My first draft isn't assembled in linear fashion, usually. The first things I write are the scenes (or even the individual lines) that come through most vividly, often including the last few paragraphs of the story. Then I take a crack at the beginning. I keep writing in this haphazard fashion until I've already written everything fun, then I slog through the transitions (which I hate) and the "from point A to point B" bits.
What I have at the end of this is a first draft, but a wildly uneven one in terms of tone and attack. So I do a smooth-through, trying to even it out and make it uniform. That's the official "first draft."
Then I put it in a drawer for six weeks. (Yes, I'm taking Stephen King's advice. Why not?)
Then I go through it again, looking for glaring errors and trying to find the unifying themes or metaphors, and I add, subtract or revise to satisfy those themes or metaphors.
This is the draft I show to people. It's always officially "version 2.0".
I'll show 2.0 to 4-8 readers, asking them to tell me "This part works, that part doesn't, here's why." I look for common threads across different readers, especially of the "That part doesn't work" variety. I also look for comments that strike the "Dang, I knew that was going to happen" chord.
Version 3.0 is based on those comments. This is either the most fun part or the scariest part of the writing, depending on my mood.
Version 4.0 is a smoothing out of 3.0. I might show it to a few more people, or I might just send it out.
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Date: 2008-11-19 11:54 pm (UTC)What I have at the end of this is a first draft, but a wildly uneven one in terms of tone and attack. So I do a smooth-through, trying to even it out and make it uniform. That's the official "first draft."
Then I put it in a drawer for six weeks. (Yes, I'm taking Stephen King's advice. Why not?)
Then I go through it again, looking for glaring errors and trying to find the unifying themes or metaphors, and I add, subtract or revise to satisfy those themes or metaphors.
This is the draft I show to people. It's always officially "version 2.0".
I'll show 2.0 to 4-8 readers, asking them to tell me "This part works, that part doesn't, here's why." I look for common threads across different readers, especially of the "That part doesn't work" variety. I also look for comments that strike the "Dang, I knew that was going to happen" chord.
Version 3.0 is based on those comments. This is either the most fun part or the scariest part of the writing, depending on my mood.
Version 4.0 is a smoothing out of 3.0. I might show it to a few more people, or I might just send it out.