Finishing the Story with EPL Writer-in-Residence Alexis Marie Chute

As my Writer-in-Residence year at the Edmonton Public Library nears its conclusion, I reflect on one of the biggest struggles I observe in writers of every age and skill level. This challenge I witness with students I work with in school visits right through to adults I mentor at the library, and in writers working across every genre. The struggle?

Finishing the story.

It is easy to begin. Starting is fun and sexy. When people ask you about your project, you can tell them high level plot points or the story arc, but it is another skill altogether to execute your vision on the page.

Once upon a time, I was a writer who was unskilled at finishing. I would write a chapter and then go back over it ten times, correcting mistakes, changing details, reading and re-reading it until it was perfected. It was slow going to finish a story that way—and the truth was that I didn’t finish much.

Then I read a book that changed the way I write. It’s called Writing on Both Sides of the Brain by Henriette Anne Klauser. The book is around forty years old, but the message it contains still rings true today.

Klauser wrote about separating the creative process of writing from the logical process of editing. She advised her readers not to do these two things at the same time. Instead, put aside the logic brain and its nagging perfectionism, and stay in the creative headspace of freedom while writing your first draft—and not just that. Finish the whole first draft prior to welcoming back the logic brain for editing.

I do this very intentionally. With discipline, I now compartmentalize these writing processes. When I am working on a first draft, I try my hardest to avoid re-reading what I have just written. My goal is to keep the story moving forward. What can help with this is having a strong writing routine of scheduled writing time to ensure your story stays fresh in your mind.

The creative process is worth protecting from early criticism that might stifle its expression. Hold onto the child-like joy of creating for as long as possible.

Then, when draft one is finished, the “shitty first draft” as author Anne Lamott calls it, only then do we switch headspaces to allow the logic brain to do its magic in critically evaluating what we have made and what needs to be done next. This is the time for spelling and grammar corrections, scouring for plot holes and inconsistencies, weak characters made strong, and ensuring our endings sing.

Endings. You can’t edit what you haven’t written. This is my advice always to writers struggling to finish. Get your first draft complete, stay in that creative zone, get your characters over the finish line, and then you have something to work with.