First Drafts

When I was younger, there was no such thing as a second draft. I wrote it all out perfectly (or so I thought) the first go around, and skipped straight to the grammar editing shortly after. No revisions. No rewriting. Just one draft--bam, done, on to the next thing.

I don't know if I've just gotten used to the whole NaNo-approach to things, or if I'm finally realizing that it is nearly impossible to get it right on the first try. Either way, one draft just doesn't cut it anymore.

I used to love first drafts. I used to groan and moan throughout editing, and hiss at even the thought of having to re-write the tiniest of paragraphs. But with several less-than-perfect drafts tucked under my belt, I feel like I've definitely warmed up to the idea.

Just recently, I finished the first draft of a novella I've been working on for the past few months or so. Towards the end of it, I realized that my plot--while prominent in the beginning--was now essentially nonexistent. I had no idea what was supposed to happen, what was going to happen, or how I was going to make it to the end. No vague ideas, no plot outline, nothing. I was stumped.

Although I wanted nothing more than to move on, to switch over to some other project (because anything would be better than what I was working on, I was sure), I knew I had to finish. Because this was only the first draft--if I didn't finish it, I wouldn't have anything to work with later. In the past, the idea of having to work around things I had already written was significantly less than ideal, but now? I yearned for it.

Meanwhile, I'm having the opposite problem with my NaNo novel--the first draft of which I finished just before starting this novella. The only thing I'm sure about is the fact that I want to change the story--but instead of not having a clue, I have way too many. Ideas have been bouncing around my head for weeks now, and I'm relieved to be done with the novella, so that I can return to the WIP I've spent well over a year on already.

Rewriting is fun. It's like writing your characters into an alternate universe--it's almost like writing a fanfiction for your own story! (I'm a nerd, bear with me.) A lot of the basics--characters and their personalities, the world, the basic plot of the story--stay the same, so you're not starting entirely from scratch. At the same time, though, you're starting from a clean slate--every plot point, every event, has been erased. Your characters can learn and grow all over again, and you can grow with them.

In other words: I am very, very excited to get back to this story.

Until later,

- Justyne