How much do you know when you're writing your first draft?

Normal?

Yes, of course it is!

And you will have the same questions and feelings after the fifth or sixth rewrite and line check!

In my case, I knew 95 percent of what was going to happen before I started the first draft of book one of my series, because I had been planning the series in my head for 25 years. But by no means does it have to be that way. Everybody's different. The quality of the final product, after revisions, is all that matters.

Maybe writing a synopsis, heavy on cause and effect, would help you explain the story to yourself.

deathwizard said:

In my case, I knew 95 percent of what was going to happen before I started the first draft of book one of my series, because I had been planning the series in my head for 25 years. But by no means does it have to be that way. Everybody's different. The quality of the final product, after revisions, is all that matters.

Click to expand...

I agree that it's the final product, after all the revisons that count. I too know what's going to happen with about 90% of the story before I start writing. Of course I may add to characters or story lines, but I know where I want to go with it. Everyone is different and what works for one person might not work for the other. If you find something missing, fix it in an edit. Good luck.

My situation is like deathwizards. I'm a Junior in highschool, and my series has been forming in my head since 4th grade. I've known for a while now what the basic plot and outline of the first story would be, but as I write, certain surprises pop up that I never imagined would happen.

I often have parts of the story playing out in my head at the darnest time( out walking, showering, sleeping...) I by no means have a firm understanding of where I'm going in any given scene. Scenes come to me and they change at will. I recently discovered that the good guy I developed in my outline was really the bad guy and the bad guy was really the good one... Right now I have a good idea of how it will all end(yeah right) and I'm only 1/4 of the way there.

I usually have a story pretty planned out before I write it (the planning often takes longer than the writing) so I'm probably at around 75-80% set when I write the first draft. Plus these are characters I've been writing for 10 years now (including development) so I know them well.

Hasn't always been like this though as I wrote my first novel as a weekly serial for the sci fi channel and much of that was learning and planning as I wrote.

So nope, not that unusual.

lfraser said:

I'm getting close to starting the final quarter of my WIP, and I'm finding that I still have many, many questions about my characters and plot. Is this normal for a first draft, or am I just out to lunch?

Click to expand...

Entirely normal for me. I'm thrilled if I figure out what the final scene is going to be a chapter ahead.

Okay, ten pages ahead.

No, I'm not kidding.

I too write without knowing what's beyond the current scene or maybe beyond the next scene. Discovering the story as my characters do is fun for me. I'm not a plotter or outliner by any means.

lfraser said:

I guess I'm just worried that I'll finish the novel and only then realize that there's a logic hole so big that the whole story will unravel.

Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean. Try not to let your inner critic give you self doubt. Worry about getting to the end; in my second novel, I hit what I thought was the last 1/4 and it was really the last 1/3. When you finish writing it, put it aside for a while so you can get some distance from it to be able to see those things. Some people start draft two right away, but I can't. I need a few weeks, optimally at least a month, before I gain that objectivity. I go start something else first. Good luck!

Ohhhh yeah, that's normal. In fact, I have about 15K left for my ms and I'm slapping myself in the forehead, knowing that I have a lot of information I need to put in there, and probably MUCH more to cut out. I had my story planned out in my head (and some on paper), but I found as I went along, there was a lot of characterization and scenes missing that make the story move forward.

I've learned my lesson. I keep detailed notes when I come across plot points that I want to keep track of or resolve at a later time. I have an outline which is a rough guide and I follow it loosely, letting the characters and the story evolve as it comes. I have the story completed in my head, but it is the notes that are my saving grace right now. It might seem tedious when you're in the throes of writing, but believe me, you'll take yourself later for taking the time.

I always learn something new as I write.
If you're talking about how the story starts and how it ends. I kinda knew that after a few months of thinking about it.
The middle part is the most difficult for me.

I finished the first draft of my WIP and in doing so realized how much back story I need to fill into the work but also lay down for later drafts in the series. I've since been writing a separate reference book with history, culture, etc that is going on 50 pages in of itself. Maybe it wont all get used to its certainly helped me cover all my bases.

