Process2-first drafts

First drafts are messy. There's no way around that. They're infuriatingly messy. You can't THINK too much when you're in front of the computer screen or you will freeze up but you do think about the manuscript at other times. Compulsively, you wonder about this detail or choice or character. Especially the choices—these you wonder about a lot. You get lost. Your story zigs. It zags. It leads you through a wood so thick you have to hack your way out.

You will think, of course, but when you si...