First Drafts

[kyoutenshi]

Do you have any odd tendencies or quirks when it comes to your first drafts? Are they overly long, or a little too brief? Do you write them fast or slow? Are there any problems or tropes that you can't seem to stop from popping up?


My first drafts tend to have very 'flat' and clinical writing ("She walked to the door. She could hear a sound like running water."), miss out important description details (characters pick up weapons, keys, or even go through doors that weren't there before), and I hardly ever touch on any 'themes' or particularly deep ideas.

My aim for first drafts is basically to get my characters from start to finish with as little fuss as possible. When I sit down to do some work, I'll simplify that by saying I want them from event D to event E. I write quickly, refuse to edit, and only occasionally stop to ponder the phrasing of a sentence. Sometimes I'll even repeat an earlier sentence because I think it'd look better in this paragraph right here, rather than at the start.

They're also really short. I'm working on a novelisation fic right now, I've written nearly all of the high-tension scenes, and the only parts I haven't yet worked on are the sections where my portagonist has to move from danger A to danger B. I'm at about roughly 2,000 words right now. There are fics out there with chapters longer than that. I remember one of Stephen King's most famous pieces of advice was that between first and second drafts, you should lose about 10% of your wordcount, but for me it's the complete opposite.

Comments

[sterling]

I think Stephen King is a particularly prolific writer -- and for him personally, he knows he's on the right track when he loses that 10% in between his first and second draft. Don't compare yourself to him too much, you sound like your methodology is fundamentally different, and there's nothing wrong with doing something your own way.

That said, as long as you can add the important detail in a later draft, I'd say you're doing just fine. Some writers have to draft their work many many times before crafting a nicely put together piece.

My personal style is to get things written down as fast as possible, and to go back over things with a fine tooth comb until I'm happy with it. I even read the work outloud to catch awkwardness. If I stopped to try and add in every last detail on the first draft, I'd never get anything finished, and be endlessly stuck on details.

There's a lot to be said about actually getting the bare bones down on paper!

[kyoutenshi]

"My personal style is to get things written down as fast as possible, and to go back over things with a fine tooth comb until I'm happy with it. I even read the work outloud to catch awkwardness. If I stopped to try and add in every last detail on the first draft, I'd never get anything finished, and be endlessly stuck on details."

That sounds a heck of a lot like me, actually. I'm so perfectionistic deep down that if I tried to reach for the stars on my first draft, I'd just end up hopelessly disappointed in myself and come to a completel standstill.