I'm working on this new ms today. I'm supposed to get it from 7K to 10K. I have flat-out no idea what's going to happen.

Yay first drafts...

Shady Lane said:

I'm working on this new ms today. I'm supposed to get it from 7K to 10K. I have flat-out no idea what's going to happen.

Click to expand...

Yeah, my twenty year old brain could do that. Now, my "older" brain worries I'm forgetting or missing too much with that approach!

My preferred method of writing is to know as much as possible up front. Not having to worry about the beginning, middle and end, leaves me free to come up with things way outside the box (or the outline). I also like to re-read at least the previous 10-20 pages, sometimes the whole thing, before I start each day's work, and to fill in those pages with new thoughts and sentences as they come up. This works well when you have all day to write, as I've had a few wonderful times in my life, rather than a spare hour or two. Then, by the time I'm done with the first draft, I'm actually done with the first five drafts.
That being said, in my latest WIP, an unforeseen character appeared in the first chapter who is now a major part of the plot.

johnzakour said:

Yeah, my twenty year old brain could do that. Now, my "older" brain worries I'm forgetting or missing too much with that approach!

Click to expand...

Oh, I definitely still worry...I'm worried right now. But I gotta trust that I'll recognize the opportunities for plot when they peek through the dribble...

i'm not an outliner, but i take tons of notes. at some point those get written as scenes as interest allows and them put into some kind of order. so, i'll have lots of connecting the dots to do. the one thing i don't do, however, is not know what the ending is. in fact, i'll usually do the ending pretty early on. and i work retro-fitting everything to match the ending.

i've said it before many times, if you know your ending, you should be able to deduce your beginning. everything between those two points is justifying how that change occured. i think that's true even in *good* plot-driven stories.

i learned early on that i didn't care for outlining too much, BUT meandering aimlessly wasn't getting it. in other words, i really didn't want to continue asking the same questions you asked, so i found a way i could live with that alleviates those questions if not obliterating them outright. the solution to my problem was working backwards and skipping around in a lot of respects (this is particularly true for me as when i skip around, then i know what characters need to be in the beginning), not sure what your ultimate solution is. i have to say i 'wing it,' though i have my gameplan set.

of course, in the course of justifying the end with its beginning, i do like to go off on tangents. that's the fun part for me because it's challenging, and that's usually the ACT II stuff. i'm not sure how true this is, but off the top of my head i'd say people who don't actually enjoy writing the middle stuff lacks the kind of focus that knowing what your ending will be provides. and not just a kinda/sorta ending-like-esque type of wishy-washy maybe/maybe not roundabout thing, rather something you entirely expect to end the story with barring your muse doing a jig on the creative impulse centre of your brain at the eleventh hour.

bear in mind that it's not too late to outline the last quarter of your story. that possibly might help. it sounds to me like you don't have a clearly defined direction and goal. is it common for a first draft? i'll put it to you this way ~ probably not for professionals. i'd venture to say most pros get tired of stumbling around in the dark hoping to trip across their answers, even the ones who claim to 'wing it.' a professional knows how precious their time is and will want to work as effectively as possible. that's what makes them professional and not a hobby writer who gets lucky every now and then. i doubt there are an abundance of professional novelists out there who make their living writing with the attitude 'oh, i'll fix it in the fourth or fifth draft.'

that's probably why i don't like the 'just write it' advice for anyone other than rank amateurs. i will *always* aver that you should write it as well as you possibly can the first time just like i'll always say don't start your research 75K words into it.

you hear of some writers who won't put out anything less than eight drafts or something ridiculous, and it always makes me wonder why the hell they need that many. i mean, what could possibly be that different between draft four and five? but six and seven?! unless you call running it through spell check three times three drafts, i simply can't fanthom the need for it.

