1st draft - how detailed?

[Ms.Write]

I tend to skimp on description on my first draft - just go through the scenes with action, dialogue, etc. I plan to go back and fill out the details in a later draft. Much of this is setting, where there is more research to do.

How about you - are you full and detailed on your first draft or is it just brushwork?

[jbal]

I would ideally like the first draft to be a finished product. This has never ever happened of course, but why not make it as good as possible on the first pass when you're doing most of the work?

[Willowmound]

I write the first draft as though I'm writing the completed novel. The broad brush strokes is how I make the outline.

[vrabinec]

I only blow through parts of the first draft if they are not very clear in my mind just yet or I'm feeling particularly lethargic that day. I'm finding that I'm going to have to go back and carve out the things that are the least interesting. I just figure that, while I'm in the zone and in the scene, might as well write as much about it as I can while it's fresh.

[Tia Nevitt]

I tend to skimp on description on my first draft - just go through the scenes with action, dialogue, etc.

When I wrote my first novel, I did exactly the same thing that you did. I was in such a hurry to get the story down. Now that I am working on another book, I find that I am able to take my time a bit more. Same for the short stories that I have been working on lately.

[AndreaGS]

I tend to skimp a little on the description as well. I'm more concerned with the action and the plot. I'll get to that in the re-haul!

[farfromfearless]

Do the best first draft you can and make it better on re-writes :D

[CaroGirl]

My first draft is, well, the whole thing. If it's less than that, then it's something else, like a detailed outline maybe.

[Judg]

Seeing as this is my first attempt at a novel, and seeing as it is plot development that has psyched me out over all these years and kept me from taking the plunge, my goal in the first draft is to just figure out what happened when to whom and why. That is taking just about everything I've got. Now and again I get in "the zone" and come up with a scene that will require little tinkering afterwards, but most of it right now is blood, sweat and tears for me. So I am consciously not making a great effort to include much description at this point. I've never been a fan of lengthy description anyway; I have to force myself to pay attention when I'm reading it, often with little success. So I'm just going to go back and do little dabs here and there, looking for the telling detail. If it happens to occur to me while writing the first draft, great. But I'm not a good enough juggler yet to keep that many balls in the air at once. Maybe when I'm more experienced, I will answer this kind of question differently.

[KiraOnWhite]

First draft is mostly the scenes I envisioned in my head put down on paper. Grammar and spelling are mostly reserved for the editing, or for my beta to handle.

[IrishScribbler]

I tend to skimp on description on my first draft - just go through the scenes with action, dialogue, etc. I plan to go back and fill out the details in a later draft. Much of this is setting, where there is more research to do.

How about you - are you full and detailed on your first draft or is it just brushwork?

I am (sort of) the same way, depending on what's being described. Often, I can't fully work with a character unless I get the description right. The setting is already in my head, though, so I often go back and add details to that later.

[Sage]

Knowing that description is my weakest point, I try to get in as much as possible in the first draft, but admit that I will probably end up adding much more in the second draft. I hope to end up only adding minor things, like "what details can I provide to paint this picture better?" rather than, "Oh, my god, where is the description?"

[moon&stars]

I hate the feeling of putting stuff in just to pad a scene that feels skeletal. I'd much rather overwrite in the moment of passion, and then pare it down to just the one or two most visceral parts. They are easy to spot, and can usually be lifted verbatim. That's how the mind seems to work...very sloppy, but sometimes very, very good.

[Roger J Carlson]

Everybody works differently. You should do what works for you. As for me, I have 3 drafts that come before my "First Draft". It's odd, I know, but it works for me. Here they are:


Storyboard - Sort of an outline where I tell story in present tense. (He does this. She does that. This other thing happens...)
Rough - This is the first draft that resembles a story. It has action and dialog.
Draft - I back fill the Rough copy with description, smooth dialog, look for places I can "show" rather than "tell", look for passive sentences, superfluous adverbs and prepositions (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11653), etc.


