{"id":7565,"date":"2019-01-21T08:49:24","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T14:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=7565"},"modified":"2019-01-21T08:49:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T14:49:26","slug":"first-drafts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2019\/01\/21\/first-drafts\/","title":{"rendered":"First Drafts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Pile<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m not one to make many sweeping proclamations. Anything I write about here always comes with a sense of, “This is just what works for me, and if it helps others: great!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like any kind of advice, writing advice can be a hit for some and a miss for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I see touted as a universal truth right up there with, “You must read to be a writer!” (which I subscribe to), is “All first drafts suck!” (Which I do not subscribe to.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s a Lot of Words<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Writers can argue about what constitutes a novel instead of a novella, but even if we all agree anything over 50,000 words is a novel, that’s a hefty bit of writing. And, obviously, some sections of those first 50,000 words will need to be tightened — if not completely changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are writers who don’t believe the first draft must be a race to a word count. And I believe some of the writers who say that, while they definitely polish things, the first draft that goes down is largely the completed draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My latest novel, A Magic Life<\/em>, is one such book. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have over 100 notes in Word saying, “Make better!”<\/em> but the structure and actions remained unchanged. I polished dialogue and smoothed over what I was getting at in places, but the first draft of A Magic Life<\/em> hardly sucked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Matter of Pace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps those things that go down well the first time around are subject to pace. For me, I like giving things time to be worked around many ways in my head before committing to writing. (At least with novels — short stories<\/a> can be another thing entirely for me.) For others, they put down words in a mad frenzy and then take it all apart and rebuild (often, multiple times). I’m not so bold to say my next book will go down as smoothly as my latest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Next Book<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There’s at least<\/em> one more book in the life of the protagonist in A Magic Life<\/em>. And it’s possible, especially if I don’t take as much time writing the second book, that some things will be changed around — that the first draft will “suck.” (I don’t deal in many absolutes, especially where writing is concerned.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it’s also possible that it will go down smoothly. (With discipline, confidence, and proficiency, writing does<\/em> get easier in many ways.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the Magic Works…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a kid, one of my favorite moves was Little Big Man<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of the final scenes, Chief Dan George’s character, Old Lodge Skins, declares, “It is a good day to die,” and ascends a hill in preparation for his end. Instead of dying, though, rain comes and he finds himself alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He tells Dustin Hoffman’s character, Jack Crabb (Little Big Man), “Well, sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing can be like that, with some works going down as if by magic, and others…not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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