My All-New Zero Draft Approach

[pmmg]

You should define your term.

I mean, at some point, you have to go from nothing to getting all this made up stuff on a page. Before there is a template, there is just you and an empty page. I'd hate think some are so ridged that they allow no free-form activity to take place, even if they make themselves an outline and then follow it.


But...like I said, for me, the rough is the outline.

I'll let others tackle this one.

To me, the impressive part of A.E.'s notes is that they are readable. If I did that, it would be completely unintelligible. You should see my handwriting

 

[pmmg]

And....about posting pics.

Upload your pic to a pic posting website (or here in media). www.imgBB.com will let you upload pics.

After its uploaded, get the link to it, and paste the link here using the 'Insert image' icon above.

That's how the magic happens.

 

[Incanus]

OK, I think I figured it out. Thanks pmmg.

Here is the first page of my WIP. It is sloppier than the other pages--I got neater as I went along.

It's obviously quite rough. It's 10-20% really poor, maybe 5% of some OK stuff, with the rest being tepid or underwhelming.

The image is a bit smaller than I intended--not sure how that works.

 

[Penpilot]

Well that settles it--it's the Smurf System for me from now on-----

But seriously, I have a question for A E Lowan, or anyone else who uses the long and detailed outline approach. (And I realize in Lowan's case, it is a team of three with each member doing different tasks.)

I'm wondering about what some of us call 'discovery writing'. Does something like that occur when creating a 100-page outline? One reason I'm doing this preliminary draft thingy, is that I wanted to have ample opportunities to let discovery writing take place. I feel like that's an important part of the process.

My first novel I discovery wrote pretty much all of it, and over the years I've outlined more and more. The way I see things now is, broadly speaking, there are different stages to writing, there's the brainstorm stage, the writing stage, the organization stage, and the polishing stage.

The brainstorm stage is where you're throwing down ideas no matter how wild. The writing stage is just putting down the words. The organization stage is where you're moving things around to make sure everything is in its proper place and things make logical sense. The polishing stage is just where you make things pretty.

If you're a discovery writer, the brainstorming and writing stage are combined to produce that first draft, then you organize that draft, and then you polish. If you're an outliner, the brainstorming and organization stage are combined to produce an outline, then you use that outline in the writing stage to produce the first draft, and then you polish. Now, there's an iterative process to all this, where you can jump around to what ever stage you want when needed, but at the end of the day, regardless of what type of writer someone is, we all basically do the same amount of work. It's just what stages we choose to do first that's different.

With discovery writing, you front-load the brainstorming and writing. With outlining, you front-load the brainstorming and organizing. I've heard some discovery writing say they create a retroactive outline to help them organize in their edits.

Any way, that's the way I see things.

 

[Incanus]

Thanks Penpilot, those are some good distinctions to make. I have an outline, but it is not detailed. I think making discoveries while doing a super-detailed outline seems tricky to me, but obviously there is no wrong or right way.

I find it interesting, even fascinating, to compare these approaches.

Thanks again to everyone who participated here. I value your input.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Well that settles it--it's the Smurf System for me from now on-----

But seriously, I have a question for A E Lowan, or anyone else who uses the long and detailed outline approach. (And I realize in Lowan's case, it is a team of three with each member doing different tasks.)

I'm wondering about what some of us call 'discovery writing'. Does something like that occur when creating a 100-page outline? One reason I'm doing this preliminary draft thingy, is that I wanted to have ample opportunities to let discovery writing take place. I feel like that's an important part of the process.

Oh, discovery happens because characters happen. It is the Way. Words hit the page and suddenly everyone is doing what they want, outline be damned, no matter how comprehensive it may be. One of our FMC's had a surprise for me. Working on our first in series, I'd gotten to know her well. She's a wizard and a trauma surgeon, compassionate, brilliant, and dedicated. One day she says to me (and yeah, they do talk to me, and even occasionally will turn around in the scene to look at me), "Oh, one thing. I'm addicted to stimulants." Surgeon.

