In the Raw: Writing First Drafts
This is one person's experience.
Intro
The biggest mistake I made with Lucid, my first novel, wasn’t really a mistake. It was a function of where I was in the process of becoming a writer: the very, very beginning. But it cost me time and might serve as a learning experience for others. The mistake I made was to start writing before knowing enough about my characters, plot, and world. And I knew nothing about writing in general. I had no training, no notion of character arc, point of view, “show, don’t tell,” or narrative tension.
What I had was a scene. The end. And I had a muse, San Francisco. And I had personal conflict. This added up to a beautiful (to me), harsh, blurry vision. I had zero know-how in terms of how to express that vision, but that didn’t occur to me. I was wrapped up in it. I jotted down notes everywhere I went. I started a journal, which held a philosophy and the makings of a few characters. This stream of consciousness became the beginning of the story.
What I’ve described so far are, in my opinion, two critical components of any story, fiction or non: a vision filled with passion, and knowledge of the technical aspects of story-telling (having talent or skill is beside the point of this post; we don’t need to be Hemingway to have a great experience telling our stories, but we do need to care a whole lot and do certain things right, I think). I had the former and learned the latter as I went along. It was a fun ride, and I wouldn’t take it back, but it was long and inefficient.
Writing first drafts
I had notes and notes and notes. One idea branched into two more into four more. I could go a few hours at a clip brainstorming. It was fun, cathartic, and critical. Ideas fell into the following general categories: scenes (what would happen), places (where they would happen), characters (what they would do; less who they were—more on that later), plot (sequence of events), philosophy (what it all meant in the grand scheme). But there were two problems with how I approached brainstorming. First, I was focused on the questions “what,” “when,” and “where.” I was light on the “how” and “why,” because the answers to those questions were far more complicated. I didn’t want to stop and figure it all out. I just wanted to stream, keep moving. Which brings up the second problem. I started drafting very early in the brainstorming process. And since I didn’t know the “why” or “how” I was creating problems for myself that would rear their heads later and require fixing. Which brings up a third. I didn’t know how to write :).
I’ll address the third issue first and make a suggestion. If you are like I was, an absolute beginner, then before you get deep into your first draft, consider taking a writing course and reading Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway and/or On Writing by Stephen King and/or Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin (my favorite). This work will take time and a bit of money, but the things you learn you will have to learn eventually anyway. Better sooner. Don’t do what I did and go years before understanding point of view (see here if you’re interested in a somewhat longer tale about my editing journey, which amounted to my education in writing).
The why is most critical, in my view, because it pertains mostly to characters. Why do they do the things they do? Why do they feel the way they do? What is their history? What happened to them to make them this way? What kind of family did they come from? What time and place did they come from? What do they love? What do they fear? What do they do for fun? What do they want and what is stopping them? I could go on and on, but it's easier if you click on the character worksheet example links at the bottom. The more you know about your characters up front, the better your first draft will be, and the less complicated the editing process will be (it will still be grueling).
The how speaks to plot and is a bit less important early on, I find, only because sometimes you need to let things unfold in order to sniff out issues with plot. Keep in mind that changes you make early on may ripple out and impact the story later. In the end, you need to ensure the plot makes sense. That’s an obvious statement, but it’s easier said than done. How do the characters get from A to B? Is that even possible in the timeframe you’ve laid out or implied by happenings or conversations elsewhere in the book, maybe a hundred pages ago or a hundred later? What makes it possible, what technology or events (purposeful or chance) or geographic and topographic details? This thing happened two years ago in this place to this character. But you say earlier in the draft that another character arrives on the scene a few months later, which doesn’t make sense because that first thing triggered a series of events that can only unfold over a year or more based on the details of your world. All the happenings between then and now need to line up. And any loose ends need to be tied down before the end.
Again, you can’t figure it all out up front. That’s virtually impossible. And in fact, I’ve always enjoyed running into plot knots and untying them. But the more you think it through before starting the draft, the better off you will be. At the very least, get to know your characters as much as possible. Writing cool scenes (what) that go down in cool-looking places (where) in some intriguing past, present, or future (when) is great. But these scenes will end up getting cut if there is no reasonable explanation for how they happen and/or if they’re inconsistent with who the characters really are (the why).
One final suggestion. Take notes and notes and notes. Organize them as well as you can using key words, headings, different files. Review them before you start drafting and then periodically during. They will grow. Don’t stress about remembering everything. I’ve used maybe 15% of what’s in my notes. But that’s kind of the idea. In reviewing the notes, before and as you go along, you can whittle down to the best ideas and the ones that make sense as the story evolves. And it will. That’s a lot of the fun, was for me anyway. I have no regrets starting off with minimal knowledge. And I do not mean to take away from the beauty of first drafts. That initial raw creation is exhilarating, and it only happens once. When it doubt, stop thinking and let it flow.
I’ll leave you with something I wrote to myself almost six years ago as I was starting a first draft for the second time (Sine II, The Butterfly and the Squid, coming soon) after many, many years of editing Lucid:
After a few weeks reading notes, taking more, laying some things out, asking questions and maybe answering a few, I started probing Book II. Figuring out how I want to start. Where people are. How they’re feeling. New people and places.
I’m learning how to write a first draft again. Gotta let it flow. Listen to some music. This is not the meticulous composition and refinement of editing. I don’t need to know everything. I can’t. I don’t want to. I’m excited. I’ve got some ideas.
It’s my 9th wedding anniversary. I’m lucky.
2.28.18
Character worksheet examples: