Victoria Schwab on bad first drafts

[Ragandar]

I do that a lot, although my bits and pieces never reach 20,000 words all at once. I've got tonnes of tiny scribbled notes and dialogue everywhere.
Technically, though, they would all be tiny individual first drafts.

 

[Juliana]

Yikes, @Quellist that would be a nightmare for me! My mind just doesn't work that way. I do keep little random scenes scribbled on paper, or notes to self, but I have to start at the beginning and move in chronological order, even when writing different POV. Or I think my brain would explode.

 

[James118]

Yikes, @Quellist that would be a nightmare for me! My mind just doesn't work that way. I do keep little random scenes scribbled on paper, or notes to self, but I have to start at the beginning and move in chronological order, even when writing different POV. Or I think my brain would explode.

Pretty much this. Even in my outlines I try to keep stuff in order (though I don't necessarily come up with things in order), else it's just a big mess and I get terrified I'll never be able to make sense of it all when I come back. Plus keeping it in canonical order helps structure the thing.

 

[ErikB]

My soon to be published fourth book (and the first in my new science fiction series) was rewritten three and a half times.

Technically it was four but the last pass over was a tweaking to get the little bits of dirt and dust out of the system. A bit of "touch up" as it were.

Still I enjoyed my first draft. I write very judiciously and am a horrible self critic. Writing a paragraph or two and then rereading them immediately and adjusting (unless I'm in the zone, then I don't stop or second guess for anyone!) as I write.
Usually I proof read and reread several times as the story unfolds. And when I set it down and then return to it later I will reread and edit more of the entire previous chapter before starting a new one or continuing where I left off.

Its work but I genuinely love the story I'm writing. Its one of my favorite story lines that I've done and it took on a life of its own.

Most of all as I reflect that I have outlined six books so far in the series and am eight chapters into book two of my series, I remember that this book was not even supposed to be a book.

At least not an entire book. Perhaps a short story for later use in an anthology of my works. But never as it is now.

It was an experiment in writing for an attempt to hone and test my writing skills. I never figured it would become such a huge hit with readers when I posted small installments on a website.

The reactions of people begging for the next installment of what was intended to be a seven to nine part short story originally told me that I had created something stronger than I imagined.

I had a few readers making comments that they yelled out loud at the perceived death of a character. That vengeance killing of an antagonist caused them to shout out in a way that they only do for world cup.

Apparently people were emotionally connected to the characters and I had to pull the story from the site and revamp it into a full novel.

Its come a long way since then, but given the feedback of test readers I am confident that its an engaging tale. Now I just have a bit of the cover art to complete and it will be ready to submit for publication.

I think accepting a first draft will need some help and some tweaking is inevitable. But if you like the story that you are telling, then all drafts are worthwhile and can even be enjoyable.

I am always happy in the end with the results I get from the revisions the book went through.

 

[WordWarrior]

Strangely, because I support the idea that it is ok for first drafts to be awful, I don't really write in drafts, it is a much more random and complex process...
I will often perfect a paragraph, for no other reason than 'because I feel like it', and that can be followed by 'add somestuff here, like a quick argument or something'. Then go and write the second to last chapter. Go back, fill in some blanks, then edit the second to last chapter. Then go to the middle and write 20,000 words all in chronological order. There is no complete 'first draft' that I then rewrite into a second draft and so on...

Does anyone else work like this?

AHH yes the chaotic creative mess. I have rewritten my first chapter about 30 times and left big holes that I need to fill somehow because I skipped forward multiple times. I just write what I'm inspired to, and polish bits I might not even keep, just because I like them, and all in all my current project is as messy as a herd of elephants with the runs... I have to steal myself to look at some of my writing, it's so messy. Ick ick ew. But there's hope; readers like what I write and want more, so if I can be brave and work hard I'll knock this into shape...

 

[Nick B]

AHH yes the chaotic creative mess. I have rewritten my first chapter about 30 times and left big holes that I need to fill somehow because I skipped forward multiple times. I just write what I'm inspired to, and polish bits I might not even keep, just because I like them, and all in all my current project is as messy as a herd of elephants with the runs... I have to steal myself to look at some of my writing, it's so messy. Ick ick ew. But there's hope; readers like what I write and want more, so if I can be brave and work hard I'll knock this into shape...

Go with it. I ended up with a novel thats doing alright! +1 for chaos.