First Drafts

Are first drafts always bad? I prefer the term "unfinished" to "bad". Or perhaps "unrealized". My first stab at a story tends to read as thin, but as a sparse writer that's always been my cross to bear. I'm someone who likes to get the entire story down before I go back and read it, and many times I've been left with the thought, "Is that all there is?" 

It's funny, but during the writing process we (and by "we", I mean "I") feel like we're really digging into the meat of the story, only to find later that all those vivid images in our mind didn't translate to the written word. 

I don't relish bringing up past efforts, but when I finished Inn Dreams and was curious about its word count, I was floored to learn that it was barely more than 14,000 words. I'd actually thought I'd penned a fully fleshed-out story. In reality, it was little more than an outline. While I had managed to write a few really good scenes, the characters were superficial and events proceeded way too fast. Disappointed in myself, I revised it and more than doubled the original word count. My skinny characters turned into actual people, and I added an entire cast of supporting players who made the story come alive. 

Generally, however, I don't work the way it appears the majority of writers do. I don't just "spill out the story" and call it my first draft. First of all, I don't even know what the story will be until I'm in the midst of writing it, but mainly I won't move forward until I'm satisfied with what I've written so far. That likely explains why I'm such a slow writer. I feel like I'm writing at a fast pace, but when I review it later, my output is woefully short. What I'm doing is going back and honing each scene, so it seems like I'm writing a lot, when in reality I'm editing a lot. Too, my personality type doesn't allow me to shrug and say, "good enough" and move on. I know I'll only have to fix it later, so why not fix it now? 

Not being an idea person, my way of filling out a story is by meandering around corners. My MC might be in the middle of doing or discovering something, then is interrupted by another character popping into the scene and taking her off task. Those little vignettes might not appeal to everyone, but I love them. 

How does one fix an unrealized first draft? I think it's by additions, not revisions. Show things that bring a character to life. I'm not big on the term "connections" (I'm not big on a lot of terms that are overused), but a reader reads in order to connect, not as much to the action as to the person being portrayed. At least I do. I tend to put myself in that character's shoes and watch the picture unfold before me. I guess, while the big explosion is exciting and all, we're only interested in it because we're interested in the character(s) the explosion affects. 

When I was new and confident I could write a novel, I don't think I changed or added anything to my first draft. It was difficult enough just hitting the minimum word count. I tweaked a word here and there, but I didn't really stop to think about what the story was missing. If I was to write that first novel today (I wouldn't!) I would add more, interesting, scenes and remove the filler. I would've meandered, rather than writing essentially, "this happened and then this happened". For a beginner, I wasn't terrible, but I didn't know enough to ask the right questions of myself, like "What does the story need to make readers connect?" In my mind, I certainly connected, but readers couldn't see my three main characters the way I imagined them. I should have known, but didn't, how to make readers see them.

Another reason why I don't simply "spill out my story" haphazardly with the intention of going back and fixing it later is because once the story's been told, it's been told. I lose interest. Even when I'm two thirds into my manuscript I still don't know how the story will end, because that would take all the fun out of it. I enjoy the, "Oh, I know!" moments when I hit upon a good new twist. If I was simply filling out a thin first draft, why would I even care anymore? With Inn Dreams, the story changed completely, and it didn't go anywhere near where the first iteration ended up. It had to change or I wouldn't have bothered.

Everyone's path is different. However we get to the destination, we just need to reach it.