What Should You Focus On While First Drafting?

Photo credit: Brian Stetson on Flickr

I've frequently talked about how first drafts are meant to be terrible, and how I worry about nothing while first drafting except getting the story down. I've said time and time again that anything messy in the first draft can be fixed with revisions, but you can't edit a blank page, so getting the words down first is the most important thing.

But what's involved in "getting the story down"? What should you focus on getting on the page, rather than saving it for later?

As is the case with many things in writing, this answer is going to vary writer-to-writer. But after completing sixteen first drafts, this is what I've learned to focus on while getting the story down for the first time:

• The plot. Technically I worry about this while plotting, not first drafting, but the first draft is where I take note of whether or not the plot is working as it should be. A lot of times I can't really tell for sure whether the plot is working the way I wanted it to until the first read through and revisions, but while first draft I at least get a sense of the flow and the way one scene leads into another and how they stack up together.


• The characters. The first draft is really where I get to know the characters for the first time. This is where their personalities start to shine, where their interactions with other characters tells me about them, where I get glimpses into who they are and what makes them tick. By the end of the first draft, I don't have a full picture of my full cast of characters, but I usually have a pretty good idea of how the main cast behaves and how they get along (or don't). 


• The story. Ultimately, the first draft is where I follow a lot of gut feelings. It's not uncommon for my plotted scene card to say one thing and the scene itself to turn out another way entirely. Arguments happen where I didn't plan them—and so does kissing—flirting crops up between characters I didn't expect, and sometimes new plot ideas hit me along the way. I pretty near always follow those gut instincts and go wherever the story takes me, regardless of whether or not I'd planned for it before. And sixteen first drafts later, I've yet to regret going with what felt right as I wrote rather than with what I'd originally planned.

So those are the main things I try to keep in mind when putting words on the page for the first time. What do you focus on while first drafting?

Twitter-sized bite:

What do you focus on while first drafting? @Ava_Jae shares some experience and thoughts. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Consistency When First Drafting

By another request, today I'm talking about keeping your voice consistent when first drafting...or not.

RELATED LINKS: 

• On Writing Distinctive POVs
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Voice (blog)

Is your voice consistent when you first draft?

Twitter-sized bites:

Is your voice consistent when you first draft? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)  

Is it important for your voice to be consistent in the first draft? @Ava_Jae vlogs some thoughts. (Click to tweet)

Looking Back at First Drafts

Photo credit: Rsms on Flickr

So I've talked many many times about how first drafts tend to be terrible. I've mentioned the importance of getting the words down even when they're not great, and how you just need to get the story written and you can fix everything later, and, yes, it's okay if your first draft is awful because most first drafts are.

Last month I finished first drafting Into the Black, which was a really encouraging and exciting experience. First drafting that book was odd, because it was the first manuscript I'd ever written knowing with absolute certainty that it would be published. There wasn't any question about getting through submission, or writing it and revising it and possibly putting it away forever, because my publisher had already looked at the proposal and said, yes, we want to publish this.

It was really cool, and a little scary, but also super exciting. And by and large I felt good while first drafting—I mean, it was a first draft, sure, and I knew it'd be nowhere near perfect and was already anticipating revisions when I finished, but I felt decently good about it while writing.

All of that said, however, writing it also felt, in many ways, like any other first draft. I threw down words that, even as I was writing, made me think eh, this could be better. I mentally catalogued things I'd have to change as I layered words on top of words—removing filter phrases, describing a lot more, expanding the world building, etc. I knew there were gaps I had to fill, and even as I wrote "The End" I'd already started mentally cataloging things I'd need to add or fix later.

So before I started my first read through on the draft last week, I braced myself. I knew after those initial chapters that were revised already for the proposal, the quality of the writing would drop. I knew it wasn't going to be as clean and polished as the manuscripts I'd been revising the year before. I reminded myself this is just the first draft; now I need to take note of what to fix.

And I started reading. And the more I read, the more I felt a sense of relief—and wonder. Because that terrible first draft I was expecting? Wasn't so terrible after all.

So I'm actually getting kind of emotional reading my INTO THE BLACK first draft for the first time.
Because I really like it so far.
A lot.

— Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) August 13, 2016

I'm not saying it's a perfect first draft because it's absolutely not (I don't believe perfect first drafts even exist, to be honest). But as I read, I couldn't deny that this first draft—my fifteenth—was undeniably better than my first drafts from a couple years ago. Which in retrospect makes sense—I've certainly learned a ton between now and 2014 or so—but seeing such a marked improvement from older first drafts to this new first draft was really encouraging.

Naturally I still have a lot of work to do. But this first draft may be my best one yet. :)

Have you had a similar experience from draft to draft? 

Twitter-sized bite:

Author @Ava_Jae talks seeing improvements from first draft to first draft. (Click to tweet)