader. Write whatever you can write. The process of writing it, of being in the action of writing, will help the rest of it show up for you.

Forgive yourself. Be patient. Writing often doesn't work out the first time. Or the second or third time. That's the joy of writing, and of, eventually, getting it right. (See last month's entry on writing revisions.)