Up to this point, I keep each chapter in a separate document (yes, that's 3 documents for each chapter), but after Draft, I stitch them all together into what I call my First Draft. This is the first time I consider it as a whole novel. At this point I look for things like plot holes, unresolved conflict, unresolved subplots, and so forth. "Story"-type stuff. I give the completed First Draft to my beta reader.

I work in all three versions at once. I'll work a few chapters ahead in Storyboard and then go back and write them in Rough, then clean them up in Draft. If I get too far ahead in Storyboard, sometime the story that in Rough diverges too far and I need to rewrite subsequent Storyboard chapters.

Now, it doesn't always work out this way. Sometimes my writing is going so well, my Rough is actually my Draft. That's okay. I don't HAVE to go through all 3 stages. But I find that if I don't break it into separate functions, I tend to just sit and look at the screen, rather than writing.

As I said, this isn't for everyone, but I'm a computer programmer in real life, and it helps me to break things into separate functions. I also find that the longer I do it, my Rough drafts become more like my Draft drafts and my Drafts are more like First Drafts. So perhaps someday, I may be able to abandon this process.

I've written two novels this way, and it works for me. Do whatever works for you.

[Raphee]

I am on my first novel. I finished the story first without consideration to character development, dialogs etc.
In my first edit I am trying to spot out all the weakzones and tie them togather.

If I ever finish this and get to my second I'll probably experiment with having my first draft more complete and better written.

[alaskamatt17]

Depends on what I'm writing. Sometimes I want to make the voice really descriptive so I do that in the first draft. Other times, I notice I have whole pages of just dialogue ... not so good, so I fix it.

[Linda Adams]

I try to get it reasonably right the first time, and I especially try not to skimp on anything. Nearly everything I put in simply because I thought of it ended up being used for something.

[Gabriel]

I just try to write as fast as I can and outrun the doubt. I go over any problems in the second draft. Or plant a bomb in the middle of the story and rewrite it from the wreckage with a dazed grin on my face. The creation will always be painfully beautiful and the editing will always be beautifully painful.

[Azure Skye]

Now that I'm getting a little more practice at this writing thing, I try to make the first draft as solid as my limited experience and knowledge will allow me. Description isn't my strong point either but last night as I started writing my new WIP I noticed something strange going on. I don't know if it was a fluke or if I'm just growing, hopefully the latter. We'll see today when I push out another thousand words.

[ChaosTitan]

I write my first draft as though it was the only draft I'd get to write.

[Gillhoughly]

"It is perfectly okay to write garbage - as long as you edit brilliantly." -- C.J. Cherryh

[The Lady]

Ms. Write. I tend to do the same as you except I do it unconsciously.

When I go back normally realise I've written very skimpily. Doesn't matter. I love filling in. I find it in many ways the most delicious part of writing. It's like icing the cake. Also because I don't outline (I prefer to grasp at straws) I'm never too sure about anything until much later. Then I have to go back and change anyway. Still i like the results I'm getting from my craziness.

I must add, the first time I read Stephen King's advice about the final draft being the first draft less ten percent, I went into meltdown. My ambition now is to become as famous as Stephen King so I can write my own, How To, book and terrify over writers by telling them final draft is first draft multiplied by two (or two and a half, if I'm feeling specially mean)

And now I have managed to bring Stephen King into this writiing discussion so all is well.

[Jamesaritchie]

I write everything as well as I can possibly write, first draft or not.

[virtue_summer]

I just try to write as fast as I can and outrun the doubt. I go over any problems in the second draft. Or plant a bomb in the middle of the story and rewrite it from the wreckage with a dazed grin on my face. The creation will always be painfully beautiful and the editing will always be beautifully painful.

I'm writing my current novel like this. The goal is to figure out who the characters are and how the general story plays out. At this point I do find myself skimping on the level of description in all but the most essential places. I also pay little attention to the actual wording, knowing that I can and will clean it up later. If I tried to do it any other way, the voices in my head would become too loud and I'd barely get anything written.

