Writing a First Draft - Part I
The question I encounter most often from aspiring writers has to do with writing a first draft of a novel. In truth, I'm still trying to figure things out myself and all I have to offer are my experiences with two novels.
Writing MORNINGS IN JENIN was very different than writing THE BLUE BETWEEN SKY AND WATER. The former was my debut novel. There were no expectations (not even from myself) and no real or imagined pressure. I was a biologist by education and profession, and writing a novel after I had been laid off from a job seemed ancillary to my life. Furthermore, I didn't know what I was capable of producing. So, I was happy with everything I wrote in the early stages, even though, in hindsight, the writing was atrocious. I would be very embarrassed to let anyone read those early drafts. I just didn't know it at the time and I was excited to see volume as the pages accumulated. I recall the great satisfaction I felt once upon seeing 80 printed pages of writing. It didn't matter that it was just awful prose or that the characters were stick figures. I didn't know any of that yet. I was just pleased with volume. It was only later, as I got to know the characters and fell in love with them, that I realized how bad the writing had been previously. It was in the endless rewriting that the story took form, gained color, texture, and smell, and moved, that I realized how bad the first draft had been.
I tried to remember the first experience when I began writing the second novel, but I could not duplicate it. I was beset with terrible self doubt and wasn't able to write much at all. I shared these feelings with a friend who has written several novels and he confirmed that the experience of writing that first novel is unique in the life of a writer and cannot be duplicated. His advice was to just stick with it. Stay tuned for Part II, where I will describe how I managed to craft the first draft of the second novel.
Writing MORNINGS IN JENIN was very different than writing THE BLUE BETWEEN SKY AND WATER. The former was my debut novel. There were no expectations (not even from myself) and no real or imagined pressure. I was a biologist by education and profession, and writing a novel after I had been laid off from a job seemed ancillary to my life. Furthermore, I didn't know what I was capable of producing. So, I was happy with everything I wrote in the early stages, even though, in hindsight, the writing was atrocious. I would be very embarrassed to let anyone read those early drafts. I just didn't know it at the time and I was excited to see volume as the pages accumulated. I recall the great satisfaction I felt once upon seeing 80 printed pages of writing. It didn't matter that it was just awful prose or that the characters were stick figures. I didn't know any of that yet. I was just pleased with volume. It was only later, as I got to know the characters and fell in love with them, that I realized how bad the writing had been previously. It was in the endless rewriting that the story took form, gained color, texture, and smell, and moved, that I realized how bad the first draft had been.
I tried to remember the first experience when I began writing the second novel, but I could not duplicate it. I was beset with terrible self doubt and wasn't able to write much at all. I shared these feelings with a friend who has written several novels and he confirmed that the experience of writing that first novel is unique in the life of a writer and cannot be duplicated. His advice was to just stick with it. Stay tuned for Part II, where I will describe how I managed to craft the first draft of the second novel.
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