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Thursday, October 25th, 2007 08:06 amYep, another post about drafts. If you're not interested in writers fumbling along about What They Do, move on. You Have Been Warned.
I'm not a particularly introspective, analytical kind of writer, so it had never seemed to me that the phrase "first draft" was at all ambiguous. I know that I and my writer-friends point at slightly different things when we say "first draft," pretty much depending on our personal tolerance for Chaos and Mess(tm). But the one thing we've all seemed to agree on is that a first draft is, well, a first draft.
A first draft is where you find out what a Safe World is, for instance, and the ramifications of being raised on one. A first draft is where one of the characters you didn't even think about needing when you were noodling out the shape of the story step up and reveal that they have a Key Bit of Plot. That you also didn't think about needing in the airy, lightsome days of "gee, wouldn't it be cool to write a story about...?" A first draft is where you seed subplots and see which of them grow. A first draft is where you write a scene to See What Happens.
A first draft is...a first draft. Calling it a "first" draft argues for the intended future existence of at least a second draft. Therefore, a first draft is not complete or perfect. The true beginning of the story may show up somewhere around the middle; the ending (if you're the kind of a writer who has to write to the ending No Matter What) is probably wobbly or (if you're the kind of writer who writes until you've written enough that you feel the story is solid enough to revise) non-existent.
For Duainfey (which is a handy example, since I just finished the final draft), I
(1) rearranged the first six chapters to make a crucial bit of timing work
(2) removed a pivotal scene and replaced it with another more in keeping with the heroine's character as it had evolved during two previous drafts
(3) expanded another pivotal scene to up the threat level and make a subsequent choice more believable
(4) tweaked and rewrote manymany sentences and paragraphs in order to sharpen detail, scene, world, and/or character, and made explicit something that had been implicit and which will be Needed in the Second Book, incidentally adding 6,000 words to the final word count
(5) made sure none of the characters had changed their name while I wasn't looking
(6) checked the spelling
(7) put the manuscript into final form
(8) sent it away to our Sainted Editor, and now it's her problem. Briefly.
Because...
...I expect to receive a revision letter. Yes, even after all those drafts, including one named Final Draft, I betcha there's still stuff that needs to be punched up, clarified, or just plain fixed.
So, for any writers who are still with me after all that -- when do you call a first draft done? Do your first drafts have a Beginning, a Middle, and an End? The same Beginning, Middle and End that the final draft rejoices in? How much reworking do you expect to do, between first draft and final?
Inquiring minds...
I'm not a particularly introspective, analytical kind of writer, so it had never seemed to me that the phrase "first draft" was at all ambiguous. I know that I and my writer-friends point at slightly different things when we say "first draft," pretty much depending on our personal tolerance for Chaos and Mess(tm). But the one thing we've all seemed to agree on is that a first draft is, well, a first draft.
A first draft is where you find out what a Safe World is, for instance, and the ramifications of being raised on one. A first draft is where one of the characters you didn't even think about needing when you were noodling out the shape of the story step up and reveal that they have a Key Bit of Plot. That you also didn't think about needing in the airy, lightsome days of "gee, wouldn't it be cool to write a story about...?" A first draft is where you seed subplots and see which of them grow. A first draft is where you write a scene to See What Happens.
A first draft is...a first draft. Calling it a "first" draft argues for the intended future existence of at least a second draft. Therefore, a first draft is not complete or perfect. The true beginning of the story may show up somewhere around the middle; the ending (if you're the kind of a writer who has to write to the ending No Matter What) is probably wobbly or (if you're the kind of writer who writes until you've written enough that you feel the story is solid enough to revise) non-existent.
For Duainfey (which is a handy example, since I just finished the final draft), I
(1) rearranged the first six chapters to make a crucial bit of timing work
(2) removed a pivotal scene and replaced it with another more in keeping with the heroine's character as it had evolved during two previous drafts
(3) expanded another pivotal scene to up the threat level and make a subsequent choice more believable
(4) tweaked and rewrote manymany sentences and paragraphs in order to sharpen detail, scene, world, and/or character, and made explicit something that had been implicit and which will be Needed in the Second Book, incidentally adding 6,000 words to the final word count
(5) made sure none of the characters had changed their name while I wasn't looking
(6) checked the spelling
(7) put the manuscript into final form
(8) sent it away to our Sainted Editor, and now it's her problem. Briefly.
Because...
...I expect to receive a revision letter. Yes, even after all those drafts, including one named Final Draft, I betcha there's still stuff that needs to be punched up, clarified, or just plain fixed.
So, for any writers who are still with me after all that -- when do you call a first draft done? Do your first drafts have a Beginning, a Middle, and an End? The same Beginning, Middle and End that the final draft rejoices in? How much reworking do you expect to do, between first draft and final?
Inquiring minds...