In our current book, I threw two of our MMC's together in a room to launch a scene to build romantic tension with our Lady Wizard of the Zippy Potions, and they're alone in there for maybe 10 pages. Now I've got the two guys attracted to each other, as well, which I never saw coming, and the scene coming up with the three of them is going to be a bit different from what we'd planned.

I'm one of those writers who needs to know where I'm going to get there, but it's the side trips along the way that can make a profound difference. Words on the page breath life into your characters, and once that happens, all bets are off.

 

[Incanus]

Oh, discovery happens because characters happen. It is the Way. Words hit the page and suddenly everyone is doing what they want, outline be damned, no matter how comprehensive it may be. One of our FMC's had a surprise for me. Working on our first in series, I'd gotten to know her well. She's a wizard and a trauma surgeon, compassionate, brilliant, and dedicated. One day she says to me (and yeah, they do talk to me, and even occasionally will turn around in the scene to look at me), "Oh, one thing. I'm addicted to stimulants." Surgeon.

In our current book, I threw two of our MMC's together in a room to launch a scene to build romantic tension with our Lady Wizard of the Zippy Potions, and they're alone in there for maybe 10 pages. Now I've got the two guys attracted to each other, as well, which I never saw coming, and the scene coming up with the three of them is going to be a bit different from what we'd planned.

I'm one of those writers who needs to know where I'm going to get there, but it's the side trips along the way that can make a profound difference. Words on the page breath life into your characters, and once that happens, all bets are off.

Fantastic! I love it. And really, it makes sense that no matter how much planning was done, the unforeseen still happens.

Over the last few days, I've started having some secondary characters get 'voicy' on me, and it's quite pleasurable. The last thing I wanted to do was stifle them.

Yes, things are getting interesting--I can't wait to make more discoveries...

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Fantastic! I love it. And really, it makes sense that no matter how much planning was done, the unforeseen still happens.

Over the last few days, I've started having some secondary characters get 'voicy' on me, and it's quite pleasurable. The last thing I wanted to do was stifle them.

Yes, things are getting interesting--I can't wait to make more discoveries...

'Voicy" is a great word and an excellent way to put it. In our current project, I was about 27 pages into the dinner party that wouldn't die when I realized I had a scene stealer in the middle of it all. And he has an accomplice. And he's a serial thief, because after I thinned him out a bit, Brimstone, the Dragon King of Ireland, still keeps popping up with his favorite and this is totally the content that he's here for. This is what a lot of scraps and 'scenelettes' look like when I get something rattling around in my head.

Brimstone: *puts a struggling and protesting Elaine inside her room and pulls the door closed before turning to a fyerie* You keep her in there. No excuses.
Elaine: Brim, you son of a-
Brim: *yelling through the door* What the hell are you going to do? You can't hit the broadside of a barn!
Elaine: *sounds like she's within biting distance of the door* I can hit the broadside of yer arse!
Brim: *grinning* Damn, but she's hot when she's angry.

 

[pmmg]

Strangely, i noticed i labelled my current WIP as WOTL-0.1, so I guess it is a zero draft.

 

[Incanus]

And I think I've conclu

Strangely, i noticed i labelled my current WIP as WOTL-0.1, so I guess it is a zero draft.

And I think I've concluded that what I'm doing is probably better called something like a 'half-draft'. Half the material now, the rest on the next pass.

 

[Jackarandajam]

And I think I've conclu


And I think I've concluded that what I'm doing is probably better called something like a 'half-draft'. Half the material now, the rest on the next pass.

