First Draft Blues

[Philip Overby]

Anyone else get this sometimes? I'm by no means a perfectionist, but I have the tendency to abandon lots of first drafts because they aren't measuring up to what I expected or they're floundering, etc. What happens is I get really excited, write a bunch of good set-up material, but then when the time comes for the characters to start "doing things" they tend to scatter like headless chickens. It's happened to me countless times. Out of all of the longer works I have, I probably only have about 5 full-length first drafts out of probably a hundred aborted novels/novellas. Out of those 5 full-length first drafts, I probably only have one that I've drafted at least two times. That's pretty bad, if you ask me.

My new solution? Finish it even if it sucks (by sucks I mean it's not good, but you can still salvage it). Hell, why not? At this point I rather have 100 completed first drafts that suck, than 100 incomplete first drafts that are no where near being finished. At least if my first drafts suck, I can fix them. NaNoWriMo has encouraged me to use this method because it's the only time of year when I push myself to finish even if my manuscript is struggling. My new method for keeping my manuscripts flowing even if they aren't so hot, is to do the following (which I've mentioned before in another thread):

1. Romantic Interlude (sex or something more innocent)
2. The Michael Bay Rule (blow something up)
3. The George R.R. Martin Rule (kill, maim, or disfigure an important character)
4. Add a Friend (add a new character to spice things up/shift direction/make me happy)
5. Go on a Vacation (move the main character to a new setting, if he's been a monastery for four chapters, maybe he needs to go somewhere else?)
6. No More Backstory, Please (quit spinning my wheels world-building, explaining the mating rituals of goblins, why my magic is cool, info dump-trucks)
7. Rampaging Zombie Ape (nothing spices up a story like a rampaging zombie ape)

These work for me anyway. I've seen my writing output increase greatly by using these rules.

And yes, I've heard that "why waste time on something that sucks" argument. I learned something though. All first drafts suck. All of them. No matter how meticulously I craft each sentence, it will never be perfect. So I stopped doing that.

Anyone else in the "better to have one mediocre first draft completed" camp?

 

[Dante Sawyer]

My new method for keeping my manuscripts flowing even if they aren't so hot, is to do the following (which I've mentioned before in another thread):

1. Romantic Interlude (sex or something more innocent)
2. The Michael Bay Rule (blow something up)
3. The George R.R. Martin Rule (kill, maim, or disfigure an important character)
4. Add a Friend (add a new character to spice things up/shift direction/make me happy)
5. Go on a Vacation (move the main character to a new setting, if he's been a monastery for four chapters, maybe he needs to go somewhere else?)
6. No More Backstory, Please (quit spinning my wheels world-building, explaining the mating rituals of goblins, why my magic is cool, info dump-trucks)
7. Rampaging Zombie Ape (nothing spices up a story like a rampaging zombie ape)

These work for me anyway. I've seen my writing output increase greatly by using these rules.

Dude, I love this list! Seriously, these are some quality ideas to get the creative juices flowing.
Anyway, I've scrapped about three really bad MSs because I no longer liked the content. I planned too much and they didn't turn out well. So, on the MS I actually completed, I didn't plan at all. I just wrote, and, honestly, I'm very pleased with what came out as a product. I completely agree with your "better to have a first draft finished" mindset, because when you finally do finish, what you thought was complete crap back in Chapter 5 may actually turn out to be something pretty epic.

-Dante

 

[Philip Overby]

The sex rule I first saw from Chuck Wendig who has a great writing advice blog. I just started using it. Says to make your story "sexy." The others I have been using the last couple of years. The rampaging zombie ape, however, is a new one. I haven't tried it out yet.

Planning can actually kill a manuscript, I feel. You plan it to death and then when you try to write it, the plan is always better than the execution. Like when you are telling a story to someone and then say, "Well, it sounded better in my head."

I like to do a moderate amount of planning now. Just enough to keep me structured, but not so much that if I go off path a little, I've just derailed ten years worth of planning.

I've learned sometimes your first instinct with a story can be your best. Just let your character dive into the ocean. Oh, he can't swim? Crap. Well, figure it out.

I used to write elaborate back-stories, draw flags, come up with alliances and wars, who was king in the Year of the Sloth, all that kind of stuff. I guess it works for some people, but it doesn't work for me. It never has and never will.

 

[Hëradïn]

I agree, having a completed draft is better than an incomplete draft. If anyone says something to the contrary we will send our rampaging zombie apes after them.

as to the planning, it IS good to at least plan where the main plot ends, but then you can have all your nice little sub plots build as the story unfolds.

