The Second First Draft
First draft done
Now comes the fun part
Reading it
Discerning
What the story needs to live,
Reveal, deliver.
I’m not finished with my first draft yet. That happy milestone will be celebrated later on today.
However, even from here in the depths of first draft floundering, I can see the road ahead. How wonderful to know that there is road ahead, that this story deserves revision and reworking. My heart beats with little-kid excitement that I get to go back into the story world and work with characters that I have grown to know, respect, and enjoy.
Finally, I know what my story is about.
I started out with a solid outline, terrific character bios, tools and resources at the ready. Within a few days of writing the first draft, much was in shreds. New characters had inserted themselves and enriched scenes, complicated and simplified, contributed complexity even as they drew through lines from start to finish.
A neighbor taking out the trash — who was only supposed to highlight a part of the new daily routine for the protagonist — has turned into a powerful and interesting person in his own right. Toby the dog loves him. The dog adds him to the pack. When Toby meets the woman that the neighbor has been dating for 40 years, he is not sure that she belongs.
Toby the dog will let me in on it later today when I finish the last scenes, type THE END, and go for a long walk. At least that’s the plan.
While the first draft is more muddle than finely tuned story, it is down and done for now — or will be later on today.
Last night, I met an author who wrote a draft of a novel, then put it away for awhile, and when it was time to go back to the story, wrote an entirely new second first draft. It was her first published novel — and it did magnificently well with readers, so there is something to that.
Later in the week, when the story has had a good 24 or 48 hours rest, I will print it out, lay out the chapters on the floor, and begin to figure out how to tell the story.
Every story and every writer have their own way of working together.
I’m beginning to think of it like dancing with a skilled partner that you don’t know yet, can’t anticipate, but trust it will be good.
ProWritingAid is a powerful suite of over 20 different writing and editing tools. Copy your draft into their online editor and check grammar, sentence flow, overused words, and more. Try it for free!
