First Drafts

[Ann]

I wrote a freakish amount on Monday. Today I'm writing in description to this first draft. I was wondering is description something you add in later or do you write it all in at once? Or while starting the first draft of a project, do you leave out dialogue? Or is your writing more dialogue driven?

[Brian]

This should be interesting. When I first started I was prone to exposition, but as I have become more experienced my writing has evolved. I feel as if dialogue is one of the best ways to move along a story, and my writing has become more and more dialogue driven. I write first person, so even the non-dialogue is becoming more like the thoughts inside the character's head which reads a lot like dialogue. The only parts that are a bit different are the action sequences.

[Kevin]

Generally I'll write the details in from the start, but that's not always the case. If I'm not in the mood to write a particular scene, I don't bother with the details and hurry onto the next event. The same is true for scenes I feel need more research. I'll just make notes to flesh them out later.

[Jevon]

I also write everything in the first draft: descriptions, dialogue, actions, etc. But usually the story has so many holes and the grammar is so terrible that I have to do revisions through multiple drafts.

Sometimes I laugh at myself, unable to believe that I wrote that.

[Ann]

I find that emotional scenes and fight scenes are some of the first scenes I write when I write. Usually they are the most detailed until later on in the draft :]

[Emma]

There's nothing that I really leave out on purpose when drafting. Both description and dialogue has it's own challenges but I can't really say I find one more problematic than the other. I do sometimes find that the description helps me "get into" the scene a bit more than not having it. However, if I get stuck on a description and I'm trying to draft quickly, I might reduce it to just a couple of sentences and add more later.

[Carl]

Plot, dialogue, blocking. But most of all tone and setting.

[P.D.]

I often go back to add in more description in the second draft. I tend to leave out things like descriptions of people and places, sights and sounds, etc. the first time around, so focused on dialogue and action.

[Dionne]

I tend to create first a plot outline so when I stop I know where I am when I return. And even then, characters tend to come formed in my head usually so I wait and see what 'they' say. That's what happened with my first ever manuscript.

[J. David]

Bisky wrote: "I wrote a freakish amount on Monday. Today I'm writing in description to this first draft. I was wondering is description something you add in later or do you write it all in at once? Or while star..."

I usually write everything all at once, but in the 2nd draft I may add in description if I feel the passage needs it. It's very rare for me to ADD lots of description because I typically feel like books need far less description than we are accustomed to seeing. I give just enough to know what's going on, typically.

[Ann]

I think maybe description takes a backseat for me becuase I have to get the characters conversations down quickly. I think dialogue comes more naturally to me and I have to sit and think about the descriptions.

[Kamil]

My first draft is dialogue and action driven, while descriptions are only sketched.
I'm almost at the end of the first draft. But here is where I have to write the most terrifying scene in the whole story. I have to brutally murder a character. And I'm not ready