What's in a draft?

I’m back! I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving! Don’t forget that there’s a sale going on at the RAD Store, where you can get BOTH Druid Novels for only $28, signed and personalized by yours truly! It’s only available for a limited time, so hop on over and buy some books for the readers in your life (yes, you can also buy them for you)!

Today, I want to talk to the writers in the crowd. Again. Because I’m a writer. It makes good sense.

See, I’m working on two novels right now. One of them, I’m in draft #1, and the other I’m in draft #3. Sound confusing? That’s because it is. And that’s also what I want to talk to you about: drafts. We all know them. Sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them. But we all have to work with them.

The important thing to remember, the thing I want to talk to you about today, is the importance of remembering what draft you’re on.

If you’re on your first draft, don’t treat it like it’s your fifth.

Your first draft is supposed to be sloppy. It’s allowed to be a mess, and to have plotholes as far as the eye can see. It’s where you get all your ideas onto paper and allow the story to start to take shape, but it’s not where you refine it and make sure everything is concise and consistent.

The first draft is where you play with the story, where you push the boundaries and try things that should never be allowed to happen. It’s where you experiment, where you have the most fun. But you should never treat it like it’s supposed to be the most beautiful draft ever.

Why? Because first drafts are almost always a mess, at least in the little ways. They weren’t meant to shine and sparkle yet, because they’re not done.

By the same token, never treat a fifth draft like it’s a first draft. That’s not what it is. It’s not a diamond in need of cutting, but one that needs a shine. It already has the basic storyline in place, already has most of the errors already mended. It’s getting itself primped and prepared to go out into the world for the first time. Don’t treat it like an infant. It’s a college student, getting ready to graduate. Let it stand on its own feet.

Above all, always focus on the draft you’re on. No matter what draft that is, whether it’s a newborn covered in stuff nobody wants to see or it’s a newly dubbed professional ready to take its place in the world, give it the light and the time it deserves. Remember what it is, and treat it as such. Every draft deserves it. 

So whether you've just finished your first novel and you're getting ready to start the next draft, or you're only now starting to put pen to paper, remember what you're doing. You're drafting, and each of our stories are in a different phase of life. 

[love]

{RD}