Declaring First Draft

[skip.knox]

Some of you may remember I asked about this. How do I know my first draft is done?

Well, I have one way of doing it: declare victory and go home.

Seriously. I have unfinished chapters. I have chapters I know I must rewrite. But I'm declaring First Draft and there you go. Shoot first and whatever you hit, call that the target.

It was liberating. I was able to step away from the novel, turn my attention elsewhere. The writing conference I just went to was actually fun. Moreover, once I had just a teensy bit of distance, I had an insight that gave me another (probably more useful) way to decide First Draft is done.

I do a fair amount of writing with pen and paper. The reasons for this have been discussed elsewhere and aren't relevant. Then I type it up into Scrivener, and all editing happens on the computer from there out.

The insight was this: I have a First Draft when I no longer can make progress with pen and paper.

It's a First Draft when I'm no longer writing anything significant from whole cloth, nothing substantial that is new. I will certainly write sentences and paragraphs, but it's unlikely I'll do whole passages. And even if I do, they'll probably be done at the computer, with reference to already-written text. I have moved in a fundamental way from creating to crafting.

This was really helpful for me to understanding about my own process. Here's hoping it is of some use to my Fellow Travelers.

 

[ThinkerX]

With a couple of my longer first drafts, I reached a point where I couldn't say the stories were 'completed,' but I could say they had 'endings.' Usually, that stems from plot issues and fatigue.

 

[Philip Overby]

That's a good way of looking at it, Skip. It's a first draft when you can't write it anymore and it has an ending. Then it can go into editing phases. I also write with a pencil and notebook sometimes and transfer it later. I find this method allows me to disconnect from the internet and also gives me portability. I can write with a notebook anywhere. Transferring the information to a computer file helps a lot because it allows me to edit as I transfer. Then I can do additional edits once everything is typed up.

 

[StannisTheMannis]

I agree that endings are a big part of declaring a first draft. With my novel, I sat down and wrote my first draft in a burst in three days.

The next drafts were a bit muddier. I rewrote the book halfway through. Stopped. Started over. Is that half-finished draft a second draft, or a lousy attempt? When I started over, was that my third draft?

I did this quite a few times, admittedly. I have about ten half-drafts. I don't know what to do with them or what to call them. I feel like I should throw them all out and start over. The second half of my story is poorly mistreated. By now, I have so many drafts over so many years that I feel like throwing them out and starting fresh.

 

[skip.knox]

@StannisTheMannis
My sympathies. Have you outlined the book?

I have two kinds of outline methods I use. Both are necessary for me. One is the outline of the book I *intend* to write. This is the sort of outline writing guides talk about. I'm sure you're very familiar with those, but I have to say it's necessary. The Outline Of Intent lets me write out what I mean to say without the actual saying of it fouling things up.

The other is the Outline Accompli, an outline of what I *actually wrote*. This is a depressing outline, but is also necessary. This is the tool that helps me see where my story went astray. Alas, the wretched thing never tells me how to fix it, but it's pretty good at standing there pointing with blazing finger.

I'll add one other thing. I'm a master at writing stories that become muddled. Every once in a while the muddle is because I have written myself into a corner plot-wise and cannot reasonably figure out why all my characters were not blown up in that explosion. But that's rare.

Much more often I enter the Swamp of Despair because of my characters. I have not understood them deeply enough, and/or their story arc fails in one of two ways. Either the arc does not drive the plot (the character or his actions aren't necessary), or the arc stalls at some point. The character stops developing. Outlining doesn't seem to help here. It's more about developing the character's background, brainstorming, or paying more attention to the character during the plot.

So, outlining (story structure) and characters. hth!