Karen GoatKeeper's Blog - Posts Tagged "drafts"
Draft Excitement
Capri Capers is a complete draft. That doesn't mean it's ready for viewing only that it has a complete story in it.
A complete draft is special. Bringing it to life as a novel is exciting in many ways. The main character Harriet is becoming a good friend. Arthur is so shy around Harriet. The villains are more difficult but even they are coming to be people instead of stereotype villains.
Satisfying as doing this rewrite is, it doesn't have the excitement of creating a new draft. Rewriting a draft has constraints. The ending is known. Much of the plot line and story arc is known.
A new draft is just that: new. There are some ideas to form the story and plot lines but they are loose, easily altered. The main characters are still shadowy people waiting for a spotlight to reveal them.
November is time for to create a new draft. The idea has been percolating for a year and more. Anticipation is building. There are a few bits of research to wrap up and a week to get it done.
Until then Capri Capers will plod along.
A complete draft is special. Bringing it to life as a novel is exciting in many ways. The main character Harriet is becoming a good friend. Arthur is so shy around Harriet. The villains are more difficult but even they are coming to be people instead of stereotype villains.
Satisfying as doing this rewrite is, it doesn't have the excitement of creating a new draft. Rewriting a draft has constraints. The ending is known. Much of the plot line and story arc is known.
A new draft is just that: new. There are some ideas to form the story and plot lines but they are loose, easily altered. The main characters are still shadowy people waiting for a spotlight to reveal them.
November is time for to create a new draft. The idea has been percolating for a year and more. Anticipation is building. There are a few bits of research to wrap up and a week to get it done.
Until then Capri Capers will plod along.
Plotter's Nightmare
Supposedly I am rewriting a draft I started a year ago and stopped when the plot hit a brick wall. Much of that draft is interesting. The main plot line is good. The brick wall now has a door in it.
The nightmare?
I like to write a draft freely with only a list of bullet point plot points. The plotter outline is swirling in the brain flowing through currents, eddies and backwaters carrying my draft along.
This time the bullet points are pages of writing. Events, people, dialog form dams blocking my new draft leaving me treading water. Even though the new draft begins months earlier with new events setting the action up and blowing it into being, my mind trips over those pages of words.
I am a plotter at heart. Those pages are security. Somehow they must work into the new draft.
My first draft is a pantser paradise. This one has soured worse than curdled milk. I need to find the paradise part again, unspoiled.
The solution?
Somehow I must close all those pages. The outline must return to bullet points. Then a good night's sleep may open up my pantser draft paradise again and the new draft will make the fingers fly once more.
The nightmare?
I like to write a draft freely with only a list of bullet point plot points. The plotter outline is swirling in the brain flowing through currents, eddies and backwaters carrying my draft along.
This time the bullet points are pages of writing. Events, people, dialog form dams blocking my new draft leaving me treading water. Even though the new draft begins months earlier with new events setting the action up and blowing it into being, my mind trips over those pages of words.
I am a plotter at heart. Those pages are security. Somehow they must work into the new draft.
My first draft is a pantser paradise. This one has soured worse than curdled milk. I need to find the paradise part again, unspoiled.
The solution?
Somehow I must close all those pages. The outline must return to bullet points. Then a good night's sleep may open up my pantser draft paradise again and the new draft will make the fingers fly once more.
When a Draft Stinks
July is a difficult month for me as a writer. The garden needs work. The hay needs hauling and stacking. Kids are being sold.
Perhaps it was a mistake to sign up for CampNaNo even for a measly 20,000 words. Except I needed that challenge to sit down and get started on the new draft of my third Hazel Whitmore book.
For three weeks I have struggled to get the draft started. There isn't really time to do rewrites but I did them anyway. After three rewrites, the first page still doesn't work.
The first two chapters are mired in mud, deep sticky mud.
The entire project is anchored to a millstone of previous work.
Only the challenge kept me struggling onward.
Then Amaya Hypocrite arrived on the scene. The skulduggery has begun. The chains are loosening.
The question now comes up: Can the fingers type fast enough to do another 9,000 words in three days?
The best part is finding the draft finally taking shape on its own. Maybe I will get it written this summer after all.
Perhaps it was a mistake to sign up for CampNaNo even for a measly 20,000 words. Except I needed that challenge to sit down and get started on the new draft of my third Hazel Whitmore book.
For three weeks I have struggled to get the draft started. There isn't really time to do rewrites but I did them anyway. After three rewrites, the first page still doesn't work.
The first two chapters are mired in mud, deep sticky mud.
The entire project is anchored to a millstone of previous work.
Only the challenge kept me struggling onward.
Then Amaya Hypocrite arrived on the scene. The skulduggery has begun. The chains are loosening.
The question now comes up: Can the fingers type fast enough to do another 9,000 words in three days?
The best part is finding the draft finally taking shape on its own. Maybe I will get it written this summer after all.
