The first draft of my Shadow Unit story is done. Which means I cannot celebrate yet, but I can sleep the sleep of one who has worked hard and honestly, if not well.
Forgive this analogy from a vegetarian, but I did go deep-sea fishing in my teens and caught a huge fish, so: The first draft is like getting the fish to the boat. Getting it onboard calls for as much strength and even more skill. Still, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s second draft.
Huzzah! I can’t wait to read it. :)
I do find it curious that you work on a draft model. I’ve always found more success in the “micro-edit” model; but, then, I’ve never written anything longer than twenty thousand words, and currently I have a horrific case of writer’s paralysis, so maybe I /should/ try a different way of doing things. ;)
YAYAYAY!
Chris, What do you mean by “micro-edit”? I hear the term as being like line-editing. I don’t think any two writers work exactly the same way, and I’m not even sure any one writer works the same way over the course of many stories. I’m constantly tweaking my approach, and when we teach, we go for the grab-bag approach: these are things that work for many people, take what seems useful.
Groovy. Can’t wait to read it. Was this what you were working on with the jazz approach?
Jeff, yep. Though I don’t think anyone reading it will see that.
Congrats, Will! Can’t wait to read it (though, obviously, I’ll have to).
Oh, shoot, and I was going to ask: Chris, what is the “micro-edit” model and how does it differ from the “draft” model? I have some ideas, but don’t want to jump the gun.
Just as Will describes it, I suspect - going back through the first draft and making changes directly to it, rather than rewriting based on the first draft. (Then again, I come from an academic background, where professors routinely expect the “write a second draft based on the first draft” model, so I may be overly sensitive to it.) I’m not sure who said it, but I recall someone theorizing that the multiple-draft technique is a relic of writing by hand or on typewriters, where going back and making changes to the text was difficult at best.
Anyway, I’m just curious.
Chris, got it. When I say “draft,” I’m using something pretty arbitrary, more like “pass.” (And now I’ll think about changing my terms.) My approach is much like what you describe. The challenge is getting that first draft done so you’ve got something to improve: too many people fiddle forever with the beginning and never get to the end.
Thanks, Chris! That’s what I suspected, and it’s the method I use as well, though I’ve hung onto the archaic “draft” terminology (I use it, wrongly if one is technical about it, as I tend to save versions of variously edited prior copies after significant editing and refer to those as “drafts”).