Bit by bit

Amongst other things, I read Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews over Friday and this morning. It's the third in the Kate Daniels series and the books keep getting better.

I think she does setting really well. For me, setting is something I go back and layer in. My first drafts are very talking heads and I'm first drafting now, so it's easy to read something and go 'but my stuff isn't like that'. No, right now it's not. Do not compare thyself to others while drafting. When you're in the throes of a book it's easy to read and think "I bet everyone else just sits down and brilliant polished prose flows like wine from their fingers". But it doesn't. (And if it does for you, please don't tell me while I'm doing a slog book). Bit by bit, word by word. That's how books are built. And first drafts are for finding the story.

One day I might remember this.

By the way, Ilona blogs here and has a very good series on reworking paragraphs if you look at her paragraph troubleshooting tag.