[Siddow]

Description is my strong point. So sadly, my first drafts are weak on plot. I do try my best, though, and the holes are easier to see once it's finished. Ya know, if you can get through the three-page description of the curtains. ;)

[Warp]

For me, it depends on the story. My last MS was very simple, and I changed very little in my revisions and edits. But the first book of the fantasy trilogy I'm working on was much different. The first draft was very sparse, and I ended up doing a lot of world building and adding more description later on. But it all worked out well.

I guess my problem is overdoing unneeded description and lacking needed description in an effort to be subtle. I'm learning to temper that ^_^

[BuffStuff]

My 1st drafts are generally sparse in terms of the actual writing. Attempting to get the structure right at that point is-for me-far more important than writing deathless prose. To make an inadequate, unoriginal, analogy, I liken writing a story to constructing a building. The beams and the girders are the story structure. The prose used to tell the story is the wallpaper and the wall-to-wall carpeting. I can't worry about the wallpaper on the 9th floor if the structural integrity of the building itself is weak. The language used is always and forever secondary..I'd make a bad poet.

Also, my 1st drafts tend to be very ham-handed in terms of character motivation, delivery. And they include a hell of a lot of 'telling' too. Why? Because, in trying to figure out the optimal structure for the story, I NEED to be extremely direct and blunt just to get things set straight in my own head. It's better for me to simply write 'Character A is MAD' in the 1st Draft than have to worry about how I'm going to subtley deliver his emotional experience to the reader at the same time. Sometimes you need to be blunt, just so you have a solid grasp on WHAT is it you want to deliver without having to worry about HOW you're going to deliver it.

For me, the HOW is for the subsequent drafts. It's like in constructing a building, there is a ton of support equipment that is used during initial construction which will later be taken away once the frame is completely set up. For this reason, I completely disagree with Maugham when he said that it is 'impossible to add subtlety' to a Work. The subtlety of delivery in expressing character feelings, motivations etc has to do with the 'How' stage of development and it most certainly CAN 'be added in'. 1st Drafts are, for me, a way of figuring out what I want to tell and the order I want to tell it in. Subsequent drafts are concerned with How I want to tell it, if this makes sense. Just my thoughts.

-BS

[kdnxdr]

I'm writing my first book and I'm just writing. I don't know enough about writing to think about anything else, thank God.

Regardless how it turns out, I'm amazed to see words on paper. When it's "finished", I'll think about the next step in the process. I'm a hands-on learner, so this works for me.

[Sandra Gail]

My first draft (or maybe it's a predraft) is where I don't worry about organization or flow. I write a maze of details and moments, often obsessing on varied, similar versons of just one scene. Then I trim and organize. After the later drafts, when I'm under the delusion that it's close to done, I go back to those first yellow pads (yes, yellow pads) and rediscover some of the original, raw imagery and use it to freshen a scene.

[Ms.Write]

BuffStuff, what you said makes A LOT of sense to me! My first draft is also getting down the action and dialogue, the 2nd draft will be the HOW. It allows me to write faster, whereas in second draft, I will slow down and absorb the mood and setting to a much greater degree.

There is no right or wrong, we have to do what works for us.

[MyFirstMystery]

For me your question gets at one of the most joyful things about writing - we can each take our own path and it is as unique as we are. Accepting that there are no "best practices" or "right methods" has freed me up to finish my fiirst novel which I just did a few months back. As I begin on my second novel, I do find that I am altering my approach as I learn more about myself, (note: I didn't say learn the ultimate best way we should all do it) and that feels natural too.

I did write my first draft with the intent it would be complete, however my description and characterization is definitely spotty. I'm working to beef that up in the second draft, and in my second novel I'm finding that the things I missed in my first novel tend to be more in the forefront of my mind this time.

I love hearing about how other writers write. But I also keep in mind that we each get to experiment and pick our own right way.

MFM

[ErylRavenwell]

Editing eats most of the time. My first draft is usually pretty crap and looks nothing like the finished project.