Fast first draft writers - puzzle or ordered?

I wrote my most recent first draft in a month and a half (100,000 words). It was mostly in order, with a few bits left out and most of the flashbacks thrown in wherever. Sometimes I would write a scene from the end way before I reached it, but by the time I caught up to those scenes, the story was too different to keep them.

I did almost no pre-plotting, but I'm also rewriting massive chunks of it from scratch in my second draft. My first draft ended up being a basic outline on its own. Characters and events developed as I wrote, and I just kept writing as if they'd always been there, then went back and fixed things after the draft was done.

No one will ever read my first draft, if I have anything to say about it. It is an unholy abomination of cliche, purple prose, clunky dialogue, and massive plot holes. The rewrite is moving very slowly. But that's how I work. Bang out a shitty first draft, fix it in post.

Why do you wonder, AlienGirl? Do you write your first drafts quickly? Interesting questions, btw.


This is a question to all of you who can finish a first draft in a short period of time. Do you write out of order like a puzzle, some pieces first and then fill the blanks? Or do you write from start to finish? Or maybe end, start, then middle? Of the four, three were linear: start to finish. My first was middle, end, beginning.

Also, how much preplotting do you do? Do you have a complete list of scenes and side characters etc... Or do you take the basic idea and see what happens as you go? No preplotting. I dreamed one. Another hit me like a ton of bricks when I was driving. I woke up one morning knowing one. Weird. . .

Also, do you write sparsely, adding stuff in the second draft, or do you tend to be too wordy? Not sparse, but I have added entire chapters in the. . .not second draft, maybe fourth? Fifth? They are works of art, requiring much tender loving care. I dilengently add fertilizer, carefully prune; but sometimes, I forget myself and hack and slash my little darlings. . .


I'm being facetious. Sort of.

AlienGirl said:

This is a question to all of you who can finish a first draft in a short period of time. Do you write out of order like a puzzle, some pieces first and then fill the blanks? Or do you write from start to finish? Or maybe end, start, then middle?

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Completely out of sequence.

Also, how much preplotting do you do? Do you have a complete list of scenes and side characters etc... Or do you take the basic idea and see what happens as you go?

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Depends on the story. I always have a basic outline (sometimes more detailed if it's a thriller or something), but it changes constantly as I'm writing. I mostly need the basic sequence of events so that, when I'm writing out of sequence, I have a general idea of where the scene I'm working on happens in the story (i.e., before the bank robbery but after the bakery scene).

Also, do you write sparsely, adding stuff in the second draft, or do you tend to be too wordy?

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I don't usually write a second draft. When I edit the manuscript, I usually wind up adding a few thousand words. Typically I'll add about 3,000 to an 85,000 word manuscript, sometimes more, sometimes less.

I have written upwards of 80,000 in the past 2 months and did it almost entirely in order. I've tried writing out of order before and found that, when I did it that way, I would just write my favorite scenes and find it hard to go back and fill in. Plus, when you write in order, you may notice that you are changing your plot slightly (or significantly) to fit your characters as you get to know them. If that's the case, it would be difficult to write out of order and go back... though it can be done.

For me, my best advice is to plow through. If there's a scene you really want to write that's later in the book, it's okay to jot down an outline... but for the most part, try to just keep going!

To those of you who can write in puzzle form, though... I salute you!

Start to finish. Only very rarely do I write out of order. I don't outline, preplan scenes or create characters beyond whoever's the protag. It's a mystery ride.....

I think my writing tends towards too spare rather than too wordy, at least when it comes to physical description.

Please don't focus on speed. I'm still paying for it.


I write out scenes, which I can move. But I write from beginning to end.
Why? Because it forces me through the dark spots that I don't want to write and it all keeps me on a constant track

Some writers have everything figured out before they write. I'm not one of those writers. The majority of my story comes out as a write, so I wait for the second draft to write out characters motivations/plans and everything surfaces by then.

For what it's worth, those scenes that are difficult to write are one of the reasons I started writing out of sequence, and it's helped tremendously.

This situation has played out more times than I can count, sometimes more than once in a single WIP: I've stalled on a scene, but can't figure out why. I put it aside and start working on another scene. Eventually, I return to the previous scene, and it flows without issue, usually because writing the other scene has clued me in to some previously unknown detail about a character or the plot.

If the troublesome scene turns out to be a pain in the ass no matter what, and it's still essential to the story (sometimes they are), then it usually winds up being the very last scene I write. Quite frankly? I can suck it up and face down a difficult scene when I know it's the only thing standing between me and a finished manuscript. "THE END" is a serious motivator.

Another reason I write out of sequence is I invariably end up with a few scenes that just demand to be written RIGHT NOW. They're ridiculously distracting. I find it much better for my sanity -- and for my story! -- if I write the distracting scenes first. Then I can go work on the other ones in peace.

Writing out of sequence is definitely not for everyone, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I would certainly encourage a writer who's curious about it to give it a try.

I've averaged about 12,000 words per week on my last three books. I write in order with very little pre-plotting and no outline.

I rarely add or remove much when I go through it the second time. I edit as I go, so that first draft is very close to the final product. I might add some description, make some clarifications, and of course, correct any errors I find. But I don't end up scrapping or adding whole chapters or plot points.

Out of order. Outlined. Some scenes sparse, some more detaied. Depends on my goal for the scene. Action-driven scenes more sparse, add detail later. Emotion-driven scenes are more wordy.

I usually do a quick pen-and-paper list of stuff that I want to happen, and then I weave those events into the story as I write. It's a really stark outline of visions for the piece, and that's it. And I tell myself that if the story "wants to do one thing," I shouldn't make it do something else just because of a dumb old outline.

AlienGirl said:

This is a question to all of you who can finish a first draft in a short period of time. Do you write out of order like a puzzle, some pieces first and then fill the blanks?

Click to expand...

Nope! Always chronologically, start to finish.

Also, how much preplotting do you do? Do you have a complete list of scenes and side characters etc... Or do you take the basic idea and see what happens as you go?

Click to expand...

Take the basic idea and see what happens as you go - that's 90% of the fun and mystery of writing to begin with.

Also, do you write sparsely, adding stuff in the second draft, or do you tend to be too wordy?

Click to expand...

I tend to be sparse. Most of my 'fast works' end up at 55k. I pad it out/take scenes out as per beta/agent advice.

I write in order, though I do summarize some scenes in the first draft.

Start to finish nearly always. The puzzle part comes at the outlining stage for me, where I've got a jumble of scenes and events and gradually get them into what seems to be the right order.