What's in a name?
the first draft and the joys of terminology
I’ve written about working on my current WIP (which is coming along nicely, thank you!) and I’ve discussed some of the things I’ve learned about process as they apply to me—what unlocks creativity, what shuts it down. Along the way, I’ve encountered some videos about writing (process, craft, etc). I’m sort of a writing junkie, and love books on writing as well as videos. Some prove interesting and some useful. Some are even interesting AND useful. Imagine that.
Most are somewhat inspiring.
Now, up front, I’ll admit that I have trouble with labels. I even had my narrator in my novel NAMELESS MOUNTAIN rant about labeling a bit. Maybe more than a bit. And some writers are really good at labelling things… some, seem compulsive to me.
As I’ve written and studied writing (this has been going on for a LOT of years now, not just during this book) long the way I’ve encountered discussions of the first draft. Everyone can agree on is how, especially if you are a pantser, or especially if you are a plotter (another label pair for you), the first draft is the hardest one to write— except for the next ones, of course.
A short aside: I am aware that some gurus don’t believe in rewriting, which means that they don’t have a first draft at all, simply one continuous draft and when it is done you don’t go back to the manuscript. I’ve tried that, and there is merit in it, but I’ll put that aside for a time. Save it for another discussion.
Right now, I’m finding it interesting how many people think that the issue that we are dealing with is rooted in calling the first draft a first draft. To offset that, I’ve heard some use the term “protodraft” and others “zero draft.” I’ll bet there are others. The theory the purveyors of those terms propose is that the problem a writer faces is that writing a first draft sounds like too big a challenge. That being the case, another term might put you at ease. The alternative term will release you from the onerous task of writing something good (or, in your case, great, of course). You can write total garbage and clean it up later.
You can even write a skeleton draft and edit it until the storyline is good, then do a second/third… draft to get the writing right. Right? And yet, a first draft doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t even have to make sense, assuming you intend to write other drafts. But perhaps other writers need the warm up of a zero draft to build their confidence.
In running those possibilities through my mind, I realized that for someone like me—a slob—a messy first draft isn’t anything unusual, weird, or even slightly problematic. It’s more of a given.
Now, that isn’t to say I learned nothing from these discussion in support of alternative drafts (drafts that are not the final one), because I did. By paying attention, I cleaned some baggage out of my head that was slowing me down in writing the first pass at my story, and sometimes keeping me from experimenting. In my case, letting go of some of that is more than enough to let me flow everything into my… yes, it is my first draft.
But that’s just me, and part of my war on intrusive labeling. So excuse me while I adopt all the cool features on the non-first draft thinking into my first draft.