I'm reworking an old wip and having to extricate a subplot I don't like anymore, and it's horrible. Definitely better to plan on adding to further revisions rather than subtracting. There's the fat trimming that always comes with drafting, but cutting plot stuff sucks

 

[Ban]

The most I'll do in the way of plotting is jot down a couple of notes I inevitably neglect to follow. Alike the Gauls faced by Roman encroachment, I claim the pants life. My suggestion would be to stop worrying about drafts altogether. Try to just write and edit as you go. Go back, go forward, zit zag between both. It's the lowest barrier of entry, but at the end of the day you should just do what works. To me, planning about planning seems an unnecessary step.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

The most I'll do in the way of plotting is jot down a couple of notes I inevitably neglect to follow. Alike the Gauls faced by Roman encroachment, I claim the pants life. My suggestion would be to stop worrying about drafts altogether. Try to just write and edit as you go. Go back, go forward, zit zag between both. It's the lowest barrier of entry, but at the end of the day you should just do what works. To me, planning about planning seems an unnecessary step.

I claim the no-pants life. I totally work in pajamas.

 

[Incanus]

I’ve had something of an upheaval in my project. But the good news is that my ‘half-draft’ approach has absorbed the change pretty well.

I’m adding a third POV, which means re-casting 4 already-written chapters into the new POV. The fact that I wrote such a thinned out narrative means this will not take all that much work.

Obviously, this creates a bit of mess (as it stands in the draft now, my MC is in two places at once for a couple of chapters). I’m not going back to make the changes now—that will get done on the next pass through the story.

I have a plan, but it is flexible and adaptable. I seem to have a pretty healthy mix of outline and discovery writing.

The project is still going strong…

 

[pmmg]

I’ve had something of an upheaval in my project. But the good news is that my ‘half-draft’ approach has absorbed the change pretty well.

I’m adding a third POV, which means re-casting 4 already-written chapters into the new POV. The fact that I wrote such a thinned out narrative means this will not take all that much work.

Obviously, this creates a bit of mess (as it stands in the draft now, my MC is in two places at once for a couple of chapters). I’m not going back to make the changes now—that will get done on the next pass through the story.

I have a plan, but it is flexible and adaptable. I seem to have a pretty healthy mix of outline and discovery writing.

The project is still going strong…

Sounds like writing a story to me

I had, I think, 11 POV's in the last one. The current one, so far, has had 8.

More are coming, but it is book 4. There a lot going on.

 

[Incanus]

Sounds like writing a story to me

I had, I think, 11 POV's in the last one. The current one, so far, has had 8.

More are coming, but it is book 4. There a lot going on.

Wow. That is a lot of POVs. Could maybe be problematic, even if the book is rather large.

 

[pmmg]

Occasionally, I come to a scene, were none of the regular POV characters are there to serve as the POV character. Thats when a lot of 'should I or shouldn't I, and maybe I can write this differently' comes in. Some, I would prefer did not get a scene, but sometimes, there was just no way around it--least not in the current revision. But, I am not worried. I think it will not confuse the reader. Least that's the hope.

 

[Jackarandajam]

I like little one-hitter pov's that show an aspect of the story from a fresh perspective.
Abercrombie has a scene, I think it's in The Heroes, where he bounces POV's all the way through a battle; person dies, pov bounces to the person that killed them and so on.
It's a fun style and allows for less narrative contortionism when trying to show the plot moving forward in an awkward place for the return povs

 

[pmmg]

Well, Bans little challenges are giving some of the characters screen time that are not currently up at bat. Not sure if they will make the story or not. I'd like to fit them in. Just not sure if its a real fit.

Head hopping like the scene above suggest is just not in the template of the story I have made. In some stories, that will work great, in others, it will be a deviation without sufficient justification. Guess that's why its an art. You just gotta decide what makes for the best picture.

 

[Incanus]

POV is an important subject, worthy of its own thread.

I sort-of kind-of have in-story reasons to keep the number of POVs at a minimum. My story is more on the 'mystery' side of the mystery/suspense sliding scale.

A lot of POVs would, I think, tend to push the story over to the suspense side (meaning the reader will almost certainly know more about what's going on than the characters).

I'm hoping to avoid using any one-time POVs, but nothing is wholly off the table.