What kind of drafter are you?

[Tariel]

I know some people who write nearly perfect first drafts, some who outline, and some who just write and cross their fingers. How do you write a draft (especially a rough, first, or early draft)?


I've been working on my novel for five years (though you couldn't tell it my looking at it now). After certain characters decided to make a mess of things, change the plot, and get into a catfight about who the protagonist was, I decided the best thing to do would be to start from scratch. So now, I'm really on my first draft of this thing, and it is a mess. Streams of dialog are bridged by brief summaries of important plot points. Sometimes I hate to admit I even wrote it.



So, what does your rough draft look like?

 

[Christianfantasy]

First I get the idea, and then I take some time to evaluate it and make sure it’s going to be worth the investment. If the answer is yes, then I take a notebook and in longhand make a character list, complete with ages, description and mutual relationships. I next write out a detailed summary of the opener, a brief synopsis of the entire story, and a few notable scenes and quotes. Then, as time permits, I turn to the keyboard and go to work.

 

[sunstruckdream]

What I did with my novel project - which I started two and half years ago and am currently second-drafting - is:

1) Plot Synopsis
2) Character List
3) Chapter by Chapter Outine

But I leave these things open-ended. As I worked on the story, the characters took shape before me, and a lot of my plot shifted a a result. I didn't how how I wanted to end it until I was halfway through.

I wrote the first draft out by hand. (9 notebooks - whew!) I ignored odd syntax and just plowed through, decided that if it was something that became a serious project, all of that was fixable.

Now it's a very serious project

The general idea is this - write it the first time to get your overarching idea. Nitpicking is for later. My novel's still a WIP, but so far it's working.

 

[flying_kiwifruit]

I do Chapter outlines as my plot changes so I only plan a few chapters at a time. Then I just write, and hope it comes out some what coherrent.

 

[NeoScribe]

After I get a vague idea of what a story is gonna be like (which NEVER stays the same by the end) I jot down a character list then wait around for the story to become more coherent, then start writing. And since the story changes as time goes and charcters drop out or come in the first frst draft looks nothing like the new draft. So different I wouldn't even call them the same story.

 

[Doubtless]

I don't really have a set or chosen method of prepping or outlining. For instance, one script I worked on I ploughed through the first draft in 4 days (20 hours of work, then another 5 to transfer it to a script formatting software). Another, however, I plotted out the story beats.

But with novels (which I've ceased writing), I used to come up with the beginning, the end, a basic structure of how things go between them, and then wrote.

One thing I found useful (it only works for scripts or short stories, sorry ) is what I did with the first script I mentioned:

After I had pounded out the first draft, had revised it three times, and finally was finished with the fourth draft, I printed the script out, and cut it up. I took all the lines and bits of action that show the story of the protagonist, and tacked them up in consecutive order on my wall. It looks like a mess, but it really helped me see the arc of the MC, and I could see what worked and what didn't, and I changed things accordingly.

Sorry, that was longer than I intended (I'm an overwriter online, but I have to whip myself to get a screenplay past 60 pages ).

I like outlines though, and then I just focus on one scene/chapter a day, and make it perfect, and don't think about how many hundreds of others I have to do. It really helps with morale.