Incanus
Auror
Has anyone around here been using this, or something like it?
I’ve adapted the idea for my use, and so far, I think it is working for me.
First, the dilemma—when working on novels, I’ve noticed I have this problem: I can’t write the story until I know the story; and I can’t know the story very well, until I write it.
Previously, I would try to create the best draft I could from scratch. For short stories, that works OK, but for novels it hasn’t been working for me.
The idea here is to create a first draft by writing out the story twice, with the zero draft as guide to the first draft. Another way of looking at the zero draft is as a glorified, detailed, dramatic outline. It is telling the story to myself, so that I can later tell it to others properly.
In my case, when creating the zero draft, I am leaving out virtually all exposition, explanations, detailed descriptions, and the deeper character thoughts and reactions. Thus, this draft is largely the external plot elements, the physical action and a first attempt at dialogue. Another way to look at that is that I’m doing a ‘half draft’ now, and then getting to the other half later.
Since I’ve been using this method, I’ve noticed two unforeseen benefits. The first is that leaving this woefully incomplete draft in my wake really drives me to want to finish it so I can get to work on the real first draft. I get a fair amount of inspiration from this. Another benefit is that, because the zero draft isn’t written all that well, I would have absolutely no problem chucking out paragraphs, pages, or whole chapters if necessary with relative ease. Not being so attached to this zero draft means I can do that with only a moment’s regret.
I’d love to hear other folk’s thoughts about this. What do you think?
I’ve adapted the idea for my use, and so far, I think it is working for me.
First, the dilemma—when working on novels, I’ve noticed I have this problem: I can’t write the story until I know the story; and I can’t know the story very well, until I write it.
Previously, I would try to create the best draft I could from scratch. For short stories, that works OK, but for novels it hasn’t been working for me.
The idea here is to create a first draft by writing out the story twice, with the zero draft as guide to the first draft. Another way of looking at the zero draft is as a glorified, detailed, dramatic outline. It is telling the story to myself, so that I can later tell it to others properly.
In my case, when creating the zero draft, I am leaving out virtually all exposition, explanations, detailed descriptions, and the deeper character thoughts and reactions. Thus, this draft is largely the external plot elements, the physical action and a first attempt at dialogue. Another way to look at that is that I’m doing a ‘half draft’ now, and then getting to the other half later.
Since I’ve been using this method, I’ve noticed two unforeseen benefits. The first is that leaving this woefully incomplete draft in my wake really drives me to want to finish it so I can get to work on the real first draft. I get a fair amount of inspiration from this. Another benefit is that, because the zero draft isn’t written all that well, I would have absolutely no problem chucking out paragraphs, pages, or whole chapters if necessary with relative ease. Not being so attached to this zero draft means I can do that with only a moment’s regret.
I’d love to hear other folk’s thoughts about this. What do you think?