muddle through this one the best you can. but for the next project, i'd suggest taking up what i consider a professional stance and know where you're going before you get there lest you get lost in the process. it's probably happened to everyone, and to some extent probably professionals, just that without a plan of attack (which you're experiencing right now and how fun is that?) your chances of missing your mark are a lot higher, eh?

then again, i believe the term 'wing it' is misleading. i'd have to say, given the choice of 'outline' or 'wing it' that i fall in the latter category, but it's a lie. i take notes. i jot down scenes and ideas. i fall asleep thinking about the story. i think about it at work. if i didn't have a stand up job i'd probably fall asleep at work thinking about it. hardly pulling ideas out of thin air. once there's some clear definition, i know the ending. i know the ending, i know the beginning. everything between is just fun/interesting/cool/actiony/dramatic shit to get from point A to B. i do it this way to prevent myself from writing twenty thousand words more than i have to, then re-tooling major sections after 'the end' to make it fit.

were i ever to send in something for publication, i'd expect the editor to expect me to show some professionalism, and i hardly consider 'winging it' in the true sense of the term desirable for anyone. i certainly wouldn't want to be in the practice of 'winging it' if ever there were deadlines to meet and here i am without a clue as how to manage my time for a damn, know what i mean? in any other professional you'd be fired and rightfully so.

'well, not everyone does it that way, preyer!' true. some people write just to get the ideas out. and waste a shitload of time in the process, imo. that is, if this is your approach, just write a damn outline and save yourself a draft. that's assuming that this whole writing thing isn't completely alien to you, of course.

lfraser said:

I'm getting close to starting the final quarter of my WIP, and I'm finding that I still have many, many questions about my characters and plot. Is this normal for a first draft, or am I just out to lunch?

Click to expand...

There are those who map and plan and plot and have their walls filled with story boards, nothing about their story is a surprise, they know exactly when each character is going to breathe.

Then there's the "by the seat of the pants" type, like me, who have no idea what the story will be about when I start it and have no idea how it will end until I've typed, "The End."

There's no right way or wrong way to write as long as you write and get the story finished.

see, i'd argue that there are definitely better methods of telling an effective story. what works for me might not work for you, but i just can't advocate meandering aimlessly and expecting anything less than being in the OP's situation more often than not. and then to assume that *anything* is a professional approach probably will hurt you in the long run once it becomes habit.

i can't say 'do it my way.' i can say that my way is effective for me. just writing without a second thought as to the story goals and it's either going to be way too short or way too long, but either way it's going to be a mess that i'll spend twice as long trying to fix than if i took the 'right' way to begin with.

i'm sorry, but effective storytelling requires thought, and usually some amount of planning. 'just write' probably isn't a good idea for the majority of writers who plan on making this a living. that's a dream along the lines of 'i don't need to edit.' i'm a complete hack, 100%, and *still* i need to have an idea, else it'll be a mindless set of contrivances and random encounters and, in my case, will sound like a fictionalized D&D module. tossing in a hundred cool ass ideas does not a story make: without cohesion to bond it all together all you've got is a collection of cool ideas. writing totally on the fly doesn't tend to hold things together, especially if you have more complicated aspects as telegraphing and mirror characters supporting a theme, whatever.

i still say play it as loose as possible, but have your goals at the same time. writing 'the end' is not a goal, it's the result of meeting your goals.

Ah but sometimes the problem someone has is that they think and plan too much. They get themselves all tied up in their own logic and in the end can't write a word. I really do think it depends on the individual. This last book I wrote had a much more solid outline than any I had ever written. Towards the end of writing it, I was so lost, so confused and so blocked, that I had to take a step back. I said, "Toothpaste, why not just do what you used to do, just write, see what happens. It's always worked for you in the past." So I did. And it did work.

For me things just seem to work out when I write them, despite not having a plan. It oughtn't be predictable, it oughtn't be a technique. But it is. It is something I have come to rely on. It's how my brain works, somewhere in there it is taking stock of everything and planning for a grand finale even if I am not.

I think there have been a lot of good suggestions in this thread. It's all about trying things out and figuring out what works best for you.