 

[Kaellpae]

I may take a step away from fantasy right now and just right whatever comes to mind. Some of my favorite narratives came out by random stories.

I say step away from fantasy, but even if I write about a modern day setting and have bigfoot show up, he's fantastical.. right?

 

[Philip Overby]

@Kaellpae: You make a good point. My preferred genre is fantasy, but if I get stuck and all my fantasy stuff is sort of lingering, I'll put it aside and work on something that's not fantasy. Just to mix it up. I found that when I step outside my comfort zone, surprising things happen.

 

[Kelise]

This could actually really help me get back into writing, hrrmm... Thanks for the list, Phil!

Sometimes I add (though as notes, not in the actual MS) a nice relaxing scene. They might go for a picnic or a walk. I don't know why, but it generally calms my mind, puts everything back in order, and gets me ready to write something actually busy/important and daring again.

 

[grahamguitarman]

Its funny, I used to spend hours creating rich and involved worlds, mapping out the culture and politics, rationalising the magic structure, just for the fun of doing it (I wasn't writing back then, though I always thought I'd end up making a novel)

Now I've started to write in earnest I'm not planning at all, I just come up with a basic concept and a simple story arc, then just leap into it. I'm sort of creating the world and adding details as I go along.

but the biggest boost I'm having to working without loads of planning is the unstructured way I'm writing.
I don't just start at the beginning, then work my way to the end, hoping that I can figure out the next step as I go along. Instead I write random scenes as and when new ideas occur to me. For example, if I imagine a scene where someone is lost in an underground tunnel, then I write it. It doesn't matter if I have no idea where the scene is going to fit, or who its going to happen to, so long as the scene works. As I go along I start to weave these scenes into my main story (if I can, some might just go by the wayside)

by writing scenes that may be several chapters ahead of where you are ideas might emerge that can then be written backwards into the earlier chapters (if that makes sense) sometimes knowing where your character needs to be shows you how the novel needs to progress to get to that scene.

I'll even write short stories about new unrelated characters, then see if there is any way they can be woven into the main story - instant subplot! I'm writing a short story right now, its a story that has been in my head for a while now and just needs writing down. Even though its not part of my main novel, you can guarantee that I will look to see if there is any way it can be woven into it.

BTW I don't use Word, I use a program called YWriter, its a free novel writing program that allows you to write lots of separate scenes, and then re-arrange them how you like. This makes it very easy for me to work the way I do (it doesn't have spell checking or grammar though).

I'm by no means an experienced writer so feel free to completely ingore me. but maybe just writing random chapters based on your characters then seeing afterwards if they will fit into your novel will rescue some of those drafts that you don't think will work.

 

[Philip Overby]

This YWriter sounds interesting. I use another program that always auto-corrects me or does "predictive writing" where if I write one word it assumes I'm trying to use the same word again. It's really annoying. I may use this program for my NaNoWriMo.

Someone (I think Ravana) mentioned that sometimes people need to get off the "I need to write a novel" kick and try writing shorter pieces. Everything doesn't have to be epic. I think a lot of newer writers tend to want to write a novel right out of the gate. In my opinion, I believe there should be a steady build to writing novels. Try shorter fiction and then work your way up.

I've recently been outlining a lot to lay out my longer manuscripts. If it looks like it's going to be 100,000 words, then I put it aside. If it looks like about 30 or 40K, that's a bit more doable. Some markets are looking for novellas in addition to novels, so it's entirely feasible to put off the 10 cycle series I had planned.

 

[grahamguitarman]

Yeah Ywriter is nice and simple - only gives me what I need and little of what I don't. I find grammar and spelling prompts highly distracing, so with YWriter I just type out my story in peace, and then load the generated RTF into another program for the spell checking ect.

As well as the simple word processor there are also facilities for adding notes to each scene / chapter (which the reader doesn't see of course) and a database thingy for keeping track of Characters & Locations (again with notes ect)

when you export your novel it collates all the scenes and chapters you have written and formats them into a basic novel layout, which I kinda like

you can find it here: yWriter

 

[jackitsu]

I've tried YWriter and could never figure it out. Then again, I probably didn't try very hard.

But yeah, a first draft is going to suck. Its supposed to. I don't like it either because I hate editing but even Ernest Hemingway said "The first draft of anything is shit." Sometimes thinking about that as I trudge along through the hard times helps me out to remember this.