How do you write your first drafts?

[stormiel]

So I finally pinned down which of my many different plot versions I wanted to go with and I'm six chapters in now. I've been writing just the bare necessities for the most part and I intend to fill out more detail, fix any POV errors and work on the way it sounds and so on in the second draft. I'm hoping that by doing it this way I can trick myself into actually finishing it. It might not be the best plan, but I guess I'll worry about it in the second draft. I was curious, how do you all write your first drafts?

[beckyminor]

The advice I got from an excellent week of mentoring I had was to use the first draft to just get the story out there. If you can include some nuances and the like, great, but building the plot is paramount.

Then you can go back, and in another pass, add all the stuff you didn't embellish enough the first time. Here's where you need to consider your audience carefully and what sorts of beats you want to hit hard. Writing for young people? You need to see how well you appeal to their sense of wonder and perhaps romance. Writing for adult men? Then you need to make sure you're working the peril angle, and maybe resonance with what they value. Don't be afraid to over write in this pass. Check also on your conflicts...does every scene either deepen or broaden them?

The next pass is the cutting pass. Hack out the redundancies, the rabbit trails, the blathering that doesn't go anywhere to either develop plot, character, or theme.

Now it's time for fine tuning. Look for places you want to say things beautifully, if you have that goal in your work. Some folks don't, I acknowledge that. Some just want clean. Work toward the right tone. Also, pare out any unnecessary syllables or words. The guy teaching the class called this a syllabic edit. This is where you want to check on the cadence of you work to make sure it supports the needed pacing of the scenes.

Another pass to proof and polish, and you should technically be ready to show the piece to the world.

Do I write like this? I wish. I tend to combine phases so that I can actually finish. The teacher of this method is a full time writer, so it's easy for him to say to do a half dozen passes on a manuscript. Oh, to have that kind of time. But it's undeniable that his technique works. At least for him and his students--he and many of them have become best sellers.

[Kessie]

I'm pretty much doing that sequence Becky lists up there. I'm nearly at the end, thank goodness. Just tightening up the logic and the emotional resonance, mostly. My critique group pointed out some flaws that I'm fixing. Thankfully the plot doesn't alter all that much.

For my first draft, pretty much I sit down and write the story. Before I write anything, I play around with the next scene in my head. "Let's see, last night I'd left the heroes facing a lava monster that had erupted in a parking lot ... that'd set the asphalt on fire, so there'd be lots of smoke. Oh! He should totally get chased by the lava monster and have to drive his car around all crazy through the parking lot, avoiding flame and fireballs and big cracks! And at the same time, his rival can be chewing him out! Yeah!"

Then I write it like I'm telling the story to somebody else. Editing comes later.

[Bethany J.]

I used to write my first drafts by the seat of my pants, and then refine on later passes, but I've done so much rewriting on those stories that I'm scared to do it that way anymore! Haha. I like to have my entire plot in my head beforehand, with a list of major scenes and where they fit within the plot arc. Then I know were I'm going from one scene to the next as I write, so I have some direction. I haven't written anything completely new in YEARS, though. Is this bad? I'm still rewriting a number of projects I started when I was 14-15ish...

Come to think of it, maybe that's why they needed so much revision!

[Kessie]

Bethany: I'm stuck in the same trap with my current WIP--we've been working on this story since high school. That's why it's getting published and then it's DONE.

I try to write new things every so often, though. That's why most of the first series is already drafted, because I've plowed ahead with stories later on. I think there's a new one brewing, though, because I'm starting to have some gaps in the series that existing work doesn't quite fill. :-)

[Bethany J.]

I occasionally have IDEAS for other books, but none of them have blossomed into full-fledged novel ideas yet. They're just bits and pieces, interesting concepts, worlds, or people.

[stormiel]

At least I'm not the only one who has been working on the same stories since high school lol. The only thing I've ever finished was a short fan-fic. Maybe in 2013 I'll finally start finishing things.

[Kessie]

Bethany: I just keep cramming new stuff into my existing world. Since it encompasses multiple worlds, I can just say, "It's just a different world!" and use the same magic rules. That's why this series is becoming a sprawling behemoth of a thing. :-)

Stormy: Get in the habit of finishing things if you want to make a career of writing. I spent years writing fanfics before I got to this stage.

[stormiel]

Yeah, its definitely time to start finishing things. Regardless of the outcome it would be nice to just be able to say I finished it.

[Bethany J.]

Dec 9, 2012 1:41:44 GMT -5 Kessie said:

I just keep cramming new stuff into my existing world. Since it encompasses multiple worlds, I can just say, "It's just a different world!" and use the same magic rules. That's why this series is becoming a sprawling behemoth of a thing. :-)

Hehe, that makes it easy for you! I can't do that with any of mine...

[firestorm78583]

It seems that having a story float around in your head since High school is a common theme. That is where my story took root in my head. Now I need an ending and to stop thinking of ideas for sequels until the first one is done.

[kelkoura]

For a long time, I wrote my first drafts by the seat of my pants. In the last year or so, I've been outlining* first and the impact on my work has been startling. My "first" drafts (technically second drafts?) are now much more polished, need a lot less revision, and I get a lot more work done in any given writing session. I can't ever imagine writing something the size of a novel without a solid outline first. I blogged about this realization here: www.ootersplace.com/writers-god-wants-you-to-outline-your-novel/.

* The method of outlining I've settled on is roughly based on the Snowflake Method (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php), which was invented by Randy Ingermanson ... who, I recently found out, is a Marcher Lord author!

[fluke]

I use a modified snowflake method also!

1. I think about the story until I can express the concept in 10-15 words.
2. I expand that out to 35-40 words.
3. I list out the scenes that I will need to get me from the beginning to the end of the story.
3a. Each master or major character gets a profile written (if they don't already have one). Minor characters get a very brief profile. Cameo characters might get a name and line of description but unlikely.
4. I give each scene a brief description, never more than two paragraphs.
5. I view each scene as a mini story that needs a goal, obstacle to that goal, and a resolution. I write those down. Many times, what was originally one scene will split into two or three.

Example: Originally, Derke spots the Big Bad and fights him in a cathedral. Derke is hurt but his friends burst in before the BB can kill him. They find something very important in the Cathedral.

It worked into 3 scenes. 1. Derke and Syantere' are having a very important conversation when Derke spots the BB's agent and gives chase. He sends Syantere' to find their ally, Father Phaeus. 2. Derke follows the agent into the cathedral and is just about to find out what the BB is planning when he is spotted by henchmen and attacked. The BB joins the fight. 3. Derke is hurt but his friends burst in before the BB can kill him. They finds something very important underneath the Cathedral.

6. Now that I have an outline, I write the last scene first building on its description. This is important for me. I tend to meander when writing unless I have the goal in mind. That's a benefit of the snowflake, also. When each scene has a goal or objective or decision and follow through, it is easier for me to stay on track. The ending is the most important scene, so I do it first.
7. I write the next most important scene next. Often this is the first scene, but in my WIP, it is actually the cathedral scene above, though I didn't write the split-off scenes until much later.
8. I work my way down through the scenes. The next most important scenes are drafted before I go on to the next one down (though see below for an exception).
8a. I often write my draft like stage directions. It might look like this.

[D, FP, and S stand in front of the chieftain in his tent. S explains why she has joined these two.Syantere' tells her father and the others about what she did in the past year. Why is she against tBB? What does she gain by opposing him? She saw his plans while trying to break the veil on her own future.]
C: Why would an astrologer attempt to change the unchangeable future?
S: The future can be changed, otherwise looking into it would only remind one of how insignificant they are.
FP: I disagree. The future is fixed because the Father knows it.
S [turning angrily to him]: If the gods know the future for certain, choice is an illusion.
FP: No, knowing what someone will do is not the same as making them do it. Our choices are our choices to make. Just because the Father knows what we will do does not mean that we are unaccountable for our actions.
S: The future cannot be fixed because I see how choices change it. I used to be able to see past the next week but not now. I used to know when Derke was going to die!
[D looks from Father Phaeus to her. D (Thinking): Again, she mentions that she has drawn my chart. Why has my future been important enough to her to look into it?]
S: Someone, Lord Sanuto perhaps, has changed the future. Perhaps he found something he needs for his spells.
FP: Were your visions always correct?
S: Not always, but I was rarely wrong, and the closer to the event we were, the more often I was right.

I do this just to get it down. I'll go back and expand it with descriptions once I have the scene down but before I do another (usually).

At any time, I might go back and make small changes as the story progresses. I might have to change the time of day in a scene because of something in the scene prior.

I have found this is also a great way to fight writer's block. If I majorly stall on a scene, I just go and work on another one.

9. Wash, rinse, repeat until each scene in the story is done. Then worry about the second draft. That involves reading straight through to look for continuity errors, etc. It often helps to put it away for a few days before doing this.

[rjj7]

Just wanted to pop in and say that that was an excellent blog post, kelkoura. I used to work off of only the vaguest of outlines (though curiously, I almost always know exactly how the book would end), but now I'm stepping back and making sure I outline sufficiently first.

Regarding the main topic of this thread, I honestly don't feel qualified to comment, as everything I've done has been first drafts, and none have reached completion.

[kelkoura]

That's similar to my method, fluke, except I can never bring myself to write scenes out of order. Not sure why, it's maybe because I have a very linear mind. I think your step one - thinking about the story until you can distill it to a single sentence - is a very important one that it's tempting to skip and just dive in right away.

Glad you liked the post, Randy. Thanks for taking